Girls In Research (GIR) is redefining the landscape of education and innovation as the world’s first fully virtual, global research and tech incubator for high school girls. Launched in May 2024, GIR is a pioneering ed-tech platform that empowers the world's most ambitous, young female scholars with the tools, mentorship, and community to develop original, groundbreaking, university-level research projects. Through elite 1:1 mentorship with top 1% global researchers and world class virtual programming, GIR is cultivating the next generation of innovators and leaders. In just months, GIR has attracted applications from over 50 countries, empowering girls to break barriers in STEM and research, regardless of geography or age. With active scholars in 28 countries and a mission to scale globally, GIR is poised to become a transformational force for young female scholars worldwide, fostering a future where their ideas can shape industries and inspire change.

Ideated April 2024 -> Launched May 2024 Internationally -> October 2024: Active Scholars in 28 Countries, Applicants from 50+ Countries

This project envisions the conversion of underutilized landscapes marked by landfills and garbage dumps, exemplified by locations such as Rumney Marsh and Nahant, into vibrant public spaces seamlessly harmonizing sustainability and playfulness across environmental, physical, and social realms. Rather than crafting a literal playground, the project's aim is the remediation of these sites, cleansing them and enhancing accessibility to allow visitors to freely navigate both the land and water, encouraging spontaneous and instinctual play. Even a former passive and unwelcoming landfill can metamorphose into an active ground for play. Drawing inspiration from the visionary architect Elger Blitz's concept of a world replete with active playscapes, this endeavor challenges the conventional demarcation of play areas. Instead, it embraces a design philosophy that eschews prescription, unlocking a realm of possibilities where sustainability and playfulness converge, fundamentally redefining the potential of suburban spaces. In doing so, it extends a compelling invitation to individuals of all ages to rediscover and reconnect with their innate inclination to engage in playful interactions with the landscape

Advisors: Alex Wall, Harvard University

Recess is a social fitness startup that reconnects adults with the joy of childhood play through 1-hour, outdoor game sessions designed to make new friendships naturally. Participants get to experience playground favorites like Capture the Flag and Dodgeball, reliving the fun of “recess time” in a relaxed, non-competitive setting. Unlike traditional fitness classes, bars, or dating apps, Recess builds community and movement through the simplicity of play, offering a playful escape and a social network that welcomes everyone—no athleticism required. Guided by the slogan, “Hey Siri, How Do I Find Friends After College?” Recess emphasizes play equity and promotes connection through fun and fitness.

Advisors: Harvard Innovation Lab, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design

alchemy: a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.
 

Inspired by the traditional craftsmanship of Chinese artistry, “Alchemy: Between the Past and Magic” embeds the ancient philosophies of the intellectual sisters of painting, poetry, and landscape.

Through contemporary compositions between the magical realism of nature and the organic connections of timeless materiality, “Alchemy” probes its own conceptual process through inquisitive methodology and visual abstraction.

Advisors: Ed Eigen, Gary Hilderbrand, Harvard University

 For my theses at Columbia University, I created original short films and installations that showcased alternative universes set in the immediate future. These storylines were centered around the modification or mediation of human behavior through fictional technology. For example, “Voices” critiqued the nature of internal transparency and surveillance within society, through the lens of a fictionalized world that mandates its citizens to wear telepathic brain microchips. Likewise, “Remember” focused on the subjective role of memory through the apparatus of glasses that record and playback every one of life’s moments. The goal of these projects was to present the sociological questions that inevitably arise when technology and culture overlap. Hence, I wanted audiences to digest my hypotheses in an engaging, visceral manner (through media) while I visually critiqued our human behavioral and cultural patterns. In my last thesis film “Connection," I focused on social interactivity and the role of self-medication through the framework of bioengineered pills that induce apathy. Live installations that included the utilization of video projection, sculpture, and paintings, such as “Cracked”, “Screens”, and “Body”, were also produced as tangible mixed collages that sought to create said dialogue in the physical sphere. In conclusion, I did not seek to predict the future, but rather to continually analyze and synthesize the influence of technology-inspired-cultures and culture-inspired-technology.

Advisors: Nicola Lopez, Serra Bothwell Fels, Matthew Buckingham, Sondra Perry, Columbia University

Exhibition: Leroy Neiman Gallery, December 2018, Manhattan, New York.