A new program in Atlanta will give high school students the chance to learn about electronics and wearable technology using paper and craft materials. The initiative is a collaboration between the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking and Georgia Tech, with workshops led by Assistant Professor HyunJoo Oh.
About 60 students from Atlanta Public Schools are expected to participate in hands-on workshops focused on paper-based electronics. Their work will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at the museum titled “The Future of Paper,” which will also include examples of paper-based technologies developed by Georgia Tech researchers. The exhibit is scheduled to open to the public in 2027 and is funded by the National Science Foundation.
HyunJoo Oh holds joint appointments in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing and School of Industrial Design, where she leads the Computational Design and Craft (CoDe Craft) Group. Her research explores how craft materials can be combined with computing for creative projects.
Oh explained that paper could serve as a sustainable alternative for prototyping printed circuit boards (PCBs), noting that silicon, while common in computer chips, is not biodegradable and contributes to electronic waste. She said that advances in materials science have made it possible to use conductive pens, paint, or even inkjet printers with silver ink to build circuits on paper.
“It’s widely available and accessible,” Oh said. “I can’t think of anything more affordable and approachable that young makers and the broader maker community can use for circuits than paper.
“Printed electronics traditionally required expensive equipment, but with recent innovation in materials science, conductive materials such as conductive pens and paint available in local arts and crafts stores can be used to build circuits on paper. We can also print circuits using a regular office inkjet printer with silver ink.”
Oh began working at Georgia Tech in 2019 and sought opportunities to collaborate with the Williams Museum soon after her arrival.
“I was captivated by the museum’s space and its celebration of paper,” she said. “I wanted a collaboration that would integrate technology in a way that complemented and respected the museum’s existing beauty.”
Virginia Howell, director of the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking, described the project as well-suited for their institution, which has been documenting papermaking history since its founding by MIT in 1939 before moving to Georgia Tech in 2003. The museum holds over 100,000 objects spanning up to two millennia.
Howell noted that most papermaking museums are based at historic mills but emphasized her museum’s broader historical coverage: “We do the past of paper fantastically well, and we do the present of paper well through our changing exhibitions,” Howell said. “The future of paper is something we haven’t spent a lot of time interpreting.”
Both Oh and Howell believe young people will play an important role shaping what comes next for papermaking technologies. Oh pointed out that while students often associate paper mainly with art projects at school, integrating it into technology lessons could encourage more interest in engineering or computing fields.
“This approach can excite the kind of students who usually feel disconnected from electronics and computing,” she said. “It gives those who only see themselves as creative or artistic a way to enjoy technology and resonate with it.
“Usually when I work with young students, especially girls, if I start with something technical, their interest wanes. But when I present those same ideas through art using familiar materials like paper, they become more engaged and confident. That’s when they start to flourish.”
Three rounds of ten-week workshops are planned for spring 2026, fall 2026, and spring 2027; selected student designs from these sessions will appear in the final exhibit.
“They’ll feel more comfortable with computing and engineering as an introductory experience,” Howell said. “When they successfully build on it and realize they did this on a sheet of paper, it’s exciting to think what they’ll do when they get more sophisticated tools and access.”
