The Lane Innovation Hub at WVU nurtures cross-disciplinary exploration with great potential to catalyze rapid growth of the Mountain State’s entrepreneurial landscape.
Story by Holly Leleux-Thubron, Managing Editor, University Relations News
Tucked away on the Evansdale Campus at West Virginia University, a beacon of innovation has emerged fostering an ecosystem of creativity and entrepreneurship. It’s a dynamic place where ideas are nurtured and propelled forward, and its rapid growth is a testament to the University’s commitment to advancement, collaboration and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Established in honor of WVU alumni Ray and Stephanie Lane, the Lane Innovation Hub combines a student-focused makerspace and a manufacturing service center that was conceptualized as part of the University’s ongoing efforts to bridge the gap between academia and industry and to help fulfill its mission of service as a land-grant university. It provides students and researchers a place where they can access advanced machinery, expert knowledge and realize their concepts in real-world contexts.
The 9,5000-square-foot Hub was dedicated in 2021 and is comprised of three main
workshops devoted to advanced manufacturing, rapid prototyping and electrical prototyping
with an additional lab area for metal additive manufacturing methods. It’s an impressive
collection of design, machining, building and fabrication tools open to anyone
connected to WVU.
The Hub has blossomed into a large, service-centered, state-of-the-art facility flush with collaborative spirit. There is no other space quite like it, concentrated under one roof, at any other academic institution in the region. It distinguishes WVU among its peers and always impresses visitors to campus.
“Over our first two years of operation, we started looking at our space, our reach, and tried to utilize what we have here at the Hub to enhance capabilities not only for the WVU community but for our state and beyond,” said Hub Director Dustin Spayde.
“Our focus makes us unique. Our size makes us unique. And our commitment to service makes us very unique. Every single student, faculty member and the entire staff of the University has access to not only our makerspace and expert training, but also to our professional manufacturing services and that just doesn’t exist at this scale anywhere else close by."
"This is the ideal environment to nurture the entrepreneurial efforts of our students. Open access to our manufacturing service center means that the Hub can and does support multiple student-run businesses.”
Service to Students
On any given day, you’ll find a multitude of students ranging from engineering,
business, healthcare, fashion design and the arts utilizing the space. Here, they
have opportunities to not only learn critical manufacturing skills, but also to
interact with fellow entrepreneurs and manufacturing professionals offering insight
into real-world challenges and opportunities in the manufacturing space.
The Hub offers programs and workshops that equip students with the practical skills and confidence to pursue their class projects, research collaborations or entrepreneurial ambitions. Behind all these efforts, visitors also find personalized support from a knowledgeable and welcoming team who have revolutionized the space.
“Anybody inside WVU can come in, get trained on makerspace equipment and then have open access to that equipment,” he said. “All makerspace equipment and training expenses for students are covered by the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Dean's Office, regardless of if that individual is inside of the College or not.”
In addition to free access to equipment, another significant advantage of working through the Hub for students, faculty and staff is the availability of materials sold to them at cost.
“Traditionally, a student working on an electronics project on their own would have to go out and buy this piece and that piece, trying stuff out, putting things together and taking them apart until they figure out how to make something work,” Spayde said.
“Working in the Hub’s electronics prototyping lab, students have access to our prototyping stock which allows them to experiment using components from our libraries until they figure out how to make something work. And once they’ve got a working prototype, whatever the cost of those final materials was for us is the final materials cost to them. That’s a huge cost savings for them.”
The Hub staff regularly works with students on course projects, research projects, team projects and even assists several of the University’s student competition teams like the WVU Baja Society of Automotive Engineers and the University Rover Challenge Team, among others. Spayde said last spring, for example, the WVU Design, Build, Fly Club found itself in dire need of parts just a few days before its annual competition.
“They were here the very next day and worked with us to get all of the parts manufactured
in a few short hours,” he added. “And this was right on campus, right in their
backyard, with materials in stock and at cost which is huge for these student organizations
operating on limited budgets.”
Another group of students who benefit from the education available at the Hub are the small crew of student workers on staff.
Spayde said manufacturing companies familiar with the Hub quickly scoop up these students for internships and jobs because of the fundamental knowledge they bring to the table thanks, in part, to their student worker experience.
“Our student workers have gotten into the habit of wearing their Lane Innovation Hub branded shirts to interviews just in case those potential employers know who we are,” he said. “We’ve found they really want our students.”
Service to Campus
The Hub has also proven to be a tremendous asset on campus for countless faculty,
researchers, departments and facilities.
Staff there replicated a fossil brought in by a professor emeritus who was donating the original to a museum and wanted a copy to keep in their personal collection. It also has cloned ancient artifacts with in-house 3D printing capabilities so that they could be passed around in a classroom environment without risking damage to the original.
There have also been extensive partnerships between the Hub and WVU Health Sciences on several projects including using additive manufacturing methods to recreate a pediatric elbow with a malformation in the joint so that doctors could prepare for corrective surgery in the least invasive way possible.
The Hub team also worked with Health Sciences on a surgical training simulator. “This simulator is something they use regularly at Health Sciences and the first prototype for it was made outside of the University,” Spayde said. “Then, they found us and came to us to see if we could help. We’ve produced many simulators for them, notably cheaper than they have previously contracted.”
Dr. Nova Szoka, an assistant professor specializing in bariatric surgery at the WVU School of Medicine, has experienced the Hub’s expertise and cost savings firsthand.
“In the medical field, we use surgical staplers to close wounds or incisions most of the time,” Szoka said. “But giving our students an opportunity to learn hand-sew skills on bowels anastomoses in a low-stakes’ environment, meaning outside of the operating room, is critically important.”
Szoka developed a training simulator to accomplish the task. The initial prototype was made off campus, she said, but she jumped at the chance to move production to the Hub, right down the street from her office. The Hub staff helped her refine the design and saved Szoka more than 20% on simulator production.
“I think the Hub is really incredible,” Szoka said. “I’ve worked with other engineering groups and the tools, resources and knowledge at the Hub are exceptional by comparison. Not all universities have this caliber of equipment and people on campus, and it really differentiates WVU.”
Spayde said the Hub has worked with almost every college on campus at this point, except for the College of Law and College of Applied Human Sciences. “But I have hope at some point we can help them with something too,” he said with a chuckle.
There’s even optimism that the Hub could prove beneficial in supporting PRT operations. It’s been widely reported that the system, opened to students on campus in 1975, is aging, and parts for repair have become difficult to find. In comes the Hub team which was recently able to reverse engineer a needed part. Spayde said he hopes to continue working with the PRT on other needs in the future. They have also been able to help with the maintenance of old buildings on campus by manufacturing plumbing parts, shafts, ventilation pieces and more. The team also regularly makes affordable trophies in-house with its cutting, engraving and routing equipment.
“Supporting students and the University however we can is absolutely what we’re all about,” Spayde said.
Service to State
As West Virginia’s only land-grant R1 institution, serving the state is an important
mission for WVU and the Hub is here for it. It’s service mission took root during
the COVID-19 pandemic, even before the space was a fully executed idea. Renovations
were underway, machines were on order, doors were set to open but the world came
to a screeching halt instead. Hub engineers and personnel sprang into action however
they could.
They saw the desperate need for medical gear and personal protective equipment. They started small, testing surgical mask extenders before moving on to examining effective mask materials for a large-scale mask making project on campus. The team ramped up quickly, supplying hospitals and medical personnel throughout the state and across the country. Before it was all said and done, the Hub manufactured more than 4,000 face shields, nearly 100 intubation boxes and more than 20,000 mask extenders distributed across the U.S. as far as California, and across the globe to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Yet another aspect that makes the Hub such a special place is its service to small businesses. Spayde said that beyond the extensive work that his team has done for the WVU community, it’s also completed projects for other universities and small businesses through its service center.
Rob Brookover is a senior product development engineer for NovoSource LLC in Morgantown and a WVU alumnus. NovoSource is an orthopedic medical device company that designs and manufactures implants and the tools to install those implants. The team was working on new product development and needed prototype parts during the process.
“Most of our engineering department came out of WVU and several of us knew about what was happening over there in the Hub,” Brookover said. “When we realized we had an opportunity to work with them and utilize their services, we didn’t hesitate.”
NovoSource provided 3D printing specs to the Hub and the team got to work producing the prototypes in record time.
“What used to take three to four weeks now takes hours to days,” Brookover explained in reference to the Hub’s service line and location right here in West Virginia. “Having a place like this here makes a huge difference for small businesses with budgetary and staffing limitations. The Hub can provide a quick and affordable means to manufacturing this kind of prototyping and iterative design that normally wouldn’t be possible.”
Brookover said working with the WVU team was a positive experience, and that the staff was very knowledgeable, even providing feedback and guidance on design changes that they thought would make the products even better.
“I’m very proud to know that Statler College is adopting and accepting new methods of manufacturing at the Hub and fostering innovation within our state. It’s a really good and much needed thing,” he added. “If small businesses can continue fostering partnerships with the Hub, and leverage its capabilities to help grow their businesses, the sky is the limit.”