Proposals

Abstract

The McCarty Innovation and Learning Lab (MILL) is a hands-on workspace where the University community comes together both formally and informally to imagine, discover, innovate and responsibly create. The MILL will be a new makerspace for University of Washington students, set to open in August 2018 in the newly-constructed McCarty Hall. The facility will be steps from the Foster School of Business, Art Building, Music Building, Engineering and Computer Science Buildings, Libraries, and several other campus resources, making it a new and exciting site for collaboration, innovation, and partnerships on the UW campus. The MILL is being constructed by Housing & Food Services (HFS) in partnership with the College of Engineering. We are very excited to see this space open to the entire student community. More about the MILL: The facility will be over 7,000 square feet and will feature a large, open makerspace area that will have community, ideation, prototyping, milling, sewing/fabrics, electronics, and assembly sections. In addition, it will offer a student project storage room and lockers, a classroom space (up to 35), a wet lab facility, and a store equipped with low-cost supplies needed for projects. The facility will be well-planned with almost everything on wheels and easily able to move and be set up for a number of various functions - putting student learning and needs first. This proposal covers some of the equipment needs within the MILL. HFS will be contributing significant resources toward the equipment, software, and operational needs of the space as well, and approval of this proposal will greatly enhance our goal of providing a space for students to be able to work with equipment that is hard to find throughout campus. An advantage to the MILL for students will be our commitment to helping train and teach students. We will have full-time staff available to students, in addition to an anticipated student staff of over 20 individuals. We will also facilitate over 100 workshops and trainings for students each quarter.