Sonoma State University unveils new makerspace at ribbon-cutting event

In a room tucked in the back of the library, Sonoma State University students are quietly becoming inventors, bringing to life their ideas using 3-D printers, computer-controlled mills and laser cutters.

The 2,000-square-foot room once used for media storage now serves as a so-called makerspace. The Rohnert Park campus officially opened the space this week to students, faculty and staff, although a class has been using it for about a month.

Located on the second floor of the library, the facility aims at inspiring creativity and innovation, giving the campus community free access to the various high-tech equipment. It’s the latest makerspace to be unveiled in Sonoma County, where the learn-through-making philosophy continues to spread.

It’s also one of five makerspaces on CSU campuses, campus officials said.

Physics and astronomy professor Jeremy Qualls spearheaded the project, helping secure a $585,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to launch the makerspace this fall and a new general education class called Dream, Make and Innovate.

Designed for sophomores, the class helps students develop problem-solving and technical skills, said Qualls, who’s teaching the course alongside his wife, So Young Han, a lecturer in the physics and astronomy department. This fall, 50 students are enrolled in the course.

Many students have never used a screwdriver or sewing machine, let alone a 3-D printer, virtual reality system or computer-controlled carver, Qualls said.

“They’re missing basic hand skills,” he said.

Students recently were working on sewing and digital embroidery. Han was teaching the class how to do a running stitch, back stitch and sew a button. Another student was using a 3-D printer to build a DC motor.

“They do everything,” Qualls said about the students. “They do fabrication. They do cutting and engraving.”

Students in his class must create and print a 3-D model, build a board game and put together a Halloween costume or prop using lighting and other technology.

“What they learn in here, they can use in their daily lives,” he said. “It allows them to address problems.”

SSU sophomore Austin Salois, 19, said students often have innovative ideas but don’t have the resources to see them come to fruition. He said the makerspace will encourage more students to become entrepreneurs, giving them the venue to create prototypes.

Junior Lucero Alvarez Vieyra was terrified when she first started working in the makerspace. A biochemistry major, she’d never handled a 3-D printer or laser cutter.

Tired of drawing molecular formulas in her organic chemistry class, Alvarez Vieyra, 20, of Santa Rosa set out to find a solution, creating a stencil on the 3-D printer that would help her create them more easily.

“I would have never imagined I would be comfortable with this technology,” said Alvarez Vieyra, who now works as a peer facilitator, showing other students how to use the equipment.

While the makerspace is only open to SSU students, faculty and staff, there are others in the county that provide community members access, including Chimera in Sebastopol and Studio 180 just south of Santa Rosa, said Casey Shea, maker education coordinator for the Sonoma County Office of Education.

Shea became the first teacher in the county to launch a maker class in 2011 while teaching math at Analy High School in Sebastopol. Since then, at least 20 primary and secondary schools across the county have rolled out “vibrant programs with dedicated stations,” said Shea, who’s now helping Cloverdale High School officials launch their makerspace.

“It’s increased engagement and buy-in from teachers and teachers,” he said about the makerspace movement.

He said it’s in part to the fact that it engages students more in the classroom. “They’re going to work harder than on a traditional assignment,” he said.

At the SSU makerspace, Han said she’s seeing students and faculty from different departments, not just those in the sciences.

“They need to know about the possibilities,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.