To Benjamin Knapp, a rendering of an EF5 tornado in 3-D and surround sound in the Moss Arts Center’s immersive Cube is exciting not only because of the drama and potential knowledge about such cataclysmic storms, but also because the Institute of Creativity, Arts, and Technology, which he directs, has made it possible for faculty and students from such diverse disciplines as meteorology and computer science to work together.

“It is our mission to bring together faculty and students from the arts, design, science, and engineering,” he said. “It is also a National Science Foundation initiative, reflecting businesses’ expressed need for students who have worked with student from different disciplines.”

The 50 projects supported by the institute vary, from modeling crowd movement in Lane Stadium by students and faculty from computer science and the School of Visual Arts, to the house of the future, which was created by an architecture and computer science research team. “We are bringing together faculty and students that wouldn’t have an opportunity to work together to do cutting-edge work. Students are seeing from other disciplines that they might otherwise never see.”

A faculty member in the computer science department, Knapp’s background is in human-computer interaction – specifically, human’s emotional response to computing.

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