Knitting, Coding, and a Year Abroad: Caltech Senior Wins Watson Fellowship

Gabrielle (Gabbie) Chang, a fourth-year undergraduate computer science major from Hinsdale, Illinois, has been awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a grant that offers graduating undergrads a year of independent study outside of the United States. During her project, Chang will spend time researching the computational topology of knitted structures in Japan, volunteering on sheep farms in New Zealand, developing a digital platform for a feminist fiber arts collective in the United Kingdom, and learning Viking weaving techniques in the Faroe Islands—all to explore how fiber arts have shaped scientific understanding and the broader narrative of technological progress.

Chang brings a cluster of overlapping interests to this pursuit: knitting, obviously, but also the history of fiber arts as a women-dominated tradition, the political dimensions of craft, and the ways in which knitting might inform contemporary scientific research.

“I was pretty crafty growing up—I always liked being very hands-on and creating things,” Chang recalls. “Then when I learned to code, that was yet another way of making things—just in a different medium.” Across her interests, Chang found that the act of making often leads to community. With coding, she participated in hackathons and later co-founded Caltech’s chapter of Girls Who Code, now more than 70 members strong. With knitting, she found community through weekly knit nights and online crafting groups. Craft, she believes, has a way of bridging generational and cultural divides. “You meet the coolest people you’d never expect to have so much in common with—and suddenly you’re exchanging knitting tips and life advice,” she says.

Chang was drawn to the Watson Fellowship, she says, because it offered her the opportunity to connect what she was learning with the world beyond the classroom. Caltech, she notes, gave her the tools to do just that: “You’re constantly navigating uncertainty, solving problems you’ve never seen before,” she says.

Last fall, Chang studied abroad at Cambridge University, where she saw the value of immersing herself in a place and building connections that extended learning beyond the classroom. She had a full-time software engineering job lined up after graduation, but her plans changed when found out she had been awarded the Watson Fellowship. “I knew I had to take it,” she says.

During her time at Caltech, as she progressed through her computer science degree, Chang noticed a surprising number of parallels between knitting and computing. “Both build complex systems from simple elements: knits and purls, ones and zeros. They use abstraction and logic to create structure and meaning,” she says.

During her Watson year, Chang plans to collaborate with researchers studying the physics of knitted structures to model everything from elastic metamaterials to the mechanics of biological tissue. “Fiber arts have long been tied to innovation,” Chang says. “They’ve helped shape the technologies we use today.”

Chang joins the 57th class of Watson Fellows. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is named after the former CEO of IBM. According to a press release announcing the new class of 37 fellows, “the Foundation works with students to expand their vision, develop their potential, and build the confidence and perspective to be more humane and effective leaders in the world community.” The foundation’s executive director Chris Kasabach said of this year’s fellows: “It’s never been more important for young leaders to engage with others across differences, disciplines and borders.”

Previous Caltech Watson Fellows include Saehui Hwang (BS ’22), who explored ways of using wearable sensors across diverse cultures; Liana Merk (BS ’21), who worked on sequencing and studying the DNA of bacterial cultures within local yogurts; Michelle Dan (BS ’19), who studied humanity’s impact on the planet from intersecting perspectives in the fields of biology, geology, the arts, and agriculture; and Michelle Wang (BS ’18), who worked on a series of projects related to the augmentation of humanity through machines.