Paper Number
FI26                         My Program 

Session
Flow-Induced Instabilities and Non-Newtonian Fluids

Title
Flowing Between Disciplines: Integrating Art and Rheology into Undergraduate Education

Presentation Date and Time
October 21, 2025 (Tuesday) 2:50

Track / Room
Track 7 / Sweeney Ballroom D

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

  1. Chatzigiannakis, Emmanouil (Eindhoven University of Technology, Processing and Performance of Materials)
  2. Sharma, Vivek (University of Illinois Chicago)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Emmanouil Chatzigiannakis1 and Vivek Sharma2
1Processing and Performance of Materials, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; 2University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607

Speaker / Presenter 
Chatzigiannakis, Emmanouil

Keywords
None

Text of Abstract
Rheology and the arts share a surprising number of touchpoints, from the yield-stress of oil paints in van Gogh’s impasto to the viscoelastic foams in Piero Gilardi’s sculptures, the settling of pigments in traditional ink-making, the flowing choreography of Pina Bausch, and the cinematic imagery (time-pressure concept) of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films. Building on the RheoLit initiative, which explores such connections across painting, sculpture, literature, dance, music, and film, we present Engineering Art, a multidisciplinary challenge-based learning (CBL) project at Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands). In this course, undergraduate teams design and create an “art object” (e.g., painting, sculpture, short film) using engineering principles connected to rheology and fluid dynamics. The projects integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion by bringing together students from different academic and cultural backgrounds, engaging external stakeholders such as artists, curators, and industry partners, and encouraging creative expression alongside technical problem-solving. Digital tools enable collaboration, formative assessment, and dissemination, while public exhibitions connect the work to the broader community. By linking the aesthetic language of art with the analytical tools of rheology, this initiative shows how CBL can broaden STE(A)M education, promote interdisciplinary thinking, and make complex scientific ideas, such as rheology, tangible, relatable, and inspiring. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a Rheology Venture Fund grant from the Society of Rheology and by funding provided by the Mechanical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University of Technology