Engineering Student Startup Center

The Engineering Student Startup Center is a room in Academic Surge for students to use to design and build products. In other words, a "Makerspace". It has a NextEngine 3-D scanner, a 3D Systems CubeX Trio 3-D printer, a ShopBot Desktop CNC router, and tools for plastic, wood, and metal working.

The NextEngine scanner is a color 3-D laser scanner. It lists for $2995 as of the opening date. The CubeX Trio 3-D printer is a fused deposition modeling (FDM) (AKA fused filament fabrication (FFF)) printer, like the low cost RepRap, PrintrBot, and MakerBot printers. It lists for $3999 as of the opening date. The ShopBot Desktop is a CNC router used for cutting and forming pieces of sheet wood (i.e. plywood). Its cut volume is 24" x 18" x 2", so think 2-D. Aluminum machining is also possible. The ShopBot Desktop lists for $4995 as of the opening date.

The center is for the use of engineering students initially, but is planned to become available for all students.

The center was created by BetaVarsity, a company started by UCD graduate Lucas Arzola. Their inauguration occurred October 11th, 2013 and included a keynote talk by Stanford's Tina Seelig titled "A Crash Course in Creativity".