Fluid dynamics is the study of the motion of liquids and gases, and these motions can be the subject of captivating visualizations. Over the last several years, GW Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Azar Panah has curated many of these visualizations into a traveling exhibit that has been featured in Houston, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., and more cities around the country.
Prof. Panah has recently been awarded a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support her work curating these one-of-a-kind exhibits.
“Through these exhibits and compelling artworks, we want to teach the public about the science of fluid dynamics by using art as a gateway to discovery,” Panah explained.
“You see something beautiful, and you become curious about what’s going on in that picture, video, or sculpture,” she said. Once their attention is captured, Panah hopes that individuals will be motivated to learn more through engaging labels, online resources, and live panel discussions.
“Fluid dynamics is everywhere and affects everyday life in ways we often don't notice. It is in the air you breathe, the cream swirling into your coffee, the water you cook with or wash dishes with in the sink, the blood flowing through your veins, and the wind that carries birds and airplanes through the sky. Through these exhibits, we want to show you how fluid dynamics is all around us and inspire you to explore the fascinating science behind it,” Panah shared.
The grant will enable Panah to build a larger team and design workflows for upcoming exhibits in Orlando and Boston. Her goal is to spend the next two years making the exhibit sustainable by identifying venues for future exhibitions, building an advisory board to support the work, and developing a website that archives information on past exhibits and offers additional educational content.
“Our exhibit in Houston last year, curated by Natalia Almonte & Nicole Economides at Paradoxluxe, showed us that people are interested in the art, but now we want to focus on refining and delivering our message so that the scientific background is more accessible and visible,” Panah said.
Panah will collaborate with Dr. Joanna Garner, an expert in educational psychology and museum visitor experience at Old Dominion University, to design engaging exhibits and measure their impact. She will also collaborate with faculty at GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design on exhibit design and curation.
Panah and team plan to use the Visitor Identification and Engagement with STEM (VINES) framework developed by Dr. Garner, which describes how museum visitors engage with STEM exhibits. According to the framework, engagement varies along a spectrum from focusing on artifacts to connecting the experience to their personal identity.
At the artifact end of the spectrum, visitors mainly observe objects and factual information, while toward the personal identity end, they relate the experience to their own lives, interests, and sense of belonging in STEM. The framework helps researchers and educators understand how exhibits can move visitors from passive observation to deeper personal engagement with STEM.
The GW community does not need to travel across the country to view Panah’s work; many unique pieces are on display in the GW Science and Engineering Hall. One shows watercolor mixing with ferrofluid over a thumbnail-sized magnet to create vivid, layered patterns, and another shows splash patterns as a liquid interacts with a solid surface.
Panah is committed to inviting the engineering community and the public in to see how research can be beautiful.
Traveling Gallery of Fluid Motion exhibits are organized by the Gallery of Fluid Motion with support from the National Science Foundation, the George Washington University, and the Division of Fluid Dynamics at the American Physical Society.