On a recent Tuesday morning, Dr. Randall Milstein addressed his class: \u201cWho has a cell phone and can play us some music?\u201d<\/p>\n
A student volunteered, and Milstein instructed the students to close their eyes. He asked them to draw for one minute\u2014without stopping\u2014with their eyes closed.<\/p>\n
![\"hm_4520_161011_hc407artofsci-08\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/files\/2016\/11\/HM_4520_161011_HC407ARTOFSCI-08-200x300.jpg\")
This isn\u2019t an experimental art course: Milstein is teaching the Honors College colloquium, The Art of Science\/the Science of Art, a seminar examining the connection between the arts and science. During the ten-week class, students explore how scientists and artists influence and inspire each other.<\/p>\n
Milstein holds appointments in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the College of Science, is Astronomer-in-Residence with the Oregon Space Grant Consortium, and he is a regular instructor in the Honors College, teaching a variety of classes. He designed this colloquium to approach science from the perspective of another one of his passions\u2014photography, a field in which he holds an additional undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n
Although his engagement with science, art, and their interface is lifelong, it was his experience teaching Honors College students that prompted the creation of this course: \u201cHC students are renaissance thinkers; they have many different interests. Students are often told that they have to do one thing\u2014their major\u2014but if you\u2019re going to be a good scientist or an engineer, you have to be imaginative, creative,\u201d Milstein said.<\/p>\n
The colloquium\u2019s focus on creativity resonates with students. Arden Babb, a biological engineering student, said it was a draw for her to enroll in the course. \u201cI want to be more confident that the artistic side of me is good for studying science, not that they\u2019re contrary to each other. I want to merge these parts of myself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Art of Science\/the Science of Art is one of more than two dozen HC colloquia offered each term. These discussion-based seminars are small classes, usually with no more than 12 students in each section. Colloquia topics are typically interdisciplinary in nature, focusing on topics, themes, or ideas as opposed to particular fields of study. Other recent offerings include The History Games, and Wart Hogs and Boa Constrictors: Topics in Science and Religion.<\/p>\n
The intersection of arts and science is the focus of a university-wide initiative at Oregon State called SPARK: Arts + Science @ OSU<\/a>. The Honors College is a partner in a yearlong series of events celebrating the relationship between the\u00a0arts and science. In October, 2016, Milstein presented a SPARK event focusing on the cultural impacts of Star Trek<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cultivating a lifelong passion for both science and art is one the goals for the course and a key message that Milstein shares with his class: \u201cStudents often say to me, \u2018I have to give up on being an actress to be a mathematician.\u2019 Or, \u2018I have to give up art to be a physicist. I say to these students: No, you\u00a0don\u2019t give up what you love. Dance is physics. Geology is art. Use these passions to make you stronger in your field. Don\u2019t see them as a limitation.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Milstein hopes students in his colloquium continue to hone their creativity\u2014in the lab and in the art studio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a recent Tuesday morning, Dr. Randall Milstein addressed his class: \u201cWho has a cell phone and can play us some music?\u201d A student volunteered, and Milstein instructed the students to close their eyes. He asked them to draw for one minute\u2014without stopping\u2014with their eyes closed. This isn\u2019t an experimental art course: Milstein is teaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8096,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,1163420,1163399,82,165],"tags":[365,213034,3303,5,712367],"class_list":["post-2491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","category-community","category-courses-faculty","category-features","category-news","tag-art","tag-colloquia","tag-honors","tag-science","tag-spark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8096"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8930,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions\/8930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"hm_4490_161011_hc407artofsci-02\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/files\/2016\/11\/HM_4490_161011_HC407ARTOFSCI-02-300x200.jpg\")
Creating a dialogue between disciplines and promoting engaged inquiry is one of the learning outcomes for all HC graduates and a hallmark of the colloquia format and approach. Dr. Milstein\u2019s emphasis on interdisciplinary research and thinking is ideal for problem solving: \u201cScience can tell you how to clone a Tyrannosaurus rex<\/em>, but the humanities might tell you why that\u2019s a bad idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n