Established in 1998, the MIT Arts Scholars Program brings together students who are passionate about exploring the diverse array of arts available at MIT and in the Boston area, and interacting with fellow students, faculty artists and other experts in the art world. The program is structured around monthly excursions or workshops, with an expert in the relevant field of art in attendance.
For more information contact:
Sam Magee
Manager of Student Arts Programs
617.253.4004
Agnes Cameron is a master’s student in the Viral Communications group, in the MIT Media lab. She works on decentralized networks, with a focus on new and weird forms of internet. She holds an MEng in Information and Computer Engineering from the University of Cambridge. She likes art about systems, and makes installations for parties.
Sharon Lin is an undergraduate (2021) studying electrical engineering and computer science, with an intended minor in Art, Culture, and Technology. She has worked in the Media Lab Design Fiction Group, and is an officer for the MIT Animation Group. Her past experiences include serving as the New York City Youth Poet Laureate and and a poetry reader for Polyphony HS. She is also involved in the Student Cable Club and was selected as a Tribeca Film Fellow. She is interested in creative nonfiction, filmmaking, and animation.
Ohyoon communicates her thoughts and feelings through her art, usually in paint medium. Ohyoon is Korean. She spent her middle school and high school years in New Jersey.
Daniel Oran is a graduate student in the Media Lab’s Synthetic Neurobiology group and holds a BA in photography and natural science from Hampshire College. Previously Daniel worked as an artist, archivist, and printmaker, before starting his own printmaking business. As an artist he explores the boundaries of what defines Photography (light-drawing) and works to create unique artistic practices by manipulating forms of light and photographic materials. In making his artwork Daniel takes on the roles of sculptor, painter, scientist, and inventor coupled with that of a photographer. With this work he aims to explore the fundamental reactions of the psyche to imagery that, while abstract, is representative of the forces that comprise the world. As a scientist/engineer in the Media Lab, Daniel now works on developing a method for the rapid prototyping of three dimensional nanotechnologies. He hopes to use this work to create a platform for the research and development of photonic crystals and optical metamaterials; ultimately, allowing for the manipulation of light to a degree never before possible.
Sunanda Sharma is a graduate student in the Mediated Matter Group in the Media Lab. Her research focuses on creating functional products that incorporate living organisms or their properties. She is interested in the history and practice of scientific illustration, and is learning to represent life through watercolor, sketching, high resolution imaging, and digital illustration. In her free time, she spends nearly all of her time and money on traveling, and the rest on baking.
Allan is an undergraduate studying Comparative Media Studies and Computer Science. He absolutely loves making art, including fiber arts (like knitting plushies or sewing fabric portraits), traditional art (like drawings, paintings and watercolors), and most recently 2-D animations. He first dipped his toes into the world of augmented reality by making his AR animation for the mural he made as part of the Borderline Project, and would love to continue exploring animation in the future. On his free time, he adores watching Steven Universe and Studio Ghibli movies, and listening to the soundtrack of The Great Comet on repeat.
Danny is an undergraduate studying Comparative Media Studies and Computer Science. Danny loves making art out of almost anything, from acrylic and oil paints to fabric and yarn. On his free time he enjoys making art while listening to musical soundtracks, obsessing over Steven Universe, and knitting. He loves telling stories and wants to learn more about conveying them through visual media like animation and augmented reality.
Lily Bailey is an undergraduate studying biology and computer science, with a minor in design. She is fascinated with the ways that proteins fold and interact and specifically wants to work on solving the incredibly complex problem that is predicting protein structures. The arts have always provided her with an important stability and community of people, so she sees them as playing an instrumental role in whatever she does with her life. Her hobbies include using photography as a means of connecting with people, playing on the MIT women’s soccer team, and spending time outdoors.
Melanie is an undergraduate studying computer science who is interested in art and design. She enjoys playing violin, hiking, experimenting with ink, charcoal, acrylic, oils, and typography, and exploring local history and culture through food, museums, and touristy activities. She aims to live life to the fullest, and part of that during her time her at MIT is through exploring all forms of the arts in Boston and gaining new experiences every day.
Talia Khan, an Arizona native, is a sophomore at MIT. She plans to major in Course 3 (Materials Science and Engineering) and minor in Music. Talia studies vocal jazz through the Emerson Arts Scholarship and performs in the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She has also appeared in many professional musical theater performances and is a student of classical voice. Talia is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, is historian of her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, and is on the executive board of Tea With Teachers at MIT.
Davie Rolnick is a PhD student in Applied Mathematics, also working in the Media Lab (Synthetic Neurobiology) and CSAIL (Computational Connectomics). His research involves training computers to understand the structure of the brain a combination of machine learning, computational neuroscience, and discrete math. Davie finished his undergraduate studies at MIT in 2012 with a double major in Math and Music, and spent a year at the Free University of Berlin as a Fulbright Scholar. Outside research, Davie studies voice with Richard Conrad and performs with the Boston Cantata Singers, MIT Chamber Chorus, and other groups. Davie also enjoys running, writing, teaching, and wandering off into the woods to look at birds and insects.
Pip Mothersill is a PhD student in the ObjectBased Media group at the MIT Media Lab, where she explores the language of design, particularly how objects can communicate information to us through their form. Through research that connects design theory, synesthesia, and linguistics, she investigates computational processes for the design of static and dynamically expressive objects and explores how the design attributes of physical objects can become a more active medium for communication. Pip’s convoluted journey before coming to the Media Lab included a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Bristol, a joint MA/MSc degree in Industrial Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College, London, three years working as a product designer for Procter & Gamble, and lots of cooking, sewing, painting, theatre, ballet and art galleries.
Marianna is currently a graduate student in the biomaterials/tissue engineering field, with interests in fabrication, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery.
Cynthia (Syn) Odu is a third year student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. With interests primarily in urban art and design, they hope to better understand how art and beauty can influence new ways of being. Syn selfidentifies as a cheating vegan, a closet existentialist, a lover of the natural world, and much, much more.
Hane is an Electrical Engineering student minoring in music. She has lived with classical piano ever since she can remember, but she is increasingly spending more time plucking piano strings, reading pieces composed by friends, and listening to minimal music and bebop jazz. Hane also loves the visual arts (Vermeer! Cubists! Contemporary art museums!), literature, and often develops an impossible weak spot for performance art.
Holly is a junior at MIT studying Comparative Media Studies. She is passionate about making art that is publicly accessible, current, and political. She is interested in the shape of the music industry, the social effects of the internet, and the way that our constant media constructs our globalized worlds.
Neerja Aggarwal is an engineer, artist, and athlete. She studied electrical engineering and theatre arts in her undergrad at MIT. She is continuing at MIT for a masters in electrical engineering. Neerja is originally from Houston, TX and grew up with a passion in both science and theatre. She trained as a stage director at MIT, has directed two major stage productions so far: The Importance of Being Earnest (Nov 2014) and Now Then Again (Nov 2015), and is currently working on her third production of Einstein’s Dreams. Neerja is interested in exploring the intersection of science and theatre. She has also competed on the MIT Women’s club ultimate frisbee team all through college.
Xin is currently a Master candidate in Fluid Interface Group, MIT Media Lab. Questions of body, perception, affect and sensation have been the focus of her works. Xin uses mixed media installations and performances to examine the intertwined relationship between body and mind. She is particularly interested in the transformation and adaption of a social, sensorial, corporal body in our current technology mediated life.
Laura Perovich is a PhD student in the Object Based Media group at the MIT Media Lab. Her research focuses on re-imagining the relationship between citizens and scientists through ubiquitous computing and artistic, emotionally-resonant approaches to data interaction. She is a textile artist, creating quilts, clothing, and handmade fabrics. She also enjoys ballroom and latin dancing.
Henry is an undergraduate studying Electrical Engineering and was raised in Arlington, VA along with five siblings. Violin and good music hold a special place in his life. He also has experience creating ceramics, small metal sculpture, and doing some glassblowing, however, there is no limit to the art forms he wishes to explore. In his free time, Henry plays violin (sometimes with friends), builds things, learns about web development, and watches YouTube videos on old cars and fine machining. He has a particular fascination for old things, in which there is a beauty and clever simplicity to how such things work. He also runs and bikes for exercise and recreation.
Jessie is an undergrad who is studying Computer Science because of her appreciation for logic. She also enjoys drawing, film photography, and concept art. She loves concept art-ing with all her heart, because it is creating logical worlds that can’t exist, and communicating them through visual art. Jessie hopes to be a visual development artist at Dreamworks one day, but meanwhile you can probably spot her on campus chasing dogs around with her camera.
Nolan is a physics major focusing on quantum chemistry and nanotechnology. His current research with Grossman Group explores the electron transport properties of quantum dot thin films. Nolan studies cello performance with his teacher at New England Conservatory and performs with the MIT Chamber Music Society and Emerson Scholars, among others. He is also interested in pottery, string instrument restoration, and German language.
Jierui is a freshman who adores the color orange and making art with just about every medium including photography, printmaking, charcoal, graphic design, oil, and acrylic. Her first memorable experience with art was a five-pound book on Monet she “borrowed” from her aunt. Beyond visual art, she also used to play the piano, flute, and violin and has moderate experience in traditional Chinese dance. In her free time, she likes to skate, look at bodies of water, compulsively read the news, eat spicy foods, and make lists. She’s hoping to keep on adventuring in different art forms at MIT, especially in glass, metalworking, and film.
Cristina is a 2018 MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She completed a degree in biochemistry, with minors in French and Studio Art, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and went on to work at an international brand design agency in Trends and Innovation. She loves both creating and experiencing art—she is a practicing ceramicist, an avid museum-goer and has seen the Nutcracker ballet over 20 times. She also enjoys sailing, exploring her new home of Boston and baking pies.
Ivy is an undergraduate studying physics and literature, both stemming from an aesthetic appreciation of the universe and the human condition. After taking AP Art Studio in high school, Ivy discovered the wonders of watercolor, and has since then been creating surrealistic watercolor pieces depicting morphed human bodies. When not working on art, Ivy analyzes data from the Galactic Center, writes movie reviews for The Tech, shoots rifles, and collects vinyl records.
Amy is an undergraduate studying computer science and design. She draws, paints, and codes in all sorts of mediums and languages, and is particularly fond of the complexity of Internet subcultures, graphic design, and electronic empathy. In her free time, Amy can be found hip-hop dancing, sketching, and/or sipping on a latte.
Megan is an undergraduate at MIT studying computer science, neuroscience, and design. She is an avid photographer (both freelance and with MIT technique) and an enthusiastic consumer of dark chocolate and tea. She enjoys the outdoors, creating amusingly kerned posters and small objects, and pondering bayesian representations of life.
Sarah is an undergraduate planning to study biological engineering who is interested in art and design. She enjoys playing board games, listening to music, experimenting with weird mixed media combinations, reading, and exploring Boston through food, museums, and cool buildings. She’s really interested in the intersection of her really varied interests, and hopes to learn a lot during her time at MIT!
Alan Osmundson is an undergraduate studying Aerospace Engineering and a jazz musician. He has performed on the trumpet across the United States and Europe at festivals, competitions, and restaurant gigs, and he is determined to never stop playing. Currently, Alan is an Emerson Fellow, plays with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble and occasionally the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, and has recently begun writing original music in the jazz idiom. Other than jazz, Alan is a fan of cats, abstract expressionism, Mahler’s 5th Symphony, and autonomous systems.
Matt Carney is a PhD candidate in the Biomechatronics group at the MIT Media Lab, where he is designing and building next-generation bionic limbs. His specialty in mechanical design and mechatronic systems was born from years of experience working at the industry leading firms Meka Robotics (humanoids) and IDEO (product design). He is formally trained with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from CalPoly and UC Berkeley, as well as an additional master of science in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to machine design, he also has strong interests in art, culture, politics, civic action and social justice.
Nicole L’Huilier is a transdiciplinary artist, musician, and architect from Santiago, Chile. She is currently based in Boston as a PhD researcher at the MIT MIT Media Lab, Opera of the Future group. Her work explores spatial experience, perception and the relationship between sound & space, based on the idea of sound as a construction material. She works at the intersection of art, music, architecture, science, and technology in order to open questions about possible futures, redefine how we perceive our world, and most importantly: trigger connection and empathy between human and non-human agents. She is also an experimental musician, drummer, synth lover and one-half of the space pop duo Breaking Forms.
Alice is an undergraduate studying Computer Science and biology. She is passionate about both art and art history, and the painting that got her into art history was probably the “Garden of Earthly Delights” by Bosch. She comes from the suburbs of NJ where her neighbors owned a llama farm and where she spent lots of time outside drawing and painting. In her free time, she loves to read, travel, dance, spend time with people, and discover new music for her weekly radio show.
Neil Gaikwad is a TEDx Speaker and an AI researcher, artist, and athlete. He conducts research at the intersection of interactive machine learning, community-centered design, and economics (game theory, collective social choice)— with an emphasis on design and engineering of human-AI powered sociotechnical systems, such as just markets and institutions, for sustainable development.
Neil is a practicing photographer and progressive rock guitarist. Arts inspires his research. Through a lens of his camera, he had captured and communicated how human societies and cultures evolve along the side of beautiful places such as glaciers in Alaska, mountains in the Western Ghats of India, temples in Japan, and desert of white sands, etc. Neil’s photography projects explore the planet, landscapes, cultures, and burning societal challenges, such as farmers’ suicides and climate change. He is interested in developing interactive artificial intelligence systems for generating music, studying cultural evolution, and protecting contemporary indigenous art.
Neil’s photography work in Alaska chronicles the dynamic nature of 3,000 years old glacier flowing down the valley and has been featured on National Geographic. He has also received the Graduate Teaching Award, presented a faculty member or a teaching assistant for excellence in teaching at MIT. His portfolio can accessed at Explore the Planet Earth, Neil Gaikwd Photography. You can follow his research at web and Twitter.
Emily is currently an undergraduate student at MIT majoring in course 6-3 and 18. Since she was pretty young, Emily has been interested in the visual arts, starting with crayons and transitioning to (almost as cool) mediums such as watercolor and ink. In her art, Emily incorporates motion and fantasy into the mundane. Emily primarily uses acrylics, charcoal, ink, watercolor, and oils, (or some combination of those!), and she has recently been exploring clay and kinetic sculpture. Her dream is to one day have her own studio in her home and teach kids how to paint.
Annie is a dual-degree masters student in MIT’s Urban Studies & Planning and Science in Transportation departments. Her research focuses on city planning for autonomous vehicles. Prior to her time at MIT, she worked for several years as an energy policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, honing an expertise on energy transitions in Europe as well as ‘frontier’ energy innovations. She has sung professionally with The Washington Chorus, Seattle Pro Musica and the Seattle Symphony Chorale. When not singing or studying transportation, she can be found voraciously consuming literature or discussing art. She received her bachelors in world politics and German literature from Hamilton College. Annie is currently a fellow with the MIT Automated Mobility Policy Project.
Ryan Ravanpak is a PhD candidate in the department of linguistics and philosophy. His research focuses mostly on issues in moral psychology, ethics, and metaphysics. But he also has substantial interests in literature, history, and aesthetics. Before MIT, he studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He happened to live in the same neighborhood as a number of beat poets, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. He thought this was inspiring. In his free time, he enjoys the pursuit of musical and creative things. Lately, he’s been especially interested in formal music composition.
Helen is a junior studying computer science and physics. She originally began creating art drawing people on a laptop trackpad, but has since acquired a real tablet and grown fond of watercolors, oil paints, and expansive murals. She also plays violin with MIT Chamber Music Society and can often be found hunched over a laptop blasting Mahler or the Ring cycle. Among other things, she enjoys indie pop, fountain pens, makeup, and following professional League of Legends.
Jenny is an undergraduate passionate about art. In her free time, she loves to draw and experiment with various media, from charcoal to oil paints. She also enjoys running and dancing.
Max Langenkamp is an undergraduate studying Computer Science, with an intended minor in Creative Writing. He does research on crowd intelligence at the Scalable Cooperation group in the MIT Media Lab, runs a biweekly radio show (The White Tiger: Thursdays 1-2am, 88.1 FM), and writes for The Tech. In his spare time, he loves reading the New Yorker, brewing his own Kombucha, and dreaming up plot ideas.
Joe Faraguna is a junior studying Bioengineering and Computer Science at MIT. He thinks things in nature, especially bubbles and the immune system, are beautiful works of art. He is a Dan Flavin nut and a student guide for the List Gallery. He tried to make an installation for Burning Man once and grows slime mold in his dorm room.
Jonathan Zong is a visual artist and computer scientist. Currently a PhD student at MIT CSAIL, he is interested in human-computer interfaces and their effects on expressiveness and behavior. Jonathan graduated from the Visual Arts and Computer Science departments at Princeton University in 2018, and practices graphic design as one half of the studio Orange & Spoon.
Sam Magee is the Manager of Student Arts Programs at MIT. His background is in Art Education and student programming. Sam feels it is his primary duty at MIT to advocate for the arts at every turn and to involve students in arts experiences they may not have had a chance to participate in before. Sam also promotes the arts through a business – focused arts competition, community building through the continuum of student and alumni engagement, and educating students about the role of arts in innovation and entrepreneurship.