Wally in the Lab II
Associate Professor of Chemistry Lon Porter introduced alumni to the College’s initial efforts to incorporate 3D printing into teaching and learning at Wabash.
Porter put on display some of the items made by the College’s Ultimaker printer. He sees the capacity to imagine, design, and make a prototype of an object quickly and at low cost as this generation’s 'Sputnik moment.' The technology has great appeal to prospective students.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Wally Novak knows Porter's efforts firsthand. In one of Porter's early experiments with the printer, he scanned Novak's head and made a small plastic bust of the professor!
While Porter’s efforts drove the initial purchase, the College’s 3D printing effort is multidisciplinary, with faculty from the art, theater, physics, chemistry departments and students from the Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship already involved with the project.
Sam Hildebrand ’61 enjoys Porter's presentation.
Porter and Professor Richard Dallinger have worked together to design an instrument that Dallinger’s students make. Here Dallinger checks out a different item made by the printer.
Surprising even the symposium’s organizers, Porter ended his presentation revealing the “Hovey Hand”—a prototype of a project that extends the work of the E-Nable volunteer group, which seeks to match injured children with 3D printer owners to manufacture low cost prosthetic hands and arms.
The model presented on Friday was Porter’s first effort to produce the “Raptor” design assembled from over 30 parts printed in the 3D printer lab. Porter added, 'We're still really new to this effort and I feel we can make an important contribution in enhancing the lives of injured kids in the area.'
The camera phones came out as alumni captured images of the Ultimaker 3D printer.
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric Sara Drury talked about how communities—Crawfordsville and others—can be a laboratory for hands-on critical thinking and opportunities for Wabash students.
Professor Drury is director of the College’s Democracy and Public Discourse initiative (WDPD), and she introduced two of that program’s WDPD fellows, Adam Burtner ’17 (left) and Cole Crouch ’17, who answered questions from alumni about their work.
In his presentation ‘Your Brain on GPS,’ Associate Professor of Psychology Neil Schmitzer-Torbert told alumni about the immersion trip he and his students took to McGill University’s MRI lab, where they had their brains scanned. They brought the scans back to campus for future study.
Associate Professor of Biology Amanda Ingram took her audience on a visual tour of her laboratory—the fields of Namibia and Australia—where she studies the evolution of eragrostis, or lovegrasses.
Living arrangements in the field are spartan. Professor Ingram spent weeks traveling and living in this vehicle, with sleeping quarters off the ground and out of reach of…
… animals like this!
Joe Trebley ’01 asks Professor Ingram a question about her research.
Assistant Professor of Political Science Shamira Gelbman discussed the ways she and her students are studying the use of Twitter and other social media in American politics.
Jacob Burnett ’14 discusses a point with Professor Gelbman.
Associate Professor of Classics Jeremy Hartnett ’96 offered alumni stirring descriptions of the final moments in Pompeii after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
Hartnett said that while Pompeii doesn’t offer the “frozen in time” view of Roman life many assume, it still offers insights into the culture not found in Rome or other ancient Roman cities.
Professor Hartnett talks with Ray Knight following his presentation.
Before the symposium began, Matt Kriech ’00 and Damon Carl joined Associate Director of Communications Richard Paige for a Wabash on My Mind podcast.
Paige asks the questions.
Carl listens as Matt Kreich talks about his efforts at Wabash Brewing.