Elsewhere on campus, Colin D. Criss ’17 built HTML code and used video editing software to design “Poetry of the City: Walt Whitman,” an upcoming for-credit online course at the Graduate School of Education. Under the direction of English professor Elisa New, Criss studied how poems can be visually represented and can shape class discussion. “[I was] directed by core humanist questions,” Criss says. “How do you represent poetic images?.... The question there is how do you teach poetry so that it can be taught? How do you give those teachers skills? Communicating an idea and representing an idea... It’s hard.”

Bach and Criss were three of 13 students who participated in the Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program at the College (SHARP), an immersive summer experience that enabled them to conduct research projects in those fields. The program, which has grown considerably since its inception in 2013, pairs students with faculty members to pursue specific arts-related research projects, ranging from curatorial work at museums to preparing materials for a professor’s upcoming book. “We owe this [expansion] to a rise not only in student interest but also to the enthusiastic response from faculty who want to be a part of the program,” writes Jeffrey Berg, assistant director at the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, in an email. “Research takes on many forms in SHARP and the nature of the projects vary widely,” he says. “The great benefit to fellows across all programs is that they all live together under one roof. Social and intellectual programming fosters interesting interdisciplinary conversations and even collaborations.”

“SHARP aims to expose students to the wide range of exciting ideas and research interests that are being explored across the arts and humanities and beyond,” Berg writes. “We define the scope of projects very broadly.... You probably wouldn’t immediately associate ‘scientific instruments’ with arts and humanities research, but those fascinating intersections are what make SHARP so very exciting and unique,” he adds. For Bach, for example, the lantern slide research was only one element of her summer experience at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI). She primarily worked on CHSI’s upcoming exhibition titled “The Golden Age of Radio,” which chronicles the history, technology, and culture surrounding the radio.

Bach and her co-intern conducted research, chose objects for the gallery, and made detailed design plans for the space. Bach, who studied abroad in London last semester and frequented the city’s many museums and galleries, says she applied to work at the Collection to learn more about museums. “We learned a lot about what the considerations are when developing exhibits… There are aesthetic considerations, like, ‘This is a colorful radio. This [one] represents a specific time period.’” Bach’s CHSI experience also reaffirmed her interest in curatorial work. “It was really valuable to me in terms of giving me a peek into a career that I really wanted to pursue.”

Criss says he also had an immersive experience in Cambridge this summer, an internship that changed the way he looks at the world. “I guess the most powerful thing I’ve taken from my SHARP experience is the way the humanities can be incorporated into everything in life,” he says.

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ART

Whether students worked in the theater, the museum, or the lab, their summers provided the necessary time to delve more deeply into the arts and humanities and explore their intersections with related and unrelated fields. Moreover, the summer enabled students to reflect on their lives and the role that art should play, professionally and personally, they said.

“I feel very comfortable bringing poetry up with my friends and family now,” Criss says.
“I’m very comfortable saying...‘That reminds me of a poem. Do you mind if I read it?’....I started to incorporate humanities in my life and that was the most valuable [takeaway] from this summer.”

—Staff writer Melanie Y. Fu can be reached at melanie.fu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @MelanieYFu

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