BIO
Education
01 / 2019 - 06 / 2021
Rhode Island School of Design | Master’s Degree of Industrial Design
02 / 2020 - 05 / 2020
Brown University | Coursework: Innovation and Commercialization in Medical Devices, Diagnostics, and Wearables
​
02 / 2019 - 05 / 2019
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Coursework: Product Design and Development
​
09 / 2014 - 07 / 2018
Beijing Jiaotong University | Bachelor’s Degree of Mechanical Engineering
Awards & Exhibitions
-
Adaptive Ecologies: Building on Nature’s Blueprint (Providence, 2021)
"Urchin Futures"​
-
The Lost Graduation Show, (Milan, 2021)
"Inter-"
-
RISD Grad Show (Providence, 2021)
"Inter-"
-
Norman Bel Geddes Award (2021)
-
RISD Fellowship (2019 & 2020 & 2021)
-
Fred M. Roddy Scholarship (2019 & 2020 & 2021)
-
Global Grad Show (virtual, 2021)
-
RISD MID Biennial Exhibition (Providence, 2020)
"Friendly Protector", "Invisible Whales In Wild"
-
RISD ID Triennial Exhibition (Providence, 2019)
"WINGS", "Post Plastic Age: Clean Couture"​
Skills
Digital 2D & 3D
-
Adobe Creative Suite
-
CAD Solidworks, Rhino, NX, AutoCAD,
Grasshopper, Keyshot, Octane,
Zbrush, Cinema 4D -
CAM MaterCAM
3D printing, CNC, Laser cutting -
Phython
-
Figma
​
Physical Prototyping
-
Wood / Metal / Foam / Paper Forming
-
Wax / Clay Sculpting, Mold-making, Casting
-
Arduino
​
Manufacturing
-
Sheet metal bending / forming
-
Injection / Thermoform / Blow molding
​
Research
-
Brainstorming, Storytelling,
Competitive market analysis, User research and testing,
Data visualization
​
Certificates
-
Certified Simens NX CAD Associate Engineer (2016)
-
Certified Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design (2021)
​
Elena Danlei Huang is a multidisciplinary designer and researcher. Drawing upon a background in mechanical engineering, she pursued industrial design to further develop her creative process. In her research-based practice, with a focus on nature & human relationships, transition design towards sustainability, and embodied social innovation, Huang draws upon both artistic and scientific inquiries to explore and generate methodologies for design-driven interdisciplinary collaboration. It is her goal to build a bridge that connects art, science, engineering and the general public, in order to engage, communicate, and tame existential social and environmental complexities.
​
Huang is currently working as an industrial designer at Formlabs, Somerville. She holds a Master of Industrial Design and a Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design from Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to graduate study, she holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University.
Professional Career
08 / 2021 - ongoing
Industrial Designer | Formlabs | Somerville
· Worked in global R&D engineering team as an industrial designer. Main contributions included: Concept generation and user scenario sketching; Machine structure design and optimization; User flow mapping and user experience design; Human factors studies and ergonomic design and evaluation; Product layout design including CAD, prototype and CMF; Manufacturing design and support on bending sheet metal, injection molded and thermoformed plastic.
· Launched projects include: Led and executed design of
Form Auto. Contributed to BP2L.
​
09 / 2020 - 11 / 2020
Lead Curator | RISD Industrial Design Department | Providence
· Acting as the ID Graduate Biennial 2020 supervisor, I coordinated the activities of the curation team, liaised with the department and the gallery management team to ensure the show is delivered successfully.
01 / 2020 - 06 / 2020
Graduate Admission Assistant | RISD Industrial Design Department | Providence
· Reviewing admission applications, coordinating assessment operations, setting up interviews and answering applicant emails.
06 / 2019 - 09 / 2019
R&D Industrial Design Intern | Aibee Inc. | Beijing
· Working with the robotics team, designed and developed a portable device for real-time mapping point cloud data collecting used for immersive VR navigation.
09 / 2018 - 11 / 2018
Product Designer Intern | Kidtopia Children’s Museum | Beijing
· Cooperating with STEAM educators, I designed products and exhibits for kids to better understand the urban public infrastructure system. I also participated in children behaviors research and user testing.
01 / 2018 - 06 / 2018
Creative Brand Designer Intern | Overseas Marketing Department, Ofo | Beijing
· Cooperated with the design team in strengthening and coordinating the branding strategy of the overseas marketing department. Participated in the planning of the exhibition & event of SXSW(South by Southwest Festival) 2018, Austin. Designed and developed the branding peripheral products and related graphic works.
06 / 2017 – 07 / 2017
Junior Engineer Intern | Taiyuan Heavy Industries | Taiyuan
· Cooperated in the company’s routine. Worked in the mechanical manufacturing workshop of wheels and axles of the high-speed train, learned to operate devices in production departments.
Academic Experience
Talks:
F2021 Köln International School of Design, Attending To Futures: Critical Practices,
Microbial Cosmologies
S2021 Stanford University, Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks, Microbial Cosmologies
S2021 Columbia University, Digital Storytelling Lab,
Microbial Cosmologies
​
Workshops:
S2021 Montclair State University, Co-Immunity
S2021 Columbia University, Digital Storytelling Lab,
Co-Immunity
​
Publications:
2021 “Machines Have Eyes”, essay, Big Data. Big Design: Why Designers Should Care About Machine Learning. Princeton Architectural Press. (Book released on October 19, 2021)
​
​
06 / 2021 - 10 / 2021
Interdisciplinary Researcher | Harvard CAMLab | Cambridge
· Working as a research fellow and visual designer on interdisciplinary projects at Harvard Chinese Art Media Lab:
1) Dunhuang Music & Dance: Researched on the corresponding study of visual and literal archival materials of Dunhuang dance posture; Created skeletal dance posture dataset for machine learning kinetic generation; Research on spatial experience and designed the immersive exhibition space.
2) Digital Gandhara: Research on the visual narrative of Gandhara Buddhist art; Created digital 3D reconstruction of archeological sites and archives in Afghanistan and surrounding countries in Central Asia.
​
01 / 2021 - 02 / 2021
Teaching Fellow | RISD Industrial Design Department | Providence
· Teaching a self-designed course: Naturing Future (ID-1517) at RISD, Wintersession 2021 (full syllabus can be found here).
09 / 2020 - 01 / 2021
Research Assistant | RISD Nature Lab | Providence
· Designing the physical installation layout of Illuminated Bay: A 3D visualization platform funded by RI’s Science and Technology Advisory Council, that aims at helping the general public understand bay dynamics and anthropogenic impacts on the estuary.
01 / 2020 - 08 / 2020
Lead Student Researcher | RISD & Hyundai Motor Group | Providence
· RISD and Hyundai Collaborative Partnership brings the deep expertise and experience together to look creatively at the relationships among the natural and built-environments and towards solutions for the future of mobility, urban change through mobility, and sustainable solutions for our built environment.
· Created two research-based, speculative design projects in collaboration with a multidisciplinary group of four designers and Hyundai UAM Team.
1) Microbial Cosmologies: An immersive project speculating a posthuman future of mobility based on a re-defined relationship between human and the microbial world. Work presented at Stanford University, Columbia University, Yonsei University, Korea, and Köln International School of Design, German.
2) From Noise to Form: A multi-media project that employed styleGAN, 3D modeling, and ambisonic sound design, to investigate how forms emerge in nature as the boundary between the natural and the artificial becomes obsolete. Work presented at University of Bergen, Norway.
06 / 2020 - 08 / 2020
Pedagogical Research Assistant | RISD Nature Lab | Providence
· Supporting research and academic work related to the Arthur Loeb Design Science Collection at RISD Nature Lab, my work included: documenting selected works, developing an explorational process and creating visual materials for understanding geometric polyhedral structures.
02 / 2019 - 06 / 2019
Teaching Assistant | RISD Industrial Design Department | Providence
· The purpose of the course: Designing with Solidworks is to expose undergraduate students to digital solid and surface modeling. My job working as TA included Q&A, helping students learn to use software and analysis the structure and components of their design objects.
​
10 / 2017 – 07 / 2016
Framework Lead & Designer| Green Energy-conservation Vehicle Team | Beijing
· Our team designed and built the green energy-conservation vehicle and won the 3rd Prize in 10th Honda China Eco Milage Challenge. Working as the framework lead and industrial designer, my main responsibility in the teamwork is frame and body design and integrant layout.