Carolina's maker culture breaks down academic silos

Published Dec. 7, 2017

As the Maker Movement continues to gain momentum across industry, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is creating opportunities on campus to foster innovation and entrepreneurship with faculty and students through high-tech makerspaces.

Recently, Theo Dingemans, professor of applied physical science at UNC-Chapel Hill, participated in a panel discussion at the ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Dingemans shared how the University’s maker culture is helping to foster creativity and innovation by breaking down silos.

“Innovation is an open mindset where you recognize what innovation may become because it’s not always clear,” says Dingemans. “It’s creating an environment where people can design and do the things they want without borders, without limitations.”

Theo Dingemans, professor, UNC Department of Applied Physical Sciences
“Innovation is an open mindset where you recognize what innovation may become, because it's not always clear. It's creating an environment where people can design and do the things they want without borders, without limitations.”

Often, makerspaces may not be located close to one another, making it harder for hands-on collaboration and spontaneity of ideas between faculty and students. Dingemans’ polymer lab at Carolina is adjacent to a makerspace, and although they are currently two separate spaces, he envisions they will eventually become one.

“At UNC, we are creating an environment where you can bring whatever team you need to address certain issues or challenges,” says Dingemans. “Energy, CO2 capture and conversion, clean drinking water – those problems are very interdisciplinary in nature. We are making a space where teams can bring the right people together from different schools and industry.”

Dingemans and his colleagues in UNC’s new department of applied physical sciences are also breaking down silos in their hiring approach. The department was created to expand interdisciplinary research and teaching by strengthening an intellectual climate in which science is collaborative and focused on applications. As they recruit talent for the department, they are focusing on diverse expertise to support their mission.

The University is also breaking down silos with plans for a new Institute for Convergent Science, which will allow Carolina to erase barriers, synthesize information and translate research into impact. With this multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, UNC researchers can tackle the world’s biggest problems.

Professor Theo Dingemans (second from left) discusses the synergy between makerspaces and scientific labs during an ACC faculty panel at the Smithsonian National Museum of Amerian History.

The Be a Maker (BeAM) initiative at UNC, which includes a network of makerspaces, is creating opportunities for faculty and students to join the Carolina maker community in the design and making of physical objects for education, research, entrepreneurship and recreation. The spaces offer open studios, training sessions, workshops and areas for maker-related course activities. They’re ideal for such uses because they are equipped with emerging technologies like 3D printers, material fabrication machines, wood and metalworking tools, and electronics equipment.

This spring, two new courses will offer students opportunities to explore making:

– Intro to Design and Making: Developing Your Personal Design Potential, which will explore design through active making, discussion, presentation and self-evaluation.

– Design and Making: Turning Your Entrepreneurial Ideas into Reality, which will give students a chance to transform a concept into a working prototype that meets and entrepreneurial need.

“In the future, I’d like to see the makerspaces much bigger, more diverse in terms of techniques and in terms of people who can really help move the students out of BeAM [and] into different laboratory environments,” says Dingemans.   

Through makerspace opportunities, Carolina continues to provide outlets for innovation and creativity for students and faculty, giving them the ability to adapt to meet the needs of a changing world.