UNO Lands $8M NSF Grant to Build a 3D Printing Hub for Healthcare

The University of Nebraska at Omaha has been awarded $8 million by the National Science Foundation to establish the Nebraska Center for 3D Innovation, known as NE3D. The new center will serve as a statewide hub for developing 3D-printed technology aimed specifically at healthcare applications.

The funding comes through the NSF E-RISE program, which supports research infrastructure in states that are building competitive STEM capacity. NE3D will be based at UNO's Biomechanics Research Building, but it is designed as a network rather than a single lab. The center links UNO with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC iEXCEL, Children's Hospital Mammel Innovation Center, and several community and industry partners.

Three research priorities will drive the center's work. The first is 3D-printed prosthetics and assistive devices, with a focus on making them more responsive and lifelike. The second is antimicrobial materials for 3D printing, which could reduce infection risk in clinical settings. The third is patient-specific anatomical models for surgical planning, combining medical imaging data with additive manufacturing to give surgeons a physical rehearsal before operating.

Jorge Zuniga, Ph.D., started NE3D as a small collaboration back in 2016. The NSF award expands that grassroots effort into a formal statewide resource. Shabri LLC and other industry partners are part of the consortium, which means the research pipeline runs from university lab to real-world deployment.

The E-RISE program is explicitly structured to help states like Nebraska build research infrastructure and develop STEM talent outside the traditional coastal hubs. NE3D fits that mission directly: it ties together multiple campuses, community colleges, a children's hospital, and industry in a single 3D-printing research network.

What makes this interesting is the focus on practical healthcare outcomes rather than abstract materials science. Patient-specific surgical models, for instance, are already gaining clinical traction. Antimicrobial printed components address a genuine hospital problem. And the prosthetic work builds on Zuniga's long-running research into accessible assistive devices.

The center is expected to launch its first funded projects within months. For a state without a major 3D-printing incumbent, NE3D gives Nebraska a legitimate claim on additive manufacturing research.