Motivation and Program Learning Outcomes
Deriving from the shift in the national discourse around interdisciplinary education from STEM to STEAM—science, technology, engineering, ART, and math—the CuBISM vision is in line with the Next Generation Science Standards, which underscore the importance of interdisciplinary topics of research that are associated with real-world situations, improving the experimental design process and fostering innovation. These standards were motivated by the need to create a flexible research workforce that will be highly adaptable to the fast-pace of change in today’s world. The connections between science and art inspire creative formulations of research questions on topics with a diversity of stakeholders, providing unique opportunities to demonstrate the application of scientific research to wide-ranging societal concerns. The establishment of a dual track mechanism, where researchers work at the interface between the traditional and art-related science fields, will attract and educate future leaders by creating a program that balances specialization in science with a broad intellectual and international perspective. It will develop a new paradigm for graduate education in the sciences and engineering that closely links research with societal, ethical, economic, and policy considerations.
Participants: PhD students and faculty at Northwestern University, conservation scientists and museum education professionals at the Art Institute of Chicago, and leading experts in conservation science from cultural heritage institutes in the Netherlands, France, and Italy collaborate to create meaningful, international research experiences to at least 50 unique participants in the various educational programs that will be developed throughout the course of the project.
Opportunities to get involved:
Two scholarships per year will allow PhD students, postdoctoral scientists, and young nontenured faculty from outside CuBISM to attend the annual workshop held at a European location.
Two undergraduates per year will be able to participate in an international research experiences for undergraduates (REU) program at a European partner institute. These students will then be eligible to participate in REU+, continuing their research for a quarter at Northwestern.
Co-Mentored PhD Topics
CuBISM supports seven Northwestern University PhD students in materials science, chemistry, and engineering over the five-year program. Each of these students will be co-mentored by faculty at Northwestern and at a partnering European institution. The research topics will be networked, so that many other interactions between research groups will also exist beyond the two primary supervisors. Regular meetings between the students and the US and Dutch supervisors will be held by teleconference during the entire period of the PhD project. In some cases topics may be split between multiple PhD students.
CuBISM International Workshops
Once per year, a week-long CuBISM workshop will take place at a European location, where the CuBISM graduate student cohort and the project PIs will present on their collaborative work. Attendees will also include participants in the Materiality in Art Seminar and the CuBISM summer REU program (see below). Two scholarships to the workshop will be made available each year to senior PhD students, postdoctoral scientists, and young nontenured faculty from outside the CuBISM program, extending the reach of the program and providing networking opportunities for early career scientists interested in working at the interface between art and science.
Materiality in Art Seminar
A course entitled, Materiality of Art and Archeology: An Introduction to Archaeological Science and Technical Art History, will be taught by CuBISM co-PI Marc Walton. In this Northwestern University junior/senior level undergraduate class, students will scientifically examine and investigate the production and use of art across time and space. This hands-on, objects-oriented seminar will be taught in the spring quarter at Northwestern. The students will have the option to extend their classwork into the summer quarter through visits to leading art conservation/conservation-science laboratories throughout Europe. Behind-the-scenes access to these renowned cultural heritage institutions will enhance the Northwestern classroom experience through real-life examples of how art may be studied through the physical sciences.
CuBISM International Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program
Two undergraduate positions will be made available each year to conduct research in collaboration with Ph.D. students working with their European advisors. These will be 8 week positions modeled after our existing IRES program in Amsterdam, reserved primarily for students from underrepresented groups, who will then be eligible for the CuBISM REU+ program described below.
CuBISM REU+
The CuBISM program will participate in a newly proposed REU+ program. The program will enable select REU participants from small colleges to follow their summer experience with an academic quarter at Northwestern as domestic exchange students, thereby allowing them to experience the rigor of an R1 university in a nurturing environment. Students will be able to take classes and follow up on research performed during the international REU program for an additional 10 weeks. The CuBISM project will provide an additional recruitment mechanism for students to participate in this program.
Art and Science Communication Program
The unique nature of the CuBISM program, with its connection to both science and art, presents an opportunity to teach effective communication of scientific concepts to society at large. To enhance the effectiveness of this effort, we are partnering with Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications. During each summer, a journalism student will participate in the Materiality and Art seminar to develop videos and blogs with the undergraduate students aimed at public audiences. In a parallel effort, Medill School of Journalism Professor Donna Leff will teach scientific writing and communication workshops to CuBISM participants.
Art and Science Public Engagement Program
Experiences at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the project partners, have shown us the great potential for art-and-science oriented content. Inspired by dynamic exchanges with international colleagues in the CuBISM program, staff at the Art Institute will create public outreach programs as well as professional development sessions for conservation staff on effective communication of conservation science concepts to non-specialized audiences.
In Year 1, two workshops—one at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and one at the Art Institute—will bring together museum education staff, Northwestern/Art Institute Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS) faculty, museum conservation science staff, and practitioners in the fields of arts and science education to discuss best and emerging practices for art-and-science integration and strategies for public engagement. In Years 2–4, Art Institute staff will implement and evaluate a strategic set of programs and resources aimed at increasing broad public engagement with art-and-science concepts and content within the museum.