At Tech Foundry, Three Student Assistants Tackle Engineering Hands On
In the UC Davis College of Engineering’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tech Foundry supports client-based design and manufacturing for clinicians and researchers. Formerly known as TEAM Lab, it was originally established in 2010 at the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, or GBSF, as a space where custom prototypes and devices could be developed to meet specific research and medical needs. Following a period of transition — including disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, its rebrand in April 2025 and expansion to Aggie Square in Sacramento — undergraduate student assistants are once again becoming a central part of the space.
Student assistants work alongside full-time staff supervisors to design and manufacture custom devices, from research tools to specialized prototypes. With access to advanced equipment and a wide range of fabrication methods, students are able to move beyond just theory and actively apply their engineering knowledge.
For three mechanical engineering students, working at Tech Foundry has provided an opportunity to gain hands-on experience while contributing to meaningful, real-world projects. Allen Cooke, David Kou and Haelie Tweet share their experiences working as student assistants and how their work reflects technical skills they are developing along with contributing in an evolving space itself.
What drew you to engineering and to Tech Foundry?
Allen Cooke: I have always enjoyed building and tinkering with things, and I'm pretty good with math and physics, so mechanical engineering seemed like the most natural path for me. I first heard about Tech Foundry — back when it was called TEAM Lab — from an article that highlighted an assistive device created by the Tech Foundry.
David Kou: I worked on robotics and stuff like that in high school. During those experiences, I realized I liked the mechanical engineering aspect of building things the most.
Haelie Tweet: I first heard about Tech Foundry through Handshake. I didn’t know there was a possibility to work in medical research manufacturing, and it looked like a great opportunity to grow as an engineer.
What does hands-on engineering look like in your day-to-day work at Tech Foundry?
Allen Cooke: A typical day for me usually involves working on some type of project — either a client project or a lab improvement project.
David Kou: My shifts are around five hours. It might be as simple as cleaning a few of our machines and some of our equipment. Sometimes it might be helping with the design aspects, like 3D modeling and CAD design for different clients.
Haelie Tweet: Typically, I’ll do some CAD work on a design for a client, launch prints and do post-processing. It all depends on what jobs we have in the queue.
What kinds of problems are you solving at Tech Foundry?
Allen Cooke: We get a pretty wide range of projects. Sometimes it’s a client who just needs us to 3D print an existing design, other times clients will describe their needs and provide us with a “napkin sketch” idea. Then it’s up to us to engineer a completed device. Sometimes we get pretty unexpected projects, especially from external clients, such as 3D printing a housing to hold a fragment of a stone bowl or reverse engineering the head of a golf putter.
David Kou: We also help with the UC Davis Medical Center since we have some 3D printers that are super useful for printing surgery visualizations. Sometimes surgeons come to us, and it’s our job to 3D print a scan of a bone to help them plan out and communicate their surgical plan with their colleagues better.
Why do spaces like Tech Foundry matter for engineering students?
Haelie Tweet: Spaces like Tech Foundry provide real world experience in a safe learning environment. Tech Foundry instills confidence in students that they can fully produce their own work from start to finish, especially through its yearly Make-a-Thon. It opens a door for students who want to work in a rapidly developing medical field as engineers. Based on the number of projects we are working on, there’s definitely a need for them!
What have you learned working closely with machines and real clients?
David Kou: The skill that I’ve strengthened the most has been my ability to use different manufacturing methods. The amazing thing about Tech Foundry is that we’re constantly trying to acquire new equipment that’s cutting edge. And as an employee here, I am able to get trained on that equipment and get hands-on experience operating it.
Haelie Tweet: What can be made for a client obviously depends on the limitations of your manufacturing tools, so having that insight allows me to approach design with a realistic end goal in mind. We spend a lot of time iterating to find the best solution, so the first version is almost never the final product.
What makes Tech Foundry a unique engineering space?
Allen Cooke: We have an extremely wide variety of manufacturing capabilities and skills. There are other labs on campus who have a few of the same tools as us, however, I can’t think of any other lab that has all of these tools in the same place.
David Kou: The ability to use super advanced manufacturing methods beyond what’s typically taught, or even what you can experience in classrooms. The new machinery and lab itself is very well organized. It gives you an opportunity to work with tools that you can’t really access anywhere else in Davis.
Haelie Tweet: Working at Tech Foundry has helped me grow as an engineer to better understand the design process. And everyone who works at Tech Foundry is either a student or alum of UC Davis, so there’s a real sense of community.
What is the culture like working in such a close-knit lab environment?
David Kou: It’s super close because we’re a pretty small lab, so everyone knows everyone. The community is based on cooperation and teaching each other our knowledge. [The professional staff] constantly give opportunities to us student assistants to learn what they’re doing, not only the machines, but also the design principles they’ve picked up through their careers. It’s a community of constantly raising each other up together.
Haelie Tweet: The environment is very supportive. Tech Foundry is also a great learning environment with lots of new techniques to learn. Every day is different!
How do the Aggie Square and GBSF locations shape your experience?
Allen Cooke: The GBSF lab has been around longer, so the way we do things is more established than at Aggie Square. We are still getting some equipment set up at the Aggie Square lab, and I am still figuring out where certain tools are kept. But getting to assemble and calibrate some of the new machines there has been a lot of fun.
Haelie Tweet: Aggie Square is an engineer’s dream come true. The workspace and the new equipment is incredible, top of the line, and with the proximity to the medical campus, I’m excited to see what comes our way.
What projects have left a lasting impression on you?
Allen Cooke: The most memorable project I have worked on was a bumble bee enclosure. A researcher needed a more robust enclosure that would make it easier to interact with the bees. So I built a four-foot long aluminum and plexiglass box that has a series of sliding doors, small sample ports, interchangeable side and top panels, and a floor that could be removed for cleaning. I spent a handful of months on this project, but it was a very fun combination of CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting and fabrication.
David Kou: Probably a machine that’s used in medical research labs where you grow tissue. I was responsible for designing a case for a mechanism that stretches the tissue. During that, I gained a ton of experience with building around an existing system.
Haelie Tweet: We made silicone kittens complete with stomachs, ribs and fur for volunteers to practice feeding. It was a hands-on introduction to the creative environment of Tech Foundry and I had never worked with casting before.
How is your experience at Tech Foundry shaping the kind of engineer you want to become?
David Kou: The Tech Foundry opened up my eyes to different paths that I can go down. It introduced me to the interaction between mechanical engineering and medical research. As I’ve worked on it, I’ve realized it’s a super interesting topic that I might want to explore more in the future.
Haelie Tweet: Tech Foundry has taught me that I want to work somewhere I can be both a designer and a manufacturer. I really enjoy having a hands-on aspect to my work as opposed to being stuck at a desk. I also really enjoy knowing that my work has an impact in my community.