Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop

Mini Grant Awardees, Spring 2017

CLA is pleased to announce the funding of three Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop (ICW) projects. The ICW program is funded by the Joan Aldous Innovation Fund, and supports the College's Roadmap goal to generate new levels of innovative research through focused investment strategies. The Roadmap process was introduced by Dean Coleman in his State of the College address in Fall 2016. The ICW program is intended to spur new collaborations among scholars in CLA and beyond. Mini grants offer up to $10,000 to one-year interdisciplinary projects that bring together faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students from a variety of fields to intensively study topics that span across disciplines.

Please note that we are accepting proposals for CW Full Grants up to $100,000 over 2-3 years, due September 15, 2017.

ICW mini-grants in this inaugural round will investigate engaged musical research across disciplines, the future of wearable and embodied technologies, and the trend toward new  forms of urban governance across the world.

Projects

Sonance: Musical Performance in/of/as Cultural Research

• Abstract: Music scholars increasingly add composition and performance to their methodological toolkit, going beyond the traditional scholar-critic model. Each participant in the Sonance project uses musical improvisation, composition, and/or performance to explore a musical subject. Participating faculty will share their work via the monthly "Sonance Symposium," involving leading guest scholar-musicians from around the world.

• People:

• Professor Mark Pedelty, Department of Communication Studies; Scott Currie School of Music; Tim Gustafson, Writing Studies; Sumanth Gopinath, School of Music; Matthew Sumera, Office for Student Affairs; Additional faculty members of the School of Music and Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature; Participating ensembles.

Exploring the Future of Embodied Technologies

• Abstract: Recent development in computing has moved devices increasingly closer to our bodies; as a result, significant work with wearables and embodied technology is well underway across the University of Minnesota. Leveraging scholarship and artistic practice, we will explore the future of embodied technologies and the critical, cultural, and creative imaginaries they evoke.

• People:

• Ann Hill-Duin, Writing Studies; Diane Willow, Art; Maki Isaka, Asian Languages and Literature; Lucy Dunne and Brad Holschuh of Design, Housing, & Apparel, CDES; Aaron Doering, Curriculum and Instruction, CEHD; Julianna Abel, ME, CSE

City as Commons: Municipalism in America

• Abstract: This collaborative workshop examines proposed new forms of urban governance based on popular assemblies of neighborhoods and the practice of direct democracy, now popular in many European cities and proposed by some as a means to revitalize urban politics in the United States.

• People:

• Bruce Braun, Geography, Environment and Society; Daniela Sandler, Architecture, College of Design; Jenny Schmid, Art; Michael Gallope, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature; George Henderson, Geography, Environment and Society; Approximately 15 students in GES, CSCL, Political Science, Sociology, Art, and Architecture; Additional non-UMN collaborators.

The ICW program originated in the college Roadmap process and was introduced by Dean Coleman in his State of the College address in Fall 2016. The Roadmap is an ongoing consultative process driven by students, staff, and faculty and our various publics.