{"id":203981,"date":"2023-01-27T17:52:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T17:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/?p=30498"},"modified":"2024-04-04T03:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T07:26:34","slug":"laying-a-new-foundation-before-building-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/01\/laying-a-new-foundation-before-building-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Laying a New Foundation Before Building Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

UConn\u2019s first integrative studies student bridges passion for art, engineering in research and life<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kimberly Phillips<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Arpita<\/p>\n

Arpita Kurdekar\u2019s story doesn\u2019t start at the point she came to the United States, or when she got her dream job as an engineer, or when she pivoted to graduate studies at UConn. It doesn\u2019t even begin when, as a young woman just starting out, a tree limb fell on her, rendering Kurdekar paralyzed from the chest down.<\/p>\n

Her story begins long before all of that, when she was a young girl in India, and first picked up a paintbrush. It was a childhood hobby stoked by two artist parents and encouraged by accolades and a few awards for her work.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Kurdekar was caught between an affinity for art and a passion for math and science, the latter winning out educationally and professionally when she pushed painting aside and sought to design bridges as masterful as her favorite, the Brooklyn Bridge.<\/p>\n

Never did she think the bridge that would become her greatest accomplishment to date would be the one that marries engineering and art, bringing travelers to a place that merges the two \u2013 if only virtually.<\/p>\n

\u2018My life changed in just a moment\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kurdekar earned a master\u2019s degree in engineering from the University at Buffalo in 2015 after completing her undergraduate degree in India and working a few years at a structural engineering firm there. She came to the U.S. for the opportunity of advanced education and the hope for a professional license not long thereafter.<\/p>\n

While at Buffalo, an internship at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation provided a conduit to a full-time position in the Granite State at GM2 Associates, where she focused on structural design calculations for projects in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.<\/p>\n

She says she enjoyed the work, suiting up in a safety vest and headlamp out in the field, ascending into the underbelly of structures for visual inspections, and sometimes walking through construction sites as workers laid the steel girders that help give a bridge its strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, about seven months after I started at GM2, I went home after work and planned to go to the gym. As I walked down the driveway, a neighbor\u2019s tree fell on me and immediately I was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury,\u201d she says. \u201cMy life changed in just a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurdekar says she lay on the ground calling for help for an hour because she was in a location that neighbors couldn\u2019t readily see. Eventually her roommate came home, and Kurdekar says she remembers being found. She then lost consciousness.<\/p>\n

Girish and Vandana Kurdekar traveled from India as quickly as possible to sit by their daughter\u2019s bedside, and today provide her around-the-clock care. Her first memory after the accident was waking to them in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very difficult time,\u201d Kurdekar says of those early days of recovery. \u201cI was on a ventilator, so it has been a long recovery journey. I had to learn to breathe on my own again, how to talk, how to eat, and how to move what parts of my body I could. It has been a very, very long and difficult six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those early days of rehab at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston were centered on regaining the most basic of life skills. Once Kurdekar moved to Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire, a therapist suggested she tap not just into the muscle memory of the art from her youth but also the peace it gave her.<\/p>\n

At first, Kurdekar says the only movement she had was shrugging her shoulders. Then, with the aid of a splint, she learned to hold a paintbrush. Eventually, she wrote her name, and later she painted flowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember those sunflowers,\u201d she says with a giggle. \u201cThey didn\u2019t look like sunflowers \u2013 only my therapist and I knew they were sunflowers. Still, art has been an outlet of joy for me to fight depression and feel happy again. It gives me a lot of rest and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she awakened to the value of art in her life, Kurdekar returned to work at GM2 for a few months before assessing her professional future and recognizing academia was the place she wanted to be.<\/p>\n

GM2 President and CEO Manish K. Gupta \u201998 MS, \u201901 Ph.D. had become a mentor to Kurdekar and spoke fondly of his time at UConn. At his urging, she applied.<\/p>\n

Teaching with VR Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Accepted into the School of Engineering Ph.D. program in 2018 and poised to study civil engineering, Kurdekar realized the passion she\u2019d had for engineering had waned, though it wasn\u2019t extinguished. She thought there might be a way to bring art and engineering together to complement each other.<\/p>\n

Kurdekar says she shared with faculty in the schools of Education, Engineering, and Fine Arts her idea to create virtual reality technology to help students learn engineering principles that can be difficult to understand via a two-dimensional description in a textbook or on a screen \u2013 think thermodynamics, angular momentum, and gyroscopes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s technology that visual artists, too, could use to practice their skills or plan for a piece that might be too large or cost prohibitive to build as a prototype.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aiming to teach concepts related to rigid body dynamics and specific art movements and art-making techniques through the overarching theme of kinetic sculptures,\u201d she says. \u201cI wish to present the learning experience in a more interesting and playful manner, in which the students can engage in creative thinking and problem solving by applying learning from both fields. That\u2019s the kind of education we need to give students to prepare them to become innovative thinkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

She assembled a team of advisors from each of the three schools and became UConn\u2019s first Integrative Studies Ph.D. candidate. It\u2019s a program that allows students to combine several disciplines into one study track that doesn\u2019t fit neatly into an existing department. Kurdekar hopes to finish her degree in 2024.<\/p>\n

She has a fellowship from the Krenicki Arts and Engineering Institute, for which she\u2019s been a teaching assistant in courses such as Entrepreneurship & Innovation in Industrial Design, Packaging Design, and Human Factors in Design. Kurdekar also has received support from the Dr. Radenka Maric Fellowship Fund for Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of parallels between my research and the art-making process,\u201d she says. \u201cIn both, I focus my energy on solving creative challenges, whether on canvas or in a 3D virtual space. I want the viewer to be moved by the visuals and feel the same sense of engagement and enjoyment as I had during the making of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the beginning, though, Kurdekar was not a computer programmer. She says she\u2019d picked up only bits of coding experience during school and needed to lay that foundation before building up.<\/p>\n

Advisor Kenneth Thompson, an assistant professor in-residence in UConn\u2019s Digital Media & Design department, taught Kurdekar\u2019s first class, Introduction to Game Scripting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes grit to go from nothing to where Arpita is now,\u201d Thompson says. \u201cSince she came at it with a background in engineering, she already had the foundational logic and thought process that allowed her to excel in class. She knew where she wanted to go, and that made it easy to point her toward the material she needed to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurdekar found supplemental instruction on YouTube, and, coupled with DMD classes, gained proficiency in the language C#, or C Sharp.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWoods<\/p>\n

Making Her Mark in a Burgeoning Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGame development is a ubiquitous thing that we see everywhere,\u201d Thompson says. \u201cYour mailer that you get from the grocery store asks you to go on a quest for a 75-cent-per-pound ham to get experience points on your badge when you scan your card. Gaming is applied in different ways. Arpita really made the case that what she\u2019s doing with VR is valuable from an educational research perspective and adds to the numerous projects being done across campus and disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson says that while people might associate VR mostly with gaming or entertainment, the technology merely helps users understand something at scale: \u201cIt\u2019s like the first time you step out of a car or an airport in a big city and you have that feeling of looking up. It\u2019s kind of overwhelming to feel that sense of height. VR provides that kind of experience and makes it possible to communicate or teach it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that a giant swinging pendulum, for instance, might be too dangerous, too difficult, or too expensive to create or too limited to have more than one per class. Kurdekar\u2019s VR technology will allow students to learn concepts related to that pendulum because it will be right in front of each of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are working on VR technology now, like Arpita, they\u2019re the ones who are going to make marks and be the forebearers of how we have new experiences and interact with things,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

School of Engineering Associate Dean Daniel Burkey, another of Kurdekar\u2019s advisors, says some UConn faculty members already have begun to use VR technology for straightforward purposes, like looking at landscapes, viewing topographical maps, or manipulating objects.<\/p>\n

Kurdekar\u2019s work differs in that it\u2019s more immersive.<\/p>\n

Burkey says what\u2019s being used now is in addition to classroom lessons, whereas Kurdekar\u2019s technology will bring the educational space into the virtual world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the defining feature and that\u2019s something that will be really impactful moving forward,\u201d he says. \u201cThe other interesting thing about Arpita\u2019s work is that it is applicable to a lot of different engineering fields. Engineering has a strong psychometric component; it\u2019s very hands on. Sometimes it\u2019s difficult to give students an authentic hands-on experience. Virtual reality allows you to do that in a much more authentic way than simply interacting with something on a screen, or reading a case study, or doing it in pen and paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson adds that the pandemic accelerated the mainstream\u2019s adoption of VR technology, especially since the cost of the requisite hardware is decreasing.<\/p>\n

Burkey says, \u201cPrevious generations of the hardware have been large. They\u2019ve been bulky. They\u2019ve been attached to a computer with a lot of wires. There\u2019s lag time that can be disorienting for people. The increases in computing power, the shrinking of technology, the reductions in cost are all making it a lot more accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accessibility for those with limited mobility also has been central to Kurdekar\u2019s research, especially since she\u2019s just beginning to move her fingers at the first knuckle thanks to surgeries in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor five years I couldn\u2019t move a finger, and now I can,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is very new research, and Dr. Justin Brown, my doctor, at the Paralysis Center at Spaulding, is one of only a few doing it. Who knew this could happen for me, but it did. People are doing research and breakthroughs are happening every day. These unbelievable changes in my life have made me look at the future in a very positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immersed in Art, Memorizing Nature<\/strong><\/p>\n

At home, Kurdekar paints as often as possible, trying to fill most of her free time with it and having done hundreds of pieces, many of which she has posted on Instagram and her website. Lately, she\u2019s tried painting on wood and even using clay to create pottery.<\/p>\n

“I started off with representational style paintings, trying to make things look real, very life-like,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut slowly, I realized my inner voice was missing in the art I was creating. So, I started laying fragments of my memories and experiences with people, places, and things on my canvases. My work started becoming more abstract and meaningful as I traced those memories with the use of expressive brushstrokes and vibrant colors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using the beauty of New England as a muse, she adds, \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to have imprints of the sunsets, the sky mixing with the water, or even the energetic shifting movements of the birds foraging the farms and the feeders in your mind and heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019, Kurdekar\u2019s work went on display for the first time at the Mansfield Community Center. Since then, she\u2019s exhibited there and at various galleries, including Arts Center East in Vernon, and has won a few awards in area juried art shows.<\/p>\n

She continues to find inspiration in nature. Last summer, she and her parents visited Maine and ascended Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park via wheelchair ramps that stretched to the top. She saw views of the ocean and islands below, memorizing the shapes and colors of the scenery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a totally different person before the accident,\u201d she says. \u201cI was active. I would dance, I would hike, I would drive to different places. I lost a lot. But this journey has made me a different person. It\u2019s opened my eyes to see what\u2019s important in life. I realized who my true friends are and what really matters. I would never have gone on for my Ph.D. and do the research I\u2019m doing if this hadn\u2019t happened. It gave me a new direction and I totally enjoy what I do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest obstacle at this juncture is her and parents\u2019 immigration status. None of them have U.S. citizenship, keeping Kurdekar from obtaining certain home-care services and her parents\u2019 the ability to apply for driver\u2019s licenses, work here, and get medical insurance.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Ann M. Kuster, D-N.H., introduced legislation in 2021 to relieve some of that strain and grant the family of three lawful permanent resident status. That bill, HR680, passed the House in June, the Senate on Dec. 21, and received President Joe Biden\u2019s signature on Jan. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents had tourist visas and every six months they had to renew them in order to stay here legally to care for me. There was always uncertainty they wouldn\u2019t get approved and that was a very big worry for me,\u201d Kurdekar, who now will have a green card, says.<\/p>\n

Going back to India isn\u2019t an option. The infrastructure is not handicapped friendly, which means she wouldn\u2019t have job opportunities let alone be able to obtain medical care that, she says, would be inferior to what she\u2019s receiving here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019d even be able to survive there,\u201d Kurdekar says. \u201cAll the skills, all the hard-earned skills I have wouldn\u2019t be utilized. In the U.S., every individual has equal opportunities in spite of their physical abilities. I can do a lot here. I can use my knowledge and skills to contribute to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all of this, she\u2019s carried on.<\/p>\n

An engineer friend designed and built an adaptable easel that, with the push of a joystick, can rotate a canvas, lift it, push it left or right, or tilt it to give Kurdekar easier reach. The palate of paint rests on the tray of her motorized wheelchair as she gets lost in the small brushstrokes that give her paintings their texture and movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is much better than what it was five years back,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to tell people who are struggling not to be afraid. Take one day at a time. Have small goals and try to achieve them. If you really work hard, there\u2019s always a way out. You can always find a way. If you keep looking, you\u2019ll eventually find an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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