Information Literacy Award Winner

STUDENT: Lauren Sciabbarrasi

PROJECT ADVISOR: James Hart

ABSTRACT
Many people know origami as the art of paper folding. It is taking a square sheet of printer paper, folding it time and time again, and ending with a crane. While this is one application of origami, the use of paper folding is more than just a fun hobby; it is a mathematical art form with real-world, innovative applications. Erik Demaine, the father of modern origami, and other “math artists,” are using origami to change the memory of a medium; creating a brand-new story.

Origami is all about reconfiguration. It is taking one thing and morphing it into something else. It is the product of an unlikely crossover between computational geometry and art. My research explores how computational geometry, and the laws of paper folding, equip scientists and mathematicians with new ways to innovate. Various real-world applications of the mathematical art form span the automobile, robotic, medical, and aerospace fields. Origami is even pushing the boundaries of mathematical possibility, with the newest phenomenon boggling the minds of various mathematicians, the hyperbolic paraboloid.