This Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) project is supported by the Division of Research on Learning in the Education and Human Resources Directorate and by the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. This interdisciplinary project integrates historical insights from geometric design principles used to craft classical stringed instruments during the Renaissance era with modern insights drawn from computer science principles. The project applies abstract mathematical concepts toward the making and designing of furniture, buildings, paintings, and instruments through a specific example: the making and designing of classical stringed instruments. The research can help instrument makers employ customized software to facilitate a comparison of historical designs that draws on both geometrical proofs and evidence from art history. The project's impacts include the potential to shift in fundamental ways not only how makers think about design and the process of making but also how computer scientists use foundational concepts from programming languages to inform the representation of physical objects. Furthermore, this project develops an alternate teaching method to help students understand mathematics in creative ways and offers specific guidance to current luthiers in areas such as designing the physical structure of a stringed instrument to improve acoustical effect.
The project develops a domain-specific functional programming language based on straight-edge and compass constructions and applies it in three complementary directions. The first direction develops software tools (compilers) to inform the construction of classical stringed instruments based on geometric design principles applied during the Renaissance era. The second direction develops an analytical and computational understanding of the art history of these instruments and explores extensions to other maker domains. The third direction uses this domain-specific language to design an educational software tool. The tool uses a calculative and constructive method to teach Euclidean geometry at the pre-college level and complements the traditional algebraic, proof-based teaching method. The representation of instrument forms by high-level programming abstractions also facilitates their manufacture, with particular focus on the arching of the front and back carved plates --- of considerable acoustic significance --- through the use of computer numerically controlled (CNC) methods. The project's novelties include the domain-specific language itself, which is a programmable form of synthetic geometry, largely without numbers; its application within the contemporary process of violin making and in other maker domains; its use as a foundation for a computational art history, providing analytical insights into the evolution of classical stringed instrument design and its related material culture; and as a constructional, computational approach to teaching geometry.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Harry Mairson
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in collaboration with EcoArts Connections and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), is conducting an initial planning workshop and related activities which will be the first of three stepwise convenings over the next two or three years to gather experts from the fields of natural and social sciences, arts, energy/water conservation, and related disciplines. The initiative will work to establish an operational strategy for knowledge sharing across collaborating entities, networks, and associations. The major goal is to strengthen collaboration of professionals nationally to better conceive, conduct, and evaluate projects for the public that work at the intersection of science, arts, and sustainability (environmental, social and economic). Many communities around the country have been seeking to address increasingly pressing problems about their ability to sustain the vitality, health and resilience of their regions and the lives of their residents. Bringing inter-disciplinary knowledge and skills to bear on these issues is considered to be critical. Between 24 - 32 professionals will be involved. The workshop will be conducted simultaneously in Boulder, CO and at Princeton University, with communication between the two sites. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. Intended outcomes from this first workshop include: 1) identification and preliminary mapping of successful evidence-based best practices in science-arts-sustainability collaborations 2) a strategic vision for interdisciplinary collaboration across networks; and 3) an initial framework for the dissemination of findings that can reach across disciplines. Outputs include 1) preparation of a pre-workshop briefing booklet based in part on interviews of professionals in the various disciplines; 2) a post-workshop white paper; 3) a network of experts from the participating disciplinary fields; and 4) an agenda for the second (larger) convening. The trans-disciplinary strategy promises to more efficiently and effectively bring STEM disciplines to a wider public in collaboration with the arts through sustainability topics that are place-based, targeted to, and meaningful for specific audiences.
Drawing on the example of Leonardo da Vinci, who was able to combine arts and science in his work, the National Museum of Science and Technology of Milan has always pursued the blending and the dialogue of humanistic and scientific knowledge. It has employed this approach in all of its activities, from the set design of exhibition departments to the acquisition of collections and, more recently, in the dialogue with the public. Now more than ever, following a renewal path for the Museum, these guidelines are being subject to research to achieve a new and more up-to-date interpretation.
This article offers a 1953-present day review of the models that have popularised DNA, one of the fundamental molecules of biochemistry. DNA has become an iconic concept over the 20th century, overcoming the boundaries of science and spreading into literature, painting, sculpture or religion. This work analyses the reasons why DNA has penetrated society so effectively and examines some of the main metaphors used by the scientists and scientific popularisers. Furthermore, this article, taken from the author's PhD thesis, describes some recent popularisation models for this molecule.
The use of photography in the field of psychiatry is an eloquent example of the complex evolution of the relationship between science, communication and society. The research that follows analyses the development of such a relationship in a crucial period of the history of psychiatry: the 1970s. That was the time that witnessed the revolution of a science which admitted the failure of its methods and "instruments", mental hospitals. That was also the time when a profound change took place in the communicative methods of photography related to this uncertain field of knowledge. A group of
Through the years, Majorana's life - and his mysterious disappearance in particular - inspired manifold representations. The wide range of links to science, philosophy and literature have allowed deep reflections crossing the borders of genre: from theatre to fiction, from essays to novels and cartoons. Reconstructing the character of Majorana by thinking back to all the interpretations he has been given allows us to place him in a wider and more organic context, which goes beyond the functional aspects of fiction. In this wider prospective, we can clearly see why the still unresolved Majorana
A NSF EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) was awarded to Principal Investigator John Fraser, PhD, AIA, in collaboration with co-Principal Investigators, Mary Miss and William Solecki, PhD, for City as Living Laboratory for Sustainability in Urban Design (CaLL). The CaLL project explored how public art installations can promote public discussion about sustainability. The project examined the emerging role of artists and visual thinkers as people with the skills to encourage conversation between scientists and the public. The grant supported an experimental installation
Arizona State University is conducting a May 2010 two-day workshop that will bring together "Next Generation" (NextGen) science communicators (writers, journalists, bloggers, documentary filmmakers, museum professionals); NextGen scholars/researchers in science and technology policy; and publication editors. The goals are: to help improve the communications skills of these professionals, to encourage collaborations of communicators and scholars, and, ultimately, to help the public gain a better understanding of the policy dimensions of STEM by encouraging more effective communications about STEM and policy issues that affect their lives. The workshop provides direct experience in a writing genre called "narrative nonfiction" or "creative nonfiction," a domain in which Gutkind has been a leader. The co-PI, Guston, is a scholar in science and technology policy and an active partner of the NSF-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network. In addition, the Spring 2011 issue of Issues in Science and Technology will include works by the collaborating communicators/scholars. This workshop precedes and informs a larger conference on science policy, The Rightful Place of Science?," funded by others, including NSF's Science, Technology, and Society program.