Allyson Meyer, University of San Diego News Center (blog)
Angelus Almera wasn’t sure what to expect when signing up as a Pre-Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) scholar on a project with Gordon Hoople, PhD, an assistant professor of integrated engineering in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego.
“Engineering as an art? I’d never really thought about it like that,” he admits, having been curious about the project’s goal of engineering as an artform.
Almera has loved to build things since he was a child. It started with Legos and then expanded to fixing things, joining robotics teams and, ultimately, finding himself in USD’s engineering machine shop during the summer of 2021. As a part of the PURE program, Almera joined other student researchers, working hands-on with USD faculty and gaining real-world research experience and mentorship.
For the current first year engineering student, the opportunity to jumpstart his career at USD was an amazing experience, one made all the more impactful by the type of project he was working on.
“We’re trying to do an art installation at a local park and it has to do with mirrors and wind,” says Almera. “It’s like mirror chimes or suspended mirrors.”
Working on an engineering project that was created to be beautiful was an inspiring moment for Almera, who is taken with the idea of using engineering to create art. “I always thought engineering was more about robotics or more technical aspects,” he says. “Engineering can be really pretty and beautiful and it can be an art sculpture. Having that perspective change was really breathtaking.”
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