Northeastern Will Open 3-D Printing Lab This Fall

The Digital Media Commons inside of Snell Library includes a little bit of what you might expect. There's space for teamwork and group projects, computers, printers, scanners. But in addition to all that, there's a new fixture: 3D Printers.

This fall, the new 3D printing lab will be open for all students -- of any major -- to use, a fact that sets Northeastern apart from other Boston univeristies. 

“Twenty years ago, people were putting Microsoft Word on their résumé. Now, you’ll be putting 3-D printing on it,” Mark Sivak, an assistant academic specialist at Northeastern and one of three people involved in the lab’s development, told the Boston Globe this week. 

Once only the stuff of dreams, the lowered cost of 3D printing technology is starting a major movement within the business industry, as universities and large companies with deep pockets figure out how to best take advantage of the new technology. Amazon.com, for example, is rumored to already be investing in 3D phones to be ready when 3D printing becomes the next consumer and manufacturing revolution. 

Even Boston-based New Balance has invested in 3D printing technology to help them innovate, according to the Globe. 

What do you think?  Is this a waste of tuition dollars or is 3D printing a real-life skill of the future? Tell us in the comments. 

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