News

This year, Fab15 is taking place in two cities in Egypt, El Gouna by the Red Sea and Cairo. Fab15 offers you the chance to explore the diversity of Egyptian culture and Egypt's magnificent splendor. During your stay, you will be able to visit some of the most historic sites, enjoy some of the world's most famous beaches and try the rich and delicious local cuisine.

The main conference will be held in El Gouna from July 28th until August 2nd. Then, we head back to Cairo for the fab festival, fab lab tours, Fab Academy graduation ceremony, and closing ceremony.

Dear Fablabs.io user,

The 2019 FabCensus is here! Fab Foundation Forum, in its effort to better understand and respond to the needs of the rapidly growing Fab Lab Network, is looking to gather as much information as possible on all active labs and regional networks.

The data collected through this census will, in the coming months, become available to download on the Fab Foundation website, along with an annual report that we hope will be useful to both existing and new Fab Labs in support of funding and management efforts.*

SCOPESDF.org is dedicated to educators working with primary and secondary school students who want to leverage digital fabrication for STEM learning.

Scaling a Community of Practice for Education in STEM through Digital Fabrication (SCOPES-DF) is our answer to the call for quality, standards-aligned, digital fabrication curriculum. The goal is to develop a community of practice to learn with and from as we use digital fabrication to ignite student learning.

Chevron and the Fab Foundation were thrilled to sponsor a visit to Cleveland area Fab Labs and makerspaces by Adam Savage, Former Co-Host of “MythBusters” in order to promote innovation and making.

Sonya Pryor-Jones, the Fab Foundation’s Chief Implementation Officer, was instrumental in arranging the details of the visit which included stops at the Elizabeth Forward School District, the Intermediate Unit 1 Fab Lab, the Carnegie Science Center Fab Lab, Carnegie Mellon’s [email protected], University of Pittsburgh’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories, 7800 Susquehanna, and the Children’s Museum Pittsburgh’s early childhood makerspace.

The Fab Foundation is pleased to announce that Adam’s recent visit to Pittsburgh is part of a national tour of 6 Maker Cities in the USA. The tour is designed to visit and document innovation in education, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. Sponsorship is provided by Chevron, as part of the energy company’s continuing commitment to STEM education. Started in response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy “Maker Initiative,” Mr. Savage aims to engage and excite the communities he visits and then document the tour on video for the entire country to share in the experience via multiple media channels, including Tested.com. He will visit a variety of fab labs, makerspaces, hackerspaces and innovative makers in each community. Stay tuned!

The Fab Foundation, with support from Chevron, is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural Chevron STEM Education Awards, celebrating great educators in Fab Labs around the world.

First place was awarded to Fab Lab El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA, followed by Fab Lab CEPT Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, FabLat Kids, Latin America and the Carnegie Science Center Fab Lab, Pittsburgh, PA, USA rounded out the winners. The Criteria for the award included exceptional programming that demonstrated innovative methods in teaching STEM subjects utilizing the tools of digital fabrication such as CAD design, 3D Printing and microelectronics.

“We’re thrilled to honor educators and Fab Labs that are working at the forefront of STEM through youth outreach and K-12 programming,” says Sherry Lassiter, President of the Fab Foundation. “We greatly value Chevron’s partnership and leadership in these efforts.”

The Chevron STEM Education Award included cash prizes and recognition at Fab12, the annual meeting of the international Fab Lab Network held this year in Shenzhen, China. There are now over 1,000 Fab Labs around the world making the tools of digital fabrication accessible to everyone. While each Fab Lab has its own focus, there is a wide range of STEM education programing at the facilities in schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums and innovation centers worldwide.

“Chevron is proud to support the Fab Foundation to recognize Fab educators who demonstrate their commitment to teaching STEM and foster innovation among students,” said Janet Auer, Advisor, Education and Corporate Programs at Chevron. “Chevron is committed to investing in STEM education to encourage students and community members to be the innovators and makers of the future.”

The Fab Foundation is pleased to announce a number of special activities during the National Week of Making held in the United States from June 17 to 23, 2016.

White House Champions of Change

The White House recognized ten individuals as “Champions of Change” in the Making category. The White House says the selection process identified Americans who exhibited “personal passion and tireless efforts to make advances in technology and platforms, educational opportunities, or spaces that empower even more Americans to become tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs”.

The Fab Foundation is thrilled that three of the ten Champions of Change are associated with Fab Labs:

• Umberto Crenca, co-founder and artistic director of AS220 in Providence, RI
• Renee Fredericks, director of Youth Education and Employment Services at Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) Fab Lab in Anchorage, Alaska
• Sonya Pryor-Jones, Chief Implementation Officer at the Fab Foundation

The White House ceremony recognizing the Champions of Change took place on Friday June 17 at 1 p.m. The event featured remarks by U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The program was live-streamed on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/live/ and is in the archives.

Capitol Hill Maker Faire

The Capitol Hill Maker Faire featured a day of panel discussions. Fab Foundation Director Sherry Lassiter explored The Future of Making with Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE: Magazine and Kipp Bradford from the MIT Media Lab. In another panel Donald Martin, IU1 Assistant Executive Director and […]

Mobile Fab Lab to Reach Students in Rural Locations

October 28, 2015 – Coal Center, PA – Chevron andIntermediate Unit 1 (IU1) in coordination with The Fab Foundation announced today the launch of a fabrication lab (Fab Lab) that will serve Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. The IU1 Community Fab Lab will offer a permanent Fab Lab in Coal Center, as well as a mobile Fab Lab, which will give rural community school districts access to mobile technology and equipment that can be set up at their schools.

This digital fabrication workshop is made possible by a portion of Chevron’s $10 million commitment to the Fab Foundation, announced in 2014 at the White House Maker Faire, to build Fab Labs in areas where it operates in the U.S.

The IU1 Community Fab Lab will feature state-of-the-art design and fabrication equipment, such as laser cutters, 3D printers, vinyl cutters and milling machines, which will give students and the broader community unprecedented access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) resources and help build the skills and experience needed to succeed in STEM fields. The Fab Lab will promote innovation and design in the community and will build the local workforce capacity.
In addition to the permanent Fab Lab in Coal Center, a mobile Fab Lab will also be available to serve communities in the areas of Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties. This will provide high-tech equipment and teacher resources that are not often available in rural parts of these counties. The IU1 mobile Fab Lab will help bring these tools out into the community so students can build the skills needed for jobs in STEM and technical fields.

Ensuring our students have the STEM skills necessary […]

Washington, D.C. – The Fab Foundation today announced the expansion of a fabrication lab (Fab Lab) in Washington, D.C. made possible by a grant from Chevron that will further spur the creative economy and interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Fab Lab DC will include updated features and an improved STEM education program which will provide invaluable opportunities for K-12 students and members of the community to design and invent almost anything they can imagine.

Fab Lab DC, a nonprofit, digital fabrication laboratory open to students and the community, works to advance STEM education, human centered design, collaborative projects and the creative economy which relies on innovative solutions to society’s needs.

Last month, President Obama underscored the importance of STEM education in fostering the innovation and entrepreneurship on which the U.S. economy relies. The hands-on learning that will be available at Fab Lab DC is critical in sparking an interest in STEM and preparing individuals for the nearly 1 million U.S. jobs that will require basic STEM literacy over the next five years.

“We are thrilled to partner with Chevron to expand Fab Lab DC’s offerings to the community,” said Fab Foundation President Sherry Lassiter. “This new facility will give students and teachers access to sophisticated technology and together with Chevron, we’ll carry out our shared mission to empower students in the fields of technology, science and engineering through hands-on learning.”

Like the more than 400 facilities in the Fab Lab Network, Fab Lab DC is centered around a suite of digital fabrication tools and prototyping machines such as laser cutters, 3D Printers, vinyl cutters and milling machines, used for “Making (almost) Anything.” It is the second of 10 Fab Labs that Chevron is […]