NMSU DREAM Center Empowers K-12 Teachers with 3D Printing Skills
New Mexico State University's DREAM Research Center has completed its third summer workshop, equipping K-12 teachers with hands-on 3D printing expertise to integrate into their classrooms.
New Mexico State University’s DREAM Research Center recently concluded its third annual Additive Manufacturing Personal Development (AMPD) workshop, a multi-day hybrid session designed to introduce K-12 educators from southern New Mexico to the fundamentals of 3D printing. Participants, hosted at NMSU’s Aggie Innovation Space, received practical training in 3D object design, preparing digital models for printing, and operating additive manufacturing equipment to produce physical parts.
The DREAM Center, established in 2024 with funding from the National Science Foundation, is a collaborative effort involving NMSU, the University of New Mexico, Navajo Technical University, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Its overarching objective is to develop the necessary cyberinfrastructure and workforce to support small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises within New Mexico, with an ambition to expand this model nationwide.
Mat Martins, program manager for DREAM, highlighted the AMPD workshop's role in cultivating the future manufacturing workforce by enabling teachers to bring 3D printing technology into their educational settings. The program aims to demystify manufacturing processes and encourage students and educators to engage with advanced tools, fostering new approaches to interacting with 3D designs and objects.
This year's workshop placed significant emphasis on the software and programming aspects of additive manufacturing, which teachers identified as the most challenging yet crucial component of the process. Tajkirah Wallace, a special education teacher, noted that mastering print job setup in the software was more demanding than operating the printers themselves. Vishal Kapoor, a high school math teacher, observed a strong student demand for hands-on technology courses, leading to increased enrollment in classes incorporating new technologies.
This initiative addresses the critical need for a skilled additive manufacturing workforce by focusing on early STEM education. By training K-12 teachers, the program aims to build a pipeline of future technicians and engineers, crucial for the continued growth of the AM sector. This proactive approach, starting at the K-12 level, is a common strategy to overcome projected workforce shortages in advanced manufacturing fields.
Edited by the news editor with AI from the original report — please refer to the original source.