A team from the University of New Mexico is among the scientists and artists involved in Explora! I will attend an exhibition! Which starts with programs for the whole family.
Exhibit, shared.futures, with Meet a Scientist/Artist Saturday, August 6, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Explore! With an event that allows community kids and their families to meet local STEAM professionals, see amazing sci-fi and participate in scavenger hunts.
shared. Futures is a science-arts collaborative program where local scientists and artists come together, Lin said. Events of the month include workshops and an exhibition supported by the UNM-led Intermountain Waste Transformation Network through a National Science Foundation award. This artwork will be installed on Explora till the month of August.
shared.future
Explore! Albuquerque’s Science Center and Children’s Museum
1701 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Aug 6 | 10 am to 1 pm
The event is included with Explora! enter.
Activities at the Meet a Scientist/Artist event include:
- Visiting all presenters with scavenger hunt prizes
- loom weaving that will keep participants’ steam in the lesson
- water exhibitions with artwork
- screen printing on glass
- A dialogue with the land, an elevator speech about the power of place attachment and caringA video projection featuring Mandolin Rain Song and Riya Mukherjee
- Food, Energy and Water Resources in New Mexico: Past, Present and FutureFeaturing photography by Anjali Moolchandani and Lisa Hurst.
Professor Yolanda Lino
The Meet a Scientist/Artist event is aimed at children, families, and people of all ages who want to learn more about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) and those with sci-fi experience meet you. Explained event coordinator Yolanda Lin. Lin, an assistant professor in geography and environmental studies, coordinated the program as part of the UNM Transformation Network, a transdisciplinary research effort aimed at improving resilience for headwater dependent communities, including the Rio Grande watershed.
“I’ve always been interested in science communication, and over the years, I’ve begun to incorporate more artistic expression within my research presentations and papers,” Lin explained. “Even for an academic audience, but especially for a general audience, incorporating artistic elements can really help connect your research to your audience. That’s when I found a partnership with Explora.” And connecting with local artists and UNM researchers, I couldn’t resist. I love that we’ve created a workshop and program that’s not only about connecting a broad audience to the arts and sciences, but artists , is also about building personal connections between local researchers and scientists… I promise this event will be a lot of fun, no matter what your age!”
The rest of the UNM team includes Mark Stone, head of NSF grants to PI and associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering (CCEE); Asa Stone, affiliated faculty at the UNM Resilience Institute and in UNM Geography and Environmental Sciences; Anjali Moolchandani, Assistant Professor at CCEE; Melinda Morgan, director of the UNM Sustainability Studies Program and the WK Kellogg Chair in Sustainable Environmental and Food Systems; Geography and Environmental Studies graduate student Riya Mukherjee; Earth and Planetary Sciences graduate student Naomi Daley; AB Grenath, a recent graduate with a biology major; CCEE grad student Tyber Casuse; and incoming UNM graduate students in Community and Regional Planning Marisol Driovinto.
“I hope this event will inspire future generations of leaders who are excited to collaborate across traditional disciplinary boundaries,” Lin commented. “We need a creative and technological approach to tackle big challenges like climate change and unlocking the power of Steam will move us in the right direction. There is a tendency to talk about the future in a destructive way. What is special. The future is that these researchers and artists are truly acknowledging existing and potential challenges, but also offering ideas and visions for an optimistic future.”
Image: Artwork by Arelis Haskamp
