Sarah Pessin and students in the Innovation Labs
Crossroads of Creativity
Equipped with professional-grade maker spaces, woods and plastics labs and an in-house “microFactory,” DU’s Innovation Labs have long been an invaluable resource for the community. The Innovation Labs’ staff is entirely made up of student employees, each of whom uses their in-depth knowledge of 3D printers, laser cutters and more to help newcomers make the most of the equipment. Overseen by Michael Caston and Dmitri Obergfell, more than 50 student employees manage the Innovation Labs’ operations, making it one of the largest student employers on DU’s campus.
Any entrepreneur can attest to the importance of a high-quality prototype. But maker space tools are an invaluable resource for innovators of all disciplines. The Labs’ primary maker space, the Digital Lab, is nestled within the Ritchie School of Computer Science and Engineering. However, student organizations and community members beyond the engineering school often rely on the personnel and services provided by the Innovation Labs.
In recognition of the Innovation Labs’ widespread impact, Entrepreneurship@DU sat down with students, alumni and faculty who have worked with the Labs on projects of all kinds.
Thaddeus Driscoll
Woods and Plastics Labs Lead Facilitator
Thaddeus Driscoll (BA 2023) first found out about the Innovation Labs through DU’s work-study program. As a geography major, he had never worked in a woodshop before, but he always had an interest in whittling and woodcarving. While working in the Labs, Driscoll would become an integral part of the Woods and Plastics Labs’ operations.
“When I walked into the space, it was still kind of in its infancy,” Driscoll said. “I was really excited by the projects that were already happening. I met Zac Abero, another student employee of the Innovation Labs, and we wanted to help build out the equipment and the possibilities.”
In collaboration with Michael Caston and Dmitri Obergfell, Driscoll and Abero were key to expanding the Labs’ equipment catalog—and, by extension, expanding the types of projects the Innovation Labs could produce. By 2020, DU was commissioning the Labs to create COVID safety equipment for the entire campus.
“During the pandemic, we built all of the plexiglass COVID barriers,” Driscoll said. “It was the first project of that scale to come out of the Labs.”
Over the last few years, Driscoll and Abero have become key facilitators on a wide range of projects. Not only were the Labs commissioned for in-house projects by the University of Denver, but the microFactory was established in 2020, opening the doors for organizations (within and outside of DU) to contract the Labs.
The microFactory is a consultancy program that makes the Labs available to the public. In fact, a cutting-edge device for medical research, printed in-house at the Innovation Labs, will soon come to market as part of an ongoing project conceptualized by Dr. Elliott Mufson, which has been further developed at CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus.
“The original design was beautiful, but needed some troubleshooting,” Driscoll said. “We helped them prototype and 3D print a new model for their ‘Brain Jig,’ which can hold a human brain in a fixed position during research.”
The Brain Jig is one of many projects to be brought to market from the Innovation Labs. “Student workers get the opportunity to work on all sorts of custom design projects,” Driscoll said. “For example, we worked with the Denver Zoo to create stalactites for their bat enclosures. We also helped DU’s Pollinators Club to install bat boxes across campus.”
Julie Morris
Teaching Professor, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Biological Sciences
Faculty Advisor to the DU Pollinators Club
Julie Morris came to the Innovation Labs in 2019 with a major project intended to address declining bat populations. “We were looking for something to do for Earth Day, and the club wanted to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity in urban environments,” Morris said. “Bats are important insect eaters, and bat boxes are one way to help combat their population decline.”
Morris praised the Labs’ staff and equipment for helping bring their idea to life. “Thaddeus and the team at the Innovation Labs were essential for the research and design of our bat boxes.” Since the bat box project, Morris has integrated the Innovation Labs’ resources into her other on-campus projects. “We have used the Woods Labs’ resources for the Community Garden,” Morris said. “All of our grad student leads attend the Labs’ woodworking workshop. It has become a regular part of our operations.”
Morris believes the Innovation Labs are a valuable, but underutilized, resource on DU’s campus. “A lot of people don’t even know we have a woodshop,” she said. “Even if they do, they think, ‘I don’t know how to use a woodshop. I wouldn’t know where to start!’”
Morris has found that once her students take the workshop and learn the ropes of the Woods Lab, they both enjoy the experience and expand their skill sets. “I’ve found with my grad students, once they get into it, they get excited about it,” she said. “It’s a great space for creativity, for community-building, innovation—all sorts of skills that are useful in the real world.”
Sarah Pessin
Professor of Philosophy, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Interfaith Chair; Director of Spiritual Life
Sarah Pessin teaches philosophy and interfaith studies at DU, and recently began a new role as director of spiritual life for the University’s Office of Student Affairs and Inclusive Excellence. According to Pessin, the Innovation Labs have expanded the ways her students engage with their theoretical and historical curriculums. “In my areas of study, so much is abstract,” Pessin said. “Turning these abstract concepts into something concrete has opened many opportunities in my teaching.”
For example, Pessin’s class on coexistence explores Kintsugi, a Japanese art form that conveys imperfection as part of the human condition. Kintsugi artwork takes broken pottery and mends the pieces with lacquer mixed with powdered gold (among other materials). Pessin teaches Kintsugi as a metaphor for larger complex topics, such as modern-day pluralism and liberal democracy.
Pessin worked with the Innovation Lab team to put together a special Kintsugi-style project for her whole class: Students broke salad plates inside canvas bags and then worked for over an hour to put the pieces back together with a special mix of glue and faux gold powder. “It helped me and my students think in new ways about—and experience new reactions to—the difficulty, imperfection, but also deep importance of navigating differences with our neighbors,” Pessin said. The student employees worked with Pessin and her students every step of the way, ensuring they had the proper tools and support to effectively complete their project.
Pessin’s engagement with the Innovation Labs goes beyond her in-class curriculum. As director of spiritual life, Pessin is undertaking another project that will be seen by the entire DU campus soon. In fact, her project relies on both the Labs’ equipment and the COVID-19 plexiglass barriers Thaddeus Driscoll helped produce in 2020.
“We are going to convert the COVID barriers into ‘hope mobiles’ that will be displayed across campus,” Pessin said. The project will start by using the Innovation Lab’s laser engraver to etch uplifting messages onto the plexiglass, and Pessin will then work with students to assemble the mobiles and install them around DU.”
Innovation Labs and DU’s 4D Experience
As a space for experiential learning, the Innovation Labs embody DU’s commitment to providing the community with 4D learning opportunities. Introduced in 2021, the 4D Experience is an institutional commitment to the success of DU students at—and beyond—the University. The four dimensions are intellectual growth, character exploration, well-being and sense of purpose.
According to Laura Perille, the executive director of DU’s 4D Experience, this holistic approach to education primes DU students to graduate with more than a degree. 4D learning gives graduates additional knowledge and skills to help them thrive in their post-college endeavors. “But the 4D Experience is not just for students,” Perille said. “It is meant to nurture a culture in which faculty and staff may engage as well, with the belief that people are best positioned to thrive both when their community is thriving and when they can support that thriving.”
According to Perille, the Innovation Labs embody the values of the 4D Experience. “Through encouraging experimentation and risk-taking, the Innovation Labs build resilience and better prepare students to navigate setbacks,” Perille said. “The Innovation Labs also empower students to creatively turn moments of challenge into critical experiences for growth and success—bringing 4D to life.”
As a hands-on learning environment that benefits a wide swath of disciplines—from biology and ecology, to philosophy and spirituality—the Labs provide space for the DU community to nurture and develop all four dimensions of learning.
“This hands-on learning environment fosters creativity, adaptability and flexibility for intellectual growth; builds courage and persistence, which are important to character exploration; connects students to supportive relationships, which nurture well-being; and enables students to see the real-world applications of their learning, which is important to careers and lives of purpose,” Perille said.
Employees of the Innovation Labs can attest to the power of this learning. Carter Rhodes (BSME 2018), a former Makerspace manager, used his hands-on experience in the Innovation Labs to secure a job at a 3D printing and product design company. Brian McCulloch, a current lead facilitator in the Innovation Labs, has gained invaluable leadership experience. These skills go beyond professional knowhow; in fact, McCulloch has used the Innovation Labs materials and sewing machines to repair clothes in his free time.
No matter your background or interest, there is something for everyone in DU’s Innovation Labs. While physically located in the School of Engineering, this hub of collaboration and hands-on learning has resources that have enriched countless DU students, faculty and staff. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a medical researcher or a professor of the humanities, we encourage you to learn more about DU’s Innovation Labs. You just might find the tools to make that dream project of yours a reality.