Naomi Malone is the Class of 2025’s recipient of The Bucknellian’s Excellence in the Arts award. Though majoring in biomedical engineering, this hasn’t stopped Malone from continuously pursuing her interests in visual arts and finding ways to include it in her academics and everyday life.
Malone was drawn to engineering even in high school, appreciating the hands-on creativity that she could intertwine with her interest in math and science. Biomedical engineering captured her interest, specifically tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, as a way to be involved in medicine without necessarily being on track to become a doctor. While Malone intends to later pursue graduate schooling where she can concentrate in tissue engineering, she appreciates that breadth of knowledge that Bucknell’s biomedical engineering taught her.
“The BME department here isn’t like that,” Malone explained, in regards to concentrations. “It’s more broad, and you tackle little parts from different fields, which is still really cool. I think I learned a lot through that; I learned how to code and everything.”
While many may think that there are no natural connections between art and biomedical science, Malone has found fulfilling ways to combine both of her interests.
“I’ve always been into art, and my dad’s a graphic designer, so I think the interest just kind of felt natural for me,” said Malone. “Over this past summer, I actually studied da Vinci. There was an engineering 290 trip in Italy and France, and we sort of followed his life. That was definitely a huge draw for me because it’s so much focused on art and engineering and the intersection between them both… I think I took that experience into my research.”
One of Malone’s labs from this past spring semester is in the biomedical department and focuses specifically on the intersection of art and engineering spaces. For this, Malone is working on a large 3D-printed and carved puzzle composed of smaller ones, where each displays a different focus of the BME field. Malone has also been able to take sculpture classes as electives, allowing her to set aside a specific time for artmaking in the midst of her demanding schedule.
“I think because of the way my brain sees art and science… I really like to connect the pieces in any way that I can,” said Malone. “I think my interest in art and in being creative also went into why I started Peace by Piece.”
One of Malone’s largest involvements in the arts at Bucknell actually happens outside of academics, through an art-based fundraising initiative called “Peace by Piece.” Malone came up with the idea right before the 2023-2024 school year winter break, and utilized the break to further develop the logistical aspects. Alongside Colton Beach ’27, Amanda Kalaydjian ’24, Gana Mukhtar ’24 and many of Malone’s friends, they were able to begin to turn Peace by Piece into something greater. The group would collect and sell art from students, with all profits going directly towards donations. They were initially focused on supporting Palestinians during the ongoing conflict but later expanded to other global causes.
“I didn’t expect it to be as big as it was,” Malone shared, “but it was really, really rewarding to not only see my friends interact with it, but literally just everyone on campus kind of interacting with it in their own way… Another thing I didn’t expect was people inviting us to table. At first it was some of the cultural events, but I’ve also been invited to one of the SoJo panels to talk about how I formed Peace by Piece. Being invited to the First-Year Fest and the Lewisburg Arts Festival was really cool, too.”
Though Peace by Piece is a more recent endeavor of Malone, she’s been engaging with the arts in a variety of ways since coming to Bucknell. Since joining the Arts Residential College in her first year and later becoming president of Bucknell’s Art Collective in her senior year, Malone has been surrounding herself with art— at times literally. She made it a goal in her first year to be able to entirely fill her dorm room with her own art, and is proud to say that she achieved that goal.
Malone’s art doesn’t just manifest in traditional visual arts, either. She’s worked at the Seventh St. MakerSpace for the past two years and is even going to utilize those resources to make her own outfit for graduation. Similar to taking inspiration from her dad’s interests, Malone gained an interest in music from her older brother who was a music theory major. Malone, largely self-taught, often uses her free time to work on her own songs through singing, playing electric and acoustic guitar and recently, piano. She has also explored the art of dance through joining the on-campus dance group The Bisonettes.
After graduation, Malone envisions art remaining a large part of her life, even if it is purely as a hobby. With Peace by Piece being passed down to current students, she still envisions herself having some involvement with her brain child. Malone could see Peace by Piece becoming a larger initiative outside of Bucknell and hopes to start with establishing a website for it.
