Makerspace

A Community of Makers

The Makerspace and Digital Fab Lab is a creative commons of Spelman College that is a hub for ideation, creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration. Users of the space produce and prototype works of art, mobile apps, fashion apparels, electronic circuits, biomechanical devices, digital works, performances and a multitude of other products that span the sciences, humanities, the arts and the social sciences.

Choose to change the world...

"The Spelman Innovation Lab is possibly home to the largest collection of works by black women makers."

-P. Eric Thompson

Innovation Lab Manager

Contained within the The Makerspace & Digital Fab Lab are rapid prototyping instruments, a carpentry shop, ideation spaces, digital design stations, electronic workbenches and other offerings that support creativity, prototyping and experimentation.

The activities of the space are supported by a design club, a maker fellowship, a curriculum, a student micro-grant program, a makers workshop series and a support team of student Lab Leaders ready to onboard newcomers into the space. Each resource aims to make the space inviting and accessible to students of all majors and at any skill level.

Design Club

At the heart of innovation is ideation, design and fabrication. The Design Club engages its members through interdisciplinary Lab Projects that requires a collaborative effort over an extended period of time to complete. In the process, members experience the iterative product life cycle from conception to materialization.

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What We Do

Primary objectives of the Makerspace & Digital Fab Lab include

Raising the technological, comfort and proficiency of the campus community.
Specifically, the Lab seeks ways to encourage and support the infusion of computer programming, rapid prototyping, data science, AI and other technologies into existing and new curricular and extra-curricular activity in a manner that is inviting to students.

Fostering collaboration between the disciplines on campus.
By promoting interdisciplinary projects, workshops and activity, the Lab encourages participants to organize in groups where STEM students work side-by-side with non-STEM students to deliver results neither could independently achieve. The resulting interaction leads to improved communication skills, improved team working skills and acquisition of cross-disciplinary skills through peer teaching and learning.

Preparing students for entrepreneurship.
Innovation naturally leads to entrepreneurship . The IL works with a network of academic and non-academic partners on- and off-campus to support student entrepreneurship. The Lab collaborates with Spelpreneur, Spelman's co-curricular educational initiative on entrepreneurship, on the Spelpreneur Fundamentals Workshop Series and 10-day Startup Competition.

Visit the Innovation Lab Project Gallery for a sampling of student projects completed in the Lab.

Project Gallery