#SoCaltech: Anjini Chandra
“When I started doing origami, it was because my mom wanted to keep me amused as a very energetic 6-year-old. She bought an origami book and some paper and sat me down. I don't think I enjoyed my first encounter very much. It's very difficult to fold something for the first time without the paper crumpling or going the wrong way. I came back to origami a little later, when I was 7 or 8, and it was very satisfying to fold pieces like flowers and make them as gifts for people. And then, as I got older and started looking for more advanced origami books, I came across a book by Robert J. Lang [BS ’82]. He's what I'd call an origami Jedi master. I really admire what he's done to create his own origami designs and also how he's taken the mathematical principles involved and applied them to engineering. Around that time, I was also starting to develop an interest in engineering. When I came to Caltech, I was looking around for a research opportunity and noticed there was this professor at Caltech [Sergio Pellegrino] who was actually working with origami in engineering. I thought it would be really cool to explore something I always dreamed of doing. So I spent a summer working with him on an origami-inspired project designing a base for antenna tiles. What I appreciate most about engineering is that it's a very interdisciplinary field. You can jump to almost any other area that you want and pick up knowledge along the way. And I feel that origami, too, is something that's very interdisciplinary, not just within STEM, but also within STEAM. It's an art form, yet it can be creatively used in a number of interdisciplinary engineering applications. It's satisfying to imagine how origami can transform a design and contribute to a solution.”
Anjini Chandra is a Caltech junior majoring in mechanical engineering. She has been making origami since she was 6 years old. She recently led an online origami workshop for her fellow students through the Caltech Y.
#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.