Who am I? Whenever I get asked that question, I am immediately reminded of a specific prison number from the classic musical Les Miserables. However, I am not a French ex-convict trying to reinvent myself as a mayor / factory worker / good person… or at least if I am, I am doing a very good job of being under cover.

My name is Tori, and I am actually a sophomore mechanical engineer studying engineering design at Rice. I practically live here (and honestly, this class may just make that official) because I spent two semesters last year building an interactive maze for the Houston Children’s Museum to teach children computational thinking. This summer, I worked here again with the SEED program to build a casting stand for patients who are getting cast for prosthetic limbs. Then, last semester I got a job working as a lab assistant here so I can teach others how to use the tools that I spent last year fighting with and hopefully stop the laser cutter from terrorizing the poor freshman. Because lord knows it terrorized me.

When I am not in the OEDK or studying, I spend time with other arts and engineering activities around campus. I am the public relations officer for Art+Engineering, which is a club that builds art exhibits using engineering techniques in an effort to break down the barriers between the two fields. I also assistant directed Martel College’s production of The Last Five Years last semester, which was exciting because we put on a really unique staging of the musical by putting the audience in the center of the clock and having the actors perform around them. (This immersion in theatre from last semester would also explain the immediate musical reference at the beginning of this post #sorrynotsorry)

Overall, I’m drawn to these activities because they allow me to be creative in a way that yes, I am acting as an artist, but also using prototyping tools is bringing my art to the next level. So now I’m no longer designing comics on Illustrator and printing them out, but I am designing a wooden light box with intricately carved sides as a Christmas present. No longer am I necessarily attempting to draw something decent, but I am welding together an actual casting stand that can support people’s weight. Seeing that growth and working to continue to make even more interesting things is an exciting process, especially now that I have easy access to laser cutters and 3D printers and other technologies that, quite frankly, I am kind of scared of using. It is my goal that this class teaches me to become even better with physical prototyping skills and learn to use those new technologies to bring my art and designs one step higher.