The Fab Lab
Helping build Texas A&M's first free, open-access, student-led engineering makerspace — then helping run it, and teaching its prototyping course.
A–AThe Lab
The Fab Lab is Texas A&M's first free, open-access, student-led engineering makerspace — a place where any student can walk in and turn an idea into a physical part. I joined the staff that built it in February 2026, and since May 2026 I've been its deputy lead: developing the lab to make it the most capable makerspace on campus, and solely maintaining its website, tfl.aidanstew.art. A lab like that only works if the machines are approachable: every tool needs a clear workflow, honest documentation, and a path for a first-timer to get certified and productive without breaking anything (including themselves).
[Placeholder — add: how the lab came to be, what equipment it houses, who it serves.]
B–BMy Machines
On staff, I was assigned to two of the lab's core machines: the 3D scanner and the CNC mill. For each, I'm building the operating workflows and writing the documentation that takes a student from "never touched it" to running real jobs — setup, safety, calibration, and the judgment calls the manual doesn't teach you.
[Placeholder — add machine makes/models, an example scan-to-print or CAD-to-part workflow, and a photo of a part that came off the mill.]
C–CPrototyping for Engineers
Since August 2026 I've been a teaching assistant for Prototyping for Engineers, the class that runs through the lab — managing, teaching, and designing a course focused on the hard skills students need to prototype their designs effectively: tolerances, workholding, feeds and speeds, and knowing when the machine is telling you something is wrong.
[Placeholder — add: course number, what a typical assignment looks like, how many students have gone through it.]