Hi! My name is Liz Rocco and I am from Queens, New York. Growing up around New York City, I was heavily influenced by architecture at a young age. The Manhattan skyline is one of my favorite views and I have a dangerous habit of staring at it when I drive across the bridge to get into the Bronx. My parents are also big proponents of architecture, especially the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. We’ve travelled around the country to places such as Buffalo, Chicago, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Arizona in search of some of his best works.

As a kid, I was involved in pretty much everything. I played every sport imaginable, from dancing ballet to pitching on my all-boys baseball team to now playing soccer in college. My biggest artistic endeavor was playing the piano. I hated it, actually. I told my parents for fifteen years that it was not for me. They finally listened when I got to college and I couldn’t bring a piano into my dorm. I was decent at it, I should have been for all my years playing, but I was no Beethoven.

In high school, I took some art classes that I really enjoyed. Some included a Photoshop class and another where I learned the basics of Autodesk Maya. My favorite one was Two-Dimensional Design. In class, we explored the different elements and principles of design such as shape, value, proportion, and rhythm. When I got to WPI and decided to pursue art as my depth, I learned a lot in Digital Imaging and Computer Art. This past D term, I took an engineering experimentation class in which I had to incorporate the use of an Arduino into my final project. I decided to connect the microprocessor to a microphone, a 5 volt relay, and some Christmas lights. In doing this, I was able to turn on the string of lights with the clap of my hands! This was something I always saw on TV but I never thought I could make myself. It was a very cool and rewarding experience. 

When I graduate from WPI with a BS/MS in mechanical engineering, I am hopeful that I will use my artistic background to obtain a job in the design aspect of the ME field. After I save up enough money, I want to put my effort into something different. Perhaps I will go into real estate or own a small business. For now, though, my goal is to learn everything I can to give me a solid basis to pursue whatever my heart desires.