Creativity brings LANE Innovation Hub to life

Beyond the confines of traditional academic silos, interdisciplinary education beckons students into a realm where the boundaries between subjects blur and the connections between disciplines thrive. At the Lane Innovation Hub within the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, students, faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines can combine their skills, fostering a holistic understanding of the world to ignite their curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.

Story by Kaley LaQuea, Communications Specialist
Photos by Hun Jae Lee (Iroun Photos)

Lane Hub makerspace manager Michael Loop has always had an interdisciplinary mindset. After joining the Hub, Loop utilized his extensive background in creative arts to bring in expertise from across the WVU campus.

“Part of the drive behind this was we wanted to bring not just necessarily engineering students here to use the space,” Loop said. “The space is for the university as a whole, so we asked: how do we reach out to those spaces and draw them in to show what a boon the Hub is for them to utilize?”

When interesting technology and resources were sitting unused in the Hub, Loop called in reinforcements. Interactive media assistant professor at the WVU College of Creative ArtsSchool of Art & Design Jeffrey Moser brought in his expertise to help things come to life.

“We had this Lilypad that hadn’t been used for two years because nobody knew how to implement it,” Loop explained. (A Lilypad is a tiny computer made by Arduino.) “It has this conductive thread, so you actually sew it into your material. Then you can sew in LEDs or ultrasonic sensors and flex things, so things happen when you’re moving. [Moser] was the first person to say ‘Well that’s amazing, I’m gonna make a whole project out of that’ and they did. It was really cool to see people actually implement things.”

In Moser’s Experiments in Interactivity course, students get the opportunity to plan, design and iterate. The course, Art 45, is part of the Game Design interactive media major. Students work together in groups to make interactive wearable and functional design projects. One group in last year’s course created a headband that alerts users through different colored lights when their body temperature gets too high, while another made an armband for runners to track their vitals. Moser says it’s all part of setting students up for success in a variety of career trajectories.

“What I hear from a lot of industry folks is ‘I really need someone that knows a little bit about programming, a little about marketing, about this and that,” Moser said. “They need these team leaders that can speak to everyone to bring them all together to accomplish a task. That's always been my goal for the major — to produce students that have that breadth of understanding who still have a specialty that they focus on, but also understand what it is that other people are talking about when they talk about code or they speak in engineering terms.”

Creative arts professor Jason Lee has included a requirement in his curriculum for students in advanced sculpture courses to work in the Hub for at least one project throughout the semester. Students in fashion design majors have also used the Hub’s laser cutters and 3D printing to implement their vision. Lemley Mullett, photographs manager for the West Virginia & Regional History Center, utilized the space to create a custom cosplay outfit modeled after a character in Disney’s Twisted-Wonderland mobile game.

“Having access to tech like laser cutters and resin printers is a real game-changer,” said Mullett. “Makerspace machinery is very popular in cosplay circles, but the cost and maintenance of them is beyond the budget of most individuals so discovering the Hub right here on campus has boosted my craft immeasurably.”

Mullett partially credits her craftsmanship competition second place win to the guidance and expertise provided by Hub staff.

Loop hopes that the reputation of the Hub as a welcoming and interdisciplinary place on Evansdale campus will continue to expand.

“A lot of schooling in some ways is based on theory,” Loop said. “This space allows students to take that theory and learn how to apply it into relevant experiences. If they have an idea to make a piece of art or an idea for an engineering project, but they don’t know how to do it, that’s what we’re here for. We’ve had students come in who have never used a hand drill. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We all come from different experiences in life.”

Students, faculty and staff associated with WVU have the opportunity to receive training on hand tools, electronics and a wide range of makerspace resources and machinery. More information about how to gain access to the space and schedule training can be found on the Lane Hub website.