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Award Details
Christine Waxstein
Reiko Goto-Collins
 Reiko Goto-Collins’ dissertation “Ecology and Environmental Art in Public Place - Talking Tree: Won't you take a minute and listen to the plight of Nature?” includes the practice-led element which works with multimedia as a crucial and integral part of an experimental methodology. Her PhD study was focused on trees’ physiological response to atmospheric changes photosynthesis. She was thinking about the essential breath of all living things, and how trees contribute to the aesthetics of place while transforming carbon dioxide into the oxygen. Goto-Collins set herself the question of how to create a different relationship between human beings and the natural environment. She explored trees as a context, creating access through multimedia to the transpiration and processes of photosynthesis working with the metaphor of 'breathing'. The premise was deceptively simple: breathing is what we share with nature. If we could experience how trees 'breathe', we would grasp in a direct and sensory way the interdependence between human beings and other living things in the environment. Multimedia features significantly and appropriately at a number of stages and levels within this research, as data gathering and as giving form to experience through the representation of data as sound and sound/image. These are combined in ways that do not remove the research subject from its specific contexts e.g. an oak tree on a particular day in a particular place. This is an important quality of the work within an ecological discourse. The conventions of textual description and analysis of a conventional PhD could not have coped well with the intricate demands of this thesis to offer a sensory experience of the research subject founded in rigorous data gathering methodologies. The doctoral thesis is openly available on the University’s institutional repository, OpenAir @ RGU at the URL: https://openair.rgu.ac.uk/handle/10059/788. Dr. Goto-Collins has sustained a creative inquiry that is concerned with empathic relationship with living things and the environment for over twenty years. She is an artist, a researcher, a designer and author. She is a Principal in the COLLINS & GOTO STUDIO in Glasgow Scotland, where she is recognized for her approach to environmental art and research. In 2014 the studio effort was focused upon photography, video and mapping work related to the Blackwood of Rannoch. To learn more about Goto-Collins’ work, visit her website: http://gotoandcollins.com |
Samantha Oswald
 Master of Architecture (2013) / University of Waterloo – Canada Samantha Oswald’s master’s thesis “Brick: A Story of Construction”, is a creative and complex account of how contemporary construction techniques can be beneficially influenced by the “versatility and poetics” of the timeless material that is brick and the traditional brick-and-mortar system of construction. Ms. Oswald’s research interests are centered on the life cycle of materials and the contribution of this cycle to the making of architecture. During her master's thesis research, her subject of study was clay brick, in which she documented different fabrication processes and then adapted these processes to the design and construction of a small shelter. The work is filled with a myriad of carefully created images that illustrate the process of constructing a Terracott from the ground up. The thesis is in a genre that finds this expression in non-textual form a significant value-added; it is a thesis that describes a lengthy, hands-on process, evolving over time with exposure to changing conditions. The visual components of the thesis have an essential impact and convey the message with impressive force. As well as Ms. Oswald’s adept and revealing photography, her production of an MPEG video is included as a file supplementary to the main body of the thesis in PDF. The video, “Building the Terracott”, is skillfully executed and engaging. Just under 20 minutes in length, it is sufficient to convey strong impressions of the beauty of the hands-on process while inciting an urge to know more about the process, inviting the viewer into the complexities that are found in the textual thesis. The master’s thesis is openly available on the University’s institutional repository, UWSpace, at the URL: https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/7760. Presently Ms. Oswald is working at an architecture practice in Switzerland. Part of her work involves expanding her knowledge of prefabricated concrete: the methods, raw materials, and logistics of its production. Independently, she is teaching herself woodworking to learn intuitive and tactile responses to material. She finds this combination of concrete and wood fascinating because the materials are so different, yet both are profoundly embedded in Swiss construction practices. As an immigrant in the country, she finds that studying its materials is a physical and immersive way to better understand its culture. To learn more about Oswald’s work, visit her website: www.tact-rdc.com and her blog: http://www.techneandpoiesis.blogspot.ch |
Evgeniya Lyubomirova (Jenny) Snauffer
2013 Innovative ETD Award Master of Science in Oceanography University of British Columbia, Canada
The significant innovation is the inclusion of animated time series graphs (AVI movies) showing the drift of hake and herring larvae over time. In addition to many complex graphs in her thesis, Ms Snauffer included four .avi moving graphs as supplementary materials. The moving graphs give a visual of the results that could not be described as clearly in words, and that would be cumbersome to get across in a series of static graphs. This visual method enables the research results to be shared more quickly and effectively, increasing cooperation and collaboration among different researchers. Acceptance Video: |
Helen J. Burgess
2013 Innovative ETD Award Ph.D. English West Virginia University, USA
Acceptance Video: |
John Christopher Williams
2012 Innovative Learning through ETDs Award Master of Arts in Art Education West Virginia University, USA In his master’s thesis, Chris Williams demonstrated the effectiveness of artist-in-residence programs through his analysis of artist immersion programs nationally and then applying his findings within the school setting in West Virginia for a hands-on experience. The cultural focus of these activities included celebration of the International Day of Peace and the Chinese New Year, incorporating learning components regarding multicultural dimensions and the international Peace movement as well as Chinese symbolism and history. Activities also included puppet-making skills utilizing various art techniques and media such as paper Mache, textiles, painting, music and performance. WVU chief among a handful of puppetry programs nationwide - collaborations have included guest lectures from legendary Jim Henson's "Sesame Street Muppets" and their puppeteers. Williams resides in New York City where he uses his considerable skills to organize projects as an art educator, teaching artist, arts advocate, community arts coordinator and puppeteer. Presently he is Project Coordinator for CITYarts in New York City where he organizes all project elements for their residencies. CITYarts' projects frequently foster community revitalization by galvanizing businesses, schools, and community organizations into developing youth programs and constructing playgrounds and gardens. CITYarts has also organized the international Pieces for Peace program, providing a mosaic with youth from around the world. His professional Website JCWArts contains a variety of arts education resources. Thesis: Art educators and practicing artists: strengthening the curriculum and building a creative community  John "Chris" Williams receives his Innovative Learning through ETDs Award Read the related follow up article "WVU alum says ‘Shoot for the Stars’" (WVU Alumni Spotlight). |
Michael Otremba
2012 Innovative Learning through ETDs Award Doctorate of Medicine Yale University, USA In his thesis, Michael Otremba's research path and development as a physician for human rights was defined and refined though the development of a visual thesis that documents the ethical and societal conflicts at the intersection of inadequate national health infrastructure, extraordinary poverty, and chronic shortages of skilled physicians in the world’s poorest nations. This thesis portfolio also includes a documentary film entitled, “Twero: The Road to Health,” made over the course of 2 years, including 6 months of filming on location in Uganda, and is presently under consideration for international media distribution. the documentary follows a journalist who uses his radio station as a means to expose what is happening to patients, like Esther Ayugi, who find themselves unable to pay their medical bills. Otremba's work will continue to be an agent for social change as the thesis and documentary are disseminated in wider international circles, giving power to the people whose lives are impacted by socio-economic and political challenges in advocating for proper health care as a basic human right. Michael has an M.D. and is presently a Postdoctoral Associate in the Section of Otolaryngology in the Department of Surgery at Yale. His continued advocacy efforts, film documentary commentaries and other research interests are reported in his Blog. Thesis:  Michael Otremba (center) receives the Innovative ETD Award from Charles Greenberg (left), Yale librarian and NDLTD Board Member, and Mark Gentry (right), Yale librarian who provided administrative support for Michael's internal medicine rotation in Uganda. MIchael's acceptance video: |
Jessica Claire Menck
2012 Innovative ETD Award Ph.D. Leadership & Change Antioch University, USA In her dissertation, Claire Menck revisited the twice-told tales of New Orleans' tragic flooding with a unique perspective - food, and did so with a research methodology and reporting format that involved several media. Mench looked at New Orleans, five years after the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, and asked: Is food a way for individuals and groups to make meaning following critical change events such as the failure of the federal levee system in New Orleans? Her study found there are 4 common leadership discourses in talking about food in relation to critical change including culture, ecology, economics and politics. This dissertation integrates multimedia to express data and findings, and is accompanied by 26 audio files, truly bringing to life the dissertation text with rich oral histories by research participants. Claire is an international award winning chef, restaurateur and scholar. She is also a passionate advocate for social media and research in disaster recovery with continuing work on her Website Girlchef. Thesis:  |
Clifford Gouws
2012 Innovative ETD Award Master of Architecture University of Pretoria, South Africa In his Master’s thesis, Clifford Gouws focuses on architecture’s potential to adapt according to the passage of time, through the process of aging and weathering. The project questions current approach to heritage design, in particular the conventional museum and memorial typologies are investigated. The unexplained explosion in 1945 (and subsequent preservation) of the Central Magazine Building on Magazine Hill (in the military precinct of Pretoria) forms the basis of the investigation. The candidate investigates a site that is trapped in time. The proposed a new brass foundry will recycle spent ammunition shells. In the words of Gouws; [w]here ammunition was once produced, ammunition is now reduced to brass artworks and utilitarian products. This multimedia thesis portfolio contains separate PDF chapters with specialized architectural-sized renderings as well as unique and stunning visual presentations. The thesis culminates in the production of a short film (posted on YouTube) where concept is explored three-dimensionally: Thesis:  Cliff Gouws receives his Innovative ETD Award. |
Paula Stofer Cordeiro de Farias
2012 Innovative ETD Award Master of Mechanical Engineering Pontifical Catholic University - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In her Master's thesis, Paula Farias employs a non-intrusive optical technique to provide time-resolved images of the lower portion of the liquid film of horizontal annular flow of air and water, revealing the interfacial wave behavior. The stereoscopic technique developed is an original contribution of the present work to the set of experimental techniques available for the study of two-phase flows. Time–resolved images of longitudinal and cross section views of the film were recorded and analyzed, what constitutes in valuable information for the understanding of the dynamics of the liquid film in horizontal annular flow. The work by Farias has made use of state-of-the-art equipment and image processing techniques to produce visualization movies of the dynamic characteristics of annular flow that have not been seen up to now. This is a significant contribution that opens new opportunities for studying complex flow fields. This multimedia thesis portfolio contains the thesis in PDF and provides supplementary high definition video clips. In 2011 Paula received the ABCM Award for best thesis and in 2012 she published her work as a scientific paper in The Journal of Experiments in Fluids. Thesis: Acceptance Video: |
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