Creating a Culture of Makers

For the last five years, expansion has been the underlying theme of St. Ambrose's Engineering Department.

Engineering enrollment has been record-setting with a total of 162 students currently enrolled in both Industrial and Mechanical Engineering. With this student growth, it became apparent that updating and expanding our facilities was the crucial next step. Taking over the third floor of Hayes Hall, Engineering is now equipped with a newly-renovated Design Lab, MakerSpace, and Mechanical Engineering Lab.

The Design Lab is a space perfect for collaboration. With whiteboards, seating, video conferencing capabilities, and even a Keurig, any team project is bound to find success. This space even accommodates to the night owls who prefer studying in the early hours of the morning with 24/7 secure access.

The MakerSpace gives students a creative area that has all the equipment and tools needed to let the imagination run wild and houses our most prestigious equipment including a laser engraver, vacuum former, mill, industrial sewing machine, 3D printers, and more. Here, trained students can use this equipment and become hands-on with the technology that is currently driving the engineering industry. Preparing students for the workforce is of high priority for St. Ambrose Engineering, and the MakerSpace allows students to gain important skills required by today's engineers.

Last year, the Engineering Department celebrated obtaining the ABET accreditation for our Mechanical Engineering degree. Along with this accomplishment, a new, fully-equipped Mechanical Engineering Lab was added to the list of engineering facilities. Here students can attend classes, program robots, or experiment with our new wind tunnel.

With three new spaces designed specifically for learning, collaboration, and creative thinking, the 3rd floor of Hayes Hall has now become the central hub for engineering students at St. Ambrose. As the engineering industry is evolving and enrollment growing, St. Ambrose Engineering is committed to ensuring that its engineering graduates have all the tools, knowledge, and space necessary to be successful.