Art & Design Team Awarded 2024 Provost's Fund for Innovation in Research "Big Idea" Award

An interdisciplinary team of faculty researchers in the LSU College of Art & Design were awarded a "Big Idea" grant from the2024 Provost's Fund for Innovation in Researchto investigate at-risk coastal cultural heritage sites.

hth华体会体育app官网Assistant professor of architectureAnnicia Streetewill lead a research team to scan cultural landscapes, built environments and festivals on the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean using drones, lidar and radiance fields.The goal of the project is to compile a rich dataset and create an immersive, high-fidelity record of coastal cultural heritage sites at risk because of natural disasters, land loss and sea level rise.The project team includesBrendan Harmonhth华体会体育app官网, associate professor of landscape architecture in the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture;Brent Fortenberryhth华体会体育app官网, College of Art & Design Associate Dean of Research and associate professor of landscape architecture;Hye Yeon Nam, associate professor of art/digital art in the School of Art!andFarzaneh Oghazianhth华体会体育app官网, assistant professor of architecture.Collaborators also include Ludovico Geymonat, associate professor of art history, Jane Ashburn,assistant professor of practice in architectural conservation, and Jesse Allison,Associate Professor of Experimental Music & Digital Media.

"As our coasts change – as land is lost and the intensity of storms increase – much of our cultural heritage will be damaged and eventually lost.Coastal communities in Louisiana are rapidly losing land and are planning to resettle, leaving cultural heritage sites including cemeteries and mounds behind," Streete wrote.

"Coastal cities such as New Orleans and Port-au-Prince have been battered by natural disasters, putting their rich cultural legacy at risk.With emerging technologies such as drones, realtime lidar, and radiance fields, we can preserve immersive, high-fidelity records of the disappearing heritage of our coasts.By scanning cultural landscapes, the built environment, and festivals of the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean, we aim to compile a dataset of heritage sites.We will publish this dataset online as a curated collection of immersive virtual experiences with extensive historical documentation to build awareness of these regions' rich culture and the manifold challenges they face.This research initiative is novel in its application of cutting-edge technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence-based sensing to the preservation of coastal heritage."

This projectis part of the Coast area of the LSU Scholarship First Agenda.Phase 2 ($75,000) grants fund faculty to develop preliminary data and create a long-term research agenda for large-scalegrant proposals for national impact.It aligns with the coastal focus area in the research pentagon in LSU's Scholarship First Agenda and involves a transdisciplinary team composed of LSU faculty in partnership with the National Park Service's National Center for Preservation Technology, Florida State University, Tuskegee University, etc.It also aligns with the National Endowment for Humanities' agenda.

The largest internal funding program in LSU history, the Provost's Fund for Innovation in Research has invested $1.2 million in 15 interdisciplinary research teams.Aligned with LSU'sScholarship First Agenda, the teams and their projects aim to solve pressing problems in Louisiana and everywhere.