EPP Dual Degree Student :: Jaime Bonnín Roca Policy needed for additive manufacturing article – published in Nature Materials
CMU Portugal Dual Degree PhD student Jaime Bonnín Roca co-authored the article published in the August issue of Nature Materials
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The dual degree PhD student Jaime Bonnín Roca is co-author of the article “Policy needed for additive manufacturing”, published in the August 2016 issue of Nature Materials, as a result of his part A Qualifier Examination. The exam is part of the mandatory evaluation procedures of the Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) PhD which the student is attending at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and at Instituto Superior Técnico/Universidade de Lisboa (IST/UL). The student had also achieved the Best Part B Qualifier Examination, with a case-study in autonomous vehicles public policy analysis. |
Jaime Bonnín Roca believes that the article was well received by the high impact factor journal because “many articles talk about additive manufacturing’s advantages and potential, but few about the limitations”. The author thinks that “it probably was a needed counterpoint, given the rising interest in the technology. Moreover, regulation of new technologies is always a controversial topic and we offer some constructive insights trying to balance the interests from both industry and regulators.”
Also asked about the secret for such a well succeeded examination, Jaime justifies the great results with calm and knowledge.
“The secret was keeping myself calm, and trusting the education I had received at Carnegie Mellon. Some of my (very bright) colleagues panicked and that obviously had a negative influence on their answers. Being in Portugal, away from Pittsburgh’s atmosphere where peer pressure iscontagious, probably helped.”
The article states that “the successful adoption of metallic additive manufacturing in aviation will require investment in basic scientific understanding of the process, defining of standards and adaptive regulation”.
About achieving the Best Part B Jaime Bonnín Roca says, “ It was fun, but I didn’t expect to win. Autonomous vehicles are all over the news but there are still challenges. I think my solution stands out in analysing social implications of technological change”.
The part B exam is an extended take-home examination on an applied problem in policy analysis.
As CMU clarifies, “the Qualifying Examinations are conducted once a year, in January”, and part B is always after part A. The exam “must be taken after students have been in the program for three semesters. The objective is to assess the student’s ability to do interdisciplinary research.”
“I was confident I would pass Part A. After three semesters, there should not be room for surprises regarding research. Part B is trickier because you never know what to expect, and you may simply have a bad week. However, it is also fairer because all the students have the same problem to solve”, explains Jaime Bonnín Roca.
Jaime Bonnín Roca works on the feasibility and impact of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry and his provisional thesis title is “Challenges and Opportunities in the Introduction of Metal Additive Manufacturing”. His advisors are Joana Mendonça (IST/UL) and Granger Morgan, Erica Fuchs and Parth Vaishnav (CMU) and his expected conclusion date is Spring 2018.
The student is also linked to CMU Portugal Entrepreneurial Research Initiative E4Value. The main objective of this project is to understand how a country such as Portugal can be more effective and proactive on the aeronautics industry.
Jaime Bonnín Roca’s Nature Materials article may be accessed here.
More information available at:
E4VALUE: Innovation Dynamics in Aeronautics and Embraer in Évora
Technology and Policy in Aerospace
Related articles:
CMU: From Pittsburgh to the Silicon Valley Campus
CMU Portugal PhD Student Publishes Paper on 3D Printing on Nature Materials
September 2016
