James Madison University
Water to STEAM
About the STEAM Team
Our Story
For five weeks, 14 James Madison University students undertook two community engagement projects around a common theme: the critical importance of water to the well being of our environment, cultures, and bodies.
These students, along with their three professors, Biology Professor Patrice Ludwig, Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communications professor Sean McCarthy, and professor of theater Zachary Dorsey, approached two community engagement projects through an interdisciplinary perspective that includes the sciences, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).
Participating Majors
Anthropology
Biology
Chemistry
Criminal Justice
English
Health Science
Political Science
Theater
Violin performance
Writing, Rhetoric, & Techincal Communications (WRTC)​
Where We've Been
See the five major cities and what the STEAM Team did while traveling around Ireland.
What is STEAM?
Traditionally, the field of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) has been promoted to tackle challenging problems from multiple perspectives; however, there was an important aspect lacking from this mindset: creativity and abstract thinking.
To solve this problem, the arts were integrated into the technical world of STEM to activate and work both the left and right sides of the brain, thus creating STEAM. This new field works to connect the different areas of study and focus them on a common goal.