Rhode Island School of Design

A hands-on educational activity integrating materials chemistry, visual art, and historical context through the formation of copper-based ceramic glazes is presented. Adapted for use in undergraduate classrooms, this experiment allows students to formulate, apply, and fire glazes containing copper-based colorants on ceramic test pieces to explore how thermal and chemical processes influence surface color, gloss, and texture. Designed to support interdisciplinary engagement, the activity encourages students to investigate glaze creation and application while linking observable artistic outcomes to core chemistry concepts, such as coordination chemistry and redox behavior. Instruction is supported by collaborative classroom discussion and interpretation of characterization data, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. Postlab reflective writing prompts further reinforce conceptual understanding and promote synthesis across disciplines. Student responses indicated strong engagement and perceived gains in understanding. This activity provides a scalable, inquiry-based approach to incorporate the intersection of chemistry and art into science curricula.

ABSTRACT This piece develops haunting erotics as a Black femme and feminist methodology. Following the implications of Saidiya Hartman’s formulation of ghostly pain as part and parcel of the anchoring of Blackness in abjection, I read Mayfield Brooks and Molondi Zondi’s processional and haunting performance entitled Dancing in the Hold which premiered in April of 2018 at Gibney Dance New York. With poly-vocalic attention to embodied and expressive theorizations of Black life, I locate haunting within the field of Black Studies, and more specifically in conversations about abjection and Black art. I engage Fred Moten's formulation of ‘absolute nearness’ in my discussion of intimacy in the afterlife of slavery, and then turn to Audre Lorde’s erotics in order to analyse why Black performance’s engagement of spectrality, opacity and haunting marks an emergent and healing, site of Black experimentalism (Moten, F., 2018. Black and blur. Durham: Duke University Press; Lorde, A., 1978. Uses of the erotic : the erotic as power. New York: Out & Out Books).

This study introduces an innovative mixed reality (MR) system for managing tremor disorders, including essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. The system combines an ergonomic hand motion assistance device that mimics natural hand movements to stabilize tremors with MR-based rehabilitation exercises that dynamically adjust in difficulty. Telehealth capabilities enable remote monitoring and consultations, enhancing accessibility. An iterative design process informed by feedback from medical professionals, patients, and design experts led to significant improvements in motor control, task performance, and user autonomy. This comprehensive MR intervention represents a substantial advancement in tremor disorder treatment, offering a versatile and user-friendly solution.

Figure 1: Simulation of fungal spread using our neural network-based fungal automaton, supervised and trained by an AI model chain. It is then synchronized with a laser in reality to implement dynamic light containment, guiding fungal growth to match pre-designed patterns consistent with the simulation.