You guys have to check out the brand new Engineering Design Pod! What used to be the Blue Express Cafe, this giant oval-shaped room with huge glass windows under the LSRC is now a space for creation.
Duke Engineering’s new Design Pod for students is in the Levine Science Research Center.
There’s essentially all the equipment in there that an engineer could ever want, organized ever so beautifully in labeled drawers and hung on walls: screwdrivers, nails, hammers, saws, pool noodles… plus, there are scientific-looking tables (a.k.a. workbenches), rolly-stools, extension chords that come down from the ceiling, even TVs… this place is frickin’ awesome!
Everything in the Design Pod is on wheels for easy reconfiguration
The “Design Pod” was created alongside Duke’s new engineering design course in order to to foster learning through hands-on experience. Students have tested out the 3D printer to create items such as a skull and even chess pieces. There’s a massive laser printer, foam cutter, panel saw, and more to come. At one end of the room there are lots of cubbies, used for holding backpacks so they don’t get in the way. In the future, team projects will be stored there, too. Several big whiteboards on wheels are scattered around the room, which students take advantage of to outline their work and draw up ideas. Almost everything is on wheels, in fact, because as Dr. Ann Saterbak explained to me, the pod is “designed to be a flexible space.” It really is a special place, carefully geared toward collaboration and innovation. Just being in there made me want to create something!
Awkward! One student made a UNC-themed chessboard in Duke’s new Design Pod.
Kyra McDonald, a freshman currently taking the engineering design course, says it’s her favorite class. The class is split up into teams and each team picks from a list of projects that they will pursue for the whole semester — examples include things like a flexible lemur feeder and a drone water sampler. What she likes so much about the class is rather than a typical lecture where you listen and take notes the whole time, this design course is all about working in your team and applying what you know to real-world scenarios.
Dr. Saterbak further developed this point. Although this is her first year at Duke, in her experience students not only get a good sense of what engineers actually do, but also leave with a “concrete, practical thing” which they are proud of and can talk about at job interviews. All the cool features that make up the design pod — the tools, the room, the flexibility — are there so Dr. Saterbak’s previous experience can become a reality for Duke students.
A 3D printed skull in the Design Pod
Because they’re still in the pre-design phase, the freshman in the class haven’t really needed to use the space to its full potential.
But that will come as soon as the physical creation starts happening. Students in the class will have special access to the design pod off-hours, so get ready because the innovation levels are about to be booming!
Story and Photos By Will Sheehan 