MFA and Doctoral Students

The STEAMpower Project is looking for graduate student fellows and faculty/staff led teams that are interested in exploring the intersection of STEM and the arts/humanities. The theme for this year’s projects is sustainability. 

STEM: science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and similar fields

Arts: branches of creative activity inclusive of painting, music, literature, dance, theater, performance art, and similar fields

Theme: Sustainability. At its most basic sustainability focuses on ecological, human, societal, and economic health. Sustainability can encompass many dimensions of human society and expression as well as the natural world. From art to architecture, language to science, every discipline has its own sustainable practices, materials, or norms as well as imperatives for promoting sustainability. How can you create work at the intersection of STEM and arts to explore and or convey what it means to be sustainable? How might you influence the world that will be left when we, as individuals, are gone? 

The STEAMpower Project is an incubator allowing people from across campus to come together to work beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries between arts and STEM. As the arts are not merely a communication tool for STEM, preference will be given to projects that do not use the arts as a vehicle for science communication, but as an equal partner in multidisciplinarity. Similarly, science is not simply a muse for the arts, such that preference will be given to projects that integrate STEM as a necessary component of the artistic expression. The program is designed around MSU’s new STEM Teaching & Learning Facility and the MSU Arts Strategy. 

Applications are due Aug. 22nd.

To apply as a STEAMpower Faculty/Staff-Led Teams 

Faculty/Staff-Led Teams are made up of 3-5 faculty, staff, graduate students, and/or undergraduate students and may include community partners. Teams are in the process of developing their first significant proposal at the intersection of arts and STEM for 1) larger funding for research, curriculum/instruction, or other academic outcome and/or 2) exhibition, broader impact, or other public-facing event. Teams would use STEAMpower funding to collect initial data and/or develop a pilot creative work and/or other preliminary activity to set the stage for applying for additional funding or exhibit. 

Apply for a STEAMpower Faculty/Staff-led Team

Allowable Costs

Travel, exhibition costs, pilot projects for evaluation or research, software, materials, or similar expenses. Personnel costs for undergraduates only may also be included. Proposals can also request use of space for collaboration on the fourth floor. Other categories of expenses may also be considered. Individual graduate students are encouraged to apply to become a STEAMpower Graduate Student Fellow. Up to $20,000 per team although we encourage careful consideration of actual needs.

Requirements 

1. Teams must attend two STEAMpower meetings a month.
   1. STEAMpower meets once monthly on WED 12-1:30 pm for a public-facing event and 
   2. Once monthly for a co-work session – time to be determined. During the co-work, Teams would be expected to engage with graduate student fellows in addition to their own teams.
2. Report out on progress and goals.
3. Preparation of digital presentation of their project at the end of Spring 2024 including:
   1. Artist/scientist statement
   2. Digital artifacts capturing their project: images, photos, words, videos
4. Participate in a showcase in Fall 2024. This showcase will be a time for past Fellows and incoming Fellows to interact.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

• Project alignment with the STEAMpower 23-24 theme of Sustainability.
• Project multidisciplinarity in arts and STEM as demonstrated by project description foundations, methods, expertise, and epistemology from STEM and arts
• Prior evidence of collaboration among team members as evidenced by prior work such as co-teaching, collaborative curriculum development, co-creation, research products, or other evidence
• Proposed future plans for larger collaboration or continuation of work, including specific future funding opportunities

To apply as a STEAMpower Graduate Fellows

We seek four to eight PhD or MFA students in any discipline (arts, sciences, social sciences, etc.) with a demonstrated interest in the intersections between STEM and arts. Graduate students will interact with other STEAMpower Fellows and Teams as well as artists-in-residence from across MSU and create a deliverable on an art/science/culture project of their own design. A stipend of $3000 per graduate student for the year is available. The fellowship will run from Fall 2023 through Spring 2024. 

Apply for a STEAMpower Graduate Fellow

Requirements 

1. Fellows must attend two STEAMpower meetings a month.
   1. STEAMpower meets once monthly on WED 12-1:30 pm for a public-facing event and 
   2. Once monthly for a co-work session – time to be determined. During the co-work, Fellows would be expected to engage with other fellows and teams.
2. Report out on progress and goals.
3. Preparation of digital presentation of their project at the end of Spring 2024 including:
   1. Artist/scientist statement
   2. Digital artifacts capturing their project: images, photos, words, videos
4. Participate in a showcase in Fall 2024. This showcase will be a time for past Fellows and incoming Fellows to interact.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

• Alignment with the STEAMpower 23-24 theme of Sustainability.
• Project multidisciplinarity in arts and STEM as demonstrated by project description foundations, methods, expertise, and epistemology from STEM and arts.
• Prior evidence of effort, formal or informal, at the intersection of STEM and arts.