Mobile Maker Carts roll 3-D printing, sewing into residence halls

Coming soon to a residence hall near you: 3-D printing.

Beginning Oct. 1, students across campus will have this opportunity and more as the Be A Maker program brings its Mobile Maker Cart Initiative to residence halls. Students will be able to try their skills in a variety of crafts in workshops hosted by fellow students.

“We’ll have five carts that are staffed by seven volunteer students who were recruited based on just their passion in a particular area that they identified,” said Rick Bradley, the associate director of the Department of Housing and Residential Education and an advisor for the program.

He said the cart’s themes are cooking and baking, sewing and fabrication, 3-D printing, robotics and web design. Each cart will go out once a month, and participation is free to students.

Bradley said cart volunteers were recruited from two populations: ResNET and first-generation students. Both groups closely collaborate with the Housing department. ResNET's technical aptitude allows for more focus on technology.

“Research shows that first-generation students are more likely to have had more experience making than 'non-first-gen' students, mostly because their parents are likely to have done other kinds of trades or other career choices that would make their children more likely to have had some experience,” Bradley said.

Caleb Pipkin, a junior computer science major, is in charge of the 3D printing cart. As a former biomedical engineering major, he said the opportunity to bring 3-D printing into residence halls is exciting.

“It just seemed like the perfect thing to continue that passion I had,” he said.

His desire to share his passion with others is only part of his involvement.

“The selfish part is I’m really looking forward to getting to 3-D print a lot of cool things," he said. “The non-selfish part is I’m really excited to get other people printing really cool things.”

Bradley said the housing department is trying to engage students with programs that interest them.

“We’re looking for new and creative things to do to be a modern housing department on a college campus,” Bradley said.

The Mobile Maker Cart program is the first part of a larger, two-part initiative by the BeAM program, Bradley said. The second part will take place next fall, and involves the creation of a program in the Carmichael Residence Hall.

He said the Carmichael Makerspace will have a partnership with the Kenan-Flagler Entrepreneur Program. About 80 students from the program will have the opportunity to live in Carmichael and use the space as a think tank and create prototypes of products.

For now, Bradley said the mobile carts will expand the list of physical makerspace locations, which currently includes Murray Hall, Hanes Art Center and Kenan Science Library.

“It’s this network of spaces across campus, intended for all students, faculty and staff to be able to walk in and learn how to make things and try new tools and equipment that they’ve never tried before,” Bradley said.

He said the Residence Hall Association will help set up a sign-up sheet for communities to volunteer to host a mobile cart.

Taylor Bates, president of the RHA, said more initiatives will be coming to residence halls this fall, to include student performance groups, sustainability efforts and diversity programs.

“I think it’s really cool to build that community experience, because outside of class, a student’s residence hall really shapes their college experience," Bates said. "And for us at RHA, we want people, when they look back on their first-year residence hall or wherever they’re currently living, we want them to really have some good memories that hopefully our community government has helped shape."

Bates said the RHA looks forward to collaborating with the housing department to identify residence halls suitable for hosting the mobile cart workshops and promoting the workshops.

Ryan Lawton, a sophomore business administration major, is in charge of the cooking and baking cart. He is also enthusiastic about the program.

“I’m going to teach students a couple of aspects of cooking ... most importantly, I want students to learn that the kitchen isn’t a place you should be scared of,” Lawton said. “I’m truly looking forward to meeting other students.”

university@dailytarheel.com