#SoCaltech: Aanica Gonzales

“I love science. I like being able to find out truths about things, but I’ve always been confused about whether I like science or art more. The Studenski Award from the Caltech Y was a way for me to explore that. The grant I won allowed me to go to Parsons School of Design for a month-long fashion design summer intensive. It was 10 hours a day of instruction, and then we stayed even later than that to work on our projects. Our professor, Lester Rodriguez, actually used to work in biology before he switched over to fashion design. It was really cool to talk to him about why he made that transition and what it was like. Parsons was surprisingly similar to Caltech in the way people came together to make things. Students would spend hours hanging out after class and helping each other make our different garments, giving feedback—there was a lot of collaboration going on! I’m now a TA for a class at Caltech called Careers in STEAM that introduces students to new ways of combining art and science. I found a bunch of speakers to bring in who could share their career paths—we had a science writer, a Disney Imagineer, an industrial designer, and others come speak. I want students to know that they have options within science to do art—it’s not just academia or bust. I’m hoping that I can leave behind a legacy of connection between art–science careers and Caltech students.”

-Aanica Gonzales, a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in computation and neural systems

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.