Proposal

Narrative

In the January 23, 2014 meeting of the CEECS Department Industry Advisory Board (IAB), 12 members present discussed renovating the curriculum in order to increase the employability, subsequent upward mobility and success of our students. Hands-on approach to learning and early exposure to industry tools were decided to be essential components of a technical education.  Industry representatives stressed that students need exposure to industry tools early in their program. Such preparation would enable hiring of students as interns and help us implement a successful co-op program.  Our IAB partners offered to institute a seminar series to train our students on how to use industry tools.

The infrastructure needed for this refinement to the CEECS curriculum will start with an open Maker Lab housed in the CEECS Department, Building 96.  The Maker Lab will provide an open, creative, and collaborative environment for students and faculty to bring their creations to life. The lab will introduce emerging technologies in building, prototyping, and problem solving. This proposal requests funds to acquire 3D printers, 3D scanners, and design software for the Maker Lab. The vision is to give students open access to Maker Lab and help them learn, create, and innovate.

Universities and public libraries in the US have begun creating these maker spaces and FAU should be at the forefront of this maker movement by providing students with the right tools and environment. Engineering students will have access to this lab and will be able to start building and exploring as soon as they enroll in the program. Undergraduate core courses such as Engineering Design 1 and Engineering Design 2 have a great need for such a lab and will immediately benefit from this grant. Currently, students in these classes are limiting their designs because of lack of this equipment. Asking students to use outside services for such designs will add significant personal expense to them. It is expected that the Maker Lab will be used in several undergraduate engineering courses. More importantly, the lab will be open and freely accessible to students without having to enroll in a specific course. We expect that this Maker Lab will become a collaborative space to conduct research, interdisciplinary collaboration, explore designs, build prototypes, and start companies.     

The CEECS Department and the College of Engineering have committed to providing space for the lab. The College has granted $14,800 in 2013 to purchase electronic components commonly used in building engineering prototypes. Components purchased with this grant will be part of the proposed Maker Lab. In addition to this we have already received a grant of five Intel Galileo Development Boards that allows our students to participate in and collaborate with the Intel Maker Community.

The proposed lab will provide an open, creative, and collaborative environment for students and faculty to build fully functional prototypes of their designs. The lab will benefit undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Engineering directly and will support several courses in engineering. Students will be able to build a physical prototype of anything they imagine and design! 

Facilities

Hardware Requirements

3D Printers
Makerbot Replicator x 2	$5,798
Makerbot Replicator Z18	$6,499
CubePro 3D printer	$5,999
3D Scanners
NextEngine 3D Scanner	$2,995
NextEngine Multidrive	$995
Green Screen Kit	$500
Makerbot Digitizer	$1,099
Materials and supplies (first year)	$2,000
Three Workstations for scanners, digitizes, and printers	$6,000
Total Hardware	$31,885

Green Screen Kit
Green screen kit will be used together with the NextEngine scanner to create high resolution scan of 3D objects

Three Workstations to run software for 3D scanners, digitizes, and 3D printers

Software Requirements

?Software for 3D printers and scanners:

NextEngine HD PRO software	$995
CAD Tools	$995
Cubify Design, Sculpt	$329
Total Software	$2,319

Personnel Costs

We request one graduate TA for 20 hrs. The TA will be responsible for training students on use of 3D printers, scanners, and modeling  software as well as maintaining the 3D printers and scanners. The will also provide regular training sessions to students. In the subsequent years, TAs assigned to undergraduate courses using the lab can support the labs.  Depending on the level of activity in the lab, funds will be requested from the Provost and/or the Dean to support additional TAs in the subsequent years.

Other Costs

Material and supplies (3D printer consumables) are requested for the first year. Lab fee or other means will used in subsequent years to purchase consumables.

Timeline

The equipment will be acquired as soon as the grant is received and we expect that the Maker Lab will be available for student use during the Summer 2014 semester.

Sustainability

Lab fee or other means will used in subsequent years to purchase consumables.

Resource Matching

Implementing Organization

The project will be implemented in the Dept. of Computer & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science