Science Impact
Spring 2020
Science Center teams up with Texas museum to develop their own Mobile Fab Lab
It all started with a 10-minute conversation at the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference in 2018, where the Science Center set up a booth to demonstrate the capabilities of its BNY Mellon Mobile Fab Lab. The CEO of the Science Spectrum Museum in Lubbock, Texas, stopped by the booth, spoke with a Science Center team member, and soon contacted Jon Doctorick, Fab Lab Technical and Education Manager, to learn more about purchasing a Mobile Fab Lab of their own.
“There were no other Mobile Fab Labs – and a general lack of digital fabrication makerspaces – in Lubbock at the time,” Doctorick said. “With the purchase of a Mobile Fab Lab, the Science Spectrum Museum saw an opportunity to add high-tech, hands-on, STEM-based education to their offerings.”
The Mobile Fab Lab is a digital fabrication laboratory that serves as a platform for learning and innovation by delivering maker workshops to schools and educational organizations. The van includes a full suite of digital fabrication equipment, including 3D printers, laser cutters, a vinyl cutter, design computers and software, a Handi Bot CNC milling machine, electronics workbench equipment, and robotics.
When Carnegie Science Center first established a mobile and stationary Fab Lab in 2015, the team had to develop their own curriculum from scratch – something smaller organizations might not have the capacity to pull off. Because of that experience, when the idea of replicating the Mobile Fab Lab program for other science centers and educational organizations came into being, the team knew the value of providing a codified curriculum and guidebook along with the van and equipment.
The entire replication process took about eight months to complete, during which the Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center team secured a Dodge Promaster from a local dealer, outfitted it with a lift and safety equipment, designed and fabricated custom carts, purchased all the hardware, and created a nearly 200-page curriculum planner and guidebook. In the end, the new Mobile Fab Lab was a near-exact replica of the Science Center’s Mobile Fab Lab.
In November 2019, before the van was delivered to Lubbock, three educators from the Science Spectrum Museum traveled to Carnegie Science Center for a three-day intensive course on all things Mobile Fab Lab. Three months later, Doctorick and Mobile Fab Lab Educator Coordinator Steve Luciano drove the new Mobile Fab Lab from Pittsburgh to Lubbock. After a day of unpacking the van at the museum and providing a refresher course on operating the equipment, Doctorick and Luciano joined the Science Spectrum team as they delivered Mobile Fab Lab programming to local elementary schools.
“Science Spectrum Museum was extremely pleased with the delivery and training, and they are set to be the first to bring digital fabrication and maker education to Lubbock, areas around it, and into New Mexico,” Doctorick said.
Since successfully delivering the Mobile Fab Lab in February, the Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center team has held bi-monthly video conferences with the Science Spectrum team to field questions, troubleshoot, and review their experience so far. In the near future, the Science Center team will create and host a 3D-modeling and design class via video conference for the Science Spectrum team to continue their training and learn new ways to implement the program in their region.
Science Center teams up with Texas museum to develop their own Mobile Fab Lab
It all started with a 10-minute conversation at the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference in 2018, where the Science Center set up a booth to demonstrate the capabilities of its BNY Mellon Mobile Fab Lab. The CEO of the Science Spectrum Museum in Lubbock, Texas, stopped by the booth, spoke with a Science Center team member, and soon contacted Jon Doctorick, Fab Lab Technical and Education Manager, to learn more about purchasing a Mobile Fab Lab of their own.
“There were no other Mobile Fab Labs – and a general lack of digital fabrication makerspaces – in Lubbock at the time,” Doctorick said. “With the purchase of a Mobile Fab Lab, the Science Spectrum Museum saw an opportunity to add high-tech, hands-on, STEM-based education to their offerings.”
The Mobile Fab Lab is a digital fabrication laboratory that serves as a platform for learning and innovation by delivering maker workshops to schools and educational organizations. The van includes a full suite of digital fabrication equipment, including 3D printers, laser cutters, a vinyl cutter, design computers and software, a Handi Bot CNC milling machine, electronics workbench equipment, and robotics.
When Carnegie Science Center first established a mobile and stationary Fab Lab in 2015, the team had to develop their own curriculum from scratch – something smaller organizations might not have the capacity to pull off. Because of that experience, when the idea of replicating the Mobile Fab Lab program for other science centers and educational organizations came into being, the team knew the value of providing a codified curriculum and guidebook along with the van and equipment.
The entire replication process took about eight months to complete, during which the Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center team secured a Dodge Promaster from a local dealer, outfitted it with a lift and safety equipment, designed and fabricated custom carts, purchased all the hardware, and created a nearly 200-page curriculum planner and guidebook. In the end, the new Mobile Fab Lab was a near-exact replica of the Science Center’s Mobile Fab Lab.
In November 2019, before the van was delivered to Lubbock, three educators from the Science Spectrum Museum traveled to Carnegie Science Center for a three-day intensive course on all things Mobile Fab Lab. Three months later, Doctorick and Mobile Fab Lab Educator Coordinator Steve Luciano drove the new Mobile Fab Lab from Pittsburgh to Lubbock. After a day of unpacking the van at the museum and providing a refresher course on operating the equipment, Doctorick and Luciano joined the Science Spectrum team as they delivered Mobile Fab Lab programming to local elementary schools.
“Science Spectrum Museum was extremely pleased with the delivery and training, and they are set to be the first to bring digital fabrication and maker education to Lubbock, areas around it, and into New Mexico,” Doctorick said.
Since successfully delivering the Mobile Fab Lab in February, the Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center team has held bi-monthly video conferences with the Science Spectrum team to field questions, troubleshoot, and review their experience so far. In the near future, the Science Center team will create and host a 3D-modeling and design class via video conference for the Science Spectrum team to continue their training and learn new ways to implement the program in their region.
Science Impact
Spring 2020
