3D Printing

Xavier U Opens MakerBot Innovation Center

• By Rhea Kelly
• 02/04/15

The Midwest has a brand new resource for 3D printing and prototyping: Ohio's Xavier University is the first in the region to open up a MakerBot Innovation Center on campus.

With a mission to promote entrepreneurialism, education and innovation in the Cincinnati area and beyond, Xavier's MakerBot Innovation Center features 31 MakerBot Replicator 3D printers, a large supply of MakerBot PLA filament, several MakerBot Digitizer desktop 3D scanners and MakerBot MakerCare protection plans. The MakerBot Innovation Center Management Platform, a proprietary 3D printing system, links all of the printers together and provides remote access, print queuing and mass production of 3D prints. Dedicated spaces for startups and networking are designed to attract local entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers, giving students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience collaborating on real-world projects.

"We're so excited to be the first private institution in the country and the first university in the Midwest region to partner with MakerBot," said Shawn Nason, chief innovation officer with Xavier University, in a press release. "Our mission at Xavier University is to educate our students so that they are able to make the world a better place. We're positioned to do just that with the unique 3D printing and prototyping technology of MakerBot! With these innovative MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers, we will transform how our students learn here at the Xavier Center for Innovation and beyond. With MakerBot, we'll not only be 'making' 3D objects in our classrooms, but helping shape the leaders and innovators of future industries as well."

MakerBot is providing consulting, technical support and training, and will "work closely with Xavier's faculty to develop a curriculum that introduces professors and students to the world of 3D printing and its real-time possibilities," according to a company statement.