The MShop: A photo essay

May 11, 2026 | Dartmouth Engineer

Tinker Tailor Solder Pry

In the MShop—"M" for model, make, and materialize—the Thayer community learns to innovate and bring ideas to life.

MShop TA Chingpheng Phoun Th'25 Th'26 (left) supervises fellow TA Johan Munguia '27 on the lathe. (Photo by JuanCarlos Gonzalez)

Hands-on experience meets real-world projects throughout an astounding array of lab spaces in the West End. Perhaps most popular is the MShop in the lower level of Cummings Hall, where students, faculty, and researchers find the resources to move from concept to creation.

The MShop crew—an operations manager, six technical instructors (TIs), up to 20 student TAs, and an operations specialist to coordinate support—welcomes designers at every stage of the process. The shop offers the tools and training that enable Thayer's project-based curriculum, with intensive support to four to eight courses per term.

Students are paired with TIs throughout "Introduction to Engineering," learn CAD and sewing in "Design Thinking," use Solidworks to design bridges for "Solid Mechanics," and gain competency in mills, lathes, and lasers to complete projects in "Machine Engineering." Researchers work with TIs on designs, material choices, rapid prototyping on 3D printers, and fabrication. The doors are also open to a variety of independent projects.

"The MShop is where students of all different skill levels can bring their designs into reality," says Operations Manager Lee Schuette. "We help them find the right pathway."

Student uses a lathe to create a copper pen as the culminating project to become an MShop TA (left); Eva Hymes '25, an MEng candidate in mechnical and operational systems with a background in human-centered design and business development, works on a mill. (Photos by JuanCarlos Gonzalez)

The large scale of the Dartmouth Formula Racing car means teammates Liam Cotter Th'25 (left) and MShop TA Will Foox Th'25 work on it in one of Thayer's other fabrication spaces, the Allyn Large-Frame Lab. (Photo by Mark Washburn)

Diego Turrubiartes '28 uses a file to deburr an aluminum part. As an MShop TA, "I honed my technical expertise in designing using CAD software, machining, and fabrication," says the aspiring electrical engineer. (Photo by Mark Washburn)

Technical Instructor Dan DeNauw works with Achla Gandhi '25 on a testing tank to check the end-tidal CO2 monitoring device she and her team developed for their capstone in ENGS 89/90: "Engineering Design Methodolgy and Project Completion." Such monitoring is considered the ideal way to verify correct placement of advanced airway devices and guide patient ventilation. (Photo by Mark Washburn)

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