Career Notes: Art + STEM

A look at a few MICA alumni and their interdisciplinary collaboration with science, technology, engineering, and math.

IN CUSTOM NANOFIBER, MICRO, AND DIGITAL MANUFACTURING

Shangtong Li ’19 (Interdisciplinary Sculpture BFA) is a design associate and facilities technician at DiPole Materials, an electrospinning company specializing in custom nanofiber manufacturing. While at MICA, Li pursued her cross-disciplinary interests in sustainable material development in the College’s BioLab, and through an internship in the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI)/MICA Extreme Arts program. The internship allowed her to complete an independent material research project in collaboration with a faculty and students at Johns Hopkins University’s Kang Lab.

Winston Frazer ’15 (Painting BFA) is co-founder and CEO of Danae, Inc., a digital manufacturing service provider that offers 3D printing, computer-aided design, and optimization for additive manufacturing. A year after his graduation, Danae was a $25k winner in MICA’s annual UP/Start Venture Competition. The company’s 3D printed prosthetic covers for amputees were recently featured in the Smithsonian Institution show Futures. 

Angela Walker ’14 (Environmental and Architectural Design BFA) is lead microfluidics research and development engineer at Potomac Photonics Inc., a digital and micro fabrication company with a history of developing miniature medical, biotech, and electronics products using a broad range of technologies.

IN MATERIALS AND FASHION

Yuchen Zhang ’10 (Graphic Design BFA) is co-founder and CEO of Wearable Media, which explores human-computer interaction through clothing, wearables, and textiles. Zhang has shown her technologically enhanced fashion design at events around the world, and was recently a fellow at the MIT Open Style Lab.

IN STEAM EDUCATION

Kevin Meadows ’02, ’05 (General Fine Arts BFA, Teaching MAT) is program specialist for enrichment, STEAM, and arts integration for Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland. 

Andrew Watson ’14 (Art Education BFA/MAT), a leading arts and STEAM educator, won the Art Education Technology Outstanding Teacher Award from the National Art Education Association. As a member of Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools STEAM Project, he developed curriculum and professional development for teachers in how to integrate science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics into over 100 schools. 

IN ENGINEERING & RESEARCH

Anne Marcotte ’10, ’13 (Graphic Design BFA, Information Visualization MPS) is a UI designer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. 

Cole Pritchard ’15 (Interactive Arts BFA) is lead 3D printing technician in the Micro Devices Group at Technology Assessment & Transfer, Inc., which specializes in advanced, materials-oriented technologies for aerospace, defense, bio-medical, and industrial applications.

Morgan Ward ’16 (Illustration BFA) is a senior 3D animator/illustrator for Oceaneering, which provides engineered services and products for the offshore and renewable energy, science, and aerospace industries. 

 

IN MEDICINE & AEROSPACE 

Jackie Meyer ’12 (Drawing, Graphic Design) is a senior medical illustrator at One World Design and Manufacturing Group in New York. While at MICA, Meyer was a medical illustration intern at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, and went on to earn an MA in Medical and Biological Illustration from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Sean Duffy ’20 (User Experience Design MPS) is a lead interaction designer for Intuitive, a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery. 

Aleks Bogunovic ’12, ’13 (Fiber BFA, Business of Art MPS) is founder and CEO of Aerothreads, an SBA Certified HUBZone and Woman Owned Small Business specializing in Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) blanket products for the aerospace industry. The company has designed thermal blanket systems for critical aerospace missions with optical, contamination sensitive, and cryogenic payloads. Clients include NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, and more.

Sofia Radin ’13 (Interdisciplinary Sculpture BFA) s a space suit fabricator for SpaceX. Radin has also used her knowledge of advanced fabrication techniques for special effects costumes for film and television. 

Amy Wetsch ’19 (Mt. Royal School of Art MFA) is lead artist on NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, where she has created interactive sculptures to aid public engagement and community outreach. Wetsch’s interest in Saturn’s largest moon began while an intern in the HEMI/MICA Extreme Arts Program, where she worked with a HEMI fellow and assistant professor researching Titan for the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. 

Rachel Lowing ’11 (Interdisciplinary Sculpture BFA) is R&D engineer at Naked Prosthetics, which designs and fabricates prosthetic devices specifically for finger and partial hand loss. Lowing is responsible for industrial design across product lines, prototyping, research, and development. 

IN HYDROPONIC AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Julie Buisson ’15 (Design Leadership MA/MBA) co-founded the agricultural development business Modernature, which garnered a $10k MICA LAB Award as well as $25k in funding during MICA’s annual UP/Start Venture Competition. Buisson recently designed the curriculum for the Growing Futures CTE Hydroponic Farm at the Phillips Programs for Children and Families campus in Laurel, Maryland, where young adults learn how to grow a variety of crops from microgreens to rare herbs.

IN SOFTWARE & MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

 

Haley Manchon ’18 (Drawing BFA) is lead designer for Paint.Team, a collaborative application that allows users to team up and create finished works of art from anywhere in the world. A winner in MICA’s annual UP/Start Venture Competition, Manchon created layout designs for Paint.Team’s desktop and mobile site as well as design assets, and app templates. Manchon continues to show her work, taking part in the Offscreen Art Show at Ground Floor Gallery in Brooklyn and the Colored Pencil Society of America’s 26th Annual International Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois. 

Emi MacLeod ’13 (Graphic Design BFA) is an interaction designer for Google’s Android Auto. Prior to joining Google, McLeod worked for Alexa Automotive as a UX designer. 

Peter Brown ’13 (Interactive Arts BFA) is a design manager for Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., where he designs IoT interfaces and software for customers in commercial, enterprise, and retail construction trades. He was previously UX lead, working on projects for DeWalt Mesh Wifi, connection tools, enterprise IoT platforms, and construction jobsite asset tracking interfaces.

Chelsea Tredupp ’10 (Interactive Arts BFA) is a senior UI/UX designer creating intuitive interfaces and workflows for Akitabox, a facility management software startup. Tredupp says that MICA is where her passion for combining art with technology with a focus on user interactions developed. 

stephen dewyer ’08 (Art History BFA) is founding director of Art in Tech Services Inc., a company focused on integrating employees with visual arts skills into the tech field, based on the belief that technology can be improved with creativity. Their services include website and web application design and development, artificial intelligence, native software design and development, UX/UI design, environmental design, and more. 

Youjin Jang ’18 (Graphic Design BFA) is putting her user experience design skills to work at Zoom, where she’s a senior product designer. 

IN AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY

Vishnu Ganti ’12 (Graphic Design BFA) is an AR/VR product designer for Meta, where she conceptualizes and iterates high-quality, end-to-end designs for conversational user interfaces at reality labs.

William Pyle ’18 (Graphic Design, Interactive Arts) is a developer at Simcoach Games, creator of immersive learning games for academic institutions, government, and business. He previously worked at MedStar SiTEL creating virtual reality training applications for healthcare professionals.

To learn more about MICA's alumni, visit Creatives at Work.