Business
Maker Community & Virtual Reality at NASA About This Episode In this episode, Max sits down with Taylor Waddell, a manager, designer, and student maker for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Makerspace, and co-founder of 2twenty5, a Madison-based student-maker consulting group. Insights Shared What is a maker?How do you get better as a maker?What is a makerspace?How can maker students and the business community collaborate for networking and other opportunities?How businesses can tap into the vast thinking and technical power of college students Highlights of the Episode Becoming a Maker [2:00] How did you get into making? [5:40] Taylor shares how he made the leap from an interested high school junior to newbie maker [7:06] Building a Maker Portfolio [8:30] Experiences within the maker community [13:34] Experiences in a makeathon [16:00] Building connections with student makers and the business world [21:08] Why companies should get involved with student makers and makerspaces [23:40] How can students leverage makerspace to develop their own career Making: From Minecraft to Virtual Reality at NASA [27:20] Getting into NASA [31:11] What was it like working at NASA? [35:43} What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from NASA? [39:10] What are you most excited about it right now? [48:17] Why Minecraft sparked his birth as a maker Key Quotes from Our Guest “It’s always the community. That’s always the focus of a makerspace.” “The makespace embodies such a variety of different technical backgrounds.” “It’s almost guaranteed when you walk into that [a makerspace] that you’re going to learn something that you didn’t know before. “The main thing with makerspace is people and that environment…It’s all about community.” “For NASA, you’re just given a full-on project.” “One of the most satisfying things about programming is that it’s just so easy to make mistakes and correct them.” “ I always wanted that job that made you feel like a part of something bigger.” “I can guarantee that almost everyone is a maker.” Resources Mentioned & Other Links of Interest What is a Makerspace? Makerspace FFF Printer SLA Printer Arduino Major League Hacking Hack Illinois TreeHacks What can you get from Makeathons and how to get the most Insight Wisconsin MadMakers at Wisconsin SpaceX