A young woman with dark hair poses with her hand near her chin, wearing earrings and a necklace, against a plain background.

Avantika Velho is the co-founder of BIOPOD Co. and is currently pursuing her Master's in Design Engineering at Harvard.

Previously, she was a researcher at Northeastern University’s BioInteractive Design Lab, where her work focused on biomaterials and biosensing textiles. She also served as the Lead Biodesigner and Strategist at Terreform ONE, a Brooklyn-based socio-ecological design research group. Her nature-centric, scale-agnostic approach to design encompasses regenerative systems for future cities, living architecture, lunar dust mitigation technologies, self-cleaning biomaterials, and numerous physical and digital products for clients such as CVS, Google, NASA, and Hyundai Motors.

Avantika graduated with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) with a BFA in Industrial Design, concentrating in Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies. She has received numerous recognitions, including the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for sustainability, the Maharam STEAM Fellowship, and the Hyundai Research and Innovation Fellowship. Her work has been supported by the Sustainable Market Initiative’s Terra Carta Design Lab, the Somerson Sustainability Innovation Fund, and organizations like the National Endowment of the Arts and NSF.

Avantika shares her work with both design and scientific audiences by publishing papers and presenting at conferences such as eCAADe, ACSA|AIA Intersections Research Conference, and the IEEE International OCEANS Conference.

Her research and designs have been widely published in Dezeen, Designboom, Design Milk, WGSN, HUBE, and Fast Company. Her recent collaborative project with Terreform ONE, “Fab Tree Hab,” has earned multiple awards, including Fast Company’s 2024 Innovation by Design Award, the Green GOOD DESIGN Award, the Rethinking the Future Award, the DNA Paris Design Award, and the Core77 Design Honor Award.

- Co-Founder BIOPOD Co. | 2023-Present
- Biodesigner & Research Assistant Northeastern University BioInteractive Design Lab | 2024-Present
- Lead Biodesigner & Strategist Terreform ONE | 2022-24
- Lead Computational Designer Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) | 2022-23
- Interaction and Experience Design Intern Big Dreams (formerly Tell Art) | 2022
- Hyundai Research and Innovation Fellow Hyundai Motor Group & RISD | 2021-22
- Maharam STEAM Fellow Living Systems Laboratory | 2021
- Peer Tutor RISD Co- Works Research Lab, Providence, RI | 2021
- Designer & Research Assistant, RISD Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, Providence, RI | 2021
Harvard University, Cambridge
Master in Design Engineering (ongoing)
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence
BFA in Industrial Design & Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies
MIT Sloan School of Management & Mechanical Engineering
Selected Courses in Product Design and Development (2.739)
Brown University
Selected Courses in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Neuroscience
- Terra Carta Design Lab, BIOPOD Winner 2024
- The Edison Awards Nomination 2025, Fab Tree Hab- Terreform ONE 2024
- Fast Company Innovation by Design Award, Fab Tree Hab - Terreform ONE 2024
- Green GOOD Design Award, Fab Tree Hab – Terreform ONE 2024
- Core77 Design Honor Award, Fab Tree Hab – Terreform ONE 2024
- Rethinking the Future Award, Fab Tree Hab- Terreform ONE 2024
- DNA Paris Design Award Winner: Green Architecture, Fab Tree Hab- Terreform ONE 2024
- RISD Rachel Carson Environmental Award, Recipient 2022
- RISD Industrial Design Faculty Award, Recipient 2022
- IDSA Makeathon: Zooming Out, First Place 2022
- Industrial Design Department Representative, Elected Winner 2021
- Google x Biodesign Challenge Sprint, First Place 2021
- NASA Big Idea Challenge, TEST-RAD -Forum Award Winner 2021
- RISD Collaborative Visualization Grant, Winner 2021
- VIS-A-THON, Winner 2021
  Hyundai Research and Innovation Fellowship, Recipient 2021
- Maharam STEAM Fellowship, Recipient 2021
- International Biodesign Challenge, Finalist 2021
- IDSA Makeathon: Connecting the Dots, First Place 2020
- Terra Carta Design Lab, BIOPOD Co. 2024
- National Endowment of the Arts: Grants for Art Projects, Fab Tree Hab- Terreform ONE 2024
- Somerson Sustainability Innovation Fund (SSIF), Recipient 2023
- RISD Industrial Design Health & Wellness Design Fund, Recipient 2022
- Student Provisional Ubiquity Research (SPUR) Grant Recipient 2022
- NASA Big Idea Challenge Funding TEST-RAD 2021
- RISD Collaborative Visualization Grant, Recipient 2021
- Hyundai Research and Innovation Fellowship, Recipient 2021
- Maharam STEAM Fellowship, Recipient 2021
2025 La Biennale di Venezia Architettura : Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective, Italy – Coding Plants, Terreform ONE
2024 Terra Carta Design Lab Showcase, Providence, RI - BIOPOD Co.
2024 New Climate Futures, New Lab, NY - BIOPOD Co.
2024 Haptic Futures, Fifth Avenue Hotel, NY - BIOPOD Co.
2023 Biodesign Challenge at MoMA, New York, NY – BIOPOD Co.
2022 Tallinn Architectural Biennale, Estonia – Puffed Rice Bales, Terreform ONE
2021 RISD Industrial Design Senior Show, Providence, RI – Functional Morphologies
2021 RISD Graphic Design Triennial, Providence, RI – Avani
2021 Hyundai and Kia Futures Exhibit- Adaptive Ecologies,Seoul, South Korea – Functional Morphologies and Avani
2021 Adaptive Ecologies Building on Nature’s Blueprint, Providence, RI – Functional Morphologies and Avani
2021 Biodesign Challenge, New York, NY & Online – BioCycles Project
2021 BioModels, Providence, RI – BioCycles Project & Curation
2019 Experimental Foundation Studies Showcase, Providence, RI – Phagocytose Charcoal Animation, Wire Mantis