Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration: Research Initiatives
Contact Information
The Earl and Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration
37 S. Wabash, suite 821-A
Chicago, IL 60603
312.759.1573
shapirocenter@saic.edu
Director
Pamela L. Jennings PhD
Assistant to the Director
Therese Newman
The Earl and Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration research initiatives demonstrate the intellectual merit, broader impact, and creative excellence of SAIC faculty.
Chicago Initiatives
Chicago Initiative projects are COLLABORATIONS between SAIC and the diverse communities that are the fabric of the city of Chicago. These projects focus on issues in education, wellbeing, economic development, and cultural enrichment.
Civic Engagement
Civic engagement projects, including the Chicago Initiative and branching to the global arena, are CHANGE AGENTS focused on critical and creative discourse in culture and society. Civic Engagement topics include cultural and economic development, sustainability, serious games, historical data visualization, youth cultures, and community dialogue.
Learning in the Arts
Learning in the arts projects help us to EVALUATE the impact of art and design on 21st-century learning skills, human development, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics). Learning in the arts topics include STEAM initiatives, learning and cognitive sciences and the arts, creativity and cognition, design theory, informal learning, and do-it-yourself (DIY) culture.
New Forms and Materials
New forms and materials projects TRANSFORM emerging materials, new forms, and conceptual frameworks through creative experimentation and innovation made possible with the SAIC community’s unique approaches to critical thinking and critical making. New forms and materials topics include new substrates, fabrics and fibers, mixed-reality interfaces, biomimicry, wireless sensor networks, smart environments, wearable technologies, and sculptural matter.
