About M5

M5 is the ECE makerspace at the University of Massachusetts Amherst… a 5,000 sq. ft. academic makerspace for solid-state electronics and computing machinery.

M5’s mission is to enable ECE undergraduate and graduate students to advance their technical interests through experimentation, exploration, social interaction and entrepreneurship.

M5 integrates laboratories, meeting rooms and a demilounge to support a broad range of individual and collaborative activities, formal and informal instruction, and mentoring.

Opened in 2008, M5 is an educational initiative of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering that provides new dimensions to the UMass Amherst ECE experience.

M5 is made possible through the generous support of the College of Engineering, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, ECE alumni and our corporate partners.

M5 is located in the lower level of Marcus Hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

M5 is comprised of several types of spaces. The Great Room features the M5 demilounge and space to support group study activities. The Good Room is available as a general prototyping/study space but it is also where events such as M5 lab courses, workshops, group meetings, talks, discussions, trainings, and large group demos take place. The Pi Room features four soldering workstations and three workstations for building electronic prototypes. The SMT Lab houses microscopes, heat guns, and two workstations for surface-mount technology (SMT) projects. There is also a great deal of old electronic gear (consumer and scientific) available for recycling, upcycling and reverse engineering.