Why Arts and Sciences?

The Departments of Philosophy, Political Science and Economics have teamed up, along with the Center for Ethics and Human Values and Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability, to offer a bachelor of arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), which will train students to think across traditional boundaries. The PPE major includes training in all three core disciplines, enabling students to study the forces and institutions that shape the modern world from more than one perspective.

Students also pursue one of four concentrations within the major (choice and behavior; global cooperation and conflict; justice and moral reasoning; or law, policy and governance). This integrative, yet focused approach will prepare students for careers in law, public policy, public service, business, education and journalism, just to name a few.

PPE is one of five new undergraduate majors in the college, all of which incorporate emerging trends and issues into carefully designed, interdisciplinary academic programming.

• Intergrated Major in Math and English
• Italian Studies
• Medical Anthropology
• Philosophy, Politics and Economics
• Statistics

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Mimi Lamantia, who earned a BFA in dance in May 2016, combined her interests in dance and medicine for her research program, Argentine Tango for Cancer Survivors, which earned funding as a part of the Pelotonia Fellowship.

She had an able guide and mentor in Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, a former dancer and research scientist, who served as associate director of the Human Motion Analysis and Recovery Laboratory within Dodd Hall at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Worthen-Chaudhari's lab was the perfect place for Lamantia to cultivate her ideas about dance and the ways it could help people with movement challenges.

She began to take a particular interest in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which causes pain and imbalance for those who have survived cancer. Up to 60 percent of survivors who've had chemotherapy suffer from CIPN. While there had been significant research on how dance can be used to treat things such as Parkinson's disease, its effectiveness in treating CIPN was largely unexplored. Lamantia dug into this research, creating a project that won first prize in Ohio State's Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, and was subsequently selected to represent the university at the 2016 Universitas 21 (U21) Research Conference in Monterrey, Mexico.

These findings set the stage for her program Argentine Tango for Cancer Survivors. The intervention was comprised a three 10-week sessions in which those participating used the tango to improve their movement and balance.

The result? Participants reported a 56 percent improvement in their balance. "Seeing it succeed for someone recovering from cancer was absolutely phenomenal," Lamantia said.

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Associate professor of microbiology Jesse Kwiek and associate professor of history Thomas McDow co-teach HIV: From Microbiology to Macrohistory, which entered its fifth year this spring semester. The course, which is cross-listed between history and microbiology, examines HIV through an interdisciplinary lens, studying its global, historical expansion, as well as its evolution at the molecular level.

Over its past four iterations, the course has gained in popularity. Originally capped at 60 students, it is now capped at 80, and McDow says it has a waiting list each semester. The integrative nature of the course attracts students from all different walks of academic interests. Course participants hail from a variety of majors, including molecular genetics, microbiology, linguistics and history.

Drawing from multiple arenas of expertise and examining a topic through various contexts isn’t just a viable approach to learning about HIV. The course helps students realize the benefits of approaching other fields with a broader mindset.

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Motomu Ibakari, associate professor of Earth sciences and environmental health, was present in Japan during the 2011 earthquake that shook the country sent a devastating tsunami that caused nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Upon realizing how one major incident changed the course of so many lives, Ibaraki decided to fuse the disciplines of public health and Earth sciences into one study abroad course, titled "Field Experience in Global Public Health: Japan."

“It’s a good experience for students to see how the environment affects human health,” Ibaraki said. “It’s a real, interdisciplinary example of combining Earth sciences and public human health aspects together.”

The study abroad course is offered through the public health specialization in environmental public health. The interdisciplinary program combines courses from the College of Public Health and the College of Arts and Sciences and applies principles of math, chemistry and biology to the science of environmental public health. "Field Experience in Global Public Health: Japan" begins its sixth year May 2019.

From mid-to-late May, Ibaraki leads between 15 to 20 students through locales such as Tokyo, Hiroshima and Fukushima, where they study a wide range of public health, sociological and cultural issues through a Japanese perspective. Students have opportunities to observe the impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, reflect on the impact of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and listen to first-hand accounts from individuals affected by mercury pollution in Minamata.

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Art and Technology is an interdisciplinary area of study in the Department of Art focused on the creative use, misuse and investigation of technology through art making. Graduate and undergraduate students and faculty in this research area explore the relationship between art, science and technology with project-based learning, creating interactive installations, inventing electronic objects and interfaces, producing moving image and 3D animations, 3D modeling / rapid prototyping, art games, virtual reality, hacking, bio-art, tactical media, digital imaging, holography, internet art, sound and emerging experimental forms.

Courses are interdisciplinary in nature drawing research, techniques, and inspiration from the arts and sciences and our classes are taken by grads and undergraduates from computer information sciences, design students, mechanical and aerospace engineering, biosciences, humanities and students pursuing the BA degree in art and a minor in studio art as well as majors in film studies.

Students from these departments bring their research agendas to courses promoting an informed collaborative dialogue, fostering a classroom environment that better reflects the trans-disciplinary nature of technology in our contemporary world.

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Racial health disparities have for years been a major issue for Dr. Quinn Capers, a cardiologist at the Wexner Medical Center and associate dean for admissions in the College of Medicine. After earning his medical degree from Ohio State in 1991, Capers was a resident trainee at an academic medical center in Atlanta when he saw two people — a black man and a white man who both came in suffering heart attacks — receive vastly different treatment. That disconcerting experience fueled Capers’ desire to raise awareness of racial health disparities, and this fall semester, he co-taught an undergraduate course he created around the topic, AFAMAST 4326: Race and Medicine.

The class is housed in the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), and it is co-taught by AAAS postdoc Eric Herschthal, a historian and journalist whose areas of expertise include race, slavery and medicine. AFAMAST 4326 examines the ways in which black and white Americans receive health care differently, explores their historical background and root causes, and discusses potential solutions to these inequalities. Students learn about the history of medical mistreatment of black Americans, how implicit bias influences medical treatment of African Americans, the connections between race and genetics, and how systemic racism perpetrates racial health disparities.

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When artists, scientists and scholars collaborate to tackle some of our most pressing challenges, the creative spark is undeniable. For the Collaboration for Humane Technologies, a cross-disciplinary network of some of the most innovative thinkers in their fields, it is that creative spark that makes new, inspiring ideas for a better future possible.

The roster of lead partners on the projects bears out this expansive collaboration: the Departments of Design and Dance, ACCAD (Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design) and the Champion Intergenerational Center (Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Social Work), all joined by students and contributing faculty from design; dance; music; theatre; engineering; architecture; Spanish and Portuguese; English; women’s, gender and sexuality studies; nursing; medicine; social work and ACCAD.

Working in tandem, these Humane Technology partners join a growing movement in the technology industries toward putting human concerns at the forefront of innovation. Research topics include robotics for assisted living; simulations to improve empathy in dementia care; games for well-being; stress reduction through mindfulness in virtual reality; data humanism and health insurance in artificially intelligent futures; and more.

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