Challenger Center Partners with New Matter on MOD-t 3D Printers

“New Matter is a natural partner for Challenger Center and we’re excited to begin our work together,” said Lance Bush, president and chief executive officer, Challenger Center. “We share a commitment to providing innovative, hands-on experiences that spark a passion for learning in students. The MOD-t was developed and designed for teachers and students and we’re eager to see our Challenger Learning Center educators implement these remarkably easy-to-use and elegant printers into programs with their local students.”

As part of the competition to be selected to receive the printers, Challenger Center’s network of 43 Challenger Learning Centers submitted proposals describing how they would use the printers in newly created makerspaces, design new programs, and implement the printers into current education activities. From developing 3D printing summer camps to incorporating the printers into simulated space missions like Expedition Mars, the proposals demonstrated a broad range of creative, forward-thinking approaches for Challenger Center educators to use 3D printing technology to engage students and teachers alike.

“At New Matter, our mission is to use 3D printing to bridge the digital and physical worlds, and we’re thrilled to begin our partnership with Challenger Center,” said Steve Schell, chief executive officer and cofounder, New Matter. “Educational environments are the ideal settings for the MOD-t and we’re pleased that tens of thousands of students and their teachers will soon be able to experience the printers in Centers across the country. Given the increasing national desire to go deeper into space – to Mars and beyond – and the widely accepted understanding that 3D printing will be key to that exploration, we’re also especially proud that New Matter will play a role in those missions by helping to shape the young minds that will eventually lead them.”

Widely recognized for both the high quality of its prints and the elegant simplicity of its design, the MOD-t was created with educators in mind. One of the quietest desktop 3D printers available, the MOD-t can be easily integrated into a Challenger Learning Center experience without causing disruption to the entire mission or another program taking place.

As a leader in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, Challenger Center and its network of Challenger Learning Centers provide more than 250,000 students annually with experiential education programs to engage students in hands-on learning opportunities. These programs strengthen knowledge in STEM subjects and inspire students to pursue careers in these important fields. Challenger Center was created to honor the crew of shuttle flight STS-51-L.

New Matter makes the benefits of 3D printing accessible and affordable to every classroom and home by providing the best, most seamless user experience of any desktop 3D printer. The award-winning New Matter MOD-t is the most elegantly simple printer for both educational institutions and consumers, delivering the highest quality and reliability in the industry. The company is backed by leading venture capital firms and is an operating company of leading technology incubator Idealab.