Melissa Quintanilha:
Innovating on Interactive Design

Ohio State encourages creation and innovation not only on the medical campus and in research labs, but in many different academic disciplines and programs. Melissa Quintanilha, a Latina graduate student majoring in design, took her first art and technology class in robotics this quarter not knowing anything about electronics. With a basic introduction, by the end of the quarter, she built an interactive piece. Quintanilha’s interest in music and design merged to create a haptic interface (based on touch) that allows people to use gesture, mixing sounds with their hands. She stated that her inspiration for the project came from going to parties and seeing DJs create the music on their tables, but no one knowing what they do to make the sounds. Her project, pictured at left, involved creating an amoeba shape with little boxes in the center of it, that when moved to the arms, activate different sounds.

The Amebeats Project proposes a new approach to human-computer interaction.

Beatriz Alvarado:
Promoting Social Change in the Andes

The Killari Foundation was founded by an Ohio State University alumnus, Beatriz Alvarado, after doing her doctoral studies in rural regions of Peru.

The organization’s mission is to support rural post-secondary education by granting educational aid packages that gives females the opportunity to access post-secondary education in their region. In addition, the program provides workshops involving regional specialists who work with female rural students on vocational, self-esteem, health, and domestic violence issues.

For more information, visit: http://www.killari.org.

The Killari Foundation’s website.

Daniel Alvarez:
Creating Art With Glass

Daniel Alvarez (profiled on page 5) invited Qué Pasa to watch him creating his glasswork. The process involves time, dedication, practice, and patience. Working with a few specialized tools, his work begins as a small ball of molten glass, gathered around 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Deciding which color he should use, he rolls his creation into the proper powdered chemical to give him the color he wants. After shaping and adding air in the initial glasswork, he continues to apply additional molten glass to create texture and color variations, as you see in the photo. He works and molds the hot material until it forms the necessary shape for him to continue. By blowing into the pipe where the hot material is gathered, Dan controls many aspects of the piece, such as the shape, weight, and size. Dan says, “Glass art is a collaboration between you and the material. While the work is challenging at times, the beauty is that when glass is molten, it is just as alive as you are. The way it moves and the heat it gives off makes you feel like your working with someone else entirely.”

Daniel Alvarez adds additional molten glass to give texture to his art piece.

Yolanda Zepeda:
Facilitating CIC Meeting at Ohio State

Traveling from his home in the Netherlands, Dr. Al Ribes visited OSU to lead a workshop aimed at increasing diversity in graduate education. Dr. Ribes, an analytical chemist at Dow Chemical, is originally from Spain and is involved with diversity efforts of the American Chemical Society. Collaborating with Yolanda Zepeda, CIC’s Assistant Director of Graduate Education and Diversity, he facilitated discussions with 30 faculty and administrators from member universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium of twelve research universities in the Midwest. The workshop was sponsored by the CIC.

Increase diversity workshop led by Dr. Al Ribes.

Share your research, work, and experiences with the Ohio State community by contacting Rachel at quepasa@fa.adm.ohio-state.edu.