The Story of MakerSpace

Any IT Outcomes retrospective must include the story of UMass Boston’s MakerSpace. Its arrival in 2016 and how it became as essential as it still is today is yet another example of IT turning inspiration and ingenuity into reality. Even more impressively, it did not come from an IT administrative directive or with any funding initially. It was born as an idea of Associate Chief Information Officer Apurva Mehta, who was looking into ways “to advance higher education through the use of information technology,” just as a small committee was seeking a space that could be dedicated to 3D printing and design. The rest, as they say, makes for a very interesting story.  

Apurva and Assistant Vice Chancellor of Client Services John Mazzarella realized the first order of business was finding out what type of equipment they would need, and then a clearly serendipitous chain of events began to occur. They found out the Engineering department had a room it was using for makerspace-like research, but it was small and inadequate. Engineering professor Filip Cuckov told Apurva and John he would move some equipment into a larger room if his students could have access to it. That helped a lot. Then the Computer Science department received a grant to buy virtual reality equipment but had nowhere to put it. That helped too. So, very quickly, the equipment question was answered, but a larger question remained. Where oh where would this new MakerSpace facility be? 

Enter one more stroke of good fortune. Helenmary Holtz, director of the Environmental School’s Academic Lab, had some extra space in her building, and MakerSpace suddenly had a room of its own and all the equipment it needed to get started. Word quickly got around campus and people could not wait to get in. “I’ve not seen so much excitement among so many people in a while,” Apurva recalled. “The time and energy devoted to building the lab was tremendous.”  

Sure enough, this excitement and energy led to the MakerSpace being constructed and opened in near record time. The MakerSpace was opened to everyone free of charge, and students, faculty, and staff quickly flocked to the sparkling new facility. There was only one problem. The building it was in was scheduled to be torn down. 

John Mazzarella quickly realized he had a dilemma on his hands. He knew that the MakerSpace really needed to prove  its value to UMass Boston for there to be a chance that administrators would assign it a new space in a different building once the one it was in met the wrecking ball. “Our goal was to become so central to student learning that we would gain a vote of confidence from the university and be given a permanent home,” John said.  

But really, that question was never in doubt. The MakerSpace was a huge success pretty much from day one, and that success was acknowledged by administrators and faculty alike when it was announced it would be given a new home in McCormick Hall following construction.  

Today, the MakerSpace is a state-of-the-art self-service lab same as it has always been, open to students and faculty from every discipline and subject at the university. While the lab’s focus is still on 3D design and printing (with six different types of 3D printers) and mostly utilized by students in STEM disciplines, other students have also taken advantage of its resources. “We have worked with biology students, doing a lot of 3D printing of cell parts, parts of the cell as teaching aids. We worked with anatomy and physiology where the students modeled, and 3D printed a bone for coursework. We even worked with a poetry class where they wrote poetry and then 3D printed the words in different shapes,” John said, pointing out how the MakerSpace can be adapted to the full spectrum of higher education and enhance the learning experience in every academic discipline.  

Born from an idea with a passion for innovation and student success, the MakerSpace has created lasting value and an enduring legacy at UMass Boston thanks to Apurva Mehta, John Mazzarella, and all those who have provided their support along the way.