For the past six months, the gentle whir of 3D printers has been an ever-present hum coming from the front room of the Charles Village townhouse of seniors Christopher Shallal, Parker Treadway, and Mark Shifman. Day and night, the trio of engineering majors manufactures devices for both fun and play out of their newly built engineering workroom, converting their home into the laboratory of their dreams.
While taking classes remotely last spring, Shallal, a biomedical engineering major, started work with a JHU startup producing 3D printed face shields for frontline workers battling the spread of COVID-19. Because Hopkins’ 3D printing lab had shut…