As Maria Palmtag reaches to unlock the door to the Murray Hall BeAM location, she stops to apologize. The makerspace is a bit of a mess right now, she says, as they’re reorganizing for the fall semester.
To anyone who isn’t Palmtag — the rising senior at Carolina has been a maker at BeAM since she was a first-year student in 2019 — it looks like a meticulously organized creative oasis. To the left of the door as you walk in sits an alcove of 3D printers. In the main part of the makerspace, three laser cutters invite users to make prototypes and finished products among a half dozen or so workstations. Farther down the hall lies a professional embroidery machine, a metal shop and a woodshop, among many other creative spaces.
Three years into being a Carolina maker, Palmtag is now a student staff specialist — an advanced student employee role — and is at home in every part of…
