Lang went to college at Caltech, The California Institute of Technology, where he learned electrical engineering. He found college very hard, and often folded origami as a distraction from college life. Lang was afraid to tell people about his hobby, and he was even "a little embarrassed about it." For a long time, Lang didn't know any other origamists. He graduated from Caltech with a Ph.D. in physics, and later he graduated from Stanford University with a master's degree in electrical engineering.