Year in Review 2021-2022
Over the past year I have seen a lot of change. I completed my first co-op experience at Hyperquake in the Fall of 2021 which prompted a lot of personal growth and helped show me what I value as a designer. Through this experience I was able to solidify my interest in designing for the human experience, which is something I plan to pursue as a career option in the future. Designing for the human experience is a pretty broad interest, which is very exciting for me because it can be applied in a number of contexts such as interactive design (whether that be physical or digital), brand identity design, as well as marketing activities, to name a few.
After that experience, I was off to classes and of course, the co-op search. This semester proved to be quite a challenging one for me, but one of my favorites because of the coursework I got to do. Some highlights included learning about information design, interactive design, neuroscience and art, and marketing! Both my information and interaction design courses have impacted my professional goals because I could see myself enjoying either in the future. The course that stood out as my favorite, though, was my course titled From Neurons to Picasso: How and why the brain makes art. It was an honors seminar led by Dr. Kristopher Holland and Dr. Ilya Vilinksy that explored the connections between neuroscience and art. We explored how and why we see and perceive objects, colors, light and shade, along with a history of drawing and creativity in homo species.
This course was overall just intensely interesting to me as it was outside of my traditional coursework and a primarily discussion-based course. I love courses like that. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by so many people who think differently than you do, it really opens up the floor for a lot of discussion and insight and that interdisciplinary connection is something I highly value; which leads me beautifully into the experience that impacted my life the most.
This course was overall just intensely interesting to me as it was outside of my traditional coursework and a primarily discussion-based course. I love courses like that. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by so many people who think differently than you do, it really opens up the floor for a lot of discussion and insight and that interdisciplinary connection is something I highly value; which leads me beautifully into the experience that impacted my life the most.
In late January I was invited to apply for a scholarship program at UC called the NEXT Innovation Scholars (NIS) program. It was a highly competitive and selective process which took three rounds of review and differing levels of preparation. NIS is a scholarship program that focuses on innovative thinking and values interdisciplinary collaboration. I’m extremely interested in innovation and collaborative thinking, so I applied! I was accepted into the program in late April of 2022 and I have 16 other students in my cohort. This acceptance has been one of the biggest things I have accomplished in my time at UC and I am so beyond excited to begin working with my cohort and innovating change in and around Cincinnati. This program is something that I know can turn my world upside-down and realign my professional goals, and I am so excited to grow within this program and further determine what I value professionally, personally, and interpersonally. NIS will provide me a wide range of experiences and opportunities to explore new things and collaborate with my peers, and I just cannot wait to get started. Special thanks to Aaron Bradley for the invitation and being a wonderful leader of the NIS program!