We are a community of designers and builders at UW-Madison within the College of Engineering (CoE). The Makerspace facilities include 25,000 ft2 of shop and flex space with a wide range of rapid prototyping equipment, made possible by the $22 million donation from the Grainger Foundation. Largely student run, the Makerspace strives to empower students by creating a community immersed in emerging technologies, focused on creating innovative products.
The Makerspace is a part of the CoE ecosystem of fabrication facilities, called the Grainger Design + Innovation Labs. These facilities include the Makerspace (rapid prototyping), TEAM-Lab (Technical Education and Manufacturing Lab – precision machining, fee for service job-shop), the Kohler Innovation Visualization Studio (virtual & augmented reality, 3D scanning, and data visualization), the Composites Lab, and Student Org Labs. The CoE fabrication facilities combined are over 40,000 ft2, run by 10 professional full-time staff members and ~60 student workers. Each space contains millions of dollars of high-tech equipment. Students can build anything here – from micro to macro and from virtual to the physical.
The Makerspace Mission
Hands-on Learning
Bridging the gap between theory and practice
Diverse Community
A welcoming community fostering team-based collaborations; diverse in terms of gender, race & discipline
Peer Learning
A place where students teach and learn from other students
Student Empowerment
Empowering students to design and build on their own initiative
Product Design
A hub for inventing and designing new products
Open Access to Technology
Offering an expansive library of technology, equipment and tools