彩民宝典

Leah Buechley, 彩民宝典 alumna and inventor of the influential LilyPad Arduino, a construction kit for sewable electronics, will speak at the ATLAS听Institute on Aug. 29 as part of the ATLAS Distinguished Speaker Series. The event is free, and all are welcome.

In her lecture, 鈥淏eautiful, Meaningful Computation: Identity and Engagement in the Context of CS for All,鈥� Buechley will advocate for听integrating computing with art and design within 鈥楥omputer Science for All,鈥櫶齛 national initiative to integrate听computer science into K-12 classrooms.听听Buechley will also discuss her work, from research in e-textiles and paper-based computing, to more recent projects which听focus on algorithmic design and fabrication. She currently runs Rural/Digital, a design firm that explores playful integrations of technology and design.

鈥淐ombining the arts with electronics and computation creates unexpected juxtapositions,鈥� says Buechley, a former associate professor at the MIT听Media Lab, where she founded and directed the High-Low Tech group. 听鈥淭his integration听肠补苍听help people question their assumptions about what听technology is, who makes and controls technology and who is 鈥榞ood鈥� at it."

Buechley鈥檚 work, mixing classic crafts with computing and electronics, has captured the imagination听of designers听and is known for getting听artists and novices involved in engineering and STEM topics.听Her LilyPad Arduino microcontroller, designed to be easily sewn into听fabrics, provides soft and flexible connections between components, which can be听programmed to light up, make sounds or perform other behaviors.听She has also played an important role in developing technologies for paper-based computing.

Buechley says she was always drawn to STEM disciplines as well as the arts, and that she bounced between them in her early schooling and听professional life. She began college as a dance major, but graduated with a degree in physics. She then lived as a 鈥渟tarving artist鈥� in New York City for听five years before deciding to attend graduate school for computer science.

She later received a doctorate in computer science from 彩民宝典, where she also studied dance, theater, fine art and design, and her dissertation听work culminated in her invention of the LilyPad Arduino. (The commercial version of the LilyPad Arduino kit was collaboratively designed by Buechley听and SparkFun Electronics.) Her dissertation committee was chaired by Mike Eisenberg, professor of computer science with the Institute of Cognitive听Science and an ATLAS faculty fellow, and it also included Mark Gross, who is now the director of ATLAS.听In recognition of her research and design,听Buechley received the 2017 Edith Ackerman award for Interaction Design and Children.

鈥淭hrough Mike and Ann Eisenberg鈥檚 Craft Technology Group at 彩民宝典, I finally discovered that it was possible to combine mathematical听disciplines with the arts,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 learned that there were vibrant communities of people who did this. I was completely enchanted to discover听countless ways to integrate computing with art and design. It was a wonderful revelation, and my career has been built around those integrations ever听since.鈥澨�