Outreach & Community Involvement

Jonathan Lazar presents on Building a Cross-Campus Coalition Related to Disability.

Providing Opportunities for K-12 Students with Disabilities to Engage in Engineering Activities

Presenter: Leyf Starling

In order to provide K-12 students with multiple opportunities to engage in engineering activities, we must have a common understanding of what engineering activities are and how we can adapt or modify them to make them accessible to all students. Additionally, we need a strategy for teaming with teachers to implement these activities as well as designing unique opportunities to students with disabilities to explore the world of engineering both inside and outside the classroom. This presentation provided a common definition for engineering in the K-12 world and what an engineering activity is as well as suggests promising practices on providing teacher professional development on how to incorporate engineering in the classroom and how to design experiences for students with disabilities to engage in engineering outside of the classroom.


Managing an Open Prototyping Facility

Presenter: Davin Huston, Purdue University

The BoilerMAKER Lab at Purdue University (boilermakerlabs.org/) is a small prototyping facility with a high volume of projects (1300+ 3D print jobs every semester) and over 400 users. It is open to all Purdue students, faculty, and staff. It includesa variety of equipment, including a full woodshop with CNC routers, a laser cutter, metal mill, and hand tools; a printed circuit board mill; and a variety of 3-D printers.

Our client comes first. We adapt to our users when they present the need. When students need design assistance, we will help them face-to-face. We have a large group of volunteers to assist (who are given free printing) and three paid undergraduates who are trained on the repair, management, and safety of the large machine tools. We try to make all of the machines accessible to everyone. Lab monitors are trained on machine use and will help teach others. There’s an online queue system for all 3-D print jobs. There are no machine fees and students are given a small amount of materials for free each week.

Current research endeavors include an improved queue system, automated part removal for 3-D printing, automated material loading, prosthetics, curriculum for P-12 / higher education, and an accessible pinball machine.

Tips for Success

  • Don’t lock the door! If the door is shut, it can create the perception of a barrier to access.
  • Always listen to your client. It is actually more their facility than yours.
  • Students on a creativity binge can make odd choices and demands. Cope with it, learn from it, encourage the creativity! Help educate and use it as a learning moment on good project design and manufacturing choices.
  • As long as the client is being safe, allow mistakes to happen.
  • Provide a way for all volunteers and employees to showcase their efforts through online portfolios, photos, posters, or display cases.

Setup a group messaging system so that all questions between volunteers, employees, and supervisors are visible to all.


Building a Cross-Campus Coalition Related to Disability

Presenter: Jonathan Lazar 

The Special Interest Group on Educational Accessibility serves the Towson University community as a hub for resources related to courses, programs, research, and events for people who benefit from cognitive, motor, communicative, or perceptual alternatives to support their participation in aspects of campus and community life. It is a collaborative project that brings together faculty and staff from all over the university who are interested in issues related to disability and accessibility to discuss, organize, and disseminate information.