I-Create, You Create: Inside the Gloria Furgason I-Create Makerspace
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Mary and Jeff Bell Library is a dynamic hub of learning, creativity, and collaboration, supporting student research while also welcoming the Corpus Christi community. One of its standout features is the Gloria Furgason I-Create Makerspace, a lab dedicated to turning ideas into reality. A recent gift from Dr. Robert R. Furgason, President Emeritus of TAMU-CC, established an endowment in honor of his wife, Gloria, to sustain the makerspace for years to come.
“The Gloria Furgason I-Create Makerspace fosters creativity not just in the arts but across many disciplines, including biology, nursing, and engineering,” said C. Derrik Hiatt, Interim Dean of University Libraries.
Designed as a resource for students, alumni, and the community, the makerspace provides access to tools and technology — including sewing and embroidery machines, CNC routers, a Cricut machine, soldering equipment, a large-format printer, and more — at a cost lower than what the public would typically pay. These resources support both academic and personal projects.
One student making full use of the lab is Kyle King ’26, a marine biology graduate student and research assistant in the university’s Movement Ecology lab.
“For my study, I’m investigating whether a shark can be deterred by a magnet attached to a fishing line,” King said. “The I-Create Lab allowed me to 3D print a plastic replica of my magnet, which helps me determine if the magnet works compared to a non-magnetic prototype.”
Beyond the 3D-printed replica, King has leveraged the lab to design a GoPro mount that attaches to his fishing pole, create custom stickers for outreach events, and print conference posters — essential tools for presenting his research.
David Jones, I-Create Coordinator at TAMU-CC, leads day-to-day operations of the lab.
“The creative and educational opportunities here are endless,” Jones said.
Thanks to two other donations to the space, the university recently added a sublimation printer and heat press to the lab’s offerings. This technology allows users to transfer high-quality designs onto T-shirts, hats, tote bags, and more — an affordable option for student organizations and nonprofits looking to create customized merchandise.
One local nonprofit, K Space Contemporary, regularly utilizes the I-Create Lab to bring its projects to life.
“We mainly use the large-format vinyl cutter to create business stickers and help with oversized projects,” said Nichole Schiller ’20, K Space Education Coordinator who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from TAMU-CC. “More recently, I’ve started using the recording studio for our educational podcasts.”
K Space Contemporary also organizes the Día de los Muertos Festival, the largest one-day street festival in the region. In preparation for the event, the nonprofit commissioned a 15-foot Catrina sculpture but faced challenges when constructing its massive fabric skirt. With no grommet machine on hand, manually hammering in 50 grommets felt like a daunting task. Schiller recalled that the makerspace had a grommet machine available, enabling her team to complete the project quickly and efficiently — while staying within the nonprofit’s budget.
“The resources here have saved us so much money,” Schiller said. “We’ve easily saved hundreds of dollars using the lab."
This is archived content and was published before April 24, 2026. While we are committed to making our digital spaces accessible to everyone, some parts of this archived content may not fully comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
If you require a specific news article in an accessible format, please contact us at webhelp@tamucc.edu. We will work to provide the content to you in an accessible format within five working days.
