O'Connell and Rogers develop "pop-up makerspaces"

As part of their work to develop programs, events and outreach activities for students and faculty around the Makerspace at Hunt and our new Makerspace at D. H. Hill, Brendan O'Connell and Adam Rogers have come up with fun and lightweight events that they are calling "pop-up makerspaces." These events are quick to set up and deploy, don't require a ton of advance planning, and can reach an audience who might not already know they are interested in electronics. Especially on Main Campus, they are reaching non-engineers who are interested in creative and unusual applications of Maker technologies like 3D printing, laser cutting, and electronics. One event in the lobby of D. H. Hill Jr. at the beginning of the semester was used to kick off the Technology Lending program. See some instagram images from the program here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/jjmSAHTYhC/

https://www.instagram.com/p/je8DVPTYum/

https://www.instagram.com/p/jebbvtzYhb/

https://www.instagram.com/p/jcTKx_zYqs/

Another event at the North Carolina Literary Festival gave kids a chance to make music with fruits and vegetables using MaKey MaKey kits:

https://www.instagram.com/p/mav9q_tThe/

And this week at D. H. Hill Jr. during finals week, staff are hosting Make Breaks for students. For this study break activity, students have been able to design their own light-up LED buttons and customize them with 3D printed designs, with no experience in electronics required to participate. These innovative and fun projects are becoming a great way to reach out to our users and create excitement for our makerspaces and materials.