Paper Chaser

Electrical engineering and computer science assistant professor Erik Demaine was inspired to tackle some of the most difficult problems in computational geometry by an unlikely muse: origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

The 22-year-old theoretical computer scientist is a pioneer in computational origami, a new area of computer science that explores algorithms for solving paper-folding problems. Demaine's first theorem, which he proved in 1998 as a graduate student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, holds that any conceivable shape can be created from a folded piece of paper if one straight cut is made through it.

Folding algorithms have plenty of real-world applications: they could help mechanical engineers create complex three-dimensional structures out of individual pieces of sheet metal, or biologists better understand protein folding.

For his unique work, Demaine was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, or "genius grant," in October. He currently is collaborating with Robert Lang, a former laser physicist and full-time origamist and is finishing a book on folding with Smith College computer science professor Joseph O'Rourke.