A Look Inside a Student-run Makerspace

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A Look Inside a Student-run Makerspace

While in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the third annual Atlanta Mini Maker Faire, I had the opportunity to return to the Invention Studio, a student-run makerspace where I spent a few years honing my skills and meeting other makers. The Studio is a five-room space full of tools, parts, and students working on academic or personal projects. The space and the 60+ students who run it are providing a service to the school that’s invaluable – the ability to create and learn how to work with your hands.

While I was there, I talked to a lot of current students about their projects and snapped some photos of the space:

8 thoughts on “A Look Inside a Student-run Makerspace

  1. Brett says:

    The world is turning into a great place for students! When I was in college, hands-on meant soldering together a kit or building a circuit on a breadboard. Luckily I was never satisfied with what the school wanted for a minimum passing grade. But now, holy smokes I hope these students don’t take this opportunity for granted. Amazing space!

    1. Eric Weinhoffer says:

      Yes, totally agree — it’s a fantastic space with plenty of opportunities for students to learn with their hands. I also hope they don’t take it for granted; I sure do miss it now :)

  2. Mikael Tulldahl says:

    WOW! this student-run makerspace is amazing! I’m chairman for a makerspace in Sweden, I would say the biggest or second biggest one in Sweden in fact, but it’s very hard for us to get such top notch stuff like in this one! i wanna know how they do it! is it tons of funds from the university? or from companies?

    1. Eric Weinhoffer says:

      Hi Mikael, yes it’s a combination of money from both the University and Companies. The Studio gets a cut of the “Technology Fee”, a semesterly fee that all students pay. And since it was originally created to support the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Design Class, many companies sponsor certain student projects, and therefore give money to the department (which uses that to further improve the Studio).

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Eric is a Mechanical Engineer with interests in machining, mass manufacturing, product design and kinetic art. While not building things, he enjoys skiing, cycling, and juggling.

View more articles by Eric Weinhoffer

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