Weiss Tech House gets new study spaces

New study spaces called Incubation Stations in the Weiss Tech House will provide students with more room to think this semester.

The larger of the two rooms features a wall-to-wall white board, projection equipment and new computers fully stocked with software such as Matlab and Adobe Creative Suite. The smaller has a 42" plasma screen TV.

The Incubation Stations are "very similar to the other study rooms on campus, but we're just taking the next step by making materials available for brainstorming and working on projects," WTH Student Director Matt Owens said.

Jason Halpern, who helped with the design of the study rooms, described them as "Huntsman study rooms on steroids."

Another key difference between the Incubation Stations and other campus study rooms is who can access them.

Although preference is given to WTH-recognized student groups -- such as those funded by WTH's Innovation Funds - Incubation Stations are open to reservation by any Penn student.

"It's really meant to be a complement to the other House programs," Owens said.

The rooms aren't just for school projects though, Halpern said. "Students could just come here and watch a movie, or work on a project. It's really a way to help spread the word on WTH."

The rooms have been around as long as the Tech House, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, but Owens said the space wasn't ready for student usage before this September.

Over the summer, Halpern and Owens worked on designing and fixing up the rooms by purchasing and installing most of their features.

Even though WTH hasn't made an announcement about the new spaces, "the groups that have found out about it keep coming back for it," WTH Director Anne Stamer said.

Amy Calhoun - associate director of the Digital Media Design program - wrote in an e-mail that the Incubation Stations gave her students the space to create work that allows them get jobs at major animation companies like Pixar and Electronic Arts.

The Incubation Stations will be advertised during WTH's Innovation Week, which begins next Monday, hopefully accompanied by an Open House where students can learn about the new spaces, Owens and Halpern said.

Stamer said WTH would continue to work on an online registration system. Currently, Stamer manually processes all requests to reserve the spaces.

Halpern said that the students involved in Weiss Tech House would be working on introducing more brainstorming materials, conference call capabilities as well as "some more color" into the current rooms over the next few months.

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