COSAM News Articles 2024 09 Art mural bring students together, build lifelong skills and raises awareness of climate resiliency and a sustainable future

Art mural bring students together, build lifelong skills and raises awareness of climate resiliency and a sustainable future

Published: 09/25/2024

By: Maria Gebhardt

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, four colleges and one school at Auburn University including the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM), the College of Agriculture, the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, and the College of Liberal Arts and the Graduate School, collaboratively unveiled a new mural in the university’s newest dining facility, The Edge.

Professor Chandana Mitra has been working for an entire year to bring this art mural to fruition. She diligently worked with students in a variety of different ways.

“This mural titled sustainABLE is a multi-disciplinary project, 100 percent conceptualized and painted by Auburn University’s graduate and undergraduate students,” said Mitra. “The one-year art mural project, the swansong of the NSF Research Traineeship program or NRT, the NRT Trainees worked together with artists to develop a plan to communicate the range of their scientific research about climate change risk and resilience and the essence of the NRT program through a visual medium.”

“We kicked off the initiative with a STEAM science communication workshop with our own Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art,” said Mitra. “We also invited Dr. Mika Tosca, formerly a professor at the Chicago Institute of Art to lead a brainstorming workshop on how to communicate climate change through art designs. Each multidisciplinary NRT group created two to three concepts on the lines of sustainability at Auburn University, Alabama and beyond, trying to depict a positive future, a better world for the coming generations to live in. The sustainability and resiliency concepts were provided to Professor DesChene who created the mural design. Then she led art students in a mural painting class last spring to complete the mural. You can see the beautiful rendition of the scientific concepts into an art piece.”

These 21 students are part of the university’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Traineeship, or NRT. The five-year program has been funded through a $3 million NSF grant to develop multidisciplinary graduate students to better understand, predict, and communicate the resilience of natural, social and built environmental systems.

Mitra excitedly welcomed attendees to the unveiling ceremony.

“This one-year project is an incredible unique opportunity for these students to share scientific concepts that the entire community can understand,” said Mitra. “This was Auburn University’s first NRT award and the very first in the state of Alabama to increase sustainability. The success of this sustainABLE mural was possible because of all those who have invested their perspective, time and energy into this project. Thank you all.”

Mitra welcomed the dean of COSAM to speak.

“Being able to participate in an interactive project that intertwines art and science is a rewarding opportunity for these NRT trainees,” said Edward E. Thomas, Jr., dean of COSAM.

Wendy DesChene, professor in the Art & Art History Department and a muralist, spoke about the project.

“Art belongs everywhere,” said “It is an amazing opportunity to work with young, creative minds on these pieces.”

For senior undergraduate student Sydney Denardo, this is her second mural with Professor DesChene.

“It allows you to build a community around painting,” said Denardo. “It was so much fun.”

Faith Howder is an animation major at Auburn. As a sophomore she was excited to work with different people including science majors on this project.

“I learned how to merge art and science together,” said Howder, a sophomore. “This mural also gave me a new respect for acrylic paint.”

NRT Fellow Kyle Lesinger, a fourth-year PhD student worked with the team to find the best ways to tell their story in a mural.

“In this NSF program, we developed a great cohort that was interdisciplinary in nature,” said Lesinger. “This mural project gave us an opportunity for professional and academic development through art and science communications.”

NRT Fellow Antrelle Clark, a third-year PhD student, worked on the dinosaur in the mural.

“I absolutely would not be where I am today without the NRT program,” Clark explained. “Through networking, I have built a community at Auburn.”

The College of Liberal Arts shared their perspective.

“Art will help students understand the world,” said Chuck Hernard, an associate professor and chair of Art & Art History. “The mural gave the participants the ability to contribute to engaging conversations with science.”

Oliver Nell, a second-year master’s student, led the writing of the script for this project.

“We used a variety of resources to help us all work together and we will be able to apply those tools to our future careers,” said Nell.

“A major emphasis of the NRT program is disciplines working together across the natural and social sciences,” said Nell. “We all work on projects together, take classes together, go to workshops, seminars, and conferences together—all to learn to speak each other’s languages. This project, though, was a different multi-disciplinary project, because it included disciplines outside of the natural and social sciences.”

Myra Stephenson, a 2021 Auburn graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, returned to the Plains as a consultant on this mural.

“It was a great experience to assist with the trainees,” Stephenson said. “It was like an artistic puzzle, and it was rewarding to see how these students solved the puzzles resulting in a mural for everyone to enjoy.”

Glenn Loughridge, campus dining director, was proud to showcase the mural in the cutting-edge facility.

“I hope this mural sparks conversations about sustainability with the 4,500 students that dine here each day,” Loughridge said.

Maria Witte, associate dean of Auburn’s Graduate School gave closing remarks.

“Auburn is a land-grant, R1 institution and we proudly celebrate this collaborate effort here today,” Witte told the crowd as the new mural was viewed by all of the participants.

To learn more about the NRT mural, visit watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgIq514N8ys