Rebecca Y. E. Lin

Rebecca Y. E. Lin — research, art, and teaching

I design computational systems where mathematics and materials become forms for thinking, making, and playing.

I'm an EECS PhD candidate, advised by Erik Demaine in CSAIL. I've designed systems for garment making at Roblox and Adobe, and explored code as a creative medium at the Media Lab.

My time at MIT is a collage of research, teaching, and art-making.

Rebecca Lin painting a geometric model outside the Stata Center
Painting on my favorite balcony between the two towers of Stata Center.

Systems

Refashion - Main view

Refashion: Reconfigurable Garments via Modular Design

UIST 2025 · Rebecca Lin, Michal Lukáč, Mackenzie Leake

How can we design garments for change and reuse? By treating garments as dynamic assemblies rather than static products, Refashion enables users to remix their garments on demand.

Project Page· MIT News· MIT MAD

Graph Threading

ITCS 2024 · (a-b) Erik D. Demaine, Yael Kirkpatrick, Rebecca Lin

How can we thread tubes with a single string to achieve a target connectivity when the string is pulled taut? By casting "threadings" as constrained walks on graphs, we give efficient algorithms for computing minimum-length threadings.Zhecheng sent me a video of a deployable bamboo sculpture by the wonderful Alison Martin, and the rest was history.

X Thread· arXiv
Constellation Patterns project teaser

Encoding-Decoding Constellations

Rebecca Lin, Craig S. Kaplan

How can we create constellation patterns with unconventional star arrangements? By representing constellations as mathematical graphs, we reveal an alternative language for reasoning about and creating constellations.

Exhibition· Blog· X· Try It Yourself

Related Threads

Artifacts

Encoding–Decoding Constellations

i couldn't find myself (in your cosmic presence)
i couldn't find myself
Disintegrating artwork
Disintegrating
Textile Studies
Textile Studies

Comics, Poetics, and God Knows What

Front view of illuminated transparent panels, with layered letters forming waves against black.
text as texture
A hand reaching through a swirling field of distorted text and drawn lines
thinking through comics

Teaching

Teaching assistantships at MIT (20 hours per week) and UBC (12 hours per week).

  • MIT: Preparation for Undergraduate Research
    Instructor: Dirk Englund
  • MIT: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
    Instructors: Srinivasan Raghuraman, Piotr Indyk, and Jonathan Kelner
  • MIT: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
    Instructors: Srinivasan Raghuraman, Konstantinos Daskalakis, and Kuikui Liu
  • MIT: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
    Instructors: Srinivasan Raghuraman, Kuikui Liu, and Virginia Vassilevska Williams
  • MIT: Fundamentals of Programming
    Instructors: Adam Hartz, Max Goldman, and Robert C. Miller
  • UBC: Intermediate Algorithm Analysis and Design
    Instructor: Anne Condon
  • UBC: Basic Algorithms and Data Structures
    Instructors: William Evans and Cinda Heeren
  • Creative Coding

Living Logs

Gratitude

I’m grateful for my family, friends, and mentors. Particular thanks to my sister, Esther; to Linghao, Tim, Yael, and Surya; and to Mackenzie, who has been like a second advisor to me. I am also grateful to Will, who introduced me to research; to Craig, who introduced me to mathematical art; to Sarah, for teaching me about craft; and to Katherine, for making so much of my creative and research work possible.

My work has been supported by the MIT MAD Design Fellowship, the MIT Stata Family Presidential Fellowship, the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, and the MathWorks Engineering Fellowship.