MSDMT PRACTICUM
GRADUATE STUDIO
MSDMT 700 - FALL 2025COORDINATOR
Mark Meier
PROFESSORS
Angie Crum, Mark Meier
SENSING - SYSTEMS - ASSEMBLIES
DMT Practicum serves as an intensive launch into the Digital and Material Technologies program with three major goals:
1. An intensive tooling-up: students acquire the skill sets needed to operate a suite of machines and software, and to recognize tool capacities and strategies.
2. The development of production logics: students critically discuss and develop tools, fixtures, and methods of making to advance fabrication technique and material insight.
3. Conscious decision assessment: students carefully investigate, reveal, and respond to the results of design decisions ranging in topics from project longevity, multiple-use, material waste, energy use, and environmental and health impacts.
The course investigates three themes:
1. Sensing: integration of custom coded devices that respond to environmental inputs and inform data driven material outputs.
2. Systems: materials and how they inform different methods of manufacturing.
3. Assemblies: how the components come together to form composite constructions.
STUDENTS
Shahd Farran, Shahin Ghaemian
PROFESSORS
Angie Crum, Mark Meier
Pneuma Mosaic is an interactive installation that brings art and technology together through motion-responsive panels. Distance sensors trigger air-powered silicone mechanisms, causing the wooden panels to gently unfold and shift in response to nearby visitors. Illuminated by integrated LED lighting, the mosaic transforms any space into a tranquil, dynamic canvas, encouraging relaxation and awareness. Inspired by the Greek concept of “pneuma”—spirit and presence—the installation reacts to movement, cultivating a peaceful ambiance in public spaces and galleries.
Pneuma Mosaic invites audiences to experience moments of connection and mindfulness, reshaping everyday environments into spaces of serene interaction. Pneuma (/ˈnjuːmə/) is an ancient Greek word meaning "breath", "wind," or "spirit," denoting a vital force and a sign of life.
STUDENTS
Neva Siers, Zeina Farhat
PROFESSORS
Angie Crum, Mark Meier
Illuminated Cells is an interactive screen composed of repeating cellular units that organize light, depth, and material variation. Illumination is not fixed but activated through movement, producing shifting pulses and flashes that register human presence across the surface. The aggregation of cells creates a porous field of openings and cavities, allowing light to move through and within the structure. Clay-printed inserts support plant life, introducing a living layer that continuously reshapes the visual composition. As bodies move and vegetation evolves, the installation remains in flux, defined by changing patterns of brightness, shadow, and spatial perception.