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Jenn Rossmann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Lafayette College, had an idea that she could teach liberal arts students the basic theories about the flow of fluids, and Karina Skvirsky, an assistant professor of art, could teach the basics of photography and photo composition. The students would then combine this knowledge to shoot photographs visualizing fluid flow and display their best photos in a show in Lafayette’s Art Gallery to conclude the course.
Rossmann and Skvirsky teamed up to teach a Values and Science/Technology (VAST) course, which is designed to take advantage of Lafayette’s strengths in liberal arts and engineering. Skvirsky taught the technical aspects of photography such as f-stop and aperture along with aesthetics of good photographs in the course, “The Art and Science of Flow Visualization.” Rossmann taught the basics about fluid flow. They weaved the concepts of science and art together in their lectures whether they focused more on fluid flow or the history of photography and art.