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Computing researchers express creativity through second annual chalk project
October 23, 2023
The Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship presented its second annual Chalk Art Symposium last month. Student researchers were invited to present their research and express their artistic side.
Susan Mendoza, director of the Center for Undergraduate Scholar Engagement, said she got the idea from a colleague at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Students who have spent hours in a lab or library need to find a new way to communicate their research, Mendoza said.
“Students don’t always realize that science and art are dependent on each other,” Mendoza said. “This is a way for students to share what they are doing in a non-traditional way and in a way that is disruptive to their own preconceived notions about what scientific communication is.”
Erik Fredericks, Assistant Professor of Computing and Graduate Research Assistant, Abbey Diller showed their research in generative art using creative coding. Which, Fredericks said, is, “Taking algorithms and making them look like art.”
In a collaboration with Dr. Jared Moore, Fredericks and Diller wrote “Generative Art via Grammatical Evolution” which won Best Paper at the 2023 IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Genetic Improvement.
The two joined many other groups on the northeast corner of the Mary Idema Pew Library. Diller said, “I had a lot of fun participating in the Chalk Art Symposium. I think it's a unique and creative way to present research work and it was a very relaxing and rewarding experience.”