I am an Industrial Design MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology. My area of study incorporates speculative foresight and scenario building as part of the design process and so I was especially excited about the Design for the Future theme of this 2023 conference. The panelists and lab tours, in combination with a field trip to the Contemporary Art Center, provided a rich bed of inspiration from which our teams could draw. While I have done some interdisciplinary work as part of a convergent-focused NSF grant, a2ru provided concrete, actionable steps to working effectively in transdisciplinary environments. Our schedule scaffolded these skills and these mini workshops and exercises were extremely well-timed and valuable to the process. I also noted that the conference itself is both an opportunity to create space for generative ideas, and is itself an applied idea. By attending the conference we are participating in a workshop that has been created to help build bridges between disciplines and universities– the kind of applied problem-solving that has long-term positive impacts for years to come. I am very thankful for the opportunity to meet so many interesting, talented people from so many different fields and universities, and I would highly recommend this conference to future attendees.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the a2ru Emerging Creatives conference at the University of Cincinnati in March of 2023. As an engineering student, I had a transformative experience working with transdisciplinary students all with a focus of using art as a method of research. I learned invaluable skills like the importance of working with people with different backgrounds than you and had an amazing time getting tours of the research facilities at the Digital Futures center at UC. The a2ru conference was overall a great experience and I would highly recommend it to students of all backgrounds for a great learning opportunity!
Emerging Creatives was an amazing event that allowed me to branch out of my field and my school to collaborate with a wide array of students. As a Biology major, I learned much about how I can incorporate art and design into my work to create more engaging and entertaining projects. The best part of this summit was by far the interactions and conversations I had with the other creatives about the future of the world and our part in designing it.
Attending the 2023 a2ru Student Summit at the University of Cincinnati was an immersive and wonderful creative experience. This summit’s theme: The Future: By Design, is especially relevant in the current, digitizing era, where technologies and innovations are launching us in the future far faster than we can realize. This especially relevant summit provided a great opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration on this topic, fueled by the diversity of student experiences of its participants.
The summit, from its first day, did a good job of contextualizing its theme by inviting relevant speakers to speak to us and allowing us to explore the workplaces of designers of new futures. I appreciated that groups were allowed to choose their own theme, which was broad enough to give us freedom, but constrained enough to allow us to create a specific project. I loved the opportunity to engage with and collaborate with interdisciplinary peers, and appreciated the guidance given on how to collaborate with my group to create the best project outcome.
At the summit, my group was able to employ our different academic backgrounds to create an educational board game interface to educate children on gaining digital literacy. Using our different backgrounds in human-computer interaction, graphic design, industrial design, and more, we were able to build an immersive and thoughtful project. I appreciated the trip to the Contemporary Art Center, as well as the chance to explore different design laboratories; these trips helped me integrate different design thinking frameworks to my group project.
Ultimately, I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful conference and meet professionals and peers who are interested in designing a better future for all. This experience has allowed me to gain critical skills and frameworks to contribute towards a better future.
Attending the a2ru summit in Cincinnati was an incredible experience. Coming from a background in both engineering and film, I’ve traversed a lot of my college experience engaging with either one or the other. I applied to this summit to find a coalition of people that shared my same interest and excitement for the ways in which academic disciplines can work in harmony with one another and after my experience with the summit I have come away with a number of connections with people that share that same interest. Getting to know everyone at the event was fun and I was excited to start dialogue with my team around our mutually chosen topic and how we might work towards a solution. My team had incredible synergy from start to finish and utilized our skills and shared values to create a project we were all very proud of.
Aside from the programming, the location for the event was as fittingly evocative as the summit slogan: Future by Design. The digital futures building was a great place to work and seeing the different installations and labs within the complex fostered a great amount of inspiration for the work me and my team came up with. I was sad to have it end so soon but am invigorated by the idea that I have fostered so many great connections through my experience.
I am a master student from UMich, studying HCI and XR. Attending the 2023 A2RU Emerging Creative Student Summit at the University of Cincinnati's Digital Futures Building was such an incredible experience for me! The summit challenged me to think outside of the box about how we can use innovative design and technology to tackle global challenges and create a better future for all. It was fascinating to learn about the cutting-edge research being done at Digital Futures, and to see how fellow students were rapidly prototyping ideas and imagining the future.
I particularly enjoyed taking a tour of the eXtended Reality lab and trying out different demos, as I am currently pursuing an XR graduate certificate at UMich. Learning how other researchers are utilizing XR to shape the future, especially in mobility design, history narrative, and architecture, was inspiring. The creative projects that my fellow students presented were also exciting, and I was impressed by the curated interactive exhibit that one group had created within three days. The summit was an unforgettable experience that expanded my horizons and gave me valuable insights into the possibilities of arts-integrative projects and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The 2023 a2ru student summit was an amazing opportunity for those who believe in the power of interdisciplinary learning. The summit brought together students and faculty from across the United States to explore the intersection of art and research, and it did not disappoint. The level of scholarship, creativity, and innovation demonstrated by the attendees was truly exceptional.
For me, one of the most exciting parts of the summit was the process of forming groups. It was amazing to see how our collective innovative spirit brought together many talented groups who shared the same passion. Also, the brainstorming and feedback sessions were incredibly productive and critical to our final outcome.
One of the major highlights of the summit was visiting the labs in the Digital Futures building in Cincinnati. It was inspiring to witness the cutting-edge technologies and research being conducted there, which inspired us to push the boundaries of what we thought was possible. Collaborating with other students and faculty who shared our interests was a fantastic experience, and we were genuinely excited about the project we chose to work on.
In addition to the intellectual stimulation, the summit also provided an excellent opportunity to network with other like-minded individuals. I met many talented and dedicated students and faculty who were passionate about interdisciplinary learning and using their skills to make a positive impact in the world. Our group was able to learn, connect, and grow in ways that we never could have imagined, and we look forward to continuing our journey of exploration and discovery in the field of digital futures.
For me, this Summit was an opportunity to learn about everything that is difficult to learn every day.
First of all, I experimented with all kinds of new technologies, and most importantly, I got to know the people who make these new tools possible. All of them were very human, and open to teach and explain what they knew, without differences.
Secondly, I had the opportunity to work with people from different disciplines, who did their best to overcome our different ideas, projects and language barriers.
In third place, I also had the opportunity to make a project to help one problem of the world, so they gave us our space and the tools to work and make this idea something more realisthic.
If I have to choose something that I keep from this summit, I can say that is the people, and especially my work group, because they maked me feel included, incluse if i I didnt understand 100% what they said. This group listened to my ideas and everyone's ideas, so they create a safety place with tolerance, inclusion and a lot of patience, and I think that's revolutionary.
Thank you for the opportunity, I take with me a more open vision of the world
I'm a Ph.D. student working on musical acoustics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The 2023 Emerging Creatives Student Summit, “The Future: By Design” was held at the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Futures Building and opened a new horizon for my work, research, and life. I met excellent students and experts from diverse backgrounds who shook my brain and gave me confidence. As we tried to get to know each other, the discussion was not only about the task of the summit but also about our own work or future work so that we could respect each team member and other participants.
From the first day on, the fascinating presentation by the researchers from the University of Cincinnati stimulated our creative urge and made us discuss each topic of ‘‘Future’’ very deeply, even though we didn’t know each other that well. After the second day, we developed our idea for each theme in our ‘’Future.’’ My group’s specific theme was ‘‘Surprising Future,’’ so the brainstorming started with the question, ‘‘What is surprising?’’ Fortunately, our team members were very diverse, such as graphic designers, musicians, system designers, and game designers so ideas came from all directions, and the discussion was hardly heated. Eventually, a proposal for the work that expresses a ‘’Surprising Future’’ emerged, but since we have unlimited possibilities, the idea will continue to exist and be developed within us.
Generally, when we talk about ‘art,’ people think of some visual work like painting or sculpture, but I think ‘art’ means everything we express what we’re thinking. Considering this conceptual but very simple definition of ‘art,’ I’d like to continue to engage in interdisciplinary community and update myself forever.
I am an undergraduate student of the Chemistry Pedagogy career from Chile and participating in the Student Summit 2023 “The Future: By Design” was a very important experience for me. I learned how to work in an interdisciplinary way with my team to be able to carry out our project, I learned about other cultures, I developed interpersonal and social skills to communicate better with my team and we managed to develop a project that solved a real problem that affects the community. In addition, small group work sessions and plenary sessions facilitated the exchange of ideas between teams and the Summit participants.
I also learned a lot about innovation from the talks given by the experts at the Summit. The visit to the Contemporary Arts Center was an inspiration for the development of the projects. The visit to the laboratories was very interesting, I learned a lot about innovation in Education, Crypto Economic, Epidemiology and other topics.
On the other hand, the team that organized the Summit did an excellent job, they helped us at all times, if we had any questions, if there was a problem, etc. They were also very respectful to all the participants. In addition, they managed to complete all the objectives proposed at the beginning of the Summit.
It was a challenging and enriching experience, which allowed me to think in different ways, work in an interdisciplinary way and grow as a person. I am very grateful to be a part of this.
Attending the 2023 a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit was the highlight of my college experience thus far. As a student passionate about design, classical music, and technology, I often struggle to find events that incorporate my diverse interests, but the a2ru Student Summit did exactly that.
I enjoyed interacting with students across the nation, from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. From chatting during lunch to brainstorming project ideas, it was clear that the other participants were passionate about learning and excited to take full advantage of the summit offerings.
My biggest takeaway from the summit was about teamwork. Over the years, I had gotten accustomed to being put into groups (or forming groups with friends), and not receiving any guidance from the teacher besides the assignment details and the due date. The a2ru Student Summit revolutionized how I lead and work on teams. Our group project work sessions were interspersed with helpful sessions introducing us to different ideation methods, conflict resolution tips, and providing us with general guidance regarding interdisciplinary collaboration.
Other highlights from the conference include eating amazing food (catered from local restaurants, and even a smoothie bar for breakfast!), exploring the brand-new Digital Futures Building, and touring the Contemporary Arts Center.
Overall, the a2ru Student Summit was a holistic learning experience that exposed me to new perspectives, developed my teamwork skills, and allowed me to connect with other interdisciplinary students from across the nation.
I crave interactions with highly energetic critical thinkers who think deeply about life, ask tough questions, and want to make things happen. Unfortunately, it is not easy to have such interactions on college campuses anymore, nor is it safe in a culture that cancels everything it feels threatened by. Because of that and pandemic-related reasons, it has been quite a long time since I have not been a part of a group of young adults eager to learn, exchange, brainstorm ideas, and make things.
When I was nominated for the a2ru event, I knew I had hit the jackpot, so to speak, because I expected such a level of creative power and depth of thought, and the summit delivered. The a2ru 2023 summit was packed with relevant events that sparked ideas and allowed me to connect with researchers, professors, and students from the University of Cincinnati and around the world, working on similar projects or pursuing similar interests. I know I have a pool of people to reach out to, and I am very grateful it worked out such that I could be a part of this summit; the impact of this event will continue to reverberate in my life for a long time.
The Emerging Creatives Summit 2023 held this year at University of Cincinnati was an unforgettable experience for me. The theme for the summit, The Future by Design, was something that resembled what I had studied last year at my exploration and my Master’s in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, working with Speculative Design & Design Futuring. I was super excited to attend the summit & collaborate. This was my first summit experience as well.
On first day, we started by setting the groundwork with a few super informative panel sessions from the faculty at the multitude of labs at the Digital Futures building, which stood out from the nearby architecture, setting the ball rolling to team formation through conversations and preferences under common sub interests under the umbrella of Digital Futures.. Landing up with a team meant a team full of interdisciplinary skills, from arts, music, design and tech, and many possibilities to work with. Constant support and assurances from the organizers were very motivating to work together and structure initial approaches to an area we were excited about but didn’t really know how to proceed.
The next couple days were full of delicious food, discussions around how we could narrow down our ideas to something everyone was on board with and excited about. The second day had us visit the labs at the Digital Futures building. It was wonderful to see the multitude of projects & future designs being undertaken by The Digital Epidemiology Lab, The Future Mobility Lab, Learning by Design Lab, Extended Reality Lab, and finally the Strange Tools Lab, which was the perfect inspiration for us with our area of interest, Surprising Futures. The visit to the Contemporary Arts Center was also a major break for us from a day full of ideating, trying to reflect on the approaches the artists took to express. Breaking into the third day, we started building our prototypes, often converging & diverging as a team. The feedback sessions were super useful in having different person perspectives to our whole vision & really helped us gain clarity on what we wanted to propose.
The final day was exciting, watching other teams present and having our own station to present was a great experience. At the end, we were proud to propose an interactive & immersive experience that embodies human gestures into co-creating surprising futures with visual and auditory feedbacks with other humans and random “acts of Gods” to build resilience and acceptance around these surprising futures. We were also proud to have a proof-of-concept work and have people interact with it.
Overall, I had a wonderful time. My favorite thing was meeting my team members & learning about the perspectives they brought. While we started as strangers, I absolutely loved working with them for the 3 days. I learnt immensely about working with a team & especially with people with a wide range of skill sets. I would like to thank the team at a2ru & the Emerging Creatives Summit 2023 for being such wonderful hosts & providing us the opportunity to design, helping us at each step. The summit is a perfect platform for interdisciplinary collaborations of arts & tech, and I can’t wait to see more projects come out of it. This lens of tech integrative liberal arts is an approach that I personally feel the world needs as much as ever.
I am a Master of Fine Arts student in Dramatic Media at the University of Georgia, and my studies focus on the intersection of live theatre and augmented reality. So, I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend the 2023 a2ru Emerging Creative’s summit and explore the theme of “The Future By Design”.
The Emerging Creative’s summit was a fast-paced, creative sprint that reshaped my understanding of what collaboration should be. Like an interdisciplinary hackathon, I was introduced to new ways of thinking, being, and creating from a network of incredibly talented individuals. Together we tackled the questions about the future of education while supported by knowledgeable staff, experts, and artists.
Attending the 2023 Emerging Creatives Summit helped me cultivate a curious and brave space with fellow students and tackle the impossible questions of the future together. Additionally, the summit allowed me to visit Cincinnati for the first time and get hands on experience with the cutting-edge technological resources at the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Future’s building.
I'm sincerely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this transdiciplinary learning experience, and I want to extend a huge thank you to the a2ru staff for making this Summit a transformative experience!
