In honor of its third year of operation at Georgetown University, the Maker Hub will hold an event Oct. 19 which will showcase student projects created in the space. 

The Maker Hub, the university’s on-campus lab to explore technology through creative projects, has hosted an anniversary event every year since its opening, attracting a growing number of visitors every year, according to Don Undeen, the manager of the Maker Hub. Any student who has created something in the Maker Hub and wants to exhibit their work can be featured in the celebration, and the event itself will be open to all members of the Georgetown community.

 The Maker Hub, located on the first floor of Lauinger Library, was opened Oct. 19, 2016, and spearheaded by Beth Marhanka, the current head of the Gelardin New Media Center and founder of the Maker Hub. 

The Maker Hub provides a place for students to engage with new technologies and explore their creative aspirations, according to Undeen.

“The goal was to create a space on campus where students could be creative, where we could support on-campus learning through hands-on activities, provide exposure to new technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting,” Undeen said in an interview with The Hoya. “Really an expansion of the Gelardin New Media Center’s mission to provide access to resources and a space for building creative communities.”

Both individuals and student groups use the space to create many types of projects that further a variety of purposes. Noah Martin (COL ’17, GRD ’19) started a social goods venture titled “FM-31,” that produced sustainable, handcrafted goods related to social justice issues, such as sustainably created outdoor field guides, through the resources and machines provided by the Maker Hub.

The space allowed Martin and his team to achieve a tangible result for the project, he said.

“The Maker Hub has been crucial to our work and is, perhaps most importantly, a welcoming space for anyone and everyone who has an idea they want to bring from the conceptual to the physical,” Martin said in an interview with The Hoya.

One philosophy Undeen believes guides the path of the Maker Hub is the concept HOMAGO, an acronym for “hanging out, messing around, and geeking out.” This mantra has been important in shaping the concept of the Maker Hub in the library, according to Undeen.

“First, you build a space that people want to hang out in — you make it comfortable and you make it welcoming, a place that people want to be,” Undeen said. “Then, you make tools and resources and technologies available in a very convenient way so people want to mess around.” 

The Maker Hub supplies specified resources to members of the Georgetown community, according to Undeen.

“You provide the kinds of resources and people and support and mentors on hand so that, when people want to really geek, you are available to help them with that deep dive,” Undeen said. 

A large portion of the funding for Maker Hub comes from the library under the budget for Gelardin. However, the Maker Hub also receives many resources through donations from the wider Georgetown community including legos, knitting needles and yarn.

Over the years, Maker Hub has expanded its involvement in the community by offering workshops from bookbinding to creating last-minute gifts for Valentine’s Day. The Idea Lab, a space within the Maker Hub, also provides an area for classes and clubs to meet, including Hoyarn, the knitting club on campus.

The Maker Neighbor program run by the Maker Hub brings in professionals as volunteers who work two hours a week in their area of specialization to help students and conduct workshops in many different fields.

For the three years it has existed on Georgetown’s campus, the Maker Hub has been a welcoming place that encourages both creativity and fun, according to a university news release.

“The Maker Hub has been a go-to creative space where students can connect with researchers and entrepreneurs to design, solve problems, experiment, and innovate,” the news release said.

By evolving to the Georgetown community’s needs, the Maker Hub has grown from a room with bare walls and three workbenches to a room with vibrant colors and creative energies, according to Undeen.

“I want to see the Maker Hub grow but not just in terms of the size here or in this space but in terms of the way we are promoting hands-on learning and creative community all over campus,” Undeen said.