Eda Begum Birol is a Research Scholar at DumoLab Research (DLR), Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, with an interest in exploring the potential of bio-based, clay, and earthen materials in additive manufacturing. She holds a B.Arch in Architecture and MSc. in Matter Design Computation from Cornell University, where she was the first student to complete an overlap B.Arch to MSc. in MDC degree. Throughout her studies at Cornell University, Begum was a research associate at the Sabin Lab. Her research here focused on computational design and robotically driven additive manufacturing for novel clay building blocks –“PolyBrick” – for architectural application. Begum also holds an MSc. in Civil and Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Begum is deeply interested in investigating ways in which digital fabrication and computational tools can revitalize and reinvent the role of earthen materials, and introduce novel biomaterials into the design practice.
