Design Science Symposium STEM to STEAM thru Synergy
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Fourth Biennial Design Science Symposium, STEM to STEAM thru Synergy: Bridging Morphology, Biomimicry, Sustainability and Synergetics, will convene January 31 – February 2, 2014, Metcalf Auditorium at the Chace Center and at the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, on the RISD campus.
The Symposium will be a highly interactive meeting of makers, thinkers, practitioners, and educators, who will gather in order to explore the multidisciplinary field of Design Science. There will be presentations, panel discussions, workshops, a film screening, tours, and an exhibit.
Keynote speakers will include RISD’s Interim President, Rosanne Somerson, Dayna Baumeister, PhD, Biomimic & Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8, Dennis M. Bartels, PhD, Director of the San Francisco Exploratorium, and Richard Bresnahan, Master Ceramicist and Artist in Residence, St. Johns University.
Somerson recently filled the position of former RISD President, John Maeda, a champion of the educational initiative, STEM to STEAM. STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. It represents an integrative and multidisciplinary approach to education. STEM + A = STEAM.
Presentations from notable speakers, including Deborah Gist, PhD, Commissioner of Rhode Island Department of Education, Kavita Ramanan, PhD, Mathematician & Professor, Brown University, Lefteris Pavlides, Architect & Professor, Roger Williams University, Thomas T. K. Zung, Architect & Design Historian, Buckminster Fuller, Sadao, & Zung, and Eric Goetz, owner of Bristol-based racing boat builders Goetz Composites, amongst others. Goetz will speak about the recent commission to restore of one of Buckminster Fuller’s most iconic structures, the 24-ft/7.3m Fly’s Eye Dome.
Participants will have the opportunity to attend hands-on design science workshops, facilitated by engineers, inventors, designers, and mathematicians. Facilitators will include George Hart, Bob Sanderson, Leftheris Pavlides, Chris Kitrick, Joe Clinton, Ed Popko, Dick Esterle, and Gary Doskas.
Debut film screening and discussion with film-maker and author Christopher Zelov, who recently completed a documentary film (30 minutes), A Visit with Magnus, featuring Father Magnus Wenniger (born 1919), who is a monk, mathematician, and builder of polyhedron models. Zelov, along with Phil Cousineau and Brian Danitz co-edited the book Design Outlaws on the Ecological Frontier and co-created the award-winning documentary Ecological Design: Inventing the Future.
Participants will enjoy tours of both the Arthur Loeb Design Science Teaching Collection and The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. The Loeb Collection is quite special, featuring of hundreds of three-dimensional polyhedra and two-dimensional patterns that inspire students and faculty to examine nature’s fundamental responses to design problems. The Nature Lab, with its growing collection of more than 80,000 natural history objects, books, visual resources, microscopes and a digital work station, serves as an invaluable research facility for the RISD community.
Concurrent to the Symposium will be an exhibit titled, Investigating the Lab: Relationships between Art, Design, and Science, co-curated by RISD faculty, Carl Fasano, and RISD alum, Sophia Sobers. The exhibit will be on display in the Waterman Gallery, adjacent to RISD’s Edna Lawrence Nature Lab. Looking at the influence and application of science-driven and science-inspired work, this exhibition will showcase the wide range of ways students engage science within their work. Ranging from detailed illustrations to organ inspired jewelry, the exhibition showcases a cohesive undercurrent of studio practice, and works of art and design, which access a wide range of scientific topics.
Panel discussions with RISD faculty, Peter Dean, Carl Fasano, and Amy Leidtke, will address the question “What is Design Science?” and a student panel will discuss their work and studio practice that which engages science.
The Synergetics Collaborative and The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab have organized Biennial Design Science Symposia at RISD since 2007. This Symposium, the RISD and Brown STEAM Clubs will participate, lending their energy, talents, and enthusiasm to the event.
To register, visit http://www.SynergeticsCollaborative.org. Register by January 10 to get the early bird discount. RISD and Brown students attend the event at no cost. Participating K-12 Educators will receive a Professional Development Report from RISD.
For more information contact Jaime Marland, jmarland@risd.edu
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