Makers from Chambana area firms Pixo Tech and Taylor Studios converge on to the Illinois MakerLab to learn about 3dPrinting. This visit was a result of the MakerLab presentation to the Champaign County EDC board earlier in January, where the founders of both companies were present We look forward to some interesting projects with Taylor Studios as a follow up to this meeting. Read about other visitors to the Lab and about our outreach activities.
MakerGirl, a University of Illinois student venture, launched a pilot session of its program on Tuesday, December 2 in the Business Instructional Facility’s MakerLab. The project was co-founded by Lizzy Engele, Julia Haried, Sophie Li, and Emily Woodward this fall in Professor Noah Isserman’s Social Entrepreneurship class. MakerGirl aims to use the MakerLab’s innovative space to open their minds to the world of technology, with the goal of inspiring young women to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields, . Winnie Yang, a Guru at the Lab, who studies Material Science Engineering at the University, led the MakerGirl session of seven girls aged 7-10 through the process of creating bracelets with the MakerLab’s 3D printers. The session included educational segments about trans-formative 3D printer technology, the significance of STEM fields, and notable female role models. Parents also attended the event in order to encourage and support their children in the pursuit of these fields. The goal of this program is that by 2025, all STEM majors have a girl to boy ratio of 50/50.
Although the MakerLab resides in the College of Business, we are proud to serve our entire campus. Our Lab provides a unique space for majors from across campus to come Learn, Make, and Share. The graphic below provides a visual portrayal of our cross-campus impact. This graphic, which is based on an analysis of our usage data over the past year, reveals that our makers come from all corners of our campus and that our Lab's impact is far and wide. Click on any one of the circles to see more details. Find out more about our Makers in our "Meet the Maker" Series.
The College of Business alumni association put up a great event in Chicago, bringing together over a thousand alumni for the annual spring luncheon. It was a privilege to provide 3D printed souvenirs ( block I's ) for each table. One lucky person at each table was able to take that home.We had several conversations with alumni about the potential for this technology and many of them were amazed at the fact that the College of Business had taken leadership in this space.
The Illinois MakerLab partnered with HackIllinois to lead a workshop on 3D printing conducted by our Guru, Danny Lohan. Students learned the capabilities of 3D printing in both small and large scale applications.
They also learned about the procedure involved in actually printing something. This was in preparation for the HackIllinois event the following weekend, where students developed their own products, and some of the teams used our free 3D printing services provided at the event. Find out more about the cool products designed at the lab on our Youtube Channel
http://youtu.be/NhJTi87eN1Y
The College of Fine + Applied Arts demonstrated 3D printing with MakerLab printers, to the newly admitted students at Temple Buell Hall during the welcome reception. The display was organized by Kristi Martin, the Associate Director for Recruitment, Matt McNeilly and Crystal Sheu. This partnership showed many incoming students the resources that the university has to offer and the exciting capabilities of 3D printing.
Learn. Make. Share.
