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About the Student Innovation Center

Headshot of Jim Oliver.

It’s not just a building, it’s a bold experiment to change the face of education. This is mostly shared space for students from any college or major – and that never happens in higher education.

Jim Oliver, Student Innovation Center Director and Pithan Executive Director of Innovation

For the mindset of tomorrow’s innovators

The Student Innovation Center is a hands-on hub for Iowa State students of all programs and majors. This collaborative facility provides a unique, state-of-the-art space for students to exercise their innovative and entrepreneurial muscles — to design, fabricate, test, and demonstrate ideas for everything from culinary to lunar to digital gaming to vehicles. The facility, which opened its doors in fall 2020, also includes exhibit space, print and supplies shops, a student-run cafe, office space for student organizations, and a plethora of wireless access points.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • In the Student Innovation Center, please bring items to SICTR 3121 with the date and where the item was found in the Center. We will retain the item for 14 days and after that period, will forward on to Central Stores (195 General Services). 
  • Student ID cards will be sent to the ISU Card Office, 0530 Beardshear Hall, 294-2727 after a 14-day period. 
  • Valuable items, such as certain rings and watches and credit cards, will be held in a secure location. Central Stores will be notified (centralstores@iastate.edu , 515-294-0409) when we are temporarily holding valuable items. 
  • Central Stores will retain forwarded items for an additional 90 days. Valuable items, such as rings, watches, tablets, and phones, will be held for 12 months.

Each room has a thermostat which the tenant can set the heating/cooling temperature from 70⁰F to 76⁰F. To see where the temperature is currently set at see the upper-righthand corner of the thermostat. To adjust the set temperature, you would press the up or down arrows to your desired temperature (may take a few tries, the screens can be sensitive). Then your new set temperature should appear in the upper-righthand corner. 

To open the shade/blinds you would press the open button. By pressing the open button, it will open the shades fully unless you hit one of the arrows (located under the close button) at a certain point of where you want the shades to be. Additionally, the arrow buttons allow you to adjust the shades up and down to get the desired shade or light that you are wanting. To close the blinds fully (similar to opening) you would press the close button.

If you notice an issue in your room for example, a window shade is not working properly, or you have a leak in the ceiling. Please call the SICTR Admin Office (room 3121) at 515-294-2649 or email the the Business Manager (Mike Rich, rich83@iastate.edu) notifying the issues so a service maintenance request can be submitted to fix the issue in a timely manner.

Fish tanks are not allowed in spaces due to leakage into an electrical outlet or through the room below causing concerning maintenance issues and disruption of meeting spaces or other tenant spaces. If unsure you can have item in a space please contact us.