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Penn State College of Arts and Architecture
Penn State College of Arts and Architecture
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Catalyzing Research + Creative Practice

Our mission is simple: to act as a catalyst for faculty and students in attaining their research and creative practice ambitions, and to position these activities as a central component of the research enterprise at Penn State.

We aim to foster within the college a vibrant culture of inquiry that promotes excellence within our disciplines, while at the same time leveraging the potential of a comprehensive research university.

If you are a member of our community, we invite you to use the resources here to further your research agenda. Please be in touch with the Research Office to discuss your research and creative practice needs.


Research Proposal Development Process

Visit the Research Proposal Development page to learn more about the process for identifying funding opportunities and engaging with the college to support your efforts.


Learn More About Research Proposal Development

Graduate research and creative achievements

Explore. Design. Create. Perform. Inspire. The College of Arts and Architecture is delighted to present the work and celebrate the achievements of our graduates.
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Research Centers + Initiatives

The College of Arts and Architecture provides research space, funding and project development opportunities through a variety of Centers and Institutes.

A&A Sustainability

A&A Sustainability

A&A Sustainability seeks to advance sustainability, integrating it into the college’s strategic plan and fostering it in teaching and learning, research, community engagement, and operations.

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Arts and Design Research Incubator

Arts and Design Research Incubator

ADRI coordinates and hosts a range of programming designed to foster, support, and broadly disseminate innovative arts, design, and health-focused research and practice.

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Borland Project Space

Borland Project Space

Borland Project Space projects, workshops, and exhibitions move beyond traditional notions of exhibition, performance, and scholarly programming to reveal the processes and procedures of “arts research.”

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C-PAD

C-PAD

C-PAD is a nexus for scholars, artists, designers, practitioners, and community members who share a common interest in learning and teaching through the arts.

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Ecology + Design

Ecology + Design

E+D engages research-activated design intervention that seeks to significantly improve the ecological health of the designed world, particularly in the areas of biodiversity, energy, risk and hazard, and water systems.

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Hamer Center for Community Design

Hamer Center for Community Design

The Hamer Center serves as a laboratory for community partnerships that integrate socio-economic and environmental conscious resolution to design and planning problems.

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Stuckeman Center for Design Computing

Stuckeman Center for Design Computing

The SCDC is a multidisciplinary community of researchers exploring computation as a subject of creative and scholarly inquiry in design across scales and modes of engagement

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Studio for Sustainability + Social Action

Studio for Sustainability + Social Action

Imagine the visual arts at Penn State with sustainability and social action at their core. S3A is dedicated to sustainability and a philosophical and moral call to social action through artistic practice.

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Virtual/Material Studies

Virtual/Material Studies

The Center for Virtual/Material Studies supports innovative research – at the intersection of materiality studies and computation – and teaching collaborations to enhance understanding of cultural heritage.

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News from A&A

Architecture IUG student named undergraduate thesis award winner

Holly Zimmerman was named the winner of the Department of Architecture’s 2023 Paul M. Kossman Design Thesis Award for her project that focuses on designing the walls of a building

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Holly Zimmerman, an architecture integrated undergraduate-graduate student in the Stuckeman School at Penn State, was named the winner of the Department of Architecture’s 2023 Paul M. Kossman


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Strategic city planning can help reduce urban heat island effect

New Penn State research suggests that certain urban factors can reduce the tendency of cities to trap heat — a phenomenon called the “urban heat island."
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Millett and White to discuss “Ex-Utero” project at Paris symposium

Cristin Millett, professor of art in sculpture, and Cynthia White, ADRI adjunct research associate, will discuss their "Ex-Utero" project at a Paris symposium.
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