Dr. Neil J. Naples
Ametek Precitech, Inc.
Neil Naples has been an active member of ASPE for 5 years after first presenting a paper at the Annual Meeting in Pittsburg, PA in 2019. Since then, he has collaborated on either an oral or poster presentation every year and was a member of the organizing committee for the 2022 Annual meeting in Bellevue, WA. He was awarded the ASPE Early Career Award in 2023 for his contributions to the development and publication of techniques for toolpath generation applied to the diamond turning of freeform optics. He is honored to be nominated for the role of ASPE Director-at-Large for 2024 and looks forward to working with other members of ASPE to expand the reach of the society.
From a young age, Neil has been involved in machining and precision engineering. During his junior and senior years in high school, he attended a two-year machining program at Region 9 vocational school in Mexico, ME. Here he learned the fundamentals of machining in a very hands-on enviroment, ultimately prompting him to complete an AAS in Precision Machining & Manufacturing at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, ME in 2008. Working at a machinist in the summer months, he continued his education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH where he completed a BS in Engineering Physics in 2012. He was first introduced to diamond turning in graduate school at OSU under the guidance of Prof. Allen Yi where he completed a PhD in 2018 in Industrial Systems & Engineering. He is currently the Director of Application Development at Ametek Precitech in Keene, NH. At Precitech, he works directly with ASPE Fellow Dr. Jeff Roblee on expanding the use of diamond turning machines, including DIFFSYS CAM software development and the development novel machining techniques for freeform optical surfaces.