Brown | RISD Dual Degree Students Discuss Their Five-Year Educational Journeys

What does it mean to create? What do artists bring to the table that is unique? These were among the questions explored by this year’s graduating Brown | RISD Dual Degree (BRDD) students, who gave their capstone presentations in late May. Students completing the five-year program discussed the experience and process of self-discovery. 

Among the group was Vicky Yang BRDD 25 IL, an Illustration major at RISD who studied psychology at Brown. Yang said she felt lost when she began her studies but found peace in the act of touching her pencil to paper during a second-year drawing class. She began examining what it means to be an artist and reflected on a summer spent in New York City with friends, “sharing the same fragment of time that will soon become a memory.” 

“Being an artist is not about the number of hours I spend in the studio or the number of awards I get,” she said. “It’s about how I choose to live and experience the world.”

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Apparel designer Nura Dhar BRDD 25 AP combined her studies in history at Brown with her love of fashion and Islamic art. After a family member gifted her a sewing machine as a child, her vision for her future fell into place—she wanted to embrace her heritage and everything she knew and push it a step forward. “Your art is a vessel for how you enter the universe,” she said. 

Her senior collection, Becoming; Undoing, which was featured in a recent Vogue wrap-up of Collection 2025, began as a meditation on the values and mechanisms of the hijab, which serves as a vehicle for transformation, touching and altering one’s physical appearance and spirit. “In Islamic art, we don’t use figurative forms to represent people, but my interest was in this idea of abstraction,” she explained. “We can create these really beautiful forms that represent something in the most abstract way.” 

Yesenia Gómez BRDD 25 ID studied mechanical engineering at Brown and considered majoring in Painting at RISD before choosing Industrial Design. She began making things she felt connected to, including ceramic Wii remote holders, candlestick holders and soup mugs. She compared design to good soup during her presentation, noting that both are layered in complexity and emotionally resonant. “In a way, industrial designers are both artists and engineers, whether that means drawing structures on paper or seeing them come to life by building them ourselves.” 

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In addition, Lucinda Drake BRDD 25 IL reflected on reconnecting with her younger self through art; Enya Pan BRDD 25 GD spoke about data and design as a frame for storytelling; and Calvin Lee BRDD 25 PT discussed the importance of community, trust, friendship and love. Other presenters included Adam Meller BRDD 25 GL; Natalie Janelle Tyson BRDD 25 TX; Justin Li BRDD 25 PT; Caroline Zhang BRDD 25 PT; Amelia Laboda BRDD 25 IL; Noah Howard BRDD 25 ID; Ashley Cai BRDD 25 GD; and Josephine Hostin BRDD 25 ID. 

Hostin—who worked on several projects during her undergrad career aimed at teaching children critical thinking, time management, financial literacy and speech development in a way that was meant to feel like play rather than homework—offered advice to those interested in joining the BRDD program: “You really don’t need to have everything figured out, and if you do, you might be playing it a little too safe,” she said. “The program isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being open and learning to pivot and combine the unexpected. It’s about getting used to being a beginner over and over again and realizing that is where the real growth happens.” 

To learn more about this year’s dual degree graduates, visit the capstone presentations website or watch the presentations on YouTube. 

Kaylee Pugliese / Top image: Work by Yesenia Gómez
June 20, 2025