WASHINGTON, N.C. (WNCT) – Operators of Beaufort County’s Inner Banks STEM Center are always looking for ways to improve their educational offerings.

Now something new is in the works — a digital fabrication classroom — also known as a “Fab Lab.” The Fab Lab movement started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It’s now reaching other schools and universities.

A Fab Lab is equipped with 3D printers and other high-tech devices to give students knowledge and hands-on experience. 

“What these labs have enabled the students and the teachers to work on is to bring this knowledge into actual physical possibility in their own classroom or in their own space,” said Nader Shaterian, School Fab Lab Co-Founder.

STEM center operators say the lab will get students ready for higher learning and advanced careers.

“What Nader and the Fab Lab does in helping design a curriculum for us in addition to helping us pick out Fab Lab stations is going to help us take this from our traditional approach to even a better 21st-century approach,” said IBX STEM Center President Al Powell.

The grant money is coming from the Cannon Foundation, started by the Cannon Textile family.

STEM center leaders said the lab will help students prepare for other North Carolina jobs including in Beaufort County’s growing boating industry.

For more information on The Fab Foundation click here.