Jack Forman

Materials Scientist Gone Rogue
Now: @MIT @MediaLab PhD+MS
Then: @CarnegieMellon BS

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Full video on my technique for #3Dprinting #fabric by under-extruding: https://t.co/T4VNseQ6k6

The 3D printer forms the macroscopic shape

The stringing effect of filament is responsible for the microscopic texture.

Think of it as a collaboration between material and machine

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Excited to share our team's project in combining traditional weaving craft with shape-shifting fibers to make entirely soft, shape-shifting fabric. Textile structures are endless in complexity, but also opportunity!

[MIT Media Lab @medialab]

@ishii_mit This work appeared in @SciReports (@NaturePortfolio). Authors: Sarah Nicita, James C. Weaver, Hiroshi Ishii (@ishii_mit), and Jack Forman (@formanfunction). https://t.co/jRrQEZXlCu

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

And continuing the second annual Out in HCI lunch! Both of these events received wonderful feedback last year, it’s such a pleasure to organize (and attend!) Thanks to my killer co-chair @tichaesque ✨

[Ticha Sethapakdi @tichaesque]

Lots of exciting things happening at UIST this year!! I've had the pleasure of being Community Co-Chair with @formanfunction and will be moderating the Women's Lunch Panel on 9/29! ✨ We have a fabulous set of panelists across academia & industry. Join us! 👩🏻‍🔬👩🏾‍💻 (poster by Jack!)

[Hackster.io @Hacksterio]

.@MIT's Voxel Invention Kit is like grown-up LEGOs — strong, reusable blocks with built-in electronics for rapid, waste-free prototyping. https://t.co/5r9vsAWlSQ

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Super proud of this work on super-lego that I did with my amazing co-first author Miana Smith!

[MIT Media Lab @medialab]

A paper by Media Lab researchers and collaborators, to appear at @acm_chi 2025, describes a new rapid-prototyping platform called VIK (Voxel Invention Kit) that utilizes reconfigurable building blocks with integrated electronics. The system can be assembled into complex, functional devices, with potential applications in areas ranging from space fabrication to the development of smart buildings and intelligent infrastructure for sustainable cities. Co-lead author @formanfunction, a PhD student in the Tangible Media group and an affiliate of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), says, “This is about democratizing access to functional interactive devices. With VIK, there is no 3D printing or laser cutting required. If you just have the voxel faces, you are able to produce these interactive structures anywhere you want.”
https://t.co/IhxTv3naiD

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

What a wonderful delight! Doga and I worked on this paper over Covid lockdown, where it felt like the two of us were totally alone in our rabbit hole. To see it appreciated by others makes me so happy!

[Doga Dogan @mdogadogan]

Got an exciting notification today🤩
Our DefeXtiles paper (UIST'20) got its 100th citation!

🔗 https://t.co/pC3OQZUd8C
💪 @formanfunction @ishii_mit @ACMUIST @ACMDL

[Doga Dogan @mdogadogan]

Got an exciting notification today🤩
Our DefeXtiles paper (UIST'20) got its 100th citation!

🔗 https://t.co/pC3OQZUd8C
💪 @formanfunction @ishii_mit @ACMUIST @ACMDL

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

So proud of my team! We were the student runner up for Emerging Technology, and Student Notable for Interaction!

[MIT Media Lab @medialab]

Congratulations to all of the winners and honorees of the 2024 @core77 Design Awards, including Media Lab researcher @formanfunction and the FibeRobo team, alum @chelsi_alise, and spinoffs Butlr and @elroyair! https://t.co/N2zth7IWKI

[MIT Media Lab @medialab]

Watch: In "Scientific InQueery," MIT PhD students @formanfunction + @mirandadawson51, with @mit_dmse alum Tunahan Aytas, interviewed queer MIT faculty about finding community and living their authentic lives.

[Interesting Engineering @IntEngineering]

FibeRobo, developed by an interdisciplinary team at MIT, represents a significant innovation in the textile industry. It's a liquid crystal elastomer fiber capable of changing its shape in response to temperature changes.

👉 Subscribe to our tech newsletter, The Blueprint, which is your daily source of tech, science, and engineering innovation. Here you go: https://t.co/hBjPRU6wQB

#engineering

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Asked chatGPT for a queered explanation of cooper pairing in quantum mechanics. Honestly love the result:

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

@jeffbigham @cmuhcii Ha! Funnily enough I was interning at US Steel at the same time I was a student in HCII. This venue would be perfect for me!

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

This is a wonderful opportunity for young fabrication researchers on a beautiful campus (Cornell Tech), in a wonderful city (NYC), with a fantastic advisor! I would've applied myself :D

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

@ppataran @ozgunkilic @CedHon @ishii_mit @tangiblebits @medialab Thank you Pat!! We are all super proud of this work that combines materials science, mechanical engineering, interaction design, and textile arts :D

[Pat Pataranutaporn @patpat_mit]

Check out this incredible work on programmable shape-shifting fiber from @formanfunction @ozgunkilic @CedHon @ishii_mit @tangiblebits
https://t.co/UqYhRNImjj

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

@ThijsRoumen @MIT You were very correct about this :) SCF was a blast

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Super exciting Laboratory Director opening for my lab @mit with Prof. Neil Gershenfeld. Polyjet printers! Zund Cutters! 5 axis mills! Brilliant people! Electron Microscopes! All at your disposal! https://t.co/nRzHieljvd
#3dprinting #cnc #lasercut #makers #fabrication #hacker

[Lining Yao @lining_yao]

HCI community, please help spread the news! In an effort to be inclusive in forming the UIST2024 organizing committee, @mynkgoel and I, as the general co-chairs, are issuing this open call to HCI researchers. We welcome you from everywhere around the world! # UIST2024@Pittsburgh.

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

If anyone who follows me works at @Apple, please please make it so that when my #airpods are in the case, and I shake it, it feels like shaking a pack of tic tacs. So I can know they are safe in their little home.

[Jack Forman @formanfunction]

Special recognition for outstanding review 🎉 (If I collect enough, can I cash them in for free conference registration :P) #uist2023