Highlights from HI-AM 2025: Advancing Additive Manufacturing Research

July 28, 2025

Canada’s premier research conference on additive manufacturing brings together leading minds for its 8th edition in Waterloo, Ontario

Keynote presenter speaking on stage to a large audience of conference delegates

GM’s Ante Lausic delivers a keynote address at the conference.

The HI-AM Conference 2025, held on July 23–24 in Waterloo, Ontario, convened over 170 researchers, industry leaders, government representatives, and students to explore emerging innovations and persistent challenges in additive manufacturing (AM). Organized by the Holistic Innovation in Additive Manufacturing Network (HI-AM 2.0), the event marked its eighth annual gathering, reinforcing its role as Canada’s foremost forum for academic–industry collaboration in the AM field.

This year’s technical program included 50 oral presentations and two poster sessions featuring over 30 research projects, highlighting cutting-edge work in process modeling, in-situ monitoring, qualification strategies, design for AM, novel alloy development, and innovations in non-metal AM processes.

Two keynote presentations from industry leaders—Ante Lausic, Lead Process Engineer – Metal AM at General Motors, and Behrang Poorganji, VP of Technology at Nikon—offered comprehensive overviews of the challenges facing the industrial scale-up of AM. Through real-world case studies and insights into current capabilities, both speakers provided valuable perspectives for students, early-career researchers, and industry veterans alike.

A major highlight of the conference was the celebration of the official launch of HI-AM 2.0, the next phase of the NSERC-funded research network. HI-AM 2.0 builds on the foundation of the original network, with an expanded mandate to address critical needs in sustainability, reliability, and commercialization of metal AM technologies.

“HI-AM 2025 showcased the excellent momentum in additive manufacturing research in Canada, uniting academia and industry to tackle critical challenges in sustainability and scalability,” said Professor Ehsan Toyserkani, HI-AM 2.0 Director and Conference Co-Chair. “This conference continues to be a catalyst for innovation, fostering collaborations that will shape the future of additive manufacturing in Canada and beyond.”

Beyond the technical sessions, attendees took part in networking events, a conference dinner, and guided tours of the University of Waterloo’s Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, offering a first-hand look at ongoing research and capabilities.

At the closing ceremony, student achievements were celebrated with awards recognizing the best oral presentations, posters, and abstracts. A full list of winners is available below:

Group photo of award recipients standing beside the conference chairs, all smiling at the camera.

Award recipients alongside the conference chairs.

Best Presentation Award:

  • First Place: Nicholas Kirschbaum, University of Michigan: Feedforward control of the cooling rate in laser powder bed fusion using a physics-based thermal model
  • Second Place: Rene Lam, University of Waterloo: Tailoring mechanical performance of Ti-6Al-4V structures using porous architectures
  • Third Place: Ajay Talbot, University of Toronto: Design of new NiCoCr alloys for additive manufacturing through high-throughput experiments

Best Poster Award:

  • First Place: Alexandra Darroch, University of Waterloo: Assessing the impact of binder saturation on print quality of binder jetted green samples of regular and irregular morphologies
  • Second Place: Jorge Luis Dorantes Flores, University of Guelph: Thermal cycling of laser powder bed fusion tooling steels used for high pressure die casting
  • Third Place: Rahele Jafari, University of Waterloo: Piezo-pneumatic jetting of highly viscous soldering paste
  • Third Place: Farshad Malekpour, Concordia University: Sustainable additive manufacturing: Evaluating the mechanical and thermal degradation of recycled PEKK
Conference attendees viewing and discussing research posters displayed on boards in a large hall.

Participants explore research findings during the poster session.

Best Abstract Award:

  • First Place: Shaojia Wang, University of Toronto: Machine learning assisted multi-material 3D printing of hierarchical composite with low stiffness and high strength
  • Third Place: Second Place: Alex Inoma, University of Alberta: An integrated computational framework for strut, plate and TPMS-type lattice design
  • Third Place: Anushree Shah, The University of British Columbia: A shape error evaluation study of geometry produced using directed energy deposition

HI-AM 2.0 extends its sincere thanks to all speakers, reviewers, sponsors, and attendees who contributed to the success of HI-AM 2025. Planning is already underway for HI-AM 2026, which will take place in Banff, Alberta, continuing our mission to advance Canada’s global leadership in advanced manufacturing research and innovation.