The Reinert-Alumni Library includes the Makerspace, an area where Jays can create innovative designs using the various technologies available. The Makerspace is open during the weekdays.
Creighton’s Makerspace, open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, is in the Reinert-Alumni Library. The unique space allows Creighton students to combine interests in technology and creativity.
The Makerspace offers a wide range of crafting materials and cutting-edge creative technology to students. There are button makers, a Cricut, a heat press, a resin printer, a Glowforge laser printer, a thermal vacuum former, a circuit-board cutter and six 3D printers.
With these tools, students can create plastic 3D prints, keychains, buttons, iron-on vinyl prints, ink prints, laser-cut designs (with wood, leather, and resin) and custom circuit boards.
The Makerspace consists of four full-time staff members: Richard Jenkins, David Buffington, Micki Dietrich and Katy Anielak. There are also many student staff members, like Bothaina Said, College of Arts and Sciences sophomore.
“The Makerspace is a very innovative, resourceful place where you can go to create almost anything, from a t-shirt to a door hanger to a button,” Said said.
At one point, the Makerspace partnered with Gabriel Rivera, the head of Creighton’s Biology Laboratories, and Ehren Whigham, a biology lab professor working on his PhD in science education, to create 3D printed models of turtle shells for a series of experiments in the General Biology Lab. For Jenkins, the head of the Makerspace program, collaborations with different staff members to facilitate the Makerspace is one of the best parts.
“The more of that I can facilitate with this space, the happier I will be. That is absolutely my favorite part … when two people from utterly different disciplines come in and go, ‘Wait, what are you doing?’ So that collaboration … that is my jam,” Jenkins said.
This collaboration of science education, biology, and computer-aided design created a more engaging lab.
Mia Hilber-Hansmeier, a recent Creighton graduate of the College of Nursing, designed a stethoscope holder. Hilber-Hansmeier was in the process of making a 3D picture frame and stickers with the Cricut when she said, “This was something that I learned in my last year at Creighton. I decided to come in here one day to check things out, and then I couldn’t stop coming back.”
Maddux Heider, a Heider College of Business freshman, was working on an armor piece for his Anakin Skywalker Halloween costume to complement the lightsaber he brought to campus.
“I like that I get to utilize my creativity instead of doing all the boring gen eds,” Heider said.
Tech Tuesday is a Makerspace event that anyone on campus can participate in. Every week, the Makerspace staff crafts a guided project and prepares free-to-use materials for students. It is an art therapy option on campus, giving students a break from the everyday grind of studying. One recent Tech Tuesday project included printing through mesh fabric to create designs like bookmarks and flexible 3D chainmail.
“If you come in for a Tech Tuesday, the materials are free. Everything you are doing is free, and you are learning how to do something new,” Anielak said.