Graduating in May 2021with degrees in听Creative Technology and Design, the graduate and undergraduate students listed below are recognized for exceptional accomplishments, having demonstrated initiative in their academic and extracurricular activities,听completing听outstanding research or creative projects, or听contributing听significantly to the ATLAS community.
Spring 2021 Distinguished Graduate Student Awardees
Distinguished Graduate Student Awards
The Distinguished Graduate Student Award听recognizes graduating students earning Master of Science Degrees in Creative Technology and Design, specializing in one of two tracks:听Information and Communication Technology for Development or Social Impact, and Creative Industries. Recipients have achieved academic excellence and demonstrated听exceptional creativity and curiosity in the pursuit of their degrees. By exemplifying听qualities that distinguish ATLAS as a unique academic and research community, they have earned the commendation of the ATLAS faculty for their hard work, creativity, character and performance.
Kearney Newman, Ricky Marton and Aarjav / MS, Creative Technology and Design鈥擨nformation and Communication Technology for Development听
Interdisciplinarity, critical thinking and collaboration are hallmarks and foundations of the ATLAS Institute鈥檚 academic programs in Creative Technology and Design, awarded through the College of Engineering and Applied Science. This award recognizes the extraordinary teamwork of Kearney Newman, Aarjav, and Ricky Marton. As students pursuing advanced studies in leveraging technology for social impact and development, each brought their unique backgrounds, cultural experiences and skills together, working collaboratively on multiple projects with extraordinary success. Perhaps most notably, a research paper they wrote together was accepted for publication by the 2020 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, the premier venue for academic work of this kind. A remarkable achievement for master鈥檚 students, their paper, 鈥淒esigning for Women: Radio-Based Seed Saving Education for Widowed Female Farmers in India,鈥� received high praise from the international audience attending the virtual conference. In this and the many projects on which they collaborated, the team鈥檚 success stems from the passion each has for international development, and the diverse skills, interests and backgrounds that each brought to the table: Having studied business and graphic design, Ricky brought a strong 听entrepreneurial lens to their work. A former computer science major, Aarjav鈥檚 engineering background provided sharp technical insights to the development process. And Kearney鈥檚 studies in both International studies and anthropology grounded the group鈥檚 human-centered design perspective. Focused on a common purpose and encompassing a powerful range of skills, the team developed a unique magic and camaraderie. Each of their contributions are uniquely distinguished, but this award is given collectively to recognize the work this amazing group of students was able to achieve working together as they prepare for careers that will tackle complex issues in global development, including social inequity, digital divide, poverty and access to education using culturally-appropriate technological solutions.听
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Ruhan Yang / MS, Creative Technology and Design鈥擟reative Industries
Ruhan Yang has focused her many projects on the design and engineering of toys and innovative interactions with objects. She鈥檚 demonstrated an exceptional ability to design interactive technologies that make people smile and help children learn. Technically adept in many domains, she is especially skilled with paper-based works involving mechanical movements for whimsical interactions, including origami projects and paper pop-ups. Ruhan also developed an e-trombone for Georgia Tech鈥檚 School of Music MOOG Hackathon in 2020, a 3-D busy board and a Lego piano. Ruhan is co-founder and product designer for the startup company behind EdBoard, a playful platform that helps children learn the fundamental concepts governing electrical circuits. After successfully participating in CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 New Venture Challenge in 2020, Edboard launched a Kickstarter campaign which achieved its goals, and Ruhan continues to help build the company alongside the rest of the EdBoard team, the majority of whom are ATLAS students and alumni. 听
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Distinguished Undergraduate Student Awards
In their own unique ways, the spring 2021听Distinguished Undergraduate student awardees听listed below have demonstrated creativity, confidence, capability, community and collaboration. ATLAS recognizes them for their interdisciplinary accomplishments,听their spirit of invention and creative exploration, and the many ways they have contributed to the community.听听
Harrison Bolin / BS, Creative Technology and Design
With exceptional technical skills and acute听artistic sensibilities, Harrison Bolin has excelled as a Creative Technology and Design engineering student in many domains. He founded his web听company, Atheon Hosting, in 2017听when he听was just in high school and has grown his business consistently over the years.听Remarking on contributions to his Sound class, Senior Instructor David Schaal points to Harrison鈥檚 technical and creative talent, and how he applied these to his assignments in fun, engaging and unique ways. For a project named 鈥淢usique Concr猫te,鈥� Harrison compiled a diverse collection of recorded sounds from everyday life which he engineered into an engaging audio composition. Similarly, his instructor for a Music Technology for Wellness course, Professor Ellen Do, points to a particularly innovative and original project he worked on: synchronized, haptic metronome bracelets to help musicians play in time with each other. After graduation, Harrison will seek career opportunities in the gaming industry.听
Noelle Ireland / BS, Creative Technology and Design听
In addition to outstanding academic achievements, Noelle Ireland has demonstrated exceptional leadership within the Creative Technology and Design undergraduate community. In her second semester working under CTD Instructor Sheiva Rezvani, she was named head learning assistant for the course, Image, and student assistant for the Helio Lab. Describing her as professional, reliable, empathic, thoughtful and always making an extra effort to respond to requests and be approachable, Rezvani writes, 鈥淪he's contributed to the improvement of so many students' work.鈥� Working with Instructor Danny Rankin, both as part of a Tiny Games elective and an independent studies project, she developed an interest in game design and augmented reality. Like all CTD students, Noelle has completed a senior project which builds on her creative and professional interests, including project management and writing.听
Henry Kvietok / BS, Creative Technology and听Design
A Boettcher Scholar, Henry Kvietok has performed at the highest academic levels at CU 麻豆影院, graduating summa cum laude with a BS in Creative Technology and Design and a minor in Business. His academics prepare him well to pursue his professional goals in entrepreneurship, industrial design and product engineering for the outdoor product, consumer goods and medical device industries. Through his coursework and working in the ACME Lab under Professor Ellen Do, Henry has developed strong skills in design, prototyping, product testing, and 3D modeling and printing. As part of the 2020-21 Innovation Action Team at CU鈥檚 Research and Innovation Office, he exercised leadership, advocating for cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship initiatives on campus. Though he graduates this May, Henry鈥檚 career in product design and entrepreneurship is well on its way having invented Shoulder Saver, a patent-pending device for carrying skis that is sold in local sporting stores, and his work as a product designer for the international backcountry ski gear company BCA.听
Anna Lynton / BS, Creative Technology and听Design听
Anna Lynton has been an exceptionally active member of the ATLAS student community, serving as a student assistant in the BTU Lab, where she shared her passion for fabrication and creative technology by leading workshops on a range of physical computing and design topics. She took a course called 鈥淒esign an Immersive Science Exhibit,鈥� where she was part of a two-person team that developed a 鈥�Solar Flares鈥� installation, an ambitious project involving fabrication (both 3D printing and traditional mechanical engineering), fluid dynamics and exhibit design. Their end-product far exceeded expectations and ATLAS Director Mark Gross, who co-instructed the course, commented, 鈥淚t was a joy to work with the team. Their project outpaced others in the class that had much larger teams. I admired their gutsiness as well as their perseverance to produce an outstanding and unusual term project.鈥澨� In addition, Anna's clock project that she created with听Alex Fiel (TAM '20)听was published in Hackaday. The two took a tape measure and turned it into a clock, programming it to move over the course of the day to show the time in hours (inches). After graduation, Anna鈥檚 career interests will build on these areas of focus, in addition to creative data visualizations, recycling and sustainability and regenerative agriculture.听
Colin Soguero / BS, Creative Technology and听Design
Colin Soguero has consistently demonstrated exceptional technical skills, including as a research assistant in the ATLAS ACME Lab, where researchers benefitted from his resourceful, organized, effective and efficient implementation of various technical systems, particularly around augmented and virtual reality. For the ACME Lab's听AR Drum Circle project, Colin distinguished himself as the only undergraduate researcher. Professor Ellen Do, director of the ACME Lab, calls Colin 鈥渁 wizard of virtual reality, with unity and python programming, interactions, and geometric modeling of different shapes.鈥澨� His other interests include game development, physical computing and 3D design, and this year he was part of a three-person team that took first place听at the highly competitive hackathon, HackCU. A true interdisciplinary student in the Creative Technology and Design program, Colin distinguished himself as someone able to approach problems from many different angles and explore options that span disciplinary boundaries.
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