Faculty Receive Awards to Further Research and Creative Practice in 2025-26

Chandler Ahrens, Constance Vale, and Kelley Van Dyck Murphy will install “Inside Out,” a public-facing design-research project commissioned for the 2025 cycle of Exhibit Columbus. The project takes the form of a multi-story dollhouse that brings the cityʼs often hidden architectural interiors and archival materials into the public realm, democratizing access to these spaces. Inspired by Alexander Girardʼs original dollhouse and rug for the Miller family, this new structure collages section models of 20 significant Columbus, Ind., interiors, stacked atop a three-dimensional rug, and invites creative participation and co-design through community workshops, educational programming, and interactive storytelling.

Zahra Safaverdi is constructing visual and spatial narratives of multi-dimensional arid environments. Through large-scale drawings on fabrics, she will confront the dissonant rhythms of time through two scales: a geological deep time that encapsulates millions of years of environmental history, and anthropic time that encapsulates cycles of rituals and cultural memories.

Heather Bennett will mount a solo exhibition of several multimedia installations called “Remix,” at the Bruno David Gallery this fall. This exhibition remakes Bennett’s past works and archive to create new meanings.

Tiffany Calvert is producing a new series of paintings based on images generated by a machine-learning model coordinated in collaboration with the McKelvey School of Engineering. Printed reproductions of the AI-generated images serve as a foundation for painterly abstraction, highlighting AI’s growing influence. The new paintings are planned to be shown in a solo gallery exhibition at Tinney Contemporary in Nashville in 2026.

Jennifer Colten is continuing work on her photography project, “Episodic but Not Accidental: Encounters along the American Bottom.” The book builds a portrait of place that threads connections across the diverse components of the American Bottom region, pointing to the invisible histories that define so many landscapes in the Midwest.

Bei Hu’s research project, “Sensing Bodies,” investigates how wearable technologies enhance emotional expression and foster meaningful social connection. This project will result in a cohesive, three-part series of wearable designs that expand on themes introduced in her earlier work, "1.2 Meters.” Hu will develop three wearables using advanced 3D-printed infrastructure to improve modularity, durability, and usability.

Faculty Research Awards of up to $10,000 are awarded annually by the Sam Fox School to enable tenured, tenure-track faculty and senior lecturers to pursue innovative new projects or to advance ongoing creative activity and research. The Faculty Research Awards are funded by the Ralph J. Nagel Deanship Endowment.