Work
Traditional wallets can feel bulky and outdated—especially with the rise of digital payment methods. During a human-centered design course at Columbia, our team interviewed a range of young professionals and found that most people rarely carry cash and typically use the same 3–5 cards for 90% of their transactions.
Our concept was ringO—a minimal, stylish ring that uses NFC/RFID technology to make fast, secure payments. The form factor allows for everyday wear, while replacing the need to carry a full wallet. I led the CAD design and rendering of the product shown here.
The final concept supported the storage of up to five unique card signatures (credit, debit, loyalty, transit, etc.). A tactile rotating dial allows the user to quickly switch between cards using their thumb. I 3D-printed a physical prototype as a proof of concept. While not intended to be fully functional, the goal was to explore the journey map, usability, and technical feasibility of a wearable payment system.
To support the product experience, we also designed an app prototype to manage user preferences and track spending. Users could monitor transactions, recharge subway cards, or configure loyalty settings. The app handled the personalization, while the ring functioned as the wearable payment interface for everyday use.
During my Ph.D., I served as president of Columbia’s Mechanical Engineering Graduate Association (MEGA) for a year. In that role, I managed the executive board and led the planning of all social and career-related events for the engineering graduate student body (~300 students). I also took it upon myself to redesign the group’s logo, which I felt was a bit outdated and stereotypical—I wanted something more dynamic and modern.
The navy blue color follows Columbia’s branding standards, and the crown emblem is a nod to Columbia Engineering, taken from part of its official logo. The letterforms are designed to interlock like trusses, supporting one another as if they were part of a cohesive mechanical structure. I also liked how the crown appears slightly tilted onto the letters—almost as if the logo itself is wearing it.
As a fun side project, I designed these retro-themed T-shirts for members. The design is a playful remake of the Sega Genesis logo—a nod to the name similarity and an iconic 90s aesthetic that resonated with the group.
The new logo has been in use since I created it in 2017, and I hope it continues to represent MEGA for years to come.
As part of an Integrated CAD/CAM class (IPD501) I took in my junior year of college — and later TA’ed — students were tasked with modeling a fruit or vegetable in SolidWorks. I chose to model a bell pepper due to its organic, non-uniform shape. Below is a rendering of my final product.
As part of MEAM 101, an introductory course in CAD modeling, teams of 2–3 students chose an object to reverse-engineer and fully model. Our group selected a Blackhawk camera and spent a month disassembling and modeling each component. The project helped us gain a deeper understanding of SolidWorks and file management via PDM. The video below shows the culmination of our work.
During the summer of 2014, I worked for PartMaker, a leading CAD/CAM design company. I served as an Applications Engineer in their Frontline Support division and developed custom CAM programs for client-specific jobs.
This paragon bone broach took about 20 hours to CAM from start to finish and was used as part of a hip replacement procedure. It was a valuable exercise in understanding the limitations and possibilities of complex geometries on Swiss-mill and turn-mill machines.
This project centered on using image manipulation to highlight a social justice issue. I chose to represent media censorship — specifically, the idea that censoring something often draws more attention to it. The microphone head and wire subtly incorporate symbolic elements relevant to the theme. I created the layout in Illustrator and added layered textures in Photoshop.
Created in my Digital Design Foundations class, this project challenged us to draw the face of a well-known celebrity. I chose "Mr. T" for his bold, unmistakable expression. After sketching on paper, I recreated the design using Illustrator splines to create the final vector portrait.
For five consecutive summers, I worked at the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal and Hydraulics Lab in North Carolina, where I conducted tours and helped with field data. At the end of each tour, shirts were sold to guests — but the design had become outdated. I took it upon myself to redesign the shirt using Photoshop, and my design has since been printed and sold at the end of tours. The main graphic used for the back of the shirt is shown below.
The three vehicles incorporated in the design are responsible for most of the data capture that the facility analyzes; earning themselves a spot on the shirt. The facility is also known to have the longest research pier in the world extending 1,840 ft into the surf; hence it's presence in the design.
For this robotics class project, I programmed a PUMA 260 robot in MATLAB to trace a lion’s face in midair using a light source. The robot’s motion was captured using long-exposure photography.
We began by solving the robot’s inverse kinematics (IK) — it has a 6-DOF RRR articulated arm with a spherical wrist.
Next, we created a simplified drawing of a lion’s face, converted the paths into coordinates using ginput, and smoothed the output using custom MATLAB code.
Once the robot executed the paths, we recorded the resulting light trace — shown below.