The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science is committed to providing students with the knowledge and skills that will position them to succeed in the job market and excel in research. To this end, this proposal seeks to establish within the College of Science a new 3D Printing Center that will for the first time bring new industrial grade technology to both students and faculty infrastructure capable of rapid and reliable prototyping.
The center piece of this new 3D Printing Center will be Stratasys Fortus 250mc, which can build models in production-grade ABSplus thermoplastic in nine color choices. This 3D printer will make prototypes that faithfully resemble the finished product in look and durability, even for parts with complex geometry and twisted cavities.
http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/design-series/fortus-250mc
As such, several departments in the College of Science (Biology, Psychology, and Geoscience) have already purchased 3D printers, however these printers, though ranging from $1,500-$4,000, are entry level “Desktop” printers; and therefore lack in print quality and also suffer from lengthy build times (often measured in days). Moreover, many of these entry level printers lack reliability and will regularly fail during a print job and thus require abandoning the entire model and start over, wasting precious time and material.
In conclusion, bringing in a state-of-the-art 3-D printer to the College of Science, which can only be made possible through a tech-fee grant, will be a strategic tool to bring invaluable experience to our students, faculty and staff, as well as possibly stimulate new areas of research.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Pedro Villoldo
Office of the Dean
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Rd
Building 12, Room 104
Boca Raton, FL 33431
tel: 561-297-3375
Tobin K. Hindle, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist and Graduate Program Director
Department of Geosciences
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
phone: (561) 297-2846
