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:
- 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) |
Source: IRL official site; Facilities-DiaBalance wearable-sensor facilities (May 2026). Last verified: May 28, 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).
Linked Relationship IDs
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
Notes
Facility entry.