Heather Nelson

About Heather

(6/2022) Heather Nelson was a 2020-2021 Luce Scholar based out of South Korea and Vietnam. She graduated from MIT with a BS in mechanical engineering and a minor in design. Her research at MIT’s Self Assembly Lab, spanning on topics from liquid based additive manufacturing and climate resilience in atoll environments, have been exhibited at the MoMA, the 2019 Milano Triennale, the 2021 Vencie Biennale, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her work brings engineering into the art space by demonstrating scientific concepts and innovations in creative mediums. She came to Asia to apply her experiences to create a more equitable and sustainable world. In Korea, she apprenticed for a master carpenter specializing in traditional Korean wood joinery, made a Korean language documentary, and worked with a team of engineers to establish a maker space in rural Korea. In Vietnam, she researched biomass gasification technology and low-cost clean-burning cookstoves. She interviewed local farmers about their daily lives and cultural practices in order to design better cookstoves that met their needs. She now lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, leading the product engineering team at Arevo, where she researches design applications for Arevo’s large scale continuous carbon fiber 3D printing technology.