Saturday, April 23, 2016

[Yasmin_discussions] yasmin in your spam file

yasminers
some of you have been finding yasmin emails in your
spam folder- you might check and un spam them !
we are checking into it
roger malina
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[Yasmin_discussions] Mercado Central

stephan
thanks for joining our discussion on lessons learned to help
young art science hybrid professionals


Stephan Thomas Vitas PhD is a psychologist living in Washington DC, with
research interests in cortical mechanisms involved in music, art, and
performance, and auditory applications for cerebral rehabilitation
processes. He is successor of an extended European family of opera singers
and musicians and plays bass

oon and piano.

Hope you will answer and post your replies to the questions posed by
Jean-Francois Lapointed

1- what is your background as a scientist? In the arts, design or humanities ?
2- when and how did you become involved in a hybrid art/science practice?
3- what have been the major obstacles to overcome?
4- what have been the greatest opportunities/breakthroughs?
5- what would you do differently, knowing then what you know now?
6- any advices to someone who may want to walk in your footstep?

7. Add other questions and your responses you think are relevant

and we invite any other yasminers who are professional scientists
involved in the arts/design or humanities professionally

Roger Malina
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[Yasmin_discussions] Scientist's Mercado Central; Advice for your art science professionals

yasminers

here is lessons learned on hybrid art science careers from
Bob Root-Bernstein

1- what is your background as a professional scientist? What is your
background in the arts, design or humanities.

I am a Professor of Physiology at Michigan State University having,
many years ago, done my post-doctoral studies with Jonas Salk, M.D.,
at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. My
doctorate, however, is in the History of Science (from Princeton
University), which I did to correct the overly-narrow training I got
in Biochemistry (at the same institution).


2- when and how did you become involved in a hybrid art/science practice?

I have always been an artist as well as a scientist. I grew up in a
family that made art. My father (one of the first computer
programmers) and my mother (a psychologist and nurse) met in an art
class and were always making art in their spare time. So I grew up
watching my parents make art and emulated them. Both my parents used
their artistic and design talents in their "professional" work, which
also taught me that there were no such thing as disciplinary
boundaries. I was able to pretend that this lack of boundaries existed
through my undergraduate education, but when I reached graduate
school, three events catalyzed my formal need to address whether such
boundaries do, or do not, exist. One was that the President of
Princeton University, William Bowen, gave an address to incoming grad
students in which he asserted that the only way to succeed as a
professional was to put on blinders and do only one thing for the rest
of one's life. "No way!", I thought! Next, my dissertation advisor,
Thomas Kuhn, wrote an essay proclaiming that art and science were, as
C. P. Snow had proclaimed, incommensurable. But then my History of
Science studies immediately contradicted Bowen's and Kuhn's
assertions. Louis Pasteur was a highly talented portraitist, whose
artistic ability had clear influences on how he performed his
scientific research; Darwin was one of the first to utilize
photography for scientific purposes; his colleagues T. H. Huxley and
Ernst Haeckel were excellent visual artists (Haeckel professionally)
who wrote at length on the need for scientists to first be trained as
artists; the physical chemists who I studied for my dissertation on
the origins of physical chemistry (J. H. van't Hoff, Wilhelm Ostwald,
and Svante Arrhenius) – all Nobel Prizewinners – were stunning
examples of polymaths who argued that scientific imagination is
artistic in origin; etc., etc. Given the clear contradictions between
the "experts" and the "practitioners", combined with my own need to be
one of these polymathic practitioners, I set out to try to understand,
formally, what the issues were and why the contradictions exist.


3- what have been the major obstacles to overcome?

To do the kind of research I wanted to do, and to work in the
polymathic manner in which I wanted to work, I had to find
institutions that would support such an odd type of research and its
associated methodology. Although I thought I had succeeded several
times, in each instance something went wrong. Jonas Salk hired me as a
post-doc to help conceive and organize a second Salk Institute to be
focused on Human Cultural Evolution, so I proposed comparing the
evolution of sciences and of arts as the foci of the institute.
Unfortunately, funding was not forthcoming and the enterprise failed.
I moved to UCLA, where Robert Gray was the Dean of Fine Arts. He hired
me to integrate arts programming with biological sciences (and at the
same time hired the programmer who did the animation for the first
Tron movie and an engineer-artist). After eighteen months of
negotiations with the Deans and Chairs of virtually every program at
UCLA, the program was initiated, only to be summarily eliminated by
executive fiat by the Chancellor of the University as part of a
proposed elimination of the entire College of Fine Arts. I ended up at
Michigan State University out of necessity rather than choice, but it
has worked out because the place is so big and unwieldy that no one
knows what anyone else is doing, which means that anything is
possible. It's not a supportive environment, but its possible to hide
what one is doing and work behind the scenes to get things done, so
its better than the outright hostility that I've met when looking for
jobs at most other places. I also became very involved in the Honors
College, which has given me access to really bright undergraduate
students with much the same outlook and desires as myself, and many of
these students have helped me perform art-science research and
projects either as volunteers, or very inexpensively through
University-funded undergraduate research programs.

The biggest challenge is, as it always has been, to maintain a
professional standing as a working scientist (which means grants,
publications, running a lab, training students, etc.) while
simultaneously creating artworks and/or doing research on artscience
interfaces. While many of the very best scientists understand and
appreciate the connections, the typical Dean or Chair or colleague
perceives the art aspects of the work as irrelevant or a waste of time
and one is punished for not conforming to the idealized notion of a
fully committed lab jockey. One strategy is just to be satisfied with
average or mediocre ratings from one's scientific colleagues and take
consolation in the rewards of doing the transdisciplinary work (which
are often very great!). The other strategy (which can be explored in
tandem) is to educate one's superiors and colleagues about why one
does what one does. Some will "get" it; some will not. Work with the
ones who "get" it!

The most important thing is to have clear goals for oneself and to
develop personal metrics for one's success rather than relying on
institutionalized or external ones. I have never received credit for
any of the artscience work I have done at any university I've worked
at – and I've almost certainly been penalized as a scientist! – but I
can take very great satisfaction in seeing research results and ideas
that I have spent decades promoting now quoted by people in editorials
in major media outlets as if everyone knows these things. In answering
the personal questions that bothered me as a graduate student, I've
clearly helped answer similar questions other people have been
grappling with, with the result that society itself is changing its
attitudes towards what the correct relations might be between arts and
sciences. That's a form of success that can't be reflected in a pay
raise or 500 square feet of additional lab space!


4- what have been the greatest opportunities/breakthroughs?

There have been very few opportunities or breakthroughs for me until
very recently that I did not make myself. I organized the first
art-science programming at national meetings of the History of Science
Society back in the 1980s and also at the AAAS and at Sigma Xi, two
major science organizations. Networking and publishing created
connections that led to various other conferences and their
proceedings. Thank heavens for Roger Malina and LEONARDO, without
which there would be no real forum for publishing work in the
artscience area. The rise of artscience galleries and the spread of
the Exploratorium model within science centers has been a great boon.
Recently, my university hired its first "transmedia" artist, Adam W.
Brown, who has become an active collaborator and phenomenal organizer
of artscience programming on campus as well as nationally and
internationally (http://adamwbrown.net). And decades of research and
publishing on the use of arts-related skills, knowledge, structures,
analogies, etc. by scientists has finally begun to pay off in the
STEM-to-STEAM movement with funding becoming available from NSF, NEA,
NEH, the National Academy of Sciences, the Department of Education, as
well as many state governments.


5- what would you do differently, knowing then what you know now?

I would do nothing differently. One has to set a goal and then bob and
weave and just keep moving, even if is laterally or back-and-around,
to get where one wants to get to. Nothing new has a direct route. I
can't see how I could have gotten where I am now any faster or more
efficiently because where we are now is a result of simply going out
and doing what needed to be done at the time.


6- any advices to someone who may want to walk in your footstep?

The process of doing the work creates the path that others can follow.
The first pioneers in anything are always alone without a guide and
without anyway to learn but through trial and error. If you can't
accept that, don't start. Don't expect it to be easy. Don't expect to
be rewarded externally. Don't try to conform. Be yourself. Work your
way. Start now. Don't stop no matter what. Find fellow travelers and
forge ahead!


7. Add other questions and your responses you think are relevant

Finding collaborators and mentors and like-minded travelers is very
important! For many years, Todd Siler (http://toddsilerart.com), who
is exactly my age, but trained as an artist-inventor-neuroscientist,
was my most important supporter and sounding board. But finding such
people is never easy nor is there any simple way to do so. My
experience is that you need to contact a dozen people to get two or
three to respond to any project you want to undertake; and of those
two or three, you're lucky if one actually gets interested enough to
collaborate or help you move forward in some way. So one of the key
aspects of doing artscience work (or of pioneering any new area of
practice) is spending a lot of time networking and learning to cut
your losses as quickly as possible. Cultivate people! Keep the ones
who appreciate you and who you appreciate! Do what you can, not what
you want because the doing will create new opportunities while the
wanting brings nothing but frustration. And never stop! Do what makes
your heart leap so that the intrinsic reward of doing it is reward
enough. The rest is icing on the cake!

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Friday, April 22, 2016

[Yasmin_discussions] New member introduction

Thank you for the invitation to your discussion group. I offer the
following by way of introduction:

Stephan Thomas Vitas PhD is a psychologist living in Washington DC, with
research interests in cortical mechanisms involved in music, art, and
performance, and auditory applications for cerebral rehabilitation
processes. He is successor of an extended European family of opera singers
and musicians and plays bassoon and piano.


Regards,

S.T.Vitas
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Thursday, April 21, 2016

[Yasmin_discussions] Fwd:

yasminers
drhu deb, a cancerologist - tells us his lessons learned from his art
science hybrid practice
roger malina

-- From Dhru Deb

Truly honored to be in the list as I'm only a postdoc and not a
tenured/seasoned faculty. Hence, I probably have more questions like
those 5 young scientists than answers to provide. On the other hand, I
may provide a fresh perspective of someone who is currently going
through the grind himself.



1. Science (and Art) background: B.Sc. in Biotechnology, M.Sc. in
Bioinformatics, Ph.D. in Cancer Biology, currently a postdoc in
Therapeutic Oncology and Internal Medicine. Also currently, a BA
(Hons.) visual art student.



2. Motivation for hybrid Art-Science: Although I practiced studio
based art all my life, art and science were not joined. In 2011, I
experienced a personal loss that made me re-evaluate the purpose of my
life. This is when I decided to combine scientific methodologies with
artistic practices to help advancing prevention, diagnosis and cure
for cancer.



3. The major obstacles: Finding a job that will allow me to do both
cancer research and visual art in parallel.



4. Greatest opportunity/breakthrough: Finding I'm not alone.
Leonardo/ISAST and its activities: LEAF, LASER, and several other
art-science collaborative groups such as ASCI, SciArt Center etc.
provide a lot of stimulating networking. I get to meet the descendants
of my art-science idols (Alfred Copley's daughter Una Dora Copley and
Frank Malina's son Roger Malina) and I have "Midnight in Paris"
moments. I founded world's first "Cancer ART-SCI Network" that
currently has ~50 members worldwide. I managed and curated a
cancer-based-art show recently in Dallas. I am contributing to the
science outreach part of several grant applications. With Roger's help
I created a "Art and Cancer" special section to document studies where
including artistic practices in mainstream cancer research advanced
our understanding. Above all, now I live the life I love.



5. What I would have done differently: Nothing. I did the best I could
in my own unique situation. I have no regrets.



6. Advice for potential footstep walkers: Cancer research must be done
in the lab generating reproducible data and analyzing them. But, try
to be liberal and open-minded to artist's perspectives. Supplement
your science with philosophy. Miracles will happen.


Dhruba Deb, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Therapeutic Oncology, UT Southwestern Medical
Center, Dallas, TX, USA

Founder, Cancer ART-SCI NetworkGuest Editor, "Art and Cancer",
Leonardo, MIT Presshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dhrubadeb
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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

[Yasmin_discussions] Scientist' Mercado Central Exchange Advice FOR YOUNG ART SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS

>From Wendy Silk

Scientist' Mercado Central Exchange Advice FOR YOUNG ART SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS

Roger et al., I think most of this is in the first SEAD white paper.



https://seadnetwork.wordpress.com/white-paper-abstracts/final-white-papers/opportunities-and-obstacles-facing-scientists-mathematicians-and-engineers-deeply-engaged-in-the-arts-and-design/

Use it as you see fit.

OPPORTUNITIES AND OBSTACLES FACING SCIENTISTS, MATHEMATICIANS, AND
ENGINEERS DEEPLY ENGAGED IN THE ARTS AND DESIGN

Carol Strohecker, Roger Malina, Wendy Silk

1. Science background. I majored in Applied mathematics in biology,
did my Ph.D. in botany, and was hired at U.C. Davis with a mandate to
develop a program in modeling of plant-environment interactions. My
training in applied mathematics allowed me to see the relevance of
concepts and numerical methods from fluid dynamics to the analysis of
plant growth and development. My work, including theory, lab and field
studies, has been multi-disciplinary fusing biology, ecology, math,
physics, and engineering.

2. Motivation for hybrid art-science. Since childhood I experienced
pleasure and transcendence playing and composing music. Musical
rehearsals and performances led to many friendships and a cherished
sense of community. In contrast after decades of teaching science, my
great frustration was viewing the boredom and anxiety experienced by
many students in the classroom. Also I saw a strong need to
communicate science to nonscientists. Late in my science career I
pioneered a course Earth Water Science Song in which students, instead
of writing exams, compose and perform songs to communicate their
understanding of the course content.

3. The major obstacle has been trivialization by colleagues and
censure from politicians who see this teaching method as frivolous, in
spite of research showing the educational effectiveness of engaging
learners via the arts.

It has been difficult to get funds to continue and expand our
Art-Science fusion program. (But perhaps that is partly because arts
in general have much less funding than sciences.)

4. A great accomplishment has been the student engagement in the
Art-Science class. Pre- and post-tests show a great deal of science
learning. The students rehearse for hours and watch each other
intently. The class final, a musical show held in an art gallery in
town, is well attended. The students become teachers to the
community. They show an increase in self esteem rare in science
classes.

Another opportunity was networking supported by an NSF seed grant.
Academics from large research universities, large and small teaching
colleges, musicians and composers held several meetings to improve our
teaching methods and brainstorm new courses. Particularly meaningful
was the chance to work with professional educators to improve student
outcomes. Merryl Goldberg and her team at California State
University, San Marcos, conducted research to show dramatic
improvement in standardized test scores when teachers are trained to
incorporate arts projects into conventional curricula. Later,
interactions with Roger Malina and his extensive network were
stimulating.

5. What I would have done differently. Sometimes I wish I had moved
to Art-Science fusion earlier in my career. I think my teaching would
have had a larger impact. And for me communicating environmental
science effectively is an important goal. However, the tradeoff would
have been a decreased involvement in research. Perhaps the best
approach would have been to be twins.

6. Advice to potential ArtScientists. Find congenial academic
departments, professional societies, and other networking
opportunities (LASERs, online chat rooms) for stimulation and support.
Be prepared to lobby extensively to justify your interests.

On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 7:27 PM, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> yasminers
>
> ANNOUNCING A YASMIN DISCUSSION: Scientist Mercado Central Exchange
> Advice FOR YOUNG ART SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS
>
> There is a sociological fact: there is a growing number of young
> professionals in the sciences and engineering who are seeking to
> conduct also careers and activities in the arts, design. These young
> professionals face numerous obstacles due to the
> interdisciplinarity of their art-science practice.
>
> WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE SEEKING TO
> PURSUE HYBRID ART-SCIENCE CAREERS ?..
>
> These art-science professionals will be participating and giving their
> "lessons learned"
>
> Wendy Silk- Environmental Science
> Susan Eriksson- Geosciences
> Robert Root-Bernstein Physiology
> Roger Malina Astronomy
> Guillermo Munoz Nano Science
> Francois-Joseph Lapointe Evolutionary Biology
> Dhru Deb Medical Research/Cancerology)
> Meredith Root-Bernstein: Bioscientist
>
> and answering the following questions developed by Francois-Joseph Lapointe:
>
> 1- what is your background as a professional scientist? What is your
> background in the arts, design or humanities
> 2- when and how did you become involved in a hybrid art/science practice?
> 3- what have been the major obstacles to overcome?
> 4- what have been the greatest opportunities/breakthroughs?
> 5- what would you do differently, knowing then what you know now?
> 6- any advices to someone who may want to walk in your footstep?
> 7. Add other questions and your responses you think are relevant
>
> if you are a professional scientist, engineer or mathematician and
> have a parallel
> professional career in the arts design or humanities= we solicit the
> lessons learned
> from your career so far
>
> Roger Malina



--
Roger F Malina
is in Dallas 1-510-853-2007
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[Yasmin_discussions] Scientist' Mercado Central Exchange Advice FOR YOUNG ART SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS

yasminers

ANNOUNCING A YASMIN DISCUSSION: Scientist Mercado Central Exchange
Advice FOR YOUNG ART SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS

There is a sociological fact: there is a growing number of young
professionals in the sciences and engineering who are seeking to
conduct also careers and activities in the arts, design. These young
professionals face numerous obstacles due to the
interdisciplinarity of their art-science practice.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE SEEKING TO
PURSUE HYBRID ART-SCIENCE CAREERS ?..

These art-science professionals will be participating and giving their
"lessons learned"

Wendy Silk- Environmental Science
Susan Eriksson- Geosciences
Robert Root-Bernstein Physiology
Roger Malina Astronomy
Guillermo Munoz Nano Science
Francois-Joseph Lapointe Evolutionary Biology
Dhru Deb Medical Research/Cancerology)
Meredith Root-Bernstein: Bioscientist

and answering the following questions developed by Francois-Joseph Lapointe:

1- what is your background as a professional scientist? What is your
background in the arts, design or humanities
2- when and how did you become involved in a hybrid art/science practice?
3- what have been the major obstacles to overcome?
4- what have been the greatest opportunities/breakthroughs?
5- what would you do differently, knowing then what you know now?
6- any advices to someone who may want to walk in your footstep?
7. Add other questions and your responses you think are relevant

if you are a professional scientist, engineer or mathematician and
have a parallel
professional career in the arts design or humanities= we solicit the
lessons learned
from your career so far

Roger Malina
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