WID is pleased to announce the Emerging Interfaces Award. This award aims to promote creative and engaging explorations at interfaces between science & technology and the arts, humanities, social sciences and education. The award will provide candidates selected from the arts, humanities, social sciences, and education with an opportunity to pursue a term-long project at the interface between science/technology and their respective disciplines. Science and technology areas of particular interest to WID are BIO (biosciences and biotechnology), INFO (information science and technology), and NANO (nano-science and technology).
We welcome our recipients for 2012
Chris Bocast
Grad Student - Nelson Institute
Design Lab
Epigenetics podcast for UW-Madison’s iTunes U
I am proposing a podcast series for UW-Madison iTunes U; the series would feature strong production values, making the pieces suitable for broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio and other outlets. Epigenetics – the Race to Control the Gene Series description: The blueprint for human growth is written into our DNA. To a great extent, the popular understanding of DNA research was that sequencing the complete human genome would unlock secrets to why humans develop the way they do and give humanity newfound power to improve longevity and prevent disease. The science of epigenetics studies the mechanisms that govern the expression of the genes written into DNA — and the potential they have to improve the human condition. These podcasts go directly to the heart of cutting-edge epigenetics research now being conducted at the Denu Lab in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
Presentation May 15th @ 6:30pm in the WID Forum.
Ryan Lawless
MFA candidate - Art
Arts Institute
Digital Ceramics- New Technologies for an Ancient Craft
The aim of this project is to use new technologies to replicate the process of making handmade pottery by using only digital resources. Using the iCeramic application on an iPhone3GS, I will make 3D models of various forms on the program to send to a 3D printing device, e.g. MakerBot. The creation of new software will upload the file onto a computer and send it directly to the 3D printer. In adjusting the material and printing properties of the device, the MakerBot will extrude ceramic slip into the form of the digitally made file, resulting in a vitrified porcelain form that is identical in scale to the digitally modeled form on the iPhone.
Presentation on Tuesday, May 8th at 1:00pm in the WID 3rd floor teaching lab
Alexander Hanna
Grad Student - Sociology
School of Journalism &Mass Communication
Harvesting and Mapping the Political Twitterverse in 2012
My current plan is to define up to 60 key political figures (level 1), follow then and up to 50 of their randomly selected followers (level 2), along with 25 of the randomly selected followers of each of these followers (level 3). This would require tracking approximately 75,000 Twitter accounts on a daily basis, yielding a fuller picture of how ideas flow from political elites. The project I am proposing would provide unique insights into a number of important questions regarding the role of information and communication technologies in political and civic engagement.
Presentation on Thursday, May 10th at 11:00am in the WID 3rd floor teaching lab
Amanda Horn
DMA candidate - piano performance
Arts Institute
Biofeedback for the Advancing Pianist
This project will combine biomechanical analysis with current piano pedagogy research to benefit the small-handed pianist. This study will focus on particular physical demands encountered in the most popular and notoriously difficult repertoire among advancing pianists. Each topic or technique will include a discussion of biomechanical risk factors and recommended healthful practice strategies from the fields of piano pedagogy and performing arts medicine.
Matthew Hora
Grad Student- Ed. Psychology
Center for Education Research
Using science visualization techniques of classroom practice to improve instructor self-reflection
Evidence suggests that reflection on feedback regarding one's performance is a critical feature of high-quality professional practice. In educational settings, self-reflection is particularly important at the early career stage, yet graduate instructors in postsecondary settings generally lack rigorous accounts of their own teaching upon which to reflect. Using a newly developed methodology to study instructional decision-making and classroom teaching based on theories and methods from cognitive psychology, I will conduct in-depth interviews and classroom observations with graduate student instructors teaching undergraduate STEM courses. I will then use techniques from science visualization to present different types of reports based on these data to the instructors and their mentors, and identify which format best facilitates self-reflection and professional growth.
Elisabeth Miller
Grad Student - English Composition and Rhetoric
Center for Humanities
Telling Life Stories
A Humanities Exposed project, the “Telling Life Stories” group will meet for a semester-long workshop for persons with aphasia to compose multi-modal life story projects expressing their personalities and experiences. Participants in this group will use technology to compose multi-modal stories with computer-generated graphics, audio, images, and words that reflect on their experiences with stroke or impaired language use. The Emerging Interfaces Award would enable this project to acquire funding and support for technology, including electronic tablets, software, audio and video recording devices, and other equipment to facilitate participants’ development of life- story projects.
Carrie Roy
Post Doc - Humanities Research Bridge
Center for Humanities
Seeing Stories in the Humanities and Sciences
This project aims to develop a new way of visualizing dynamic interactions between characters (nodes or entities) over time. The goal of this project is to achieve a prototype for a narrative profile consisting of stacked character network diagrams as they shift over the course of a narrative. The result would offer a new way of comparing narrative structures (across genres, eras, and cultures) in addition to offering scholars a special tool for following the activities of individual characters or groups of characters (women, political groups, family involvement, etc.) throughout the course of a narrative.
Emily Eggleston
Grad Student - Journalism/Geography
School of Journalism &Mass Communication
“Finding Your Favorite Science” Flowchart
An incredible diversity of science is in progress everyday at UW-Madison. There is much to inspire and intrigue if you know where to look. However, knowing where and how to learn about it all can be a challenge. Whether you’re already on campus, a prospective student or an interested Wisconsin citizen the labyrinth of web pages, where UW Madison’s science is arguably most accessible, could use a fun and engaging front door. My flowchart project could be that front door.
Jamon VanDenHoek
Grad Student - Geology
Center for Humanities
Trojan Fire: Examining the Recently Exposed Lower City of Troy
Modern excavations have taken place at Troy since the 1930s, but there is much important research that remains, especially in the lower city. Expansive and dense pine forests inhibited visibility and precluded any formal archaeological investigation. This changed in July 2008 when a wildfire completely removed these forests. In exposing the landscape, the wildfire presents a unique opportunity to research the previously inaccessible lower city. This project will use satellite imagery to locate forests before and after the wildfire, conduct a high-resolution terrain analysis to identify burial mounds and other archeological features on the landscape, and examine the spatial distribution of artifacts. Project results will, therefore, focus preliminary research as well as complement subsequent excavation data.
Shawn Everette
MFA Fellow - Art, Glass Specialization
Arts Institute
Filling the Void
My current body of work is directed towards our relationships with objects, how we interact with them and how they come to define our personalities. As a part of this I have adapted traditional laboratory glass blowing techniques to create interactive objects resembling classic regalia of science fiction lore. Using a high voltage, high frequency current these neon filled instruments illuminate when in contact with human skin. My technical knowledge regarding the subject is limited by basic wiring experience and pre-fabricated equipment, both of which I am hoping to overcome through interaction with students and professors from the sciences and technology department.
Kaitlin Rienzo-Stack
Grad Student - Zoology/Entomology
Holtz Center
Safer Water through Square Dancing
I propose to study whether personal interaction and physical touch can increase empathy between stakeholders. I will host an old-time square dance for people involved with mitigating harmful algal blooms in Lake Mendota. Algal blooms are a contentious issue for Lake Mendota’s disparate stakeholders, including limnologists, dairy farmers, environmental groups, and government agencies.
Presentation on Friday, May 11th at 1:00pm in the WID 3rd floor teaching lab
Koala Choi-Fung Yip
Grad Student - Art Dept
Arts Institute
“Amid” – Crossing art and science
“Amid” is an initiation of a long-term research-based creative art project. It seeks to commence an interdisciplinary approach on interfacing the biological, artistic and technological study of the human form. Project execution process involves in-depth research in biology, information science and art practice. The proposed outcome is a new genre of artform - “Performative installation”.
Presentation May 15th @ 6:30pm in the WID Forum.
