New ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Additive Manufacturing Facility Promotes Jobs, Innovation in Central El Paso
Last Updated on August 25, 2021 at 12:00 AM
Originally published August 25, 2021
By UC Staff
¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Communications
EL PASO, Texas (August 25, 2021) - The University of Texas at El Paso opened its new 3D manufacturing engineering facility in central El Paso today to spur new economic development in the Paso del Norte region.
¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday to commemorate the official opening of the 3D Engineering and Additive Manufacturing Technologies Center at 410 S. Cotton St. Regional economic development leaders, as well as local and federal elected officials, joined ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ President Heather Wilson for the special occasion.
“¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ is a national leader in additive manufacturing, and this new facility opens opportunities for job training and economic development in the heart of El Paso,” Wilson said. “Over time, we hope that new businesses will cluster in the neighborhood.”
The Cotton Facility is the latest initiative at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ in the field of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. The center is an important part of the University’s commitment to work with the community to create the jobs of the future.
“The Cotton Facility serves several key purposes,” said Ryan Wicker, Ph.D., director of ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation and Mr. and Mrs. MacIntosh Murchison Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “These include increasing the amount of research space available to the University; providing space for education and training for K-Ph.D., industry, military and veterans; extending ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ's reach in the community by increasing STEM outreach opportunities; and providing entrepreneurship and business creation opportunities in additive manufacturing.”
In 2017, ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ acquired the 17,000-square-foot Cotton Facility in central El Paso and began renovating the space to expand its on-campus research facility focused on the use and development of additive manufacturing technologies. The Cotton Facility is located less than four miles from the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ campus and about eight miles from Fort Bliss. The space has been remodeled in phases, and the facility now operates daily, housing equipment, students, faculty and staff.
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 94% of our nearly 25,000 students are minorities, and half are the first in their families to go to college. ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ offers 168 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top tier research university in America.
