In Living Matter Lab under Dr. Mirela Alistar I worked on a team of six graduate and undergraduate CTD students to submit Myco Domicilia as CU Boulder’s representative semifinalist for the 2020 Biodesign Challenge. Based in New York but conducted online that year where we presented along with 42 other schools from 12 different countries on publishing a toolkit using universal design principles to make mycelium-based bioplastics a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics for makers. We each authored our own project methodologies using the novel biomaterial, mine being on making toys of mycelium with reusable magnetic hardware.
Another project I worked on in Living Matter Lab was RFID for Patients with Chronic Illnesses - an independent study through the Biomedical Engineering department where I received a small grant from Google’s ExploreCSR program. In this project I applied existing theoretical research to create chipless RFID prototypes to reduce the environmental impact of unnecessary computer chips and developed an RFID-based wearable storing medical data, aiding patients to manage information around their chronic illnesses. I also began to learn the process of applying for IRB approval through this project.
I collaborated with a PhD student (now Dr. Layne Hubbard) on their thesis project - Mindscribe - to build, design, and iteratively test three child-friendly interface prototypes, analyzing user feedback from over 50 young children and 4 researchers to improve usability so they could independently build cognitive storytelling skills with a tangible interface that would allow educators to assess the child’s development through play and reflective inquiry. The tangible interface leveraged traditional handicraft methods such as papier-mâché to seamlessly integrate into children's play and large buttons with a sound-based interface for self directed reflective inquiry. This work I did contributed to the publication of Dr. Hubbard’s dissertation by providing a tool for her research and my additional assistance to deconstruct the vast amounts of complex interview recordings to make analyzable data sets.
In Craniate under Dr. Shaz Zamore I worked with CTD graduate students, as well as mechanical engineers, and computer scientists on three projects related to bringing neuroscience education to BIPOC adolescents at title 1 schools. We created a custom tangible experiment kit for kinesthetic learning and conducted user testing and community outreach though workshops at local libraries. Within the project I helped design accessible instruction booklets for multiple literacy levels and conducted some of the user testing. We developed the kits as a startup while participating in the New Venture Challenge doing market research and pitching to investors. Another project we worked on was an educational comic book series aimed at middle schoolers where we investigated learning outcomes in the context of informal learning environments. We conducted survey testing and focus group research collaborating with a Denver-area middle school. Along with being the assistant artist for the comic book, I also helped design surveys and conducted some of the focus group testing.
Currently, I am working on a new project to develop a novel wearable sensor system designed for adolescents to be used as a tool for researching the links between stress and learning outcomes. There are several considerations to account for the differences between adolescent and adult biology and I am working on integrating these unique needs into the interface and hardware for the prototype.
The M.O.D. Capsule is AXON Squad’s complementary experiment kit. With it, subscribers will build devices and conduct experiments that they read about in the comic series.
The AXON SQUAD print comics follow the adventures of 5 plucky middle school students who have a chance encounter with G.I.A., a genderless, cyborg scientist from the future.