At the end of the fall semester, I was offered a position as an assistant in the Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI) Makerspace at Chapman University. It was very rewarding to help the program transform an organic chemistry lab into a creative space for students to explore interdisciplinary solutions with sophisticated equipment. The new Makerspace includes everything from microscopes and Petri dish incubators to 3D printers and CNC mills.
Located in Hashinger Science Center, the Makerspace provides a variety of equipment that ranges from spectrophotometers for chemistry projects to open source prototyping platforms like Arduino for hardware projects. What was once a slightly crusty organic chemistry lab has a new face and now accommodates students working on any number of different projects.
Personally, the piece of equipment that excites me the…
