
When Lindsey Pegram, a master’s candidate in environmental science and engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill, was growing up, she was surrounded by tools and heavy equipment. Her father, a successful general contractor specializing in home remodeling, was as busy building things around the house as he was for his customers in Greensboro and the surrounding area. But Pegram never touched so much as a hammer. Fluent in French and Spanish, she dreamt of traveling to countries like Brazil and Ghana to help marginalized communities with sanitation and clean water projects.
On a tour of admitted students in 2019, however, Pegram was shown a BeAM makerspace in Murray Hall and was…