THE GCDI
In partnership with Hamilton County Schools, STEM School Chattanooga, and Chattanooga State Community College
ABOUT
As the nation’s first K-14 Digital Fabrication Center, the Global Center for Digital Innovation (GCDI) is committed to serving the greater Chattanooga community by facilitating ideation, creation, and production through maker-centered learning. Our goal is to provide tools and processes in a safe, equitable, collaborative, and inspiring space to embolden a maker identity and ignite the entrepreneurial spirit. Through digital and traditional fabrication, students and community makers can improve their own lives and the communities around them by turning their ideas into reality.
Innovation Program Manager
Kristin Burrus is the program manager at the GCDI. She has been a teacher in Hamilton County Schools since 1998. Throughout her career she has been a science teacher in 7th -12th grade and facilitated a K-12 VW eLab for two years. She started at STEM School in 2019 and in 2021 the Global Center for Digital Innovation opened as a collaborative effort between HCS, Chattanooga State, and STEM School.
Jennifer Ellis is a lab instructor at the GCDI for the past two years. She has been teaching in Hamilton County for twelve years. She holds multiple dig-fab certifications, and her favorite machine to work on are the embroidery machine and the laser. She enjoys being crafty and she loves to hang out with her dog and niece.
Jimmy DiLorenzo has been working at the STEM school for six years and has been working at the GCDI for two years. His favorite fabrication tools in the GCDI are the CNC router and 3D modeling with Fusion 360. He loves to spend time with his family, work around the house, and play music outside of the GCDI.
Meg Peoples is new to the STEM School and GCDI. She has been teaching in Hamilton County for twelve years. Her favorite parts of the GCDI are 3D printing and working with micro-bits. In her spare time, she loves to spend time with her family, climbing, and reading books.
Awards:
Winner of the First Technology Excellence Awards Unsung Tech Hero of the Year Award announced by the Chattanooga Technology Council 2019.
The Global Center for Digital Innovation 