3D Printing
U Maryland Opens MakerBot Innovation Center
The University of Maryland (UMD) and
MakerBot have opened a MakerBot Innovation Center
at the university's A. James Clark School of Engineering to provide UMD
students and faculty with access to 3D printers for prototyping, model-making
and small-scale creative and manufacturing projects.
While the MakerBot Innovation Center will be open to students from all
majors, the 3D printing technology will be integrated into the curriculum at
the school of engineering. Use of the center will be part of the required
introductory engineering course, ENES100, so students can familiarize
themselves with the technology at the beginning of their university program and
use it to help learn engineering concepts and principles.
"The MakerBot Innovation Center gives our students an edge in the
changing and adapting marketplace," said Darryll J. Pines, dean and professor
of Aerospace Engineering at the school of engineering, in a prepared statement.
"We see desktop 3D printing as a catalyst for new thinking and are excited to
make this technology more broadly available."
The UMD MakerBot Innovation Center includes:
- 32 MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers;
- Two MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printers;
- 12 MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental Desktop 3D Printers;
- Two MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printers;
- A large supply of MakerBot PLA Filament; and
- One MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner.
All of the MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers are connected through the
MakerBot Innovation Center Management Platform that provides remote access,
print queuing and mass production of 3D prints.
Other universities with MakerBot Innovation Centers include the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the State University of New York at New
Paltz.
Further information about MakerBot Innovation Centers can be found on the company's site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].
