Terrapin Works has opened a new makerspace in Baltimore’s Mondawmin neighborhood. The space inspires young people, provides professional skills to adults, and helps an entire community build a brighter future together.
Makerspace manager Brian Palmer operates UMD’s newest Terrapin Works facility, designed to inspire and empower future engineers in West Baltimore. (Photo by Maximilian Franz)
In the Mondawmin area of Baltimore, where half of children live below the poverty line, school students are using 3D printers, a laser cutter, and woodworking tools to create with their hands—and discover their potential.
As in other Terrapin Works makerspaces, the cutting-edge manufacturing equipment here is helping future engineers bring their ideas to life. But this newest makerspace—the first one located in a community beyond UMD’s campus—goes one step further by also helping to revitalize a neighborhood with new investment and a sense of possibility.
“I want to motivate West Baltimore students to want more and do more,” says India Alexander ’12, who leads the Baltimore makerspace’s community programming and curriculum development out of UMD’s civil and environmental engineering department.
In April 2026, Terrapin Works Baltimore was named an inaugural Do Good Campus Signature Initiative for connecting UMD engineering students with West Baltimore youth and families through hands-on learning.
People of all ages can learn engineering skills to help solve real-world problems. (Photo by Maximilian Franz)
Helping young people see what they can build, she adds, “broadens the way they think about their future selves and what they’re capable of.”
Boosting West Baltimore residents’ self-confidence is exactly what Tim Regan ’77, president and CEO of construction firm Whiting-Turner, and his wife, Joanne, had in mind when they bought a shuttered Target store adjacent to the Mondawmin Mall in 2022. The couple had the 127,000-square-foot building renovated into The Village at Mondawmin, a community hub that provides a health clinic and senior center as well as meeting space for community groups that help local youth.
It’s kind of life-changing when people realize they can make things.
— Tim Regan ’77
The Regans contributed funding for the village’s makerspace, dubbed Terrapin Works Baltimore, as a safe place for hands-on learning and discovery. Most participants are in third to 12th grades. They come through community programs in partnership with TouchPoint Baltimore, a nonprofit that Regan cofounded with Calvin Butler, then-CEO of BGE, to support residents.
Jim Zahniser ’93, M.S. ’99, the Clark School’s assistant dean for strategic operations and IT who oversees Terrapin Works’ 16 makerspaces, helped set up the Mondawmin site—and he’s already witnessed its impact on children: “You can see the pride when they finish something they’ve made with their own hands,” he says.
Hands-on projects expose young learners to engineering and how it’s an integral part of their daily lives. (Photo by Shane Cromwell)
Manager Brian Palmer operates the facility about 20 hours a week, funded by a bequest from the late Charles A. Irish Sr., Whiting-Turner’s former chief operating officer. Plans include also using the space for adult job training programs.
Alexander says she wants makerspace users of all ages to see how engineering skills can help solve real-world problems. It’s why she’s helped students use the 3D printers to make miniature lacrosse sticks and a laser cutter to create signs for imagined new storefronts.
“Tell me what sparks joy for you,” Alexander asks participants. “Tell me what your interests are. Tell me what types of problems you want to solve, and I can tell you a field of engineering that can help you do that.”
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