Our History
Foundation
The Peter T. Haughton Fabrication and Innovation Lab, as it is officially called, was named in honor of an NCSSM alumnus, who graduated in 1989. Peter T. Haugton was a talented woodworker and mechanical engineer who was awarded a full scholarship to Duke University. Planning for the Fab Lab began in late 2012 and construction began in June of 2014.
Excerpted from "FabLab gives students cutting-edge experience" (NCSSM Communications):
"The lab is the brainchild of Carl Ryden ’89, chair of the NCSSM Foundation. Ryden sought to honor his friend and classmate, Pete Haughton ‘89. Haughton held degrees in engineering, mathematics, public policy, and business and was working in sustainable real estate development when he died unexpectedly in 2006. Ryden envisioned an interdisciplinary space that would foster the cross-pollination of art, craftsmanship, and science.
“Pete was incredibly gifted at mathematics, but he found his greatest pleasure in using his genius to create beautiful and useful things,” says Ryden. He and Haughton both graduated from MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program, a combination of graduate engineering and business education that exposed them to MIT’s famed Fab Lab, a benchmark for such facilities."
You can read more about Carl's amazing story and relationship with Peter Haughton in the NCSSM profile When Potential Meets Opportunity: Carl Ryden '89.