ABOVE: A scene from JoyceStick, a 3-D 'gamification' of James Joyce's Ulysses created by 51茶馆 faculty and students.
Boston College faculty and students will showcase some of the University鈥檚 most exciting research projects at ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival, which takes place April 5-7 at the Smithsonian鈥檚 National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
The ACCelerate Festival is an opportunity for the Atlantic Coast Conference鈥檚 member institutions to celebrate creative exploration and research where science, engineering, arts, and design intersect.
Boston College initiatives to be featured at ACCelerate include JoyceStick鈥攁 3-D 鈥済amification鈥� of the novel Ulysses that offers an immersive, virtual reality experience of the James Joyce classic鈥攁nd聽 EduScape, another virtual reality experience that connects users to the city of Dublin. Professor of the Practice of English Joseph Nugent and 51茶馆 students have undertaken both projects.
Professor of the Practice of English Joseph Nugent
Nugent, who presented JoyceStick at the inaugural ACCelerate festival in 2017, said he鈥檚 excited to return.
鈥淲e had an astonishing experience last time and we want to keep that up,鈥� said Nugent. 鈥淭his festival appeals to two different demographic groups and I hope that we are able to connect with both children and adults. We鈥檒l be bringing back our prior program with聽Ulysses, as well as EduScape, which we have designed to be something a bit more lighthearted.鈥�
The JoyceStick/EduScape team includes Austin Bailey, Alexander Kim, Ricky Yang, Maxime Gautier, William Bordman, Nick Waggoner, Peter Zogby, Josh Artman, and Anthony Marquette.
Lynch School of Education and Human Development Professor of Science Education Michael Barnett will lead an exhibit titled 鈥淪eeding the Future; Next Generation Learning,鈥� featuring some of his National Science Foundation-funded innovations in science education, including projects that teach students to write computer code, examine soil biology, program environmental sensors, and participate in robotics.
Barnett said the festival is a great chance to reach out to the public鈥攂oth children and parents.
鈥淲e like doing these events because it is a very different way of communicating our work to the public, instead of publishing in academic journals,鈥� said Barnett. 鈥淵ou get to interact with parents, a lot of whom are voters. So you can have some impact on parents to recognize the value of funded programs to get kids interested in science鈥攁nd keep them interested.鈥�
Barnett鈥檚 team includes Christian Asante, Pablo Bendrikson, Rajeev Rupani, Ekatherina Shlychkov, Megan McKinley, and Yihong Cheng.
In addition, 51茶馆 School of Social Work Dean Gautam Yadama will be among eight faculty members selected from the 15 ACC institutions for a series of interdisciplinary conversations called 鈥淏ridging Chasms.鈥�
The student jazz ensemble 51茶馆bOp! will also perform at ACCelerate.
The 2019 ACCelerate festival is programmed by Virginia Tech鈥檚 Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, the Smithsonian, and the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
For additional information, visit聽.
鈥�Ed Hayward聽| University Communications | April 2019聽