Faculy Lead: Neil Gershenfeld
Project Description: Professor Gershenfeld, through MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), has helped facilitate the growth of a network of 1600+ fab labs in 100+ countries. This network has become an effective distributed infrastructure for education, innovation and research, spawning programs and businesses across the world. He been working to bring fab labs to more communities across the country as vehicles for workforce development, distributed research and technology innovation. This has led to the develop the National Fab Lab Network Act (H.R. 4948). PL@CIS will provide support to further develop this legislative effort and help to reach a larger network of lawmakers by demonstrating that the Bill is a good national investment.
Policy Lab Support: Reviewing policy documents, identifying contacts, preparing for meetings and logistical support