Jasen was born in Stanford, California in 1991. As a young child he took delight in investigating the built environment, watching buildings go together, or taking apart old electronics. He showed a propensity toward his independent projects, working in contented solitude for hours uninterrupted while his workspace continued to evolve, until it had taken over the back half of his parents garage. Before the end of high school it had grown into a serviceable machine shop, and began accepting local commission work.

 

He started at UCSC in the fall of 2010, and saw it as a time to broaden his awareness and appreciation of a diverse world. He took courses on everything from food systems and Polynesian art forms to bronze casting and robotic automation. For two summers he interned in the deep submergence robotics laboratory at the Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Back at UCSC, he began to base his explorations out of the metal and wood shops of the art department. He was recognized for his work, and received the department's Irwin Award Scholarship. He thus ended his time at the university with an exhibition of his scratch built handcart and barrels on the topic of reclaiming individual means of production. 

 

He spent the next several years working with a small start-up to bring back the beloved HeathKit. Their electronics kits brought delight and surprise to nostalgic fans and newcomers alike. He enjoyed the challenges of producing something the team members could only have made by working together, complementing each other's expertise. Beginning as a consultant to the company, he soon moved to the role of lead mechanical designer. 

 

Jasen began taking courses at the local college to continue his project of self diversi-fication. He quickly found that the school’s STEM program was supported by exceptional teachers and mentors, and reconnected with a love and curiosity towards math and physics, not experienced in such a way since taking his first physics course in high school. In 2018 he decided to come back full time to pursue an AS in engineering, where we find him again investigating the relationships of a complex world.