Every year, hundreds of companies and organizations come together to host one of the largest science festivals in the nation. This event is the USA Science and Engineering Festival. Over a long weekend during this April, the event was held in D.C. and had hundreds of thousands of visitors of all ages. The main purpose of this event is to pique interest and encourage students to pursue an academic or career path in the STEM fields. The various exhibitors line up in rows and fill their booths with demos, activities, and games for onlookers to observe or partake in. Some exhibitors included NASA, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force, several scientific societies, top consulting firms, and of course JMU.
Hundreds of families check out the different booths at USASEF Expo.
Part of JMU’s booth showcased 3D printing for interested students and parents. We had a relatively large printer, the Ultimaker+, at the table actively printing throughout the weekend. Several ‘JMU Cubes’ were printed, shown below.
A computer model of a ‘JMU Cube’
The result after 3D printing
Many of the older students that spoke with us had either seen or worked with 3D printing previously. Parents and small children usually hadn’t, but all were equally intrigued with the printer doing its job. We had a few models that people could touch and look at, which helped to understand the printed product. Some common questions included asking common applications of 3D printing, how difficult it was to create the models on the computer, how the printer actually works, and how much one of those things costs. We also asked questions back to get the students thinking. We asked what they would like to make and where they could see the technology going with an emphasis on customizability of design. At the end, visitors walked away from our booth with a little more 3D printing knowledge and the inspiration to take advantage of this technology.
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