The Douglas A. Mercer '77 Innovation and Exploration Laboratory (Mercer XLab) officially re-opened on September 25, 2024, after a year-long renovation. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by the student project showcase and a panel discussion.
Doug Mercer was inspired by hands-on tinkering when he was a student almost 50 years ago. He wanted to provide today's RPI students with tools, space, and mentorship to explore, learn, and create. Doug Mercer endowed the initial Mercer Lab in ECSE more than a decade ago. Prof. Mona Hella guided the Lab for the first ten years into a significant resource for the department's research and education. In 2022, Doug Mercer provided an additional endowment to expand to launch the Mercer XLab , with the goal to accelerate innovation in pedagogy and multiply learning opportunities. After a major re-design and renovation, the expanded Mercer X-Lab has more than doubled the space, consisting of the main lab space, the student club space, and the Take-It/Break-It/Make-It Lab. The main lab space has multiple reconfigurable workbenches. Each workbench has a soldering station, power supply, oscilloscope, and function generator. The student club space has multiple whiteboards, display monitors, and storage lockers. The T-B-M Lab has a fume hood and testing equipment for students to safely take apart, test, and re-engineer electronic devices. The Mercer XLab will be staffed by students and supervised by ECSE faculty and staff. The complete list of Mercer XLab facilities and partnership opportunities may be found at the Mercer XLab Partnership page.
The Mercer XLab Ribbon-Cutting was preceded by short speeches by President Marty Schmidt, Doug Mercer, Dean of Engineering Shekhar Garde, and the Mercer XLab inaugural director Shayla Sawyer. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, multiple student clubs and project demonstrations filled the CBIS Atrium to showcase their creativity and their enthusiasm for the Mercer XLab.
The Celebration is capped off with a stimulating panel discussion entitled “What is the future of Common Sense?” The panelists include:
- Amitava 'Babi' Mitra, Founding Executive Director, New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET), MIT
- Christine Looser, Senior Director of Solution Design at Minerva Project, Associate Professor at Minerva University
- Sean Austin, CEO and Founder, Helios
- May Lee, Chief Strategy Officer for Institutional Impact, RPI
The panel is moderated by Shayla Sawyer, the inaugural director of the Mercer XLab.
Links:
Samantha Murray, murras7@rpi.edu, 518-276-6504