Profile: Jack Forman

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About Jack Forman : Human-material interaction was a calling I have long been nurturing. It brought me to my bachelor’s Carnegie Mellon University, where I double-majored in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Biomedical Engineering (BME), to learn more from nature’s demonstrations of what matter could be: programmable, adaptive, and responsive. After cultivating a solid technical foundation, I ventured from studying to making. In third and fourth year, I first-authored a CHI paper on a reversible morphing artificial muscle fiber [1]. I also led the design of a morphing clothing collection with that fiber, and showed it at a fashion show of over 1,000 attendees, and published a co-first authored CHI late-breaking work on hydrogel-textile actuators[2]. After graduating with top honors at Carnegie Mellon, I am now a second-year M.S. student at the MIT Media Lab, in the Tangible Media Group with Professor Hiroshi Ishii. I presented my UIST 2020 full paper on 3D printing fabric via under extrusion and received an honorable mention for Best Demo. My side project, an opacity changing smart material eye project, was awarded an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2020 Innovation by Design Awards in the Students Category. I am also the co-president of LGBT Grad@MIT, and a diversity representative on the Graduate School Committee.
In my Ph.D., I am interested in studying programmable matter. Emerging digital fabrication methods allow for the precise control of a material’s properties from the micro to the macroscopic scale. With these approaches, digital information can be embedded into materials as defects, thereby controlling a material’s properties. A question I am planning to address in my research is: how can new programmable material fabrication platforms be developed to empower the creation of human-centered responsive devices?
STATEMENT OF ART:
Forman’s vision is to make tangible artifacts embedded seamlessly with responsive behavior, through the development of programmable materials and ways to fabricate them, to make engaging human-material interfaces that utilize the emotional power of touch. Forman sees a future where these adaptive interfaces are ubiquitous, where every material is able to accept and respond to the change that is constantly flowing through us.

ORGANIZATION:
MIT Media Lab, Tangible Media Group

NON-DESIGN OCCUPATION:
Materials engineer Cars, mechanics, technicians, engineers

EDUCATION:
Massachusettes Institute of Technology (2019-Present): M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences

Carnegie Mellon University (2015-2019): B.S. in Materials Science & Biomedical Engineering

EXPERIENCE:
Tangible Media Group, MIT | Cambridge, MA September 2019 - present
Experiences Research Assistant
Invented fast, inexpensive approach to 3D print fully-fabricated textiles
Working on bridging Biological Computing with Human-Computer Interaction

Accenture Future Technologies Lab | Somerville, MA June 2020 - August 2020
R&D Researcher
Investigating 3D Printing and Fabrication Technologies


Morphing Matter Lab, CMU | Pittsburgh, PA August 2017 - August 2019
Undergraduate Research Lead
Invented and published novel 2-way shape changing thread actuators
Created an untethered soft robotic jellyfish
Lead a team of graduate students in a research collaboration with Estée Lauder

Estée Lauder Companies | Melville, NY May 2018 – August 2018
Materials Science R&D Intern
Tested and analyzed polymer-surfactant compatibility for swelling and stress cracking
Improved the accuracy of the stress crack testing by 30 times
Developed two goniometer operating procedures for contact and sliding angle analysis
Introduced a theoretical framework for predictive compatibility testing

United States Steel Corporation | Munhall, PA June 2017 – April 2018
Metallography Intern
Developed a setup and procedure for electropolishing steel that allowed for a 20% improvement in retained austenite measurements
Programmed excel spreadsheets to analyze a vast array of employee statistics

North Atlantic Industries | Bohemia, NY Summer 2016
Test Engineering Intern
Analyzed existing circuit designs to determine appropriate test strategy and specified test requirement; worked with senior engineers to learn how to recommend test equipment
Collaborated with a software engineering team to develop test programs to verify functional operations of NAI products

High Entropy Alloys Group, Carnegie Mellon | Pittsburgh, PA Spring 2016
Research Assistant
Assisted a graduate student in making blocks of severalhigh entropy alloys using a miniarc melting system, and creatednanocomposite flakes using a melt spinner
Characterized alloys using Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray diffraction

AWARDS:
Honorable Mention Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards 2020 (Student Category: Heliozzz)

PRESS APPEARANCES:
MIT News (https://news.mit.edu/2020/defextiles-leveraging-3
d-printer-defect-to-create-quasi-textiles-1020)

Carnegie Mellon News (https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/magazine/
fall-2018/yes-morphing-dress.html)

Gizmodo (https://gizmodo.com/a-broken-3d-printer-inspired-
this-futuristic-fabric-1845532736)

Core77 (https://www.core77.com/posts/102577/The-Underextr
uding-Technique-for-3D-Printing-Flexible-Fabrics-U
sing-an-Inexpensive-Unmodified-Printer)

Fast Company:(https://www.fastcompany.com/90553730/stud
ents-innovation-by-design-2020)

Hackaday (https://hackaday.com/2020/11/20/3d-printable-clot
h-takes-advantage-of-defects/)

New Atlas (https://hackaday.com/2020/11/20/3d-printable-clot
h-takes-advantage-of-defects/)

Architect Magazine (https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/week
-in-tech-mit-researchers-turn-3d-printer-defects-i
nto-textiles_o)

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS:
Forman, J., Dogan, M., Foryseth, H., and Ishii, H. 2020. DefeXtiles: 3D printing Quasi-Woven Fabric via Under-Extrusion, In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ’20). ACM, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Rivera, M.*, Forman, J.*, Hudson, S., and Yao, L. 2020. Hydrogel-Textile Composites: Actuators for Shape-Changing Interfaces, In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 25-30, 2020, Hawaii, US [*Contributed Equally]


Forman, J., Tabb, T., Do, Y., Yeh, M., Galvan, A. and Yao, L. 2019. ModiFiber: Two-way Soft Thread Actuators for Tangible Interaction, In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 04-09, 2019, Glasgow, UK

Cheng, T., Li, G., Liang, Y., Zhang, M., Liu, B., Wong, T., Forman, J., Chen, M., Wang, G., Tao, Y. and Li, T. 2019. Untethered Soft Robotic Jellyfish, Smart Mater. Struct.28015019

ACCOLADES:
Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar
Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honors Society Top 12.5%
Alpha Sigma Nu, Materials Engineering Professional Honors Society
Mortar Board, National Honors Society
Phi Kappa Phi
Boeing MSE Scholar 2017
Boeing MSE Scholar 2016
Dean’s List

SYMPOSIUMS AND ACADEMIC CONFERENCES::
CHI 2019
CHI 2020
CHI 2021
UIST 2020

COLLECTIONS:
Fisher Fine Arts Materials Library (https://library.artstor.org/#/public/29904398)

HOBBIES:
Spinning Fire Poi

WEB SITE:
jackaforman.com

PORTFOLIO URL:
jackaforman.com, https://www.media.mit.edu/people/jackform/overview
/

REGISTRATION DATE:
2020-09-02 00:53:13

COUNTRY/REGION:
United States of America

ACCOUNT TYPE:
Academic

Awards received by Jack Forman


Defextiles Textile Fabrication

Bronze A' Design Award Winner for 3D Printed Forms and Products Design Category in 2020
Jack Forman for Tangible Media Group, Mit Media Lab
Defextiles Textile Fabrication

Silver A' Design Award Winner for Textile, Fabric, Textures, Patterns and Cloth Design Category in 2020
Jack Forman for Tangible Media Group, Mit Media Lab

Runner-Up status designs by Jack Forman


Heliozzz Sleep Mask

Runner-Up for Wearable Technologies Design Category in 2020
Jack Forman for Mit Media Lab, Tangible Media Group



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