Our People
The Innovation Wyrkshop in Laramie is staffed by ten students from across the University of Wyoming, as well as three full-time professional staff. Our staff come from different majors and together cover a broad scope of knowledge across many areas such as engineering, communications, science, and the arts. We're a friendly bunch, so please don't hesitate to reach out!
Phone: (307) 766-6460
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Mailing address:
1000 E University Avenue
Dept. 3295 (EERB)
Laramie, WY 82071
Emily Leinen
Makerspace Manager
Emily’s making career started as a young child in typical 90’s fashion with Legos and Lincoln logs. She would constantly find ways to make new products and reinvent the everyday items. As a young child, her most notable invention was a chipmunk catcher, which caught approximately seven chipmunks over the span of one summer. She has over nine years teaching experience in different fields from water safety to STEAM education. Her favorite way of making includes creating educational tools and lesson plans to reinvent the way we educate.
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Leinen received a B.S in Agroecology with an emphasis in Horticulture from the University of Wyoming in 2019, and an M.S. in Education (learning, design, and technology) from the University of Wyoming in 2022. With her background in plant science, she wanted to become a secondary education science teacher. While pursuing her Master's, she received a graduate assistantship in a makerspace creating pre-K, K-12 and adult STEAM education courses. She fell head-over-heels for makerspaces and creating anything you can imagine. Previously, Leinen managed a fleet of eighteen mobile makerspaces throughout the state of Wyoming. The mobile makerspaces provided free STEAM educational tools to rural and remote communities, bringing equitable access to educational resources to some of Wyoming's smallest towns. Currently, she manages the Innovation Wyrkshop makerspace.
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When not at work, she enjoys trying to become the world's next Iron Chef, hiking, playing board games, reading and competing with her husband to see who can lift the most weights (she is currently losing this battle, but tells him that she is miles ahead of him).
Email: tsacco@uwyo.edu
Phone: (307) 766-6460
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Mailing address:
1000 E University Avenue
Dept. 3295 (EERB)
Laramie, WY 82071
Tom Sacco
Makerspace Coordinator
Tom’s passion for making began at a young age, building Lego sets and then taking them apart to make new creations. Obsessed with building, whenever a new construction project began in his town, his dad would take him to watch. This love for making has led to all types of projects, from small-scale electronics to guitar pedalboards to chicken coops. Tom has used this creative drive in his career path as a physics teacher, using innovative methods to make original lab activities and creative demonstrations to illustrate physical properties.
Tom grew up in Rhode Island and earned a B.A. in Physics from Middlebury College with a primary focus on Physical Oceanography, culminating in a senior thesis using Spectroscopy to identify and analyze contaminants and variants in olive oil, a toast to his Italian roots. Since then, Tom has been a Middle and High School Physics and Math Teacher in Maine. This is where he discovered his first makerspace, working closely with the engineering team to learn and use the equipment and apply it to his coursework, having students build everything from prototyped amusement park rides to miniature bridges. He has used his love for science and education to spread a passion for creating and innovation.
In his free time, you can find him cooking, playing guitar, or playing cribbage with his girlfriend. Tom loves to hike, camp, and ski, and if there’s a body of water to swim in, chances are you’ll find him there!
Tom Johnson
Mobile Makerspace Coordinator
Email: tjohnso7@uwyo.edu
Phone: (307) 399-0829
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Mailing address:
1000 E University Avenue
Dept. 3295 (EERB)
Laramie, WY 82071
Tom’s interest in building, fixing, designing, engineering and creating has been a lifelong passion. As one of 12 children, there was always the opportunity to think creatively, negotiate and problem solve. Childhood experiences include livestock raising, 4H and FFA, working on motorized vehicles and carpentry. Some favorite making experiences as an adult include welding, woodworking, gardening, renovation, handheld tool and power tool work, fixing things and creating homemade projects such as live crawdad traps.
Tom is a long time Laramie resident. He is a graduate of Laramie High School. He dedicated a 28-year career to Albany County School District where he was able to end those years as a supervisor and manager of the shipping, receiving and warehouse department. In 2018, he began working as a lab manager for the University of Wyoming in the College of Engineering and Physical Science Department. While he was there, he was able to utilize those skills as he designed and constructed water system structures, managed water purification systems, oversaw the ordering and payment processing, as well as assisting graduate students in research projects. His strengths are problem solving, thinking practically, organizational skills, and the use of good ol’ common sense. Recently, Tom became the Mobile Makerspace Coordinator. He is very excited with this new opportunity to be a part of managing and delivering quality educational resources to the students all over Wyoming.
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In his time off, you’ll find Tom with his wife, three daughters, son-in-law and new grand baby. He enjoys work in and around the house, their two Boston terriers, camping, sporting events, traveling, cooking and grilling, and a good TV series.
