The shop is the center of activity for the Department. It’s where the concepts and ideas of faculty, extension specialists, technical staff, and students develop from paper, numbers, and drawings to a physical and often working model, proto-type, or final. The shop often creates the housings needed for other electronic and biomaterial projects which the department creates regularly.
The shop is currently a fully functioning machine and welding shop which hosts machinery such as lathes, milling machines, bending and cutting equipment, and a full range of welding equipment. The Research Shop also hosts basic wood working equipment and a full range of hand tools.
While a project is being created inconsistencies and adjustments to concepts come to light and the expertise and good judgment of the craftsman is employed. Updating machinery is important to extend the abilities of the shop as new technologies reveal themselves in the course of fabrication.