Carnegie Mellon hosts international makerspace symposium

In October, Carnegie Mellon hosted the 2023 International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces (ISAM). More than 300 educators from over 150 colleges, universities, and K-12 schools enjoyed tours of TechSpark and other campus maker spaces, participated in hands-on workshops, attended student poster sessions, and enjoyed presentations by faculty, staff, and other maker space innovators.

Diana Haidar, the faculty director of Tech Spark, principal member of the Higher Education Makerspaces Initiative (HEMI), and organizer of this year’s symposium was pleased with both the attendance and quality of the presentations.

“I have attended every ISAM to date because each time I find inspiration from the achievements of my colleagues. My goal in hosting ISAM 2023 at Carnegie Mellon was that by sharing our story, we would be able to give others such inspiration,” remarked Haidar.

Presentations covered topics of diversity and inclusion, entry experience into makerspaces, integrating maker spaces into the curriculum, metrics for success, environmentally conscious making, interdisciplinary making, and emerging trends in making.

Sandra DeVincent Wolf, the executive director of CMU’s Manufacturing Futures Institute and the Next Manufacturing Center delivered the keynote address. She shared ideas for creating more robust maker space activity by partnering with campus groups and corporate sponsors, holding open events, and building programs such as the Build a 3D Bioprinter Workshop she coordinates each year and Rething the Rink, an annual student make-a-thon to improve hockey safety.

The annual symposium is sponsored by the Higher Education Makerspaces Initiative—a collaborative effort from leading universities focused on solving the challenges of academic makerspaces and making their combined learnings available to others.

The next ISAM symposium will be held at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, UK from September 11-13, 2024.