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    Fab Foundation Launches Fab Lab for Innovation and Hands-on Learning at CA State University, Bakersfield

Fab Foundation Launches Fab Lab for Innovation and Hands-on Learning at CA State University, Bakersfield

Chevron Grant Provides Access to Cutting-Edge Tools for STEM Education

Cambridge, MA – Sept. 24, 2014 – The Fab Foundation today announced the opening of a Digital Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) at California State University Bakersfield’s School of Natural Science, Mathematics and Engineering. The Fab Lab, made possible by a generous grant from Chevron, offers hands-on, project-based learning opportunities to the community, with particular emphasis on STEM education for students in grades K – 12.

Like the more than 400 facilities in the Fab Lab Network, the CSUB Fab Lab, is centered around a suite of digital fabrication tools and prototyping machines such as laser cutters, 3D Printers, and milling machines, used for “Making (almost) Anything”. It is the first of ten Fab Labs that Chevron is bringing to areas where the company operates as a result of the energy company’s strong commitment to communities and STEM education in particular.

“We are excited to partner with these world-class organizations to open this state-of-the-art Fab Lab here at CSUB,” elaborates Blair Blackwell, manager of corporate education programs at Chevron. “Investing in STEM is a national imperative and we at Chevron are dedicated to working with our partners to provide cutting-edge tools that foster innovation for the benefit of K-12 students around the country.”

Dr. Anne Houtman, Dean of the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering at CSUB explains: “CSUB has been a center for STEM education in Kern County for almost half a century. The debut of the Fab Lab at CSUB highlights our continued commitment to lifelong learning for better lives and better careers.”

The Fab Foundation supports Fab Labs worldwide in a wide range of […]

By |September 24th, 2014|Press Releases|Comments Off on Fab Foundation Launches Fab Lab for Innovation and Hands-on Learning at CA State University, Bakersfield

Chevron STEM Radio Spot

We are delighted to have been mentioned in a beautifully produced radio spot that Chevron is airing about our STEM collaboration.

Listen to how we hope to inspire the next generation of engineers and inventors.

By |September 4th, 2014|Blog|Comments Off on Chevron STEM Radio Spot

Fab News September 2014

It’s been an incredibly active summer in the fab lab community and the fall promises to be just as exciting.  Much to report on events and ways to engage, learn and collaborate.

In the meantime, please read on here!

Lass

By |September 1st, 2014|Newsletters|Comments Off on Fab News September 2014
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    SOLIDWORKS Donates 3D Design Software to the Fab Foundation for Worldwide Fab Lab Use

SOLIDWORKS Donates 3D Design Software to the Fab Foundation for Worldwide Fab Lab Use

August 10, 2014; Cambridge, MA – The Fab Foundation is pleased to announce a donation of 3D design software from the Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS Corporation to the more than 350 facilities in the Fab Lab Network. Each official Fab Lab will be eligible to receive one Commercial license of the SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD program Premium version. In addition, Fab Labs that are sites for the Fab Academy’s How to Build (Almost) Anything course will be able to get a 10-seat network license of the 3D CAD SOLIDWORKS Education Edition.

The donation was announced by Marie Planchard, SOLIDWORKS’ Director of the Education Community at the recent Fab10 International Fab Lab Meeting in Barcelona, Spain. “Since our founding in 1995,” explains Ms. Planchard, “SOLIDWORKS has wanted to be more than just a supplier. To formally achieve that goal, we instituted a number of programs that help users ranging from our active SOLIDWORKS Community to a project identifying startup companies that need technical support to assisting First Robotics teams. There are 28,000 schools that teach with SOLIDWORKS and 240 SOLIDWORKS user groups around the world with the underlying principle to share knowledge and expand capabilities for everyone to succeed in their design and digital fabrication projects.”

Fab Foundation Director Sherry Lassiter says the SOLIDWORKS contribution comes at a perfect time for Fab Labs. “As our network is growing, Fab Lab projects are becoming more complex. To support those projects, the Fab Foundation wants to provide Fabbers with the resources they need to produce the powerful digital fabrication work that is impacting lives around the world. The SOLIDWORKS contribution is a beautiful gift to everyone who participates in a Fab Lab.”Ms. Lassiter expands upon the importance of […]

By |August 21st, 2014|Press Releases|Comments Off on SOLIDWORKS Donates 3D Design Software to the Fab Foundation for Worldwide Fab Lab Use

FAB10 Barcelona Newsletter

After gathering all the data & facts… we wanted to thank you for being a part of this amazing event! Amazing because it gathered 700+ FAB10 attendees from 50+ countries!

We had over 4000 visitors throughout the week! A Record 70 Fab Academy graduates (50% attended Fab10), 130+ global fab awards project submissions, 140+ paper submissions and 7392 tweets from 1779 contributors with 41 million impressions, it was a blast!

Over the weekend the Fab Festival opened its doors to all the citizens of the world with 10+ panel talks, 50+ short talks, 60+ workshops, 100+ demos! Monday’s symposium marked the beginning of Barcelona’s Fab City Pledge to become the first self-sufficient city on the planet.

Together we made a house & a car!
The  Endesa World Fab Condenser & the OS Vehicle in collaboration with Hewlett Packard were made with the collaborative work of many committed individuals, institutions & companies!
Endesa World Fab Condenser & OS Vehicle with HP
Gathered the Fab Textiles International Community!
The Fab Textiles exhibition brought together the the International Digital Fabrication Textile community in Barcelona for a week!

We celebrated the Global Fab Awards!
A partnership between the World Bank, USAID, Fab Foundation, AutoDesk & Intel! The awards in numbers: 414 votes from 30 countries, 7,178 pageviews of fab10.org/awards, 130+ project submissions and 8,64277 GB […]

By |August 13th, 2014|Newsletters|Comments Off on FAB10 Barcelona Newsletter
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    The Fab Foundation Launches New Fab Labs in the US with Generous Grant from Chevron

The Fab Foundation Launches New Fab Labs in the US with Generous Grant from Chevron

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 18, 2014 – The Fab Foundation today announced that it will open up to 10 fabrication laboratories (Fab Labs) across the country in the next three years based upon a $10 million grant from Chevron Corporation.
The new Fab Labs will be located throughout the U.S. in areas where Chevron operates, including the first two facilities in Bakersfield and Richmond, California. When complete, these facilities will provide approximately 20,000 students and adults a hands-on science and technology experience.
This new grant is part of Chevron’s recently announced $30 million commitment and call-to-action to support STEM education and project-based learning methods.

The announcement was made today during the first-ever White House Maker Faire. There, the Fab Foundation and Chevron partnered with the MIT Mobile Fab Lab to demonstrate how students, faculty, tech enthusiasts, and engineers use digital fabrication tools. Innovations shown include: 3D printed guitars, a cargo bike with a mobile solar charging business onboard, Machines that Make Machines, a prosthetic foot,, and a desktop stereolithography 3D Printer. The Mobile Fab Lab is a computer-controlled design and machining fab lab housed in a trailer. This first mobile lab was built in August 2007 by the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The mobile lab includes the same computer controlled fabrication machines found in fab labs world-wide such as laser cutters, 3D Printers, and CNC milling machines. 

“Along with launching new fab labs, Chevron’s grant will help build the Fab Foundation’s capacity to provide access to digital fabrication across the country and around the world,” said Neil Gershenfeld, chairman of the Fab Foundation’s board. “At the White House Maker Faire we’ll be celebrating how makers are using these […]

By |June 19th, 2014|Press Releases|Comments Off on The Fab Foundation Launches New Fab Labs in the US with Generous Grant from Chevron

FAB10

FAB10 Barcelona will focus on digital fabrication and its applications and implications in the urban context for the development of new city models during a whole week of daily meetings, workshops, fab festival, symposium & we will even build a Fab House at the 1000m2 Super Fab Lab.

Join us in sunny Barcelona this summer (2-8 of July, 2014) for this year’s Fab Lab Conference . All Fab Lab members currently qualify for a special €350 discount price. You can register here: https://www.fab10.org/register

And here are some tips for saving on travel expenses: https://www.fab10.org/en/funding-advice

By |April 4th, 2014|Press Releases|Comments Off on FAB10

FAB News!

Hello World!  2014 is turning out to be an exciting and challenging year for the fab lab community, no doubt about it!  Read on…

 

FABX: THE ANNUAL GLOBAL FAB LAB CONFERENCE

  • First, please let us all acknowledge once again the fantastic team that organized and ran the FAB9 meeting in Yokohama, Japan last August.  Hiro Tanaka and his dream team created a beautiful, content-rich, cultural and professional experience that we will always remember. With deep appreciation and heartfelt congratulations, we thank you FAB9 Team for your FABulous work. 

The FAB9 conference presentations are online at: http://www.fab9jp.com/program.html . This year, for the first time we provided a forum for presenting research papers and posters. Proceedings are online at http://fablabinternational.org/fab-lab-research/proceedings-from-the-fab-9-research-stream (missing papers will be added in due course).

 

  • FAB10  planning is well under way for Barcelona.  The theme is The Fab City, reflecting on global interest in and commitment to building self-sufficient cities, to reducing our mass footprints using bits to lessen our dependence on atoms. Our hosts and masterminds for the conference are IAAC and the Barcelona fab labs. Please mark the dates July 2-8, 2014  in your calendars now!  Registration is open, with early bird discounts available until April 1, 2014. Registration, information and conference updates can be found at: http://www.fab10.org. You will note that our hosts for FAB10  have implemented a new platform for publicly listing your fab lab that also integrates with the registration site. This platform is a glimpse of great connections to come, compliments of the Barcelona team. (More on the platform below) 

 

For the FAB10 contest this year, we’re challenging the community in an entirely different way. Our goal is to build a complete self-sufficient structure in central Barcelona in a one week time frame as demonstration of distributed collaboration, […]

By |March 28th, 2014|Newsletters|Comments Off on FAB News!

Fab 9 Newsletter

KONNICHIWA FABBERS!

Only 3.3 weeks until our annual gathering, FAB9 in Japan!  As reminder, the meeting will take place August 21-27 in Yokohama.  We’re expecting about 200 of you to attend this year’s conference, a world record for the network.
Hiro Tanaka and his dream organizing team have outfitted a super fab lab for the events and crafted an incredible week of learning and making. If you have not already registered please visit the FAB9 official website to do so and get info on all things FAB9: http://fab9jp.com 

Of course this also means you only have 3 weeks to learn Japanese!  Fortunately Fujitsu, one of our FAB9 sponsors,  has created an eBook guide to learning Japanese. Check it out – and study hard!  http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/computing/server/japanese/e-book/

For those of you unable to participate in person, we’d still like for you to participate remotely by presenting your fab lab in the morning review sessions with an Ignite format presentation.

(more…)

By |August 15th, 2013|Newsletters|Comments Off on Fab 9 Newsletter