NSEAD
NETWORK FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, ART AND DESIGN
Pamela L. Jennings, Ph.D.
Director
Brenda and Earl Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
pjennings@saic.edu
National Science Foundation
CreativeIT Program
CreativeIT PROGRAM
General Program Statistics
• Program Active 2007 – 2010
• $38M Approximate total research funding
FY10 Program Statistics
• $9.5M Granted in FY10 – increased from
$5M base budget
• 172 Proposals submitted 162 Reviewed
• 7 panels organized in the following
categories
o Cognitive Science and Design Thinking
o Education (formal and informal)
o Creativity-Based IT Research
o Creativity Support Tools
• 30 Awarded Proposals (approx. 18% yield)
CreativeIT AWARD 1002736 Distributed Creative
National Science Foundation Cognition in Choreography
CreativeIT Program
PIs: David Kirsch (cognitive science) with Wayne
McGregor (choreography)
University of California – San Diego
New theoretical models
for understanding
creative cognition and
computation.
Developing cognitive
models of creativity in
support of code, agents
and robotics; and
understanding how
creative cognitive models
from creative practices
can help people harness
their creative potentials.
Interactive Cognition Lab
Students at the University of California, San Diego study creative
collaboration and distributed cognition.
National Science Foundation CreativeIT Award 1002851 : CAIRA - a Creative
Artificially-Intuitive and Reasoning Agent in the
CreativeIT Program
context of ensemble music improvisation
Integrating creativitybased methods, practices
& theories to stimulate
breakthroughs in science
and engineering.
PIs: Jonas Braasch (musician, architect, computer science),
Selmer C. Bringsjord (artificial intelligence) & Pauline
Oliveros (musician, composer)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Understanding and
supporting contributions
to computing, information
sciences and engineering
from the fine, performing
and applied arts.
Communication Acoustics & Aural Architecture Research Lab
CAIRA - a Creative Artificially-Intuitive and Reasoning Agent in the
Context of Ensemble Music Improvisation
National Science Foundation CreativeIT Award 1002713: Scratch 2.0: Cultivating
Creativity and Collaboration in the Cloud
CreativeIT Program
PI: Mitch Resnick (Computer and Learning Sciences)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Innovative Educational
Approaches that
Encourage Creativity.
Experiments in multidisciplinary teaching and
learning from design
studio labs to thinkering,
and serious games.
Lifelong Kindergarten, MIT Media Lab
Kids create interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations -and share their creations with one another online. They learn to
think creatively, reason systematically, & work collaboratively.
National Science Foundation CreativeIT Award 1002921 : Expressing Dramatic
Character in Dialogue: A Toolkit for Creative
CreativeIT Program
Exploration of Linguistic Style
Software tools that
support creative
problem solving.
PIs: Marilyn Walker (Natural Language Processing) &
Noah Wardrip-Fruin (Media Art & Games Theory)
University of California-Santa Cruz
The design, development,
and evaluation of new
software tools and
interaction design
methods that help people
in integrate creative
solutions when solving
hard problems.
Natural Language and Dialogue Systems Lab
SpyFeet explores how natural language processing can be incorporated
into the narrative structures of game authoring.
NSF CreativeIT
Workshops
CONTINUING the
DIALOGUE …
Arts + Science + Technology RE/search
Strategies: a Joint Meeting of the National Science
Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Arts
NSF Headquarters, September 15-16, 2010.
Bridging STEM to STEAM: Developing New
Frameworks for Art-Science-Design Pedagogy
Rhode Island School of Design, January 19-20, 2011.
Establishing a Network of Excellence for
Art + Science + Technology Research:
Infrastructural and Intellectual Foundations
Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
(EMPAC) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, March 15-16, 2011.
NSF CreativeIT
Workshops
CONTINUING the
DIALOGUE …
Arts + Science + Technology RE/search
Strategies: a Joint Meeting of the National
Science Foundation and the National
Endowment for the Arts
PI(s) and Collaborators:
Pamela Jennings, Joan Shigekawa, Bill O’Brien, Fox
D. Harrell, Laurie Durnell & Tiffany Forner - Grove
Consultants International, Sneha Veeragoudar
NSF Headquarters
Arlington, Virginia
September 15-16, 2010
National Science Foundation
Post-CreativeIT
Initiatives
NSF Headquarters,
Arlington, Virginia
September 15-16, 2010
Arts + Science + Technology RE/search Strategies
a Joint Meeting of the National Science Foundation
and the National Endowment for the Arts
THE BIG QUESTIONS

How does computing come together with culture?

How can we tap into the passions of today’s youth to provide them with 21st century skills and employment?

What is the role of the arts in complex issues like climate change?

How can the arts and humanities work in service of solving larger problems?

How can the structures of organizations and educational institutions enable art/science learning?

How can we break down silos in university curriculums to foster these kinds of art/science collaborations?
CURRENT STATE
DRIVERS &TRENDS
GAP ANALYSIS
FUTURE STATE
NSF CreativeIT
Workshops
CONTINUING the
DIALOGUE …
Bridging STEM to STEAM: Developing
New Frameworks for Art-Science-Design
Pedagogy
PI(s) and Collaborators:
John Maeda, Brian Smith, Chris Rose, Babette
Alain
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, Rhode Island
January 19-20, 2011
National Science Foundation
Post-CreativeIT
Bridging STEM to STEAM: Developing New
Frameworks for Art-Science-Design Pedagogy
Initiatives
Rhode Island School of
Design
January 20-21, 2011
Workshop Objectives:
1) Develop strategies for enhancing STEM
education through the integration of art and design
thinking (STEM + ART = STEAM);
2) Build new connections between art and design
disciplines and scientific fields to advance
understanding of complex systems, e.g., through
improved strategies and techniques for the shared
perception and visualization of scientific data.
STEM to STEAM Congressional Briefing with
Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) & the Rhode Island
School of Design
NSF CreativeIT
Workshops
CONTINUING the
DIALOGUE …
Establishing a Network of Excellence
for
Art + Science + Technology Research:
Infrastructural and Intellectual
Foundations
PI(s) and Collaborators:
Johannes Goebel, Jonas Braasch
Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing
Arts Center (EMPAC) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York
March 15-16, 2011
National Science Foundation
Post-CreativeIT
Initiatives
Experimental Media and
Performing Arts Center
(EMPAC)
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute
March 15-16, 2011
Establishing a Network of Excellence for
Art + Science + Technology Research:
Infrastructural and Intellectual Foundations
Workshop Objectives:
1) Identify key issues in infrastructure needs to
support creativity-based technology research;
2) Develop concrete plans toward the development,
management and constituent involvement in a
distributed network infrastructure for the sustained
support of the field;
3) Identify leading institutions that will move
forward on proposals for the development of a
research network.
WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT
Pedagogical Frameworks for STEAM, Geophysics, Mixed Reality
Rehabilitation, Cultures of Participation, Neuroaesthetics, Rural
Ecosystems / NOAA, Telematic Performance Arts, Performance
Studies, Humanities,, Languages, Visualization of Large Datasets,
Tetherless World, Cognitive modeling of learning and sound, Music,
Human Computer Interaction, Signal Processing, Machine learning,
Synthetic Biology, Brain Signals, fMRI, National Interdisciplinary
Networks, Massive Multiplayer Environments, Motion Capturing
Gaming, Body Language, Linguistics, Psychology, Dance,
Choreography, Animation, Computer Science, Medical Experts,
Health, Biomechanics, Neurologists, Big Data, Mulitmodality,
Allosphere, Biogenerative, Quantum Information processing,
Structural materials Research, Arts & Entertainment, 3D Models,
Fluid Dynamics, Cancer, Nanoparticles, Bloodstream, Intelligent
Agents, Quantum Mechanics, Hydrogen Electron, Dynamic
Behaviors, Photon Emission, Cosmologist, Cosmic Microwave,
Multi-sensory interfaces, Composition….
SAMPLING OF AREAS OF CONCERN
Academic standards of publish or perish are often at odds with
interesting work that crosses boundaries.
Collisions between individual and collective approaches
• different development and assessment methods
• different incentives and reward structures
• different interpretations of the same terms
• Just plain difference….
Not able to find common ground or deeply shared commitments
to sustain interests.
Conflicting disciplinary temporal rhythms
Not sure what a network of excellence is….
SAMPLING OF ADVANTAGES TO INTER-INSTITUTIONAL ALLIANCES
Dynamic synergy, accelerated innovation and problem solving • Rapid
introduction of new research horizons with greater global impact • Stronger
organization, diversity, and collective lobbying power for national shared
research funding • Shift of institutional priorities and values to include interinstitutional collaboration • Encourage critically needed hybrid collaboration
with scientists, engineers, artists, and humanists • Create and sustain
important online inter-institutional research portals, research societies
and peer reviewed periodical literature with higher potential long- term
existence • Reduce redundancy, manage finite resources better more
responsibly, privilege sustainable resource sharing • Share internal
organizational strategies and policy information • Provide functioning and
experience based cost / benefit models to new research partners • Increase
sustainable products, ideas, and exportable methods emerging from coinvestment/co- development • Enable shared peer- review models,
including equitable assessment for tenure/promotion of hybrid faculty
engaged in hybrid collaborative research • Partnering and sharing among
supercomputing centers • Shared grants- management technology for funders
to create interoperable information about shared research intelligence and
efficacy…
NSEAD
NETWORK FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, ART AND DESIGN
Pamela L. Jennings, Ph.D.
Director
Brenda and Earl Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
pjennings@saic.edu