The Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaii–West Oahu (ACMEWO) has developed a plan to use creative media as an entry point to engage underrepresented students in STEM Concepts – an important step in supporting the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Computing program (BPC)-Initiative.

The plan was developed by Sharla Hanaoka, ACMEWO Director, and Brad Ashburn, associate professor of chemistry in the Department of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Health Sciences at the UH west Oahu.

Next Steps

UH west Oahu will offer a new Math 100 course, Generative Art and Science, dedicated to the fusion of art and mathematics that BPC plan to welcome all students with basic programming skills in spring 2025.

“By merging art with STEM “In our fields, we are not only breaking down barriers that often prevent students from our communities from pursuing computer science, but we are also encouraging creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, preparing a new generation of problem solvers with both technical know-how and artistic vision for a future where technology and creativity are increasingly intertwined,” Hanaoka said. “This could lead to a more diverse, inclusive and innovative creative technology industry overall.”

Making art with science

Students Dylan Blue and Aina Kodaira — both pursuing degrees in creative media with a focus on video game design and development — worked with Ashburn as a mentor on a summer research project that Ashburn will talk about in his next class.

Blue and Kodaira presented their project “Exploring Emergence with Cellular Automata” at the UH west Oahu Student Research Experience Summer Symposium on August 9 in the Campus Center Multipurpose Room. The project challenged them to combine software engineering, science, and design to create a highly interactive web application that generates complex patterns.

“We developed an algorithm that creates different patterns. So we mixed technology with art,” said Blue. “That’s significant because we don’t really see that very often, do we? There’s always a clear line between the realm of science and the creative media. …To be in a place where we not has been before is pretty exciting.”

Both students plan to take Ashburn’s new Generative Arts and Science course this fall semester, in which students enhance their creativity through hands-on computer programming, design and engineering projects.

“Many approaches to integrating the arts into STEM It’s about making art about science, but our approach is to make art with science,” Ashburn said.

—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman

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