Her IDEA project, \u201cThe Enchanted Book,\u201d combines elements of art and engineering \u2013 and gives nod to that spellbook – to create an automated mechanism that flips pages, emits light, and offers sound, so a reader can feel like they\u2019re in the story, not just a bystander to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to make something that seemed magical in a world that sadly does not have any magic,\u201d Flores says. \u201cBasic engineering can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Heroine\u2019s Story<\/strong><\/h3>\nFlores remembers the moment she wanted to be an engineer \u2013 inside the Epcot sphere riding Spaceship Earth, when the smell of burning wood hit her as she passed by the burning of the Library of Alexandria.<\/p>\n
The ride uses sights, sounds, and smells to tell the story of human advancements throughout history. Once she realized the experience was rooted in engineering, made by Disney Imagineers, technologists who deliver that fairytale magic, she was hooked.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/lightbox-1-225x300.png\")
(Illustration by Yesenia Darling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn the years since, Flores has fashioned together prototypes of things in her bedroom, only last fall conceiving plans for her most ambitious project to date, \u201cThe Enchanted Book.\u201d With the financial backing of an IDEA Grant, now there was no excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is allowing me to grow and see where I can go, not only as an engineer but as an artist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Yes, Flores is a painter too, a hobby picked up when she was stuck at home and bored during the days of the pandemic. She says her bedroom at home in Vernon is chockablock with painted canvases, still lifes mostly, with a few master studies mixed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I want to paint, it\u2019s usually when I want to calm down and relax, because when I paint my brain shuts off completely. I love the calmness and serenity of that,\u201d she says. \u201cThe inspiration I draw from is just what\u2019s around me at the moment or what I\u2019m feeling emotionally energized by.\u201d<\/p>\n
She goes on, \u201cWith both engineering and art, you have to come at them from different angles. If I\u2019m trying to paint the ocean at nighttime, it\u2019s not going to be a simple shade of blue. It\u2019s going to have a bit of purple and gray. Similarly, if I\u2019m trying to solve a statics problem, but the gravity isn\u2019t accounted for, I have to try a different method or find a different force because it\u2019s coming at a different angle. I\u2019ve trained my brain to consider different approaches in both art and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Dragons Here<\/strong><\/h3>\nStarting her IDEA project was \u201csuper daunting,\u201d she admits. But with a network of other students doing their own projects, she says she\u2019s found a community at UConn to help.<\/p>\n
This summer has been about 3D printing, configuring motors and connecting them to the electrical board, and writing code to tell a motion sensor when it\u2019s time to turn a page. Lights and sounds will come later and sometime next year she hopes to finish.<\/p>\n
But what story does she want to share? Rapunzel, her favorite princess? Mulan, her role model? Nope \u2013 her own.<\/p>\n
She pitched the project using a book of her own paintings, artwork she created when she was happy, sad, confused, and angry, when she wanted to shut down after a long day, when she felt life\u2019s hard knocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cArt and engineering combined are two things I really want to have in my future, and I originally thought they were too different to come together. I thought you couldn\u2019t possibly go to an art class and paint and then go take calculus,\u201d Flores says. \u201cI love to see that you can do both. You can do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flores is headed into a male-dominated field, a fact that isn\u2019t lost on her. When she was younger, she admits to questioning whether the career path was right for her \u2013 and that\u2019s where the main purpose of \u201cThe Enchanted Book\u201d comes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I want to do with this book is use it as an outreach tool to inspire people. In my mind, I want to inspire middle and high school girls, a time in their life when they\u2019re getting deterred from engineering,\u201d she says. \u201cI want this book to show people this is something engineering can do. Yes, you can build planes and engines and that\u2019s really cool, but you can build so much more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Engineering solves real problems,\u2019 every Foundations of Engineering class starts off with that,\u201d she continues. \u201cEngineering makes the world a better place. It makes it a more fun place to live in. It makes it a magical place. I really want people to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then Flores will live happily ever after.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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In the years since, Flores has fashioned together prototypes of things in her bedroom, only last fall conceiving plans for her most ambitious project to date, \u201cThe Enchanted Book.\u201d With the financial backing of an IDEA Grant, now there was no excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is allowing me to grow and see where I can go, not only as an engineer but as an artist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Yes, Flores is a painter too, a hobby picked up when she was stuck at home and bored during the days of the pandemic. She says her bedroom at home in Vernon is chockablock with painted canvases, still lifes mostly, with a few master studies mixed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I want to paint, it\u2019s usually when I want to calm down and relax, because when I paint my brain shuts off completely. I love the calmness and serenity of that,\u201d she says. \u201cThe inspiration I draw from is just what\u2019s around me at the moment or what I\u2019m feeling emotionally energized by.\u201d<\/p>\n
She goes on, \u201cWith both engineering and art, you have to come at them from different angles. If I\u2019m trying to paint the ocean at nighttime, it\u2019s not going to be a simple shade of blue. It\u2019s going to have a bit of purple and gray. Similarly, if I\u2019m trying to solve a statics problem, but the gravity isn\u2019t accounted for, I have to try a different method or find a different force because it\u2019s coming at a different angle. I\u2019ve trained my brain to consider different approaches in both art and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n