{"id":4264,"date":"2018-09-10T06:54:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T06:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ultimakerstage.wpengine.com\/learn\/"},"modified":"2023-12-15T13:55:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:55:44","slug":"a-unique-3d-printing-collaboration-between-mathematics-and-chemistry-faculty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ultimaker.com\/es\/learn\/a-unique-3d-printing-collaboration-between-mathematics-and-chemistry-faculty\/","title":{"rendered":"A unique 3D printing collaboration between mathematics and chemistry faculty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"3D<\/div>\n

A unique 3D printing collaboration between mathematics and chemistry faculty<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n

Kristen Schreck, Ultimaker Pioneer and Associate Professor of Mathematics, follows a practice of \u00abpassing it on\u00bb \u2014 collaborating with colleagues to spread 3D printing across disciplines at Saint Xavier University.<\/p><\/div>\n

How it all began in mathematics<\/h2>\n

My journey to integrate 3D printing into the curriculum of the mathematics courses I teach at Saint Xavier University (SXU) began in the fall of 2016 in\u00a0Multivariable Calculus with the Pioneer Program and an Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer<\/a>. My students and I were accustomed to working with the mathematical computing programs, Mathematica and Maple, to render plots and animations of curves and surfaces in 3D. We used them to explore and illustrate the properties of a myriad of parameterized surfaces, observe their characteristics, and test our theories and conjectures.<\/p>\n

Generating the 3D plot of a particular surface brought to life from its equation, being able to rotate it in any direction, or look down one of the coordinate axes to get a bird\u2019s-eye view using these math software programs, certainly has its own wow factor and makes the mathematics more meaningful to students who are just learning it. However, it\u2019s hard to top watching a mathematical surface, that you have created, emerge layer-by-layer for the first time upon the bed of a 3D printer. It is a most remarkable sight! The iterative process of writing code in the math software, creating a successful 3D plot, and tweaking the design (in other programs, where necessary) to finally obtain a successful 3D print gave my students overwhelming satisfaction and ownership of the complex mathematics they were studying.<\/p>\n

I have since integrated 3D printing into the curriculum of many of the other math courses I teach: Calculus I, Modern Geometry, History of Mathematics, senior seminar student capstone projects, and general education mathematic courses. From the moment those memorable first 3D prints of mathematical surfaces appeared, it\u2019s been my aim to enthusiastically further and infuse the 3D modeling and printing process in my own field and to share what I have learned with educators in a wide variety of disciplines.<\/p><\/section>\n

\"01Forms<\/figure><\/div>\n
Forms of a hyperboloid of revolution generated using Mathematica in multivariable calculus<\/div><\/div>\n
\"02Hyperbolic<\/figure><\/div>\n
Hyperbolic paraboloid surface, shown printing with supports<\/div><\/div>\n
\"03Hyperbolic<\/figure><\/div>\n
Hyperbolic paraboloids (saddle surfaces) generated using Mathematica in multivariable calculus<\/div><\/div>\n
\"04Hyperbolic<\/figure><\/div>\n
Surfaces with negative curvature created in Mathematica for a senior seminar project<\/div><\/div>\n

Passing it on: 3D printing across disciplines<\/h2>\n

In the spring 2018 semester, I teamed with a fellow colleague at SXU, Dr. Sharada Buddha, Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Curtis Feipel, Lab Assistant and a 2018 SXU Biological Sciences graduate, to bring 3D printing into the curriculum of the Survey of Organic Chemistry course. The course is chock full of biological applications and is designed for Biology, Natural Science, and secondary education students. Typically, students spend some time during the laboratory component of the course physically building ball and stick models of the biochemical molecules they are studying using a purchased molecular model set for Organic Chemistry.<\/p><\/section>\n

\"05Molecular<\/figure><\/div>\n
Molecular model set for Organic Chemistry<\/div><\/div>\n

This semester, using my technical 3D printing assistance, the Ultimaker 2+, and the Ultimaker 2 Go, Dr. Buddha developed a new laboratory lesson in which students designed, modeled, and 3D printed the molecules. In her research and teaching, Dr. Buddha\u2019s previous experience using open-source molecular modeling and visualization tools includes\u00a0Avogadro<\/a>\u00a0(free to download),\u00a0PyMol<\/a>(this is a commercial product, a free academic version may be requested), and\u00a0ArgusLab<\/a>\u00a0(freely licensed), to name a few. The key to 3D printing the chemical models designed in these programs is converting the files to STL format.<\/p>\n

I read the interesting and highly informative article,\u00a03D Printable molecular models<\/a>\u00a0with accompanying detailed\u00a03D printable molecular model lesson<\/a>\u00a0by Dr. W. Tandy Grubbs, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Stetson University and shared it with Dr. Buddha. Dr. Buddha informed me of another article in the\u00a0Journal of Biocommunication<\/i>,\u00a03D printing of molecular models<\/a>\u00a0by Dr. Arthur Olson and Adam Gardner. These articles and lesson provided the exact inspiration, along with excellent resources, for the missing pieces we needed! To convert a chemical model created in Avogadro (or other molecular modeling tool) to an STL file for 3D printing, an additional free software tool\u00a0Python Molecular Viewer<\/a>\u00a0was required. With this information, we were off and running.<\/p>\n

Creating test prints of molecules<\/h2>\n

In preparation for my lab visit to meet with the organic chemistry students and walk them through the 3D printing steps, Dr. Buddha and I performed a few trials of the design and printing process for two simple molecules: Methane (CH4) and Ethane (C2H6).<\/p>\n

We devised the following system that worked most efficiently:<\/p>\n