Graduate Student Research Highlight: Ariana Rupp

If there is any constant in my multidisciplinary explorations, it would be a playful curiosity about patterns and the physical world. While an undergrad in physics engineering satisfied such curiosity in part, chickens were interpreted as unsettling solid spheres: the field was not “real-world” enough.

After a sharp turn for industrial design and makerspaces, avian concepts finally had familiar materiality and organic contours, but functionality was reduced to ergonomic empty boxes. And then I was unexpectedly summoned by the biological world: a recording of FESTO’s jellyfish prototype…flying better than the chickens. Its mechanized beauty was the brain candy I was looking for. Biomimetics, where physics and design synergize by nature, where the complexity of a chicken’s structure is ultimately acknowledged, became my main field of interest. The Integrated Bioscience Ph.D. program at The University of Akron opened a door for me to step not only into such an exciting field, but also into the unique creative process of my sponsor, Nottingham Spirk - The Business Innovation Firm.

After much (bio)diverse wandering and learning, my research now aims to find patterns in leaf shapes for thermal design and human application.

ARIANA RUPP