Alison standing with hands on hips beside the Fearless Girl statue in front of the New York Stock Exchange

Oil painting of a vocalist with a prosthetic arm, surrounded by musical notes

Alison singing into a microphone at a recital

Alison Fung

Hi, I'm Alison. I'm a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, where I spend a lot of my time building things, singing, and occasionally trying to figure out why something I built isn't working.

Engineer

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I'm especially interested in engineering and developing assistive technologies that improve accessibility. I built a low-cost gesture-controlled hand after becoming curious about how computer vision and mechanical design could work together.

What started as a machine-learning project quickly turned into a lesson in servos, wiring, power distribution, 3D printing, and a lot of troubleshooting. It also got me thinking more about the accessibility of assistive technology.

Alison with her robotics team in the stands of the FIRST Championship arena — In the pits at the FIRST Championship in Houston

Behind the projects

Alison soldering wires onto the fingers of a 3D-printed red and white robotic hand at a work table — Soldering the gesture-controlled hand

Alison assembling a 3D-printed red and white robotic hand wired to servos on a workbench — Building the gesture-controlled hand

Alison presenting her TinyML hand gesture recognition research in front of a slide — Presenting my TinyML hand gesture recognition research

FRC robot with 2022 bumpers on the field, part 1 — Our FRC robot, part 1

Titan Robotics 2022 team feature card for Alison Fung, Operations Captain, class of 2027 — Titan Robotics #2022 Operations Captain feature

FRC robot with 2022 bumpers on the field, part 2 — Our FRC robot, part 2

Builds and more

Welded steel table frame with an acrylic top on a wood floor — Welded steel frame with an acrylic top

Neon LED strips mounted on an acrylic panel, lit white with one pink section — LED neon panel prototype

A four-wheel mecanum robot car with a Raspberry Pi 5, a servo-mounted sensor, and ribbon cable — Mecanum-wheel robot car with a Raspberry Pi 5

An Arduino Uno wired to a breadboard with a buzzer — Arduino Uno prototyping on a breadboard

Classical Voice

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I study classical voice with Dr. Bora Hwang, and I've trained in piano and clarinet alongside it.

Recordings

On Music

2026 · Watch on YouTube

Non e ver

2026 · Watch on YouTube

Mio caro bene

2026 · Watch on YouTube

Alison singing into a microphone at a local senior center — Singing for residents at a local senior center

Alison playing clarinet in a duet — Sibling duet

Visual Art

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Paintings

I love combining art with my robotics passion into one. These are a few original oil paintings where music and engineering meet on canvas.

Oil painting of a vocalist with a prosthetic arm, surrounded by musical notes and a treble clef

Oil painting of a singer performing on stage in front of a School of Rock drum kit

Oil painting of a girl singing into a microphone held by a robotic arm, with a glowing dancing figure behind her

Oil painting self-portrait beside a robot figure

Oil painting of a vintage copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes under a magnifying glass showing the detective's silhouette

Photography

I also love photography, which captures special moments in my life with family and friends.

Three overlapping photographs of the full moon blended into one image — Three shots of the moon, blended together

A camera mounted on a telescope tube and tripod in a parking lot at night — My moon-shooting setup

Full moon photographed against a black sky — The moon shot I was after

Alison photographing the moon through a telescope at night — Chasing the perfect moon shot

Alison sitting on a swing in front of a glowing red and blue immersive art installation — Lost in an immersive art exhibit

What about me?

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When I'm not building things, I'm a classical vocalist, artist, badminton player, and writer. I also love photography, skiing, cooking, and starting projects simply because I want to see if I can make them work.

Badminton

Alison in a Titans jersey moving across the court with a teammate in the background — Playing for the IMSA Titans

Skiing

Alison in a white helmet and red goggles flashing a peace sign in falling snow — Snow day

Five friends holding skis and a snowboard at a foggy summit — Summit crew in a whiteout

Two skiers posing in the snow with pine trees and mountains behind them — Sunny ski day

Everything else

Alison doing a handstand on the grass beneath the Gateway Arch — Handstand under the Gateway Arch

Stitches of Hope: oil painting of a person knitting with red yarn — Stitches of Hope50 scarves for open-heart surgery patients

PowerYou

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PowerYou started with a simple idea: two of my band friends and I wanted to share our love of music by performing at local senior centers. Before we knew it, our friends from band, orchestra, and choir had joined in, and together we've performed over 40 concerts at 10+ senior centers across Chicagoland! What began as a small music project has now grown into a nationwide youth-led nonprofit, with chapters in Washington, California, Virginia, and Minnesota. Along the way, we've expanded beyond music, bringing STEM education and hands-on learning opportunities to underserved youth through after-school programs. It's been amazing to see how one little idea can bring so many people together! power-you.org

Alison singing with a microphone beside two pianists while residents watch at a senior living community — Performing for residents at a senior living community

A group of young volunteers standing together to sing for seated seniors — Volunteers performing together for a senior community

A still from a video of a concert for residents in a care center lounge — A concert for residents

A still from a video of a singer performing for residents in wheelchairs and armchairs — Singing for residents