Makerspace
Students create the future at the intersection of art, engineering and design
The vision for a collaborative, high-tech space for students to build and innovate will soon be coming to life in the School of Engineering and Computer Science (SOECS).
Plans for a new Makerspace on the south Stockton Campus are being finalized, with construction projected to begin next spring and its opening slated for the fall.
The SOECS Makerspace will reimagine how students learn and interact.
“It will be a space where students from different disciplines can come together, brainstorm and build,” said Mehdi Khazaeli, associate professor of civil engineering and director of Pacific’s Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship program. “The complex parts and products these days cannot be done by one person or discipline.”
Students will have 3D printers and laser cutters for prototyping, computer workstations, a paint booth and a machine shop for metal and woodwork, among other things.
The high-tech machines are only part of the equation. The layout has been carefully designed to increase collaboration among students with team workspaces, a lounge, whiteboards and flexible furniture. Interactive workspaces were one of the most requested design components from students surveyed in the spring.
“There are a lot of studies about how space encourages different behaviors,” said Elizabeth Orwin, SOECS dean. “Open spaces allow people to come together and be creative. We have spent a lot of time on the layout and flow. It will encourage people to interact in a different way.”
The design is also intended to promote diversity. Studies have shown makerspaces can increase motivation and create a feeling of belonging in underrepresented groups. Women hold fewer than 20% of bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science nationwide, with similar disparities among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
“I used to teach the design class at Harvey Mudd College and female students would say they were afraid to go in the machine shop. They didn’t feel like they belonged in that space,” Orwin said. “Experiential learning builds confidence. When you have hands-on experiences early in your curriculum, it’s very meaningful.”
The future location of the SOECS Makerspace, which currently houses the Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship lab, will be open to students from other programs to promote interdisciplinary learning. The Makerspace is part of a strategic plan to turn the south campus, which already includes other labs and design studios, into a thriving creative hub.
“We want there to be synergy,” Khazaeli said. “The library, the Eberhardt School of Business and College of the Pacific, they have all been part of these meetings from day one because we don’t want to repeat what they have. We want to complement each other.”
The school plans to use the Makerspace to expose students in the community to engineering and computer science at an early age, including participants in the MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement) college prep program for sixth to twelfth graders; The Tomorrow Project, which has specialized academies to prepare Central Valley students for higher education; and the Summer High School Institute, which brings high school students to campus in the summer to learn and experience college life.
“We see this as a space where we can bring in those students and show them, ‘this is how engineers work together,’” Orwin said. “This is a space where you can be creative and collaborative and at the intersection of art, engineering and design.”
The space is made possible by a lead gift of $1 million from the Fletcher Jones Foundation. Regent and engineering alumna Janet Spears ‘86, chief executive officer of the Metta Fund, is also gifting $100,000 to the project.
You can read the full story about Spears’ gift: Regent’s gift expanding opportunities for engineering students
“This is a space where you can be creative and collaborative.”
Dean Elizabeth Orwin
“It will be a space where students from different disciplines can come together, brainstorm and build.”
Associate Professor Mehdi Khazaeli
