A competitive ThinkBig Seed Sprint award from the Office of the Provost at CWRU was granted to
the collaboration “Seeding Technical Art History,” an endeavor initiated by PhD students Lauryn
Smith (Art History) and Michael McMaster (Physics). The faculty and staff team leaders are Prof.
Catherine B. Scallen, (Art History), Prof. Ken D. Singer (Physics), Dr. Ina Martin (Materials for
Opto/Electronics Research and Education—MORE– Center, Dean Yoder (Cleveland Museum of
Art Paintings Conservator), and Prof. Tony Ingrisano (Chair of Paintings, Cleveland Institute of
Art). They will be joined by Prof. Elizabeth Bolman (Chair, Department of Art History and Art);
Prof. Michael Hinczewski (Physics) Per Knutås (Chief Conservator, CMA); Prof. Glenn Starkman
(Physics); and two additional graduate student members: Shishir Adhikari and Marcio O'Dwyer
(Physics).
Participants in this collaboration will work together to lay the foundation for a liberal arts/STEM
model of engagement focusing on Cleveland resources. Specifically, the pilot case will consist of
developing a new optical technique to assist with art historical attribution studies and art
conservation.
Only 17 collaborations were funded out of 139 applications.