Idea Realization Lab (IRL Loop/IRL2) (CDM-001)
Summary 🟢 ✓
- Owner Unit: Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media
- Sub-unit: School of Design
- Content Type: infrastructure
- Campus/Location: Loop + Lincoln Park
- Last Verified: May 30, 2026
Description & capabilities
Student fabrication spaces with 3D printing (including Stratasys F370 and Formlabs Form 2 cited in grant facilities), laser cutting, CNC routing, physical computing, and workshop support.
Access status
- Level: green (
Open Access) - Rationale: IRL publishes campus makerspace hours (Loop Mon–Fri 10am–8pm; Lincoln Park IRL2 Sat hours) and contact emails for both locations; workshops use Eventbrite sign-up.
- Access URL: irl.depaul.edu
- Contact name: IRL Loop campus
- Contact email: IRL1@depaul.edu
- Verification date: 2026-05-30
- Source URLs:
- irl.depaul.edu
- irl.depaul.edu/contact
Verification
- Status: confirmed (
âś“) - Confidence: 94/100
- Rationale: IRL public site shows current makerspace hours, workshop/Eventbrite activity, and published campus contact emails for Loop and Lincoln Park locations.
- Last verified: 2026-05-30
- Evidence:
- https://irl.depaul.edu/ lists operating hours (Loop Mon–Fri 10am–8pm; IRL2 Sat)
- Active social/event content and workshop sign-up references on IRL site (May 2026 fetch)
- Published emails IRL1@depaul.edu and IRL2@depaul.edu on official contact page
Equipment
Find this resource from the Equipment catalog or site search (e.g. “3D printers”, “laser cutter”, “NMR”).
| Category | Specific equipment |
|---|---|
| 3D printers | Stratasys F370 FDM 3D printer; Formlabs Form 2 SLA/resin 3D printer; Additional FDM and SLA printers (general student access) |
| Laser cutters | Laser cutters |
| Woodshop and general fabrication | CNC routers; Woodshop hand and power tools (student fabrication; see also CSH-001 machine shop for precision metal work) |
| Thermal forming | Thermal formers / vacuum forming |
| Sewing and textiles | Sewing machines |
| Animation and motion capture labs | Two stop motion animation studios (Loop IRL location) |
| Electronics benches and prototyping | Electronics benches (oscilloscopes, soldering, prototyping) |
Equipment access (via linked resources)
| Resource | Notes |
|---|---|
| UNI-015 | BETA Neuro-Business Lab — related wearable / human-sensing prototyping adjacency (IRL source notes DiaBalance wearable-sensor facilities) |
| CDM-022 | HexLab tangible-digital interaction — related physical-computing / hybrid experience |
| CSH-009 | STEM Center high-altitude balloon payloads — IRL 3D-printed camera cases for 2024 eclipse HAB (DePaul News); capability/fabrication bridge |
Source: IRL official site; Facilities-DiaBalance wearable-sensor facilities (May 2026). Last verified: July 29, 2026.
Contacts (resource-level)
- Website: Idea Realization Lab (IRL)
- Website: IRL Lincoln Park
- Email: IRL Loop campus
- Email: IRL Lincoln Park (IRL2)
Last verified: May 28, 2026.
People & contacts
Named contacts from the people registry when publicly documented.
- David Ramsay (Director) — david.ramsay@depaul.edu · Profile
- Chung Liang (Affiliated faculty) — cliang20@cdm.depaul.edu · Profile
- Eric Landahl (Affiliated faculty) — Profile
- Nathan Matteson (Affiliated faculty) — nmatteso@cdm.depaul.edu · Profile
Source URL
Official links and email are listed under Contacts above.
Documented Relationships
Supports CSE, robotics, and prototyping workflows across CDM projects. Cited in ORS research translation planning as an interdisciplinary innovation space for prototype refinement (NSF ART institutional context). AGIF GRA-923 Immersion Lab (PI David Ramsay) is topical to this published IRL/Forge space; 2026-08-19 search found no standalone Immersion Lab room or equipment list. DePaul News documents IRL 3D-printed camera cases for the 2024 eclipse high-altitude balloon project with CSH-009 / EXT-028.
Linked Relationship IDs
- UNI-001 - Office of Research Services (Technology Transfer)
- GRA-923 - Immersion Lab: An Interaction Design Research Space
- CSH-009 - STEM Center Hub
- EXT-028 - Illinois Space Grant Consortium
Related courses (documented)
CSE 201
- Catalog course page: CUR-036
- Relationship: uses_facility
- Rationale: DePaul's Intelligent Systems Engineering program page documents "The Forge" immersive sequence (catalog title of CSE 201) alongside the Idea Realization Lab makerspace as program fabrication infrastructure. University news identifies David Ramsay as director of the Idea Realization Lab and describes his multi-quarter, weekly project-building course whose work is showcased as Idea Realization Lab output. DePaul course catalog description references Forge / IRL fabrication pathway.
- Source URLs:
- www.depaul.edu/academics/programs/bs-in-intelligent-systems-engineering
- www.depaul.edu/news/david-ramsay
- catalog.depaul.edu/course-descriptions/cse
CSE 301
- Catalog course page: CUR-038
- Relationship: uses_facility
- Rationale: Second course in The Forge sequence (CSE 301 per catalog); same documented program and teaching context as CSE 201 — ISE program page pairs The Forge with the Idea Realization Lab, and the Ramsay Q&A ties the multi-quarter Forge-style coursework to Idea Realization Lab projects. DePaul course catalog description references Forge / IRL fabrication pathway.
- Source URLs:
- www.depaul.edu/academics/programs/bs-in-intelligent-systems-engineering
- www.depaul.edu/news/david-ramsay
- catalog.depaul.edu/course-descriptions/cse
GD 305
- Catalog course page: CUR-277
- Relationship: uses_facility
- Rationale: Catalog mentions 'laser cutter' (equipment category: Laser cutters).
- Source URLs:
- catalog.depaul.edu/course-descriptions/gd
Documented connections
Generated from publication↔resource and person↔publication registries. Superscript numbers open Sources below. Multiple sources on one claim are grouped as 1,4. Grant links are listed on publication and grant pages.
Publications
- Computational thinking, informal learning, and makerspace (2025) — documented, uses · DOI1
Sources
- Pilot conducted at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Idea Realization Lab (IRL). Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
Documented connections
Generated from publication↔resource and person↔publication registries. Superscript numbers open Sources below. Multiple sources on one claim are grouped as 1,4. Grant links are listed on publication and grant pages.
Publications
- Computational thinking, informal learning, and makerspace (2025) — documented, uses · DOI1
Sources
- Pilot conducted at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Idea Realization Lab (IRL). Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
Notes
OA CDM thesis PUB-124 (Ismail 2025) reports a pilot conducted at the Lincoln Park IRL. Most other OA theses in the 667-PDF scan do not name IRL.
Facility entry.