To most people, a raspberry pie is purchased at a bakery and eaten with a fork. However, for people on the forefront of innovation, a “Raspberry Pi” refers to a mini computer that can be programmed to do just about anything.
The possibilities are exactly what the College of Lake County intends to explore in a new laboratory at its Grayslake Campus, thanks to a $175,000 gift from Baxter International.
The gift to the school’s foundation will be used to renovate and create a new Baxter Innovation Lab, school officials said.
“One of the central focuses of this area — and I think it’s aptly named the innovation lab — is to get students experimenting in design, innovating on their own time,” said Rob Twardock, the college’s engineering department chairman, who is coordinating the project.
Baxter is giving the college $100,000 this month followed by $75,000 in June 2018 in exchange for 20 years of naming rights for an existing lab, he said.
“The gift will help pay for renovation, primarily, and to make it more suitable for an innovation lab,” Twardock said.
According to a statement from the college, the 1,875-square-foot lab in the Technology Wing at the Grayslake Campus, “will consist of two adjacent laboratories, one for design and digital fabrication, and one for more traditional shop work and construction.”
Twardock said he believes this type of laboratory will encourage students to work not only on their class assignments, but also on their own personal projects. Many high school students are entering college “ready, willing and able” to start computer coding when they arrive, which is standard in the engineering industry, he said.
Because technology has advanced microprocessing chips — which are small circuit boards, or mini computers, that an be programmed for use on a wide array of products — students can afford to experiment with them, he said. Ten years ago, for example, that was cost prohibitive.
The Baxter Innovation Lab will allow students, and eventually the public on a limited basis, an opportunity to explore, design, create and innovate using these microprocessors, including Raspberry Pi and another, called Arduino.
“Innovation is at the core of Baxter’s mission to save and sustain lives,” according to a statement from Stacey Eisen, senior vice president, communications, Baxter, and president, The Baxter International Foundation. “We are excited to be working with College of Lake County to establish the Baxter Innovation Lab to give future generations of innovators an inspirational new home to bring their ideas to life.”
The lab is an opportunity for students to create “life-changing” designs, according to a college statement. Twardock explained that it will contain tools, such as a 3-D printer, which is commonly used to fabricate prosthetics.
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“Students can help design, print and provide” prosthetics as requested by the medical and scientific communities, he said.
Drones are another product that are being explored for uses in surveying agricultural crops, delivering packages, as well as performing search and rescue, he said. Finding more and better uses for these items already growing in popularity are what the lab will offer, he said.
After the main renovation is completed, the college will offer an open house tour for the lab, according to Anne O’Connell, director of public relations at the College of Lake County. They expect that to occur in late 2017 or early 2018, O’Connell and Twardock said. At that time, they will be able to offer information about how the public, including other students, will be able to access the lab.
“The Baxter Innovation Lab will be the first public fab lab/makerspace in Lake County,” according to the college’s statement. “It will be part of a United States Fab Lab Network, which is associated with the Fab Foundation and the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Lake County News-Sun.