Brandeis’ MakerLab, a part of the Brandeis’ Design and Innovation (BDI) services is a “creative and collaborative space designed to foster innovation and hands-on learning” that recently celebrated its 10th birthday. The maker space provides students with free and open access to “state-of-the-art digital fabrication tools, consultation services, and a range of other resources to support students, faculty, and the community in bringing their ideas to life.”
The space offers digital fabrication services, teaching students how to use 3D printers and Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) alternative machine input support, showing students how to interact with computers in innovative ways, virtual/mixed/augmented reality consults, helping guests implement these emerging technologies, custom computer hardware training, drone pilots for hire, laser cutting as a service and further training in CAD/CAM tools.
Recently, the MakerLab celebrated its 10th anniversary. In its space on the Farber Mezzanine, attendees listened to its employees recount the changes and challenges that the MakerLab has undergone over the past decade.
On a typical day in the MakerLab, Avery Bishop ’27 (a frequent user of the MakerLab’s facilities) noted that “we have power users (people who have access to the room and print, vinyl cut, or sew frequently) coming in and out to work on, pick up, or drop off projects.” She added that “there are workshops led by student workers to teach people how to use the equipment happening a few times a week, and clubs including Robotics, Prosthetics, and Deis3D meet here.”
The Hoot also spoke to Vincent Calia-Bogan ’25, a MakerLab student worker, who mentioned that the best part of the MakerLab is that students can find “all these cool things in one room,” and the fact that “there are more rooms … and those rooms let you do even more.” He also shared that the group’s “capabilities to support faculty, staff and student initiatives is constantly growing, and in the next few years, I’m anticipating that growth to go into high gear, while maintaining the core mission of what BDI and the Brandeis MakerLab stand for: Anyone, no matter who you are, can be a maker. And there has never been a better time to become involved.”
He emphasized that the MakerLab is “a library service for integrating traditionally engineering tools across the disciplines (including engineering as one of them)—so we’re not an extension of engineering but our own thing,” and that the facility hopes to make sure that “liberal arts are built into engineering, and that engineering is integrated into the liberal arts. The cool thing is that that involves expanding the Maker Lab’s offerings even more than where we’re at right now by both lowering the barriers to access and raising the ceiling of what we can accomplish.”
Editor’s Note: Staff Writer Vincent Calia-Bogan ’25 and Social Media Editor Avery Bishop ‘27 did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article, although they were each sources for some of its content.
