Designing and Making (3D Printing and Fabrication)

Catalog description

Humanity's future as an interplanetary species is only made possible through the continued development of new technologies able to provide solutions to difficult problems. Facilitates students developing proficiency in both 'making' and 'designing,' and seeks to support students in gaining basic technical 'makerspace' abilities. More important than the hard skills, students grow in their capacity for technical design thinking--the process by which modern technologies are imagined and developed. Hands-on and project-based, students learn tools and processes for solving global and interplanetary problems, with special consideration given to the ways that technologies impact society. Students gain basic proficiency in the mechanical and design aspects of technology development in makerspaces through supervised research and design of creative projects that relate to aerospace engineering, space exploration and/or an inclusive, interplanetary future. Students gain basic knowledge of CAD modeling and 3D printing including the creation of common machine elements (gears, bearings, shafts, springs and fasteners); tinkering and debugging methods; creative problem solving; team-based project management; the relationship between technology and society; and basic technological design methods.