FabLab Lead Carries History of Making into New Career

Since Neiman Ingram-Ford is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual communication design with an emphasis in digital design, the University of Texas at Arlington FabLab was an obvious place to visit to complete projects.

“I’ve been using the space since 2016,” he said. “I was just in here all the time, either doing personal stuff or stuff for school, and Morgan Chivers noticed me and eventually asked me to work here.”

Unfortunately, at that time, Ingram-Ford was working somewhere else and so declined Chivers’ offer. Still, Ingram-Ford returned to the FabLab—where Chivers asked him several more times to join the team.

“He finally wore me down,” he said, laughing. “Probably the third or fourth time he asked—he asked me, and I said yes.”

“Neiman was just too good of a learner using the lab to not bring him onto the team,” the FabLab Librarian said. “He has worked so hard, showing initiative and resourcefulness again and again—we are really going to miss his presence and give him our sincerest congratulations on graduating with his BFA!”

More than three years after agreeing to the job, Air Force veteran Ingram-Ford says the most important thing he’s learned in the FabLab is how to help others.

“People come in [to the FabLab] with an idea and tell me about it and then I can help them throughout the process from start to finish,” he said. “At the end, they are left with this product that was originally something they just thought of—that happens a lot in my field, where we’re presented with an idea and have to make a tangible thing.”

The Fall 2021 graduate is looking back on his time in the FabLab as the chapter closes. Ingram-Ford has a lot of advice for his fellow Mavericks, but the most valuable lesson he imparted was to take ownership of their work and space.

“As student employees, we are the first point of contact, and the ones that are typically in the actual space [day-to-day],” he said. “Don’t be afraid to voice how you feel and take initiative to make something better—you might have a brilliant idea that no one else has thought about.”