ART AND ENGINEERING PROFESSORS COMBINE DISCIPLINES TO TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO VISUALIZE THE FLOW OF FLUIDS

Students learn art of photography and basic fluid theory

Fluids such as water and air move in generally predictable ways, as engineering students learn while studying basic theories of fluid flow. Photographers have often portrayed the movement of fluids, such as streams or smoke, in their work without understanding all the details of why the event is happening.

Jenn Rossmann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Lafayette College, had an idea that she could teach liberal arts students the basic theories about the flow of fluids, and Karina Skvirsky, an assistant professor of art, could teach the basics of photography and photo composition. The students would then combine this knowledge to shoot photographs visualizing fluid flow and display their best photos in a show in Lafayette'ts Art Gallery to conclude the course.

"It's pretty clear that engineering students benefit from the liberal arts environment at Lafayette," says Rossmann. "But what we tried to do in this class, and what I came to Lafayette hoping to do, is create something that helps non-engineering students benefit from the presence of engineering on campus. I hope the students in our class learned a bit about engineering methods, from the language we use to the way images help us demonstrate principles, and about engineering values, too. Whether those students become lawyers or doctors or policy-makers, they'll be better off for knowing something about engineering and technology, and for appreciating the way engineers see the world and try to solve problems."

Rossmann and Skvirsky teamed up to teach a Values and Science/Technology (VAST) course, which are designed to take advantage of Lafayette'ts strengths in liberal arts and engineering. Skvirsky taught the technical aspects of photography such as f-stop and aperture along with aesthetics of good photographs in the course, "The Art and Science of Flow Visualization." Rossmann taught the basics about fluid flow. They weaved the concepts of science and art together in their lectures whether they focused more on fluid flow or the history of photography and art.

In addition to shooting photographs and creating a portfolio of their work, the students also had to write three major papers, since all VAST courses are writing intensive.

"The papers forced them to develop the concepts we discussed in class to deeper levels, such as truth in science and manipulation of images," says Skvirsky.

"One of the papers focused specifically on the intersection of art and science exemplified by two prominent scientist/artists who came to the Lafayette campus to speak," she adds. "What was so interesting about this assignment is that students really became aware how science and art are perceived as very different fields but are actually quite similar especially in relationship to the idea of investigating unfamiliar phenomenon or concepts."

Melanie Schor '11 is an international affairs and French major who enjoyed learning about fluid mechanics.

"I've seen turbulent flow (in water) before, but I didn't know what it was called," says Schor. "I enjoyed learning about both fluid mechanics and art. It was interesting to see both sides—it's a whole other realm for me. The course has been great."

The only engineering student in the course was Patrick Grinaway '11, who came to Lafayette to study chemical engineering because he liked chemistry but switched to engineering studies due to the flexibility it offered him to add courses in Chinese and Spanish.

"I liked the mixture of art and science [in the course], even thought it was a challenge to be outside my comfort zone in thinking and speaking about art and aesthetics," says Grinaway. "I learned a lot about photography and art that I didn't know before."