• 2018, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Master of Sciences, in Media Arts and Science
When she was a university student, Elena Chong made a couple of residencies at the Lewis Research Group of the Wyss Institute (Harvard). In the first two weeks, Chong joined Electroninks, a laboratory spin-off. At that time, she helped obtain the components for an educational product in Shenzhen, China. During the rest of her stay, she worked at Voxel8, a 3D printing startup that is the first to create a 3D electronic printer.
In her second internship, Chong worked at the HCI Group of the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, at Saarland University. At that time, she worked to create a proof of concept for a project called HotFlex, a new approach to placing parts of a 3D object.
After finishing her career, Elena Chong returned to Panama to start a company that would inspire the Maker movement. She and her team developed numerous hands-on courses for students and teachers. Chong started as a YouTube channel that taught electronics and programming principles in Spanish. They reached 2.5K subscribers. The tutorials are related to the Arduino program.
Elena Chong also participated in the Coordinator Program for the National Digital Manufacturing and Maker Culture Program in Panama. She administered a budget of $ 525k to establish a pilot laboratory in the country. Chong, along with other makers, organized the first Panama Maker Day in December 2016.
