Some useful links

Extensive Wikipedia article on history and types of 3d printing technologies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LBTkLsjHGQ

Selected manufacturers and reviews of 3d printers for consumers

3D modeling software

Onshape: what we've been using. Online, decent free option: https://www.onshape.com/en/

Blender: Free modeling and animation program. Very powerful but pretty complex: https://www.blender.org/

Autodesk: publisher of several products. Mostly aimed at commercial users but some inexpensive options: https://www.autodesk.com/

Solidworks: One of the main commercial modeling programs. https://www.solidworks.com/

Sketchup: Commercial with free options. Geared more towards architecure and interior design. https://www.sketchup.com/

OpenSCAD: Free script based modeling program https://openscad.org/

Slicers

Cura: what I have installed in the Innovation Lab. Open source and supports many printers. https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura

Prusa Slicer: Supports many printers in addition to Prusa printers: https://www.prusa3d.com/page/prusaslicer_424/

Slic3r: Open source slicer https://slic3r.org/

Model repositories

Thingiverse: Very popular with tons of models free to download https://www.thingiverse.com/

Printables: Database maintained by Prusa Research. Like Thingiverse but more modern design https://www.printables.com/