Innovation Lab | Hatfield Marine Science Center

The Innovation Lab is a hub for creativity and exploration, a place where ideas can be designed and built.

Idea - Prototype - Production

One of the gems of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building is the Innovation Lab or iLab. This lab has space and equipment to take your project from the idea phase, to fabricating and testing a prototype and into production.

This vast 2,563-square-foot workshop will be filled with equipment for electromechanical design, CNC and manual machining, welding and fabrication, lathes, 3D design, modeling, printing and laser cutting. There will also be audio and video systems to support innovation in the marine sciences.

In addition, there is an art studio in the MSB. It overlooks the iLab and provides artists and scientists with a collaborative workspace to explore the passion of the marine world.

Watch this video to learn more about the unique collaboration behind the iLab success.

iLab News

Seeking Interns for 2025

The iLab is offering two, year-long internships. These internships start at the beginning of Winter term 2025 and run through the calendar year to the end of Fall term 2025. Students will work onsite 10 hours a week during the academic terms and 40 hours a week during the summer term. Summer housing at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport will be provided along with an hourly wage. Deadline is 11/29/2024.

Student Developer and Collaborator Test eDNA Prototype

An eDNA collection unit with vials attached to a larger circular unit.

The iLab in collaboration with Ostrea Marine joined forces for a week-long design and build campaign to complete the second prototype of the EDULIS (Environmental DNA Underwater Long-term In-situ Sampler) system. This tool is a passive sampling method used for species identification. It includes a water pump that pumps water through a filter with small holes that traps particles from animals (fish skin, etc.). Scientists can then examine the contents of the filters to see what has been in the area where the filter system was set up.

This project design is led by OSU undergraduate Genevieve Coblentz-Strong a technician and former intern in the iLab who has guided the prototype through first and now second round development. Coblentz-Strong recently presented her work on the sampler at the Oceans Conference in Halifax and published a paper which will be released with the conference proceedings later this year.

Kyle Neumann, the force behind Ostrea Marine, joined the group in Newport from his home in Juneau, Alaska. This second-round prototype significantly reduced the size and complexity and increased the modularity. The team hopes to schedule offshore field testing in the near term and are looking for any collaborators interested in incorporating eDNA sampling into their work. If you are interested in participating, contact iLab Manager, Drummond Wengrove.

iLab Goes to Alaska

A piece of a glacier falls into the water creating a giant splash.

Scientists and their equipment often work in extreme environments. This is the case for the Coastal Boundary Dynamics Research Lab from Oregon State University’s College of Engineering. They reached out to the iLab to develop an automated deployment system for a multibeam sonar that researchers were deploying in ice-saturated waters near an actively calving tidewater glacier.

Read how this project led the iLab team to Alaska and the intern whose summer project was seriously field-tested.