By: Sandy Garcia
The WeatherTech Innovation Lab is a hidden gem at Dominican, offering equipment, technology, and software for all sorts of creative projects, as well as for relaxation and fun.
The technology consists of a vinyl cutter, a sewing machine, an embroidery machine, a button-making machine, and three different 3D printers. The center also has arts and crafts supplies such as markers, yarn, and more.
For those unaware, it is located on the first floor of the Rebecca Crown Library, nestled between the information desk and the Contemplation Space. The school’s recording studio is on the lower level of the library.
The WeatherTech Innovation Lab was built with the donation from David MacNeil, the founder and CEO of WeatherTech. The Innovation Lab began the building process in 2021 while the recording studio opened in 2022.
The proposal of creating these spaces was brought up after the idea that the library needed more technology. The Innovation Lab is a place where both students and professors alike can learn and utilize the technology offered.
Although the Innovation Lab is mainly known for the tech equipment it has, it is also a space where students can just come in and work on projects, hang out, make friends, or learn and progress in a creative outlet of their choice.
Graduate student Sydney Nice works as one of the three innovation lab assistants. They show students how to use the equipment and can even help brainstorm ideas for projects.
The lab’s home in the library lets students see the library not only a place of study and research but as a place to “cultivate a community space for students” and a place where “students explore their creativity,” Nice said.
“It’s a really good, hidden gem in the Dominican community,” she said.
It’s also a place to meet people, swap ideas, and generate new ones. “There’s just a lot of these organic connections that wouldn’t happen if we didn’t have a space like that,” she said.
Aline Del Llano is a current junior studying psychology and neuroscience. She says she discovered the Innovation Lab through Engage DU when it promoted a stamp-making event.
“(It is) a place that you can just go relax and work on any projects,” she said. After a long day in her classes, she gets to “de-stress” in the innovation lab.
The Innovation Lab tries to have an event once a week. They host events such as Book Bedazzling, Miniature Monday, which occurs on the first Monday of every month for 3D printing and clay building, and they also have a repair workshop for fixing holes in jeans.
They have other events that can be found on Engage DU and the library’s website.
For more Information on events held in the Innovation Lab or information in general about the Innovation Lab, feel free to check out their website https://research.dom.edu/innovationlab
This semester, the Innovation lab is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on Wednesdays, when it’s closed until noon.
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