From its earliest days, Lehigh has been invested in materials. Mining and metallurgy was one of the university's first academic programs in 1865. It makes sense, then, in an age marked by rapid technological advancements, that Lehigh would turn to materials—in this case, the metals used in additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing.
As many universities and research centers explore the applications of 3-D printing, Lehigh is "one of a very small handful of places that has made materials really the focus," says Richard Vinci.