At ISU’s Student Innovation Center, the main staircase doubles as seating for screenings and special events.
Writer: Emmett McMenamy
Photos: Courtesy Iowa State University Student Innovation Center
Down in the basement of Iowa State University’s Student Innovation Center, students are building snowmobiles and mining simulated lunar soil with robots. On the main floor, they operate their own retail store called Innovate 1858. Up on the fourth floor, they’ll make you a caramel macchiato from a fully student-run cafe.
It’s a creative playground for the curious, all under one roof.
“It gives us a good excuse to learn different skills,” said Jennie Wohl, who is majoring in scientific illustration and visualization. “I didn’t know how to use a miter saw or how to 3D print. These are new skills I can use moving forward.”
The five-level, 140,000-square-foot building officially opened in fall 2020 to give students in all majors a common space to operate. The university offers dozens of specialized programs, from cybersecurity to dance to poultry production management, and the new center benefits students in every one.
“What’s really cool about this space is that anything you could want to try, make or learn about, there’s probably a resource in this building to help you do that,” said Dani Orris, the center’s senior manager of operations.
At the center, they call those resources “makerspaces.” There are currently eight, soon to be nine, including a digital modeling and visualization lab (for virtual reality), a letterpress studio and a composites shop for multimedia fabrication. Any student or faculty member can access the spaces for free, but they have to buy their own materials, many of which are available at a store on the main floor.
The building also has study spaces, club meeting rooms and a big screen in front of the main staircase, which doubles as a tiered seating area for presentations or the occasional sports watch party. Between the makerspaces and common areas, including the outdoor patios, the building is consistently bustling.
“It’s insanely cool,” said Megan Salzman, another major in scientific illustration and visualization. “I remember going on tours and being like, ‘Oh, wow — they actually have a space dedicated to all the students, where anybody can come and learn things.’”
Salzman has explored nearly every corner in the building. Last year, she and Wohl partnered on a semester-long project to use multiple makerspaces, almost like a scavenger hunt, to ultimately create a display of microscopic subjects. Salzman decided to magnify tiny hair cells from the inner ear; Wohl chose rods and cones from the eye’s retina.
To accomplish the project, they first designed and created a lithophane (a backlit textured image) in the studio for electronics, textiles and 3D printing. They 3D-printed the images, laced them with electrical wires for light panels and used laser cutters to make signs. Next they went to the metal and wood shop to build a wooden structure, and then to the digital media studio to produce a background video. “Every piece of our display used at least three different spaces in the building,” Wohl said.
They got some help along the way. Staff members in each makerspace walk students through mandatory training and answer questions.
Students learn to use the spaces for personal projects, too. While Wohl was working in the wood shop, she spotted a group of students making a bench for their dorm room. Student clubs use the sewing and embroidery machines to create apparel and merchandise.
The opportunities feel limitless, and the students appreciate the freedom they have to create whatever idea strikes them. “The fact that you can go make an entire embroidered sweatshirt, weave fabric, learn how to blow glass and how to weld — it’s definitely a blessing,” Salzman said.
A student edits video in the digital media studio.
In the metal and wood shop, a student practices welding, an essential skill for the construction of the Student Innovation Center.
