EAGER: Exploring the Intersection of Mathematics, Science and Art

这个为期两年的项目将在物理科学、数学科学和视觉艺术的交叉点开启创造性的可能性。它将通过为数学家、物理学家、神经科学家、认知科学家和在不同媒体工作的艺术家创造合作机会来实现这一目标。该项目将以2017年和2020年在英国剑桥艾萨克·牛顿研究所举办的两次研讨会所获得的经验为基础，并将这些活动中产生的想法付诸实践。这些活动将围绕精心制定的问题展开，并将利用各种支持跨学科对话的平台进行组织。与艺术史学家和科学家合作，将举办一系列开创性的展览和相关活动，邀请直接或间接涉及数学或物理的杰出国际艺术家参加。该计划将为科学宣传和公众欣赏物理和数学科学及其在文化领域的作用提供一个独特的平台。在这样做的过程中，它将鼓励新一代科学家丰富他们的观点，并可能将他们的职业生涯引向新的跨学科方向。艺术展览及其相关活动将产生最广泛的公众兴趣，这将与积极的教育成分相结合。该项目还将提供一系列与学校合作的机会，并重新构想大学预科教育和大学专业。此外，通过有针对性的外展，它将有助于吸引新的人才进入STEM学科，特别是来自代表性不足的群体。作为向中学推广的一项战略，将为教师提供现成的课程计划和模块，以帮助激励全世界成千上万的学生做出职业选择。该项目的总体目标是扩大应用数学和物理的传统领域的范围，并激发新的见解，数学方法，以及神经和认知模型，以理解和分析艺术过程，艺术对象及其感知。它还将有助于牢固地建立一个持久的科学家社区，在科学与艺术的界面上研究各种主题。除了激发和重新定义跨学科研究之外，该项目还将激发新的想法，提出新的研究方向和问题，并刺激物理，数学，可能还有神经科学的进步。例如，在许多绘画中可见的液体不稳定性直到最近才引起物理学家的注意，而在一些雕塑、织物装置和陶瓷中表现出来的固体力学的奇异性表明了许多尚未探索的问题。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This multifaceted, two-year project will aim to unlock creative possibilities at the intersection of physical and mathematical sciences and the visual arts. It will do so by creating opportunities for collaborations among mathematicians, physicists, neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and artists working in diverse media. The program will build on the experience gained in two workshops at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, UK, in 2017 and 2020, and bring to fruition ideas generated during these events. The activities will be developed around carefully formulated questions and will be organized utilizing a variety of platforms supportive of cross-disciplinary dialogues. A series of pioneering exhibitions and associated events will be organized in collaboration with art historians and scientists, featuring prominent international artists whose work engages mathematics or physics directly or indirectly. The program will offer a unique platform for science advocacy and public appreciation of the physical and mathematical sciences and their role in the cultural sphere. In so doing, it will encourage a new generation of scientists to enrich their perspectives, and perhaps steer their careers in new interdisciplinary directions. The art exhibitions and their related events will generate the broadest public interest, which will be combined with a proactive educational component. The program will also open a range of opportunities for collaboration with schools and for reimagining pre-college education as well as college majors. Furthermore, by targeted outreach it will serve to attract new talent to STEM subjects, particularly from under-represented groups. As an outreach strategy to secondary schools, ready-made lesson plans and modules for teachers will be made available to help inspire career choices of thousands of students worldwide. The overarching ambition of the project is to expand the scope of traditional areas of applied mathematics and physics, and to stimulate new insights, mathematical approaches, as well as neural and cognitive models to the understanding and analysis of art processes, art objects and their perception. It will also serve to firmly establish an enduring community of scientists working on various topics at the science-art interface. Beyond invigorating and redefining cross-disciplinary research, the project will inspire new ideas, suggest new research directions and problems, and stimulate advancements in physics, mathematics, and likely neural science as well. For example, liquid instabilities discernable in many paintings have only recently attracted physicists’ attention, while the singularities of solid mechanics manifest in some sculptures, fabric installations, and ceramics, suggest many as yet unexplored problems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.