3D Facility for Biomedical Sciences:
Animation, Visualization, and Printing

Located on Level 2 of Avedisian Hall

Overview About 3D Animation 3D Printing 3D Teaching Lab 3D Gallery

Animation and 3D Printing as Hands-On Teaching Tools

In 2003, we launched our “Teaching Animation Project” as a proof-of-concept project. Since then we have produced a number of teaching animation videos in pharmacy and related biomedical sciences.
The quality of the pilot animations and their extensive use in classes and on the Internet attest to the enormous impact of the program on teaching and global outreach. To capitalize on this success, we have expanded our capability to include 3D printing and established a new, highly innovative “3D Center for Biomedical Sciences.”
The main objective of our “3D Center” is “Making Science Visible in 3D,” helping students clearly conceptualize, visualize, and produce complex scientific ideas in 3D. Animation is an innovative hands-on teaching tool that adds to students’ learning experience out-of-class.

Showcase-3D-room-Poster

The “3D Center” not only helps produce teaching animations, but also promotes University-wide faculty/student collaboration. Students can animate, view, and print models—all in 3D. Animation, coupled with 3D visualization, will greatly improve the effectiveness of teaching and the retention of scientific concepts difficult to understand.
Our “3D Center” places the University of Rhode Island among a select few leading higher institutions that use such cutting-edge technologies in their curricula. The project is a result of collaborative efforts from Professors Bongsup Cho (Pharmacy), Marian Goldsmith (Biology, CELS), and Roy Bergstrom (Information Technology Services).

 Funding Support

Special thanks to URI’s Student Technology Assistant (STA) program, coordinated by Roy Bergstrom, for providing student technical support to the 3D Center. Additional funders are listed below.

2012 Provost Innovative Teaching Grant, “Printing the Unseen: Tangible Student Access to the Molecular and Nano Scale Shape and Interaction.”
2011 Champlin Foundations Grant, “3D Center for Biomedical Sciences: Animation, Visualization, and Printing”
2007 URI Foundation Grant, “Pharmacy Teaching Animation.”
2003 Champlin Foundations Grant, “Establishment of an Animation & 3-D Stereo Visualization Facility.”
2002 URI Foundation Grant, “Animation-based Scientific Illustration.”
1992 URI Foundation Grant, “Nucleic Acids: Atomic Models as Necessary Aids for Student Instruction in Medicinal Chemistry.”