Subject: Help revolutionize classroom learning and research by supporting UMD
crowdfunding project

Description:
Dear CMNS students—

With your help, the fragile fossils and rocks once displayed in University of
Maryland geology classes will be replaced by plastic. Using 3-D scanning and
printing technology, students will receive plastic copies of objects they
wouldn’t have been allowed to hold before, such as delicate fossils
squirreled away in museums and teaching collections around the world.

Department of Geology students and faculty members are spearheading a
crowdfunding campaign to raise $7,000, which will allow them to purchase a
3-D scanner, a three-color 3-D printer and printing supplies.

Three-dimensional scanning and printing of rocks, fossils and geologic data
will revolutionize teaching and research in the department. 3-D models are
nearly indestructible, will last longer for students to use in class and can
be created without risking damage to the originals. Geology students and
faculty members envision 3-D printing many different types of geological
objects, including dinosaur skeletons, rocks, topographic maps, crystal
models, and volcanoes.

When students and faculty members scan geological objects from the
university’s collections or create their own objects from digital data,
they plan to make the 3-D specimen patterns available to the public by
posting them online.

You can learn more about this project by visiting http://ter.ps/78e.

The team’s crowdfunding campaign runs through November 22. You can support
the team by visiting https://www.launch.umd.edu/geo3d. Contributions are
tax-deductible.

-- 
Abby V. Robinson, Ph.D.
Director of Communications
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
University of Maryland
2318 Symons Hall
301-405-5845
[log in to unmask]
www.cmns.umd.edu
@UMDscience

Contact Person: Abby V. Robinson, Ph.D.
Contact Email: [log in to unmask]