New Mexico State University’s DREAM Research Center has wrapped its third summer of training K-12 educators from southern New Mexico in 3D printing, running its Additive Manufacturing Personal Development (AMPD) workshop to bring hands-on additive manufacturing skills into local classrooms. Faculty from the center worked with teachers over a multi-day hybrid session at NMSU’s Aggie Innovation Space, walking them through designing 3D objects, slicing models for print, and operating printers to fabricate finished parts.
DREAM was established in 2024 withNational Science Foundation funding and involves NMSU alongside the University of New Mexico, Navajo Technical University and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The center’s broader mission is to build the cyberinfrastructure and workforce needed to support small and medium manufacturing enterprises in New Mexico through what it calls Distributed Intelligent Additive Manufacturing, with an eventual goal of extending that model nationally.
From printer training to classroom curriculum
Mat Martins, DREAM’s program manager, said the AMPD workshop is designed to seed the next generation of the manufacturing workforce by equipping teachers to bring 3D printing into their own classrooms. “The program demystifies manufacturing through empowering students and educators to interact with advanced instruments,” Martins said, adding that the goal is to help teachers find new ways for students to interact with 3D objects and design.
The workshop put particular weight on the programming side of additive manufacturing, the step educators said was the least intuitive but most essential. Tajkirah Wallace, a special education teacher at Chaparral High School, said learning to set up print jobs in the software was the hardest part of the process, even more than running the printer itself.
Vishal Kapoor, who teaches high school math at Desert Pride Academy and already runs a drone class, said interest from students in hands-on technology courses has been strong enough to reshape his course rosters, with students actively requesting classes that include new technology.
Closing the additive manufacturing skills gap
DREAM’s teacher workshop is ultimately a bet on solving a workforce shortage before it becomes a bottleneck: additive manufacturing capacity is expanding faster than the pipeline of technicians trained to run it, and building that pipeline means reaching students well before they choose a career track.
Other organizations have targeted the same gap through different entry points. UltiMaker unveiled MakerBot Nebula, an AI-driven learning platform built specifically for K-12 classrooms, pairing guided courses on printer setup and classroom integration with a “Funding Assistant” tool that helps educators track down grants for equipment, addressing the same resource barrier that pushes many schools to rely on state or federal funding, as DREAM does, rather than district budgets alone.
Elsewhere, America Makes has funneled millions of dollars specifically into education and workforce development as part of its broader mission to close the AM skills gap, including a $322 million, seven-year agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory that dedicates funding to expanding design-for-AM courseware at trade schools and universities alongside industry apprenticeships.
Programs like AMPD, MakerBot Nebula and America Makes’ workforce initiatives point to the same underlying problem: additive manufacturing’s growth depends on a workforce that doesn’t yet exist at scale. Reaching K-12 classrooms, rather than waiting for college enrollment, is increasingly how the industry is choosing to close that gap.
3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.
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Featured image shows DREAM Research Center at NMSU works to demystify 3D printing. Photo via New Mexico State University.
