Guests:
Yutaka Sho, Ph.D. (Architecture, SU)
Nina Wilson, Ph.D. (Architecture, SU)
Their presentations will be followed by Q&A moderated by
Brice Nordquist, Ph.D. (Writing & Rhetoric / Community Engagement, SU)
+ refreshments and informal talks.
Professors Yutaka Sho and Nina Wilson will discuss their collaboration on mycelium research.
Mycelium, the filamentous networks of fungal organisms (mushrooms), can be developed with few tools, requiring low skill levels, no heavy equipment, infrastructure, resource extraction, waste management, or need to move materials. Mycelium is unique, because it provides long-term sustainability and, as the research team demonstrated in Rwanda in East Africa and Syracuse, NY, can be used to create low-cost living construction materials anywhere in the world. Nina and Yutaka will discuss the challenges and exciting opportunities of working with mycelium in low-cost and auto-construction contexts.
Yutaka Sho, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Syracuse University School of Architecture. She is also a partner in and co-founder of the nonprofit architecture firm GAC, whose primary area of practice is in Rwanda working with underrepresented communities to build resilient and aesthetically engaging spaces. GAC has been recognized by several national and international honors including SARA NY, AIA Verginia, Game Changers by Metropolis Magazine, Architizer A+Award, and the Architect’s Newspaper.
Nina Wilson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Syracuse University School of Architecture and Faculty Research Fellow at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. Operating at the intersection of design, technology, and policy, Wilson convenes interdisciplinary and academic-industrial partnerships to advance research methodologies and capture knowledge-sharing opportunities across multiple scales. With multi-year research awards exceeding $9m in federal and state funding, Wilson leads projects developing carbon-negative material technologies for a range of applications in the built environment, active building enclosure systems, biodesign and living construction methods, and deep energy retrofit approaches for cold climates. Wilson’s publications include: “Regenerative Material-Human Ecologies: Investigating Mycelium for Living and Decentralized Architectures in Rwanda” (with Sho, et al., Springer Nature, Forthcoming), and “Design and Build a Green Tent Environment for Growing and Charactering Mycelium Growth in Lab, Lab on a Chip” (with Yang et al., Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023).
Brice Nordquist, Ph.D., is a community-engaged literacy researcher and teacher. He works through ethnographic and participatory research and public arts and humanities projects to study and support students’ movements across contexts of learning and stages of education. Brice is the co-founder and co-director of the Narratio Fellowship, a storytelling and educational pipeline program for resettled refugee youth, and the founder and director of the SU’s Engaged Humanities Network, which seeds, supports, and fosters exchanges across publicly engaged research, teaching, and creative projects in pursuit of more inclusive, interconnected, and just communities and institutions.
___________________________________________________
The Bio-Art Mixer is where art and life sciences, faculty, and students share their research and look at it from the perspective of a different discipline. The Bio Art mixer was initiated by Heidi Hehnly (Biology, SU) and Boryana Rossa (Film and Media Arts, SU) in collaboration with the Canary Lab Lab and Bioinspired Institute and is a fundamental element of the Bio-Art Research Coalition of Syracuse.