Leonardo RFPs

Leonardo was founded in 1968 in Paris by kinetic artist and astronautical pioneer Frank Malina who saw the need for a journal to serve as an international channel of communication among artists, with emphasis on the writings of artists who use science and developing technologies in their work. Published by The MIT Press and led by executive editor Roger Malina, Leonardo has become the leading international peer-reviewed journal on the use of contemporary science and technology in the arts and music and, increasingly, the application and influence of the arts and humanities on science and technology.

Leonardo is interested in work that crosses the artificial boundaries separating contemporary arts and sciences. Featuring illustrated articles written by artists about their own work as well as articles by historians, theoreticians, philosophers and other researchers, the journal is particularly concerned with issues related to the interaction of the arts, sciences and technology.

Leonardo focuses on the visual arts and also addresses music, video, performance, language, environmental and conceptual arts—especially as they relate to the visual arts or make use of the tools, materials and ideas of contemporary science and technology. New concepts, materials and techniques and other subjects of general artistic interest are covered, as are legal, economic and political aspects of art.

The following are the current calls for Special Section papers for Leonardo journal. Please see each for information on solicited topics, paper types, and submission processes.

• Art and Atoms, guest editor Tami Spector
• Art and Cancer, guest editor Dhruba Deb
• Artists and War, guest editor Michele Emmer
• ArtScience: The Essential Connection, guest editor Robert Root-Bernstein
• Environment 2.0, guest editor Drew Hemment
• PhD in Art and Design, guest editors Ken Friedman and Jack Ox
• Pioneers and Pathbreakers, to coincide with Leonardo's 50th anniversary
• Pioneers and Pathbreakers/Narratives in Dark Culture memoir series
• Smart Textiles: Science and Technology of Textile Art, supported by the Marjorie Duckworth Malina Fund
• Leonardo Abstracts Service (LABS), editor-in-chief Sheila Pinkel

Now announcing The Leonardo STEAM Initiative on Education with guest editors Robert Root-Bernstein and Tracie Costantino.

UPDATE 25 May 2018: Please see the call for papers for a new special section Science and Art: The Essential Connection with guest editors Catherine Baker and Iain Gilchrist.

Danielle Siembieda
Managing Director

Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences

I keep having to look these up, so I thought I'd make a post for everyone's future reference!

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Environmental science often refers to the Grand Challenges. These are the key issues facing humans in the 21st century, and there is some back and forth discussion about what they are, of course. But a report from the National Academy of Sciences in 2001--"Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences"--synthesized the results of a prestigious working group exploring this issue over several years, capturing the concept in 8 challenges:

1. BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES: The challenge is to understand how the Earth's major biogeochemical cycles are being perturbed by human activities; to be able to predict the impact of these perturbations on local, regional, and global scales; and to determine how these cycles may be restored to more natural states should such restoration be deemed desirable.
2. BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING: The challenge is to understand the regulation and functional consequences of biological diversity, and to develop approaches for sustaining this diversity and the ecosystem functioning that depends on it.
3. CLIMATE VARIABILITY: The challenge is to increase our ability to predict climate variability, from extreme events to decadal time scales; to understand how this variability may change in the future; and to assess its impact on natural and human systems.
4. HYDROLOGIC FORECASTING: The challenge is to predict changes in freshwater resources and the environment caused by floods, droughts, sedimentation, and contamination in a context of growing demand on water resources.
5. INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: The challenge is to understand the ecological and evolutionary aspects of infectious diseases; to develop an understanding of the interactions among pathogens, hosts/receptors, and the environment; and thus to make it possible to prevent changes in the infectivity and virulence of organisms that threaten plant, animal, and human health at the population level.
6. INSTITUTIONS AND RESOURCE USE: The challenge is to develop a systematic understanding of the role of institutions—markets, hierarchies, legal structures, regulatory arrangements, international conventions, and other formal and informal sets of rules—in shaping systems for natural resource use, extraction, waste disposal, and other environmentally important activities.
7. LAND-USE DYNAMICS: The challenge is to develop a systematic understanding of changes in land uses and land covers that are critical to biogeochemical cycling, ecosystem functioning and services, and human welfare.
8. REINVENTING THE USE OF MATERIALS: The challenge is to develop a quantitative understanding of the global budgets and cycles of key materials used by humanity and of how the life cycles of these materials may be modified. Among the materials of particular interest for this grand challenge are those with documented or potential environmental impacts, those whose long-term availability is in some question, and those with a high potential for recycling and reuse. Examples include copper, silver, and zinc (reusable metals); cadmium, mercury, and lead (hazardous metals); plastics and alloys (reusable substances); and CFCs, pesticides, and many organic solvents (environmentally hazardous substances).

You'll note that "Climate Change" is not listed, but it drives and aggravates all of the other challenges. There is much more to say about why these particular issues are so critical. You can read more about it in the report.

Long-awaited paper now out

The Integration of the Humanities and Artswith Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine inHigher Education: Branches from the Same Tree (read online, or order a hard copy).

The National Academy of Sciences commissioned this report on the value of STEMM integration in higher education. From a highlights document:

"This study examined an important trend in higher education: integration of the humanities and arts with sciences, engineering, and medicine at the undergraduate and graduate level—which proponents argue will better prepare students for work, life, and citizenship...This movement in higher education raises an important question: what impact do these curricular approaches have on students? 

To address this question, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed a 22-member committee to examine 'the evidence behind the assertion that educational programs that mutually integrate learning experiences in the humanities and arts with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) lead to improved educational and career outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students.' The committee conducted an in-depth review and analysis of the state of knowledge on the impact of integrative approaches on students."

 The results are encouraging:

"Aggregate evidence indicates that some approaches that integrate the humanities and arts with STEMM are associated with positive learning outcomes. Among the outcomes reported are increased critical thinking abilities, higher-order thinking and deeper learning, content mastery, problem solving, teamwork and communication skills, improved visuospatial reasoning, and general engagement and enjoyment of learning. 

An important observation was that the kinds of outcomes associated with certain integrative approaches in higher education are the educational outcomes that many employers presently seek. Employer surveys consistently show that employers want well-rounded individuals with a holistic education who can take on complex problems and understand the needs, desires, and motivations of others. Importantly, these learning goals and competences are similarly valued by institutions of higher education. The committee considered multiple forms of evidence as it developed the following recommendations for institutions, faculty, administrators, scholars of higher education, and federal and private funders. The recommendations fall under four main areas:"

1. Support for Integrative Approaches
2. Evaluating Integrative Courses and Programs
3. Enhancing Inclusivity Through Integrative Courses and Programs
4. Removing the Barriers to Integrative Approaches 

The paper concludes that:

"Higher education should strive to offer all students—regardless of degree or area of concentration—an education that exposes them to diverse forms of human knowledge and inquiry and that impresses upon them the fact that all disciplines are 'branches of the same tree.' Such an education should empower students to understand the fundamental connections among the diverse branches of human inquiry—the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, mathematics, engineering, technology, and medicine."