Future Projects

Below I have compiled a short list of the types of projects I am interested in. I prefer to work across disciplines, using as many skills as possible. I believe the best way to solve a problem is to approach is from many directions at once. These are projects to which I have no answers (yet) because the answers would require a team of dedicated people and time to produce and test solutions, but they show how I think and the projects I’d like to work on in the future.

Joining Education and VR

I believe VR is going to play a huge role in the future of education. Using my skills in modeling, design, writing, storytelling, education, and psychology, I would love the chance to work on a project to work across disciplines in a fun and educational way. I would want to design something that physically puts the reader into a scientific space, from archeological digs to a biologist’s lab to an underwater adventure with humpback whales, or even into a situation where they need to build a city with only sustainable supplies. The possibilities are endless, but this would be a truly unique challenge for a truly unique device.

Artificial Beehives for Asian Elephants

Asian elephants are considered pests by many farmers in Northern Thailand because they break down fences and decimate entire fields overnight. As elephants are afraid of bees, one solution to this is to build beehives along the fences to keep the elephants out naturally. However, beehives require a lot of extra maintenance, as well as an understanding of the way hives function.

One solution to this might be to approach the problem from a design perspective. There may be a way to design artificial beehives that require minimum maintenance and can produce noises and vibrations that mimic a real beehive. This could alleviate the stress that farmers feel from caring for crops as well as real beehives.

Coral Nursery

Luckily, coral nurseries are popping up all over the world, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Caribbean. Even so, coral is struggling to stay alive as the planet continues to warm.

Using a hybrid of engineering, computer science, and product design (at a minimum), I’d like to investigate the possibility of keeping coral at comfortable temperatures using cooling “racks,” similar to the way water can be used to cool supercomputers.

Reducing Whale Entanglement

Whales are frequently entangled in crab traps, despite new rules and regulations regarding their timing and placement. Sometimes whales can free themselves from the traps, but often they become so entangled that they require (expensive) assistance from experts if they’re lucky, and if they’re unlucky, they’re faced with death.

I would love to approach this kind of project from the crab trap, and consider: why is it used? Can it be used differently? Which parts of the trap are the whales tangling themselves in, and why? Can the ropes be redesigned to break when in contact with a whale? What has been tried before and how was it successful and how did it fail? Is there a way to utilize splashing, whale song, vibrations, or other means of “communication” that would alert a whale of a trap? How can we get the fisherman to keep his crabs while simultaneously keeping the whales safe?