I am an astrophysicist by degree and work in aerospace, and I'm a person who loves creativity and thoughtful expression. Jewelry featured in these categories will definitely have an academic bent but in a fun way. Style and smarts: a winning combination!

••  y e s   i   k o a n

A koan is a Zen Buddhist anecdote or riddle designed to prod enlightenment with unconventional or unexpected thinking. I use stories collected by Paul Reps in his 1957 publication Zen Flesh, Zen Bones as inspiration for thought-provoking analogies as well as other sources for philosophical reflections.

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••  s p i r o d o o d l e s

I'm a chronic doodler and I love the variety of materials available to indulge my quick sketches: Spirograph, the classic mathematical doodling machine, the explosion of rubber stamps for scrapbooking (and doodling!), and of course, all kinds of pens, inks, paints and papers.

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••  l i t e r a r y   a l l u s i o n s

These are jewelry items whose stories are inspired by classic literature; be it an author, a character or other figure from the literary canon. As I'm making the piece of jewelry, the association or story is there in my mind and often guides material and design choices. I cannot say whether my allusions will resonate with anyone else, but I hope they do.

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••  s c h o o l   d a z e

I started by thinking of ways to make jewelry relevant for what we study in the classroom. Thanks to sites like Etsy, there are already opportunities to obtain jewelry from resistors (though probably a dying art given electronics are going digital with ICs) and plenty of industrial chic - but what about for the geologists wanting a collection of rock types in easy reach during lab? Or what about those EEs wanting a little acknowledgement even without the resistors? Or a botanist with a love of that great conifer, pinus ponderosa?

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