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THE RAIN<br />
PROJECT<br />
1<br />
COVER ILLUSTRATION &<br />
PHOTO (TO THE RIGHT) BY<br />
CHRIS RUSINKO<br />
2
TABLE OF<br />
CONTENTS<br />
PART ONE:<br />
Philosophy & Research<br />
PART TWO:<br />
Working Together<br />
PART THREE:<br />
Launching Day<br />
PART FOUR:<br />
After Thoughts<br />
“The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> has affected all of<br />
the student participants deeply, enabling<br />
them to form a sense of community<br />
and allowing them to learn how to work<br />
together with people of other majors,<br />
opinions and approaches.”<br />
Dr. Changwoo Ahn<br />
The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> photobook is designed & compiled by<br />
Cameron Evans and Dr. Changwoo Ahn thanks to the<br />
support of the OSCAR SDG grant for the project.<br />
(Photo<br />
3<br />
credits for the book: Changwoo Ahn, Victor Sumin,<br />
and Evan Cantwell @ GMU Creative Services)<br />
1 2
PART ONE<br />
PHILOSOPHY<br />
& RESEARCH<br />
“The enormously complex and more than<br />
urgent problems humanity faces today erase<br />
disciplinary boundaries, and provide for an<br />
opportunity to get a hands-on, minds-on look<br />
into other disciplines.”<br />
Jackie Brookner, 5 EcoArtist<br />
4
Ahn, C. 2016. A creative collaboration between the science of ecosystem restoration<br />
and art in an urban college campus, Restoration Ecology 24 (3): 291-297<br />
A creative collaboration between the<br />
science of ecosystem restoration<br />
and art for sustainable stormwater<br />
management on an urban college campus<br />
by Changwoo Ahn<br />
I designed “The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong>” as an urban ecosystem restoration model as well<br />
as a collaborative pedagogical approach between ecological science and art<br />
at George Mason University (GMU), Virginia, U.S.A. A group of students from<br />
several disciplines (e.g. environmental science, art, civil engineering, biology,<br />
communication, and film/media) participated in designing and constructing a<br />
floating wetland for a campus stormwater pond as part of sustainable stormwater<br />
management. The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> has numerous implications for college<br />
education, scholarship, and service while presenting a novel way of building a<br />
sense of community among undergraduate students for ecological awareness<br />
and literacy. This kind of interdisciplinary, campus project can facilitate the<br />
changes we need to train higher education students to be able to both think<br />
differently and communicate effectively. The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> introduced students<br />
to new learning strategies that connected “systems thinking” with art, ecological<br />
science, and restoration practices.<br />
... It is only through interdisciplinary<br />
collaboration, particularly<br />
in education and scholarship,<br />
which we may be able to train<br />
a generation of system thinkers<br />
who can navigate through the<br />
disciplinary boundaries to seek<br />
answers to big, pressing questions<br />
such as environmental<br />
degradation and global<br />
poverty...<br />
... being able to quickly sketch<br />
can be a tremendously useful<br />
and powerful tool when used<br />
to communicate an idea...<br />
... Restoring impaired<br />
ecosystems requires effective<br />
communication skills to help<br />
build the stewardship capacity<br />
of the communities involved.<br />
I believe that art can facilitate<br />
such communication more<br />
effectively...<br />
... We chose a human kidney<br />
as a shape for our floating<br />
wetland, as wetlands have<br />
often been called “kidneys in<br />
the landscape” for their role<br />
in filtering contaminants and<br />
cleaning water passing through<br />
them...<br />
... Although interdisciplinary<br />
education and scholarship are<br />
much needed in contemporary<br />
academia to prepare our students<br />
to be able to understand<br />
and build solutions for the complex<br />
problems we currently face,<br />
the language and professional<br />
cultural differences make it difficult<br />
to do so ...<br />
7<br />
... Both artists and scientists<br />
share a common drive to depict<br />
and analytically explain our<br />
experiences, and represent in<br />
varying forms the outcome of<br />
imagination. Innovation in<br />
science often is linked to urges<br />
to express oneself artistically...<br />
... “Renaissance scientists” —<br />
individuals with strong disciplinary<br />
expertise, in addition<br />
to the ability to communicate<br />
effectively about science to<br />
diverse audiences...<br />
5 6
... Artists offer communities a cultural<br />
and visual context for engaging scientific<br />
data and principles that can assist<br />
with modifying behaviors, ultimately<br />
transforming our environmental<br />
stewardship...<br />
... We must encourage, and strategically<br />
position, scientists to work directly and<br />
more actively with artists on ecosystem<br />
restoration projects. And that can start<br />
from a college campus. The current<br />
crisis of the environment is a crisis of<br />
education...<br />
“<br />
Long-term success of<br />
ecological restoration, at<br />
all scales from the local<br />
to the global, necessitates<br />
transformation of the<br />
dominant ways humans<br />
understand, behave, value,<br />
and relate to natural processes and<br />
ecosystems. Artists and scientists can do more together<br />
to affect positive transformation than either can do separately.<br />
It is not a matter of the scientists providing the<br />
hard-core research and artists the soft outreach; rather,<br />
the dynamics engendered in the space between disciplines<br />
is full of information necessary to solve complex<br />
problems at the systemic level…<br />
” - The Late<br />
Jackie Brookner<br />
... I believe that art should be incorporated<br />
in undergraduate curricula and<br />
pedagogy of various college disciplines.<br />
The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> appeared to cultivate<br />
“ecological literacy” among the participating<br />
students. Students will be able<br />
to better understand our relationship to<br />
“the larger context of life” with stronger<br />
communication skills through the<br />
collaboration experiences they had in<br />
this project...<br />
https://jackiebrookner.com<br />
9<br />
7 8
PART TWO<br />
WORKING<br />
TOGETHER<br />
“This kind of project involved students in strong<br />
collaborative training to work as a team to deliver<br />
the outcome, which I believe is an important<br />
…element for any ecosystem restoration practice<br />
as well as for developing a sense of community in<br />
higher education.”<br />
11<br />
Changwoo Ahn<br />
9
Class Activities<br />
“Involving art in science education can help students to enhance their intuition<br />
because creativity and intuition are critical elements in scientific discovery and advance.”<br />
13<br />
11 12
Class Activity with Test Beemat<br />
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sunt lique aut voluptat eium volorporit, cor si nonsecestrum quia ni<br />
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volupta dolum fuga. Ita alignis sundis con comnis ipites volupta volorerum<br />
si ommosti tempore mporem. Ulpa il molore vellabores rerciditiis<br />
estiis excepe alibuscide nulpa vit aut litatur rem exceat.<br />
15<br />
Tur, cust, quae di doluptatibus sit, unt omnis vel ipsundaerro comnis ad<br />
estrum voluptatet aspelique iligend iaestibus doluptat experuntust<br />
13 14
17<br />
Small-Scale Floating<br />
Wetland Simulation<br />
March 2015<br />
15 16
19<br />
17 18
21<br />
19 20
PLANTING SCHEME FOR THE FLOATING WETLAND<br />
23<br />
21 22
this is our kidney<br />
shaped floating<br />
wetland — about 1%<br />
of the pond’s surface<br />
23<br />
illustrated by<br />
Chris Rusinko<br />
(Student Participant in<br />
the <strong>Rain</strong> 25<strong>Project</strong>)<br />
24
Meet the Plants<br />
27<br />
25 26
Carex stricta 29<br />
Tussock sedge<br />
Iris versicolor<br />
Blue flag<br />
27 28
Alisma subcordatum<br />
Water plantain<br />
31<br />
Juncus effusus<br />
Soft rush<br />
29 30
31<br />
33<br />
Pontederia cordata<br />
Pickerelweed<br />
32
PART THREE<br />
LAUNCHING<br />
DAY<br />
35<br />
34
37<br />
35 36
“<br />
Art, and/or<br />
artistic, endeavors<br />
can involve students<br />
in exercising their<br />
creativity, which will<br />
contribute to<br />
successful training<br />
of innovative<br />
scientists.<br />
”<br />
39<br />
37 38
41<br />
39 40
43<br />
41 42
45<br />
43 44
47<br />
45 46
49<br />
47 48
Ugit quam<br />
con cuptam quatquaspedi tenimin etur sitiscit quis etus<br />
sed eos eos et fugiae officipsum hicidenis dolupta nestis sum<br />
nis aut ea comnim litium excest eumquib earchicide pratur<br />
A New Beginning<br />
51<br />
49 50
Ecological Science<br />
Communication & Outreach<br />
53<br />
51 52
“K-12 participation is instrumental in<br />
enhancing undergraduate research<br />
and scholarship.”<br />
55<br />
53 54
Plants are Growing...<br />
Summer of 2015<br />
57<br />
55 56
59<br />
57 58
Harvesting<br />
September 2015<br />
61<br />
59 60
63<br />
61 62
65<br />
63 64
67<br />
65 66
PART FOUR<br />
“I see art as a catalyst for the changes we need to<br />
make to close the gap that only science-based<br />
ecological restoration work has been unable to fill.”<br />
Changwoo Ahn<br />
AFTER<br />
THOUGHTS<br />
69<br />
68
STUDENTS RESPOND<br />
What do you think about the benefit of collaborating between<br />
art and science in the <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong>?<br />
71<br />
69 70
73<br />
71 72
STUDENT RESEARCH<br />
& SCHOLARSHIP<br />
75<br />
73 74
STUDENTS LAUNCH<br />
FLOATING WETLANDS<br />
ON MASON POND<br />
MAY 13, 2015 | BY MICHELE MCDONALD<br />
George Mason University students launched a 1,700-plant floating<br />
wetland on Mason Pond Tuesday afternoon. The yearlong project<br />
brings together art and science students and is designed to clean<br />
the water as well as to spur ecological awareness.<br />
“I learned how to think scientifically by working on this project,” said<br />
Chris Rusinko, a senior art and visual technology major specializing<br />
in printmaking. “Having a class that bridges the art department<br />
and the science department is a personal experience in a lot of<br />
ways.”<br />
Environmental professor Changwoo Ahn was inspired to create<br />
the wetlands, or “The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong>,” so students could make those<br />
kinds of connections. Mason graduate students will monitor Mason’s<br />
first floating wetlands for an ongoing research project. About<br />
24 students were part of the two-semester class.<br />
Wetlands help clean storm water that washes into retention ponds,<br />
rivers and lakes and also aid in controlling flooding, said Ahn, a<br />
professor in the College of Science’s Environmental Science and<br />
Policy Department, and founder and director of EcoScience+Art.<br />
Ahn said the goal of the project is to create sustainable stormwater<br />
management in the era of climate change. Floating wetlands are<br />
being used in North Carolina and other areas.<br />
Sophomore Andy Sachs said he also learned how to appreciate artistic<br />
aesthetics by working on the project. He originally thought the structure<br />
should be rectangular to provide the most surface area. But with some<br />
help from fellow students, Sachs says he learned that science projects<br />
also need to be visually appealing when they’re in a public area. The<br />
floating wetlands are kidney-shaped.<br />
Combining art and science is an easy fit, in particular for environmental<br />
projects. “Art is inspired by nature,” Rusinko says. Sachs plans to take<br />
what he learns from the <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong> and apply it to his summer internship<br />
working on storm water maintenance. “This summer I’ll be able to<br />
relate what I learned in this class to the professional world,” said Sachs,<br />
who grew up in Leesburg, Va.<br />
Sachs said he originally wanted<br />
to be a marine ecologist,<br />
but the internship last summer<br />
changed his mind. He’s an integrated<br />
studies major with a<br />
concentration in ecological<br />
sustainability.<br />
“I probably learned more this<br />
semester than in a year and a<br />
half of classes combined,” Sachs says. “Hopefully we’ll get more classes<br />
like this. We were able to see a full project through to actual finish, instead<br />
of just theoretical.”<br />
About 1,700 plants––including soft rush, upright sedge, duck potato, water-plantains,<br />
pickerel weed, and blue flag––were chosen for their water<br />
cleaning efficiency and their beauty. The prospect of combining plants<br />
with art appealed to Rusinko, who grew up in Arlington, Va. He grows his<br />
own food at a local community garden, especially unusual varieties such<br />
as the Pusa Asita carrot, a dark purple carrot that originated in India.<br />
The real benefit of Mason Pond’s wetlands will be sparking conversations<br />
about finding different ways to clean the environment. “I think a lot<br />
of the value is the social value,” Rusinko said.<br />
77<br />
75 76
MEDIA<br />
OUTREACH<br />
STUDENTS SAY POND CLASS AT<br />
GMU REALLY FLOATS THEIR BOATS<br />
“And the innovative class project that George Mason University<br />
has students hip-deep in mucky pond water. The <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong><br />
is a floating wetland, designed by and involving both art and<br />
science students. The hands-on effort creates awareness about<br />
ecology along with cleaning the pond naturally. There are about<br />
1,700 native plants in the floating wetlands. In August, students<br />
will harvest those plants and remove pollution from the pond,”<br />
reports NBC4<br />
79news anchor Pat Lawson Muse.<br />
77 78
TEDx TALK AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY<br />
81<br />
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br />
& SPONSORS<br />
Thanks go to University Life, the<br />
College of Science Dean’s Office,<br />
Biology and Environmental<br />
Science and Policy departments,<br />
at GMU for their support of the<br />
<strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong>.<br />
Special thanks go to Mason 4-VA<br />
Innovation Grant and OSCAR that<br />
also sponsored the <strong>Rain</strong> <strong>Project</strong>,<br />
as well as to the following three<br />
classes for their participation:<br />
83<br />
EVPP 378/BIOL 379:<br />
Ecological Sustainability<br />
EVPP 646/647:<br />
Wetland Ecology & Management<br />
EVPP 650:<br />
Ecosystem Analysis/Modeling<br />
81 82
RAIN PROJECT<br />
PARTICIPANTS<br />
Abigail Armuth<br />
Ashton Bandy<br />
Khafre Barclift<br />
Abigail Baxter<br />
Jillian Brooks<br />
Vinson Corbo<br />
Charles Cressey<br />
Suzanne Dee<br />
Evelin Espana<br />
Cameron Evans<br />
Kathryn Faulcouner<br />
Anthony Frank<br />
Jesse Glendon<br />
Zuhair Haleem<br />
Bill Harper<br />
Michael Harrier<br />
Rebecca Jackson<br />
Kelsi Jones<br />
Alexander Krupp<br />
Beatrice Laureno<br />
Tulia MacDicken<br />
Samar Madi<br />
Brendan McAndrew<br />
Mahek Mehta<br />
Romaric Moncrieffe<br />
Chris Rusinko<br />
Andy Sachs<br />
Stacey Spillman<br />
Joanna Spooner<br />
Victor Sumin<br />
Victoria Van Dorn<br />
Samantha Vo<br />
Frances Yee<br />
Dr. Changwoo Ahn<br />
& many more volunteers!<br />
85<br />
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