Senior Success: Industrial Designer Rebecca Warga Prepares to Take Her Knowledge to Luxembourg
Industrial designer Rebecca Warga, a Bloomingdale, New Jersey native, will head to Luxembourg after graduation to work at ESMP, an experimental soft matter physics lab at the University of Luxembourg.
“I've been working with them remotely this semester, and I took a short trip out there over winter break to meet everyone and show them some of the progress I had been working on up to that point. I'm going to be working with graduate students, helping to automate some of their production and research projects.”
Last semester, she made an automated Brewster's angle apparatus to help find the Brewster's angle of some of the liquid crystal samples they were producing. She’s excited to continue working with them.
“I might come back to the US, I might fall in love with Europe and stay over there, but I just want to find a fulfilling job that will allow me to live happily and comfortably,” she said.
What sparked your interest in industrial design?
I originally came to NJIT as a chemical engineering student. I started in fall of 2020 which was the middle of the pandemic. I had never even heard of industrial design and had no idea what it was or that it even existed. Because of social distancing protocols and online classes, it took me some time to meet people, and my new friend Skyler Kapel was looking for a major to switch to and found ID.
In high school, I had a hard time deciding between pursuing something really scientific and technical, and doing something more creative and artsy. When Skyler gave me the quick introduction of the ID department, it sounded almost too good to be true. I really wanted to be hands on and make real things, and I just wasn't getting that into engineering. So I transferred with Skyler, and it was probably one of the best decisions of my life so far.
What stood out from your time at NJIT?
In my classes, I think the course work really stood out. I was really looking for something hands-on, and I was able to make some real projects that didn't just look good on paper, but were fully functional. I really love the feeling of passing around my work and getting critiques. I enjoyed the feeling of having a finished product, and I worked really long nights to get things done sometimes. I love the faculty here and all of the labs and spaces on campus. Working in the Makerspace or the fabrications labs in HCAD with all my peers and teachers was so fun, and I felt like I was getting a lot of help and encouragement all the time. The ID department is pretty small, so I got to know all my classmates pretty well and consider a lot of them some of my best friends.
Favorite projects, memories?
One of my most memorable studio projects is probably my final project from my third year furniture studio with Kiel Mead. I carved a chair from oak, and I was so proud of the final product. My final review went super well and everyone liked my work. That project was really fun for me because I love working in the physical world and getting to play with all the woodshop tools and just spending a lot of time shaping my piece with my hands felt really special to me. I got to use the CNC, bandsaw, chop saw, rotary sanders, angle grinder and chisels and handsaws and a bunch of other fun toys.
I have other projects that are much more technical that I really love too. I learned a lot about electronics and coding during my time here. I have been including a lot of motors and sensors and lights into my projects after taking Mechanics and Electronics with Mathew Schwartz. My final project for that class was a headlamp with magnifying lenses that rotated up and out of view as the user leans in to inspect something more closely. As they lean in, a proximity sensor actuates servos that rotate the lenses out of the way and LEDs turn on to illuminate the area. That was one of my earliest projects that included any sort of Arduino or electrical work. Since then, I've gotten some great opportunities to work on robotics research and have expanded into using Raspberry Pi hardware and Python coding for other bigger projects as well. I still use Arduino and C++ for other projects all the time.
Tell me about your current internship and what you’ve been able to achieve.
I currently work at an advanced manufacturing workforce development center through NJII called COMET. I secured an internship there last summer and they kept me on part time while I finished up my degree. I've been doing a lot of robotics research and I’ve been really leaning into advanced additive manufacturing. We've been getting a lot of new industry standard 3D printers with huge print beds, metal 3D printers able to print metal parts that need little to no machining afterwards. We work with some really cool companies and even act as design consultants sometimes. I'm currently working on a digital twin proposal for a client, so I've been working with a lot of real time simulation and hardware/software linking. My job is definitely related to industrial design, but just one small part of the field. You can really take the degree in many different directions.
What advice would you give to incoming industrial design students?
I’d say come in with an open mind and room to grow. I remember being really anxious my freshman year because everything seemed so new and confusing but I slowly got more comfortable with all the content that was getting thrown at me. I know so much more about computers, CAD, prototyping, 3D printing, machining, coding, presenting, etc. than I ever thought possible, and it makes me really excited for the future and all the new skills I can still learn and improve. You can take this degree anywhere and I think that it’s such a great blanket degree that introduces you to a vast amount of industries and specialties. I truly believe it’s so much more than just product design.
