Masters of Industrial Design

What is your background? 

An army brat no, an academic brat yes. Spent most of my childhood strapped to my mom's back as she trekked across the country, perusing such mythical beasts as the perfect sentence and other such impossible quarry, in the classrooms and libraries of very prestigious and varied institutes of learning. I've called everything from beaches to badlands home. I've walked the frozen tundra of Bemidji, home of Paul Bunyan and his big Blue Ox, and I’ve sat in a living room in northern Jersey listening to the radio. 

When it came time to pursue my own beasts academically I wanted something a little less transient so I decided to root myself in the rich soil of Philadelphia. Started at Villanova with a paired Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics major (numbers and practicality).  Moved on to the University of Pennsylvania for a master in Biomechanical Engineering.  Jumped right into the mess as a research assistant at the Metabolic Magnetic Resonance Research Center where I worked my way up to Lead Investigator on the flow pattern of gas in the sinuses. Remained somewhat creatively stimulated through biomechanical design engineering. Designed a pretty simple though pretty ingenious hand orthotic for patients who suffer from hemiplegia of the hands. Also designed a micro torsion device for testing the structural properties of artificial nano tissues and rodent spines. Some of my other biomedical designs I’m proud to say doctors still probably use at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia definitely changed me. My interests shifted through that wonderfully strong, refreshing gale blast called life. I got an idea for a business and in doing that I kind of got my eyeballs all opened up to what I’ve been missing before. The business is called The Pedal Cooperative. Recycling is nice and all but it still takes a huge amount of non-renewable resources to haul all those bottles to a recycling center. So I threw a trailer on the back of my bike and started hauling recyclables myself. Very soon others jumped onboard. The business grows and I’m happy it does such a thing as grow, because with it I too grow. Which brought me to the University of the Arts.

What are you doing here?

I am a skillful thinker, interacting with my community through the Pedal Coop made it glaringly apparent that I should apply my prowess as a tinkerer in a much more immediate way. I needed to be out on the streets, not shut away in some hermetically sealed medical facility. Why accrue more debt and additional schooling? No, I am not one of those "lifers." The culture here at the University of the Arts is where I see the spark of innovation in all things. I love being surrounded by painters, sculptors, film makers, and the like, those who stride boldly towards innovation. I gravitated to the Industrial Design field because of this drive towards innovation instead of practicality. My interest lies in helping society and people in general, my engineering background wasn’t enough. I needed a good shot in the arm: I needed to be invigorated. That’s why I came to the University of the Arts.

Where are you going?

As I continue to explore and experiment in the Design field, I want to keep the environment and behavior as a focal point. Everything I’ve learned, am learning, and will learn in the future I will throw at making a positive human impact. I want to go where I can do the most with what I have.