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Xperiential Reality Lab advances �� Polytechnic ��. mission of connecting technology with applied learning

goersab — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:28:01 +0000

Xperiential Reality Lab advances �� Polytechnic ��. mission of connecting technology with applied learninggoersab October 28, 2026

XR Lab, unique in western Wisconsin, is hub for virtual, augmented, mixed reality experiences

Abbey Goers

�� Polytechnic ��. newest lab is a hub for virtual, augmented and mixed reality experiences, connecting technology with hands-on, applied learning.

The Xperiential Reality Lab – the only extended reality lab in western Wisconsin – will serve to enhance teaching and learning through immersive, interactive experiences while providing students and faculty from all disciplines with a dedicated space for XR exploration, collaborative research, development and creative projects.

“The lab will expand instructional methods by supporting class sessions, laboratory activities, course projects, and faculty and student development of original XR experiences,” said XR Lab Coordinator Andrew Hirl.

“Students will be able to engage with educational XR experiences across a wide range of disciplines, using immersive and interactive environments to explore course concepts in new ways. They will also have opportunities to create their own XR experiences. The lab also features a photogrammetry system that can produce accurate 3D models of physical objects,” he added.

The lab is located in the Robert S. Swanson Library & Learning Center room 202 and celebrated its grand opening on Oct. 26.

Connecting XR technology with applied learning, workforce readiness

XR is part of the leading edge of learning and innovation. It can simulate professional environments and support product visualization, workforce training and collaborative research, virtually immersing students in experiences and scenarios related to their industries.

Initial campus collaborations in XR have included fashion design and development and professional and technical communication students using the 3D-modeling photogrammetry software to build digital fashion portfolios of apparel collections.

Students in Structure of English are conceptualizing a virtual reality experience that engages users in linguistic concepts. They are creating a game with 16 VR concepts for different aspects of language analysis, history and learning.

“These experiences help students apply knowledge, build practical skills and prepare for their future professions,” Hirl said. “Because XR is a rapidly evolving technology with applications in health care, engineering, gaming and many other industries, the lab will help students understand its possibilities, uses and development processes. Familiarity with XR will better prepare them to work with emerging technologies in their careers.”

Fashion & photogrammetry: Communications and fashion students capture couture in 3D

Cross-disciplinary collaboration creates apparel portfolio using photogrammetry software

The lab plans to develop collaborative projects across degree fields and with industry partners:

Art and design students can paint, sculpt and create in digital environments.
Cybersecurity students may practice methods of securing systems against hackers.
Early childhood education students can engage in realistic classroom scenarios.
Engineering or construction students can use VR to develop large-scale projects.
Game design students may develop experiences and games for industry clients.
History students can visit sites around the world through immersive 360-degree video.
Risk management students can prepare safety training scenarios for employers.
Pre-med students may observe cell biology composition, CRISPR technology and genetics.

Previously, XR projects and equipment were distributed among several campus labs and departments, which limited their visibility, accessibility and potential for collaboration.

“The XR Lab was created to bring these resources together in a centralized, welcoming space where students, faculty, and staff from across �� Polytechnic can explore, develop and participate in XR experiences,” Hirl said.

What is extended reality (XR)?

XR includes technologies that blend digital content with the physical world or create entirely digital environments. It includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), which can allow people to explore places, objects and experiences in new ways. In education, XR can give students and faculty opportunities to learn, teach, conduct research and create immersive, interactive environments.

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated environment that allows users to interact with in real ways.
Augmented reality (AR) is a real-time integration of digital information into a user's environment. It overlays content onto the real world, often using a touch screen for control.
Mixed reality (MR) is a more advanced version of AR.
Photogrammetry uses dozens of digital cameras to capture photos of an object or person simultaneously. The images, taken within milliseconds, are imported into software that stitches the images together into a detailed 3D model.

How can XR positively impact learning and research? What global impact might it have?

Extended reality can make learning more immersive and hands-on by allowing students to explore places, processes and experiences that may be difficult, expensive or impossible to access in the physical world.

For researchers, XR can provide new ways to visualize complex data, simulate real-world conditions, collaborate across distances and develop creative solutions to challenging problems. As these technologies become more accessible, they could expand educational opportunities globally, connecting learners and researchers across geographic and cultural boundaries. Ultimately, XR has the potential to make knowledge more interactive, collaborative and accessible, while opening new possibilities for discovery and innovation.

What industries or organizations are using XR in teaching, training and experiential learning?

Walmart uses VR to create realistic training scenarios, allowing employees to practice customer service management and operational skills in an immersive environment.
Boeing has used VR to simulate spaceflight missions, allowing astronauts to practice complex and safety-critical situations before performing them in the real world.
IKEA, Hallman Lindsay, Valspar and other retail and home design businesses use AR to let customers visualize 3D versions of furniture or wall colors in their own homes, helping them see how products will look and fit before purchasing.
Hospitals, medical schools and health care organizations use VR and AR to simulate surgical procedures and clinical situations, giving learners opportunities to practice skills in an immersive environment before helping real patients.
Other industries using XR in teaching, training or production include game design, vehicle and appliance manufacturers, museums and historical societies, real estate and property management, construction and logistics, molecular modeling and biological sciences, education, fitness, and more.

* Sections of information in this Q&A were created using ChatGPT.

The XR Lab is just one of the nearly 300 laboratory and studio spaces on campus, where labs outnumber traditional classrooms by a 3-to-1 ratio.

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Xperiential Reality Lab advances �� Polytechnic ��. mission of connecting technology with applied learning

XR Lab, unique in western Wisconsin, is hub for virtual, augmented, mixed reality experiences

Von Maur retail competition awards American Marketing Association student team with honorable mention

Proposed store concept, Simple just Works, gives Gen Z male shoppers a space of their own

Supporting entrepreneurs: One Drop Refillery benefits from new website built by business, digital technology students

Hudson small business collaborates with capstone class to reach sustainably-minded shoppers

XR Lab, unique in western Wisconsin, is hub for virtual, augmented, mixed reality experiences XR Lab Grand Opening

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Andrew Hirl

Coordinator and leader of University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic's Xperiential Reality (XR) Lab. With a background in VR, game design, and 3D modeling, Andrew is always seeking ways to use emerging technology and games to benefit society. Focusing on using games and virtual reality to inspire and cultivate virtue in players.

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Von Maur retail competition awards American Marketing Association student team with honorable mention

goersab — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:57:37 +0000

Von Maur retail competition awards American Marketing Association student team with honorable mention goersab October 22, 2026

Proposed store concept, Simple just Works, gives Gen Z male shoppers a space of their own

Abbey Goers

One of the Midwest ��. most successful department stores – Von Maur – recently recognized the American Marketing Association (AMA) and Business Sales Team student organizations at �� Polytechnic for their innovative store concept, Simple just Works.

With the goal of changing Gen Z male customer behavior, the team proposed Von Maur create a place just for them – a store where young men come first in every choice it makes, from store layout to shopping options, with easy-to-find styles at affordable prices.

For their efforts in developing Simple just Works, the AMA team earned Honorable Mention at the annual Von Maur Challenge Case Competition, Oct. 15-16, at the University of Iowa.

A digital rendering of the Simple just Works storefront concept.

AMA student team members were business administration and digital marketing technology students Gabe Cauwels, Hannah LaGesse, Gerishom Muholeza, Grace Riggott and Helena Slabber.

The Von Maur competition invited business, marketing and retail-focused students to develop an innovative retail store concept designed to attract and engage Gen Z male consumers, ages 14 to 29, at its Midwest department stores. They had just 16 hours to complete the challenge and present their solutions and analysis to the organization ��. executive leadership team.

Gabe Cauwels, Helena Slabber, Jim Von Maur, Grace Riggott, Hannah LaGesse and Gerishom Muholeza / Pam Vaver

Simple just Works

During their market research to see how Gen Z men are interacting with the retail market, the AMA team visited Von Maur and asked employees questions. They also took time to ask the company questions, including about financials.

Their demographic research on shopping behaviors showed Gen Z men research products online and on social media channels. They also search for the best deals and have low brand attachment. But without a space made for them in retail and department stores, such as Von Maur, they feel like an afterthought, and so they shop elsewhere.

A digital rendering of a Gen Z male shopper at Simple just Works.

The team ��. vision for Simple just Works offers a simple layout and design, right down to the color scheme: black, cream, warm brown and tan. Merchandise sections are clearly marked: business/casual, athletics, accessories, and shoes, with a clearance section near the cashier at the front of the store. There is a large, comfortable center with mirrors and benches, fitting rooms at the back, a “Just Try It” zone, and a mini track for testing athletic wear and shoes.

They developed a mock-up website homepage, with clear, visual shopping categories that featured the proposed partnering brands of Levi ��., Nike, Bombas, New Balance, Bad Birdie and Vuori.

“The concept for Simple just Works was to make the store and website extremely easy to navigate. We wanted to make sure our customers weren’t overwhelmed,” said LaGesse, who has a minor in sales and marketing. “We wanted shopping to be super efficient, so we also have a feature where you can pay for your things on an app and then when you leave the store, you just show your receipt.”

Simple just Works logo and a mockup of the website homepage.

They also proposed one-, three-, and five-year plans that included expanding locations and partnerships with more in-demand brands, and enhancements to website capabilities.

With the proposed plan, Von Maur ��. return on investment was an estimated 134% increase, with an initial investment of $1.7 million for space and store construction, inventory, website development and marketing and a projected estimated increase in men ��. sales of $3.96 million. The team based their findings on the store ��. true-to-life finances.

The team received praise from Von Maur ��. executive leadership team, including owner Jim Von Maur. “The students had set an exceptionally high standard for the competition,” said business Senior Lecturer Pam Vaver, AMA advisor. “This achievement highlights the talent, professionalism, and real-world business skills of �� Polytechnic students and their ability to think critically and creatively, collaborate effectively, and deliver innovative solutions under pressure while representing the university with distinction.”

Simple just Works store layout and color scheme concepts.

In recognition of their performance, the team has been invited to compete in next year ��. challenge.

Von Maur, founded in 1872, was recently featured in Forbes. The article “What Retailers Can Learn from Successful Department Stores” highlighted the Midwest retailer ��. “intentional, almost luxurious” feel, its personal service and its $100 million renovations, curated national brands and “linger” amenities.

Last fall, Muholeza and Gavyn Schacher earned second place in the AcuRite Digital Marketing Strategy Competition at the AMA Regional Conference.

�� Polytechnic ��. School of Management offers 20 undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates that build students’ leadership skills in business, hospitality and technology innovation, military science, and operations and management fields.

Senior Lecturer Pam Vaver, AMA advisor (second from left), with the AMA team at the Von Maur competition. / Pam Vaver

Business administration seniors place in Top 10 at national Stukent Sales Competition

Professional, simulated event prepares students for successful careers in sales

Von Maur retail competition awards American Marketing Association student team with honorable mention

Proposed store concept, Simple just Works, gives Gen Z male shoppers a space of their own

Supporting entrepreneurs: One Drop Refillery benefits from new website built by business, digital technology students

Hudson small business collaborates with capstone class to reach sustainably-minded shoppers

Proposed store concept, Simple just Works, gives Gen Z male shoppers a space of their own Simple just Works in-store shopper

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Hero Caption: Simple just Works, a retail store concept, was designed by the AMA team at �� Polytechnic for the Von Maur competition.

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Supporting entrepreneurs: One Drop Refillery benefits from new website built by business, digital technology students

goersab — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:35:55 +0000

Supporting entrepreneurs: One Drop Refillery benefits from new website built by business, digital technology studentsgoersab October 19, 2026

Hudson small business collaborates with capstone class to reach sustainably-minded shoppers

Abbey Goers

A refillery is a relatively new business concept, where customers can bring their reusable containers to refill with essential oils, cleaning supplies, personal care items, or dry goods instead of buying new packaged items. The goal is to live more sustainably and reduce single-use plastics.

As the owner of a new small business, Hudson-based One Drop Refillery, Jennifer Fravel needed to clearly communicate what a refillery is, answer common questions, educate customers about sustainable and healthier living, and make it easy for people to explore products, classes, and ways to shop while continuing to build her new brand.

But before opening her two storefronts – on Sommers Street in North Hudson and on Second Street in downtown Hudson – Fravel needed a website. With the help of a team of business information technology and digital marketing technology capstone students from �� Polytechnic, she was prepared to launch One Drop.

Jennifer Fravel collaborated with BIT and DMT capstone students on One Drop Refillery's new website. / Jennifer Fravel

“The capstone students took my vision and turned it into a website that was both functional and reflective of the One Drop brand. Most importantly for me, I wanted the website to feel welcoming and approachable — not overwhelming — for someone who may be completely new to the refill concept,” Fravel said.

Since opening its doors six months ago, One Drop Refillery customers have refilled 1,270 bottles and counting. Every refill is one less bottle bound for the landfill, and a small step toward a more intentional way of living.

Its website has had more than 2,000 visits from more than 1,200 people, said BIT capstone student Kolton Dupey, director of technology and marketing at Bernicke Wealth Management in Eau Claire.

“More than 80% of visits come from Wisconsin and Minnesota, so the site is reaching the local shoppers it was built for,” Dupey said. “Over the last 30 days, 14% of visitors were returning, higher than nearly 80% of comparable home goods sites. Now that Jenny has real customer data, she can actually see how people are shopping with her and keep refining the site.”

Capstone team members also included Brock Dudley, project manager; Kaylee Sweisford, design and user experience lead; and Molly LaVick, documentation and quality assurance. Dupey served as the team ��. technical lead.

Capturing One Drop ��. current vision and future plans

The capstone team members looked at Fravel ��. business from the perspective of someone who wasn’t familiar with a refillery. They asked questions, researched the industry and audience, and helped identify what information a potential customer would need to understand what One Drop offers.

“That outside perspective was incredibly valuable because, as the owner, I can sometimes assume people understand the concept as well as I do. The students helped me step back and look at my business through the eyes of the customer,” Fravel said.

One Drop Refillery helps people live more sustainably and reduce single-use plastics. / Jennifer Fravel

The students researched Hudson ��. demographics, household income, and the products that sustainability-minded shoppers buy, and used that to build three buyer personas: a busy parent focused on safe products for their family, a wellness shopper who cares about ingredients, and a minimalist who wants zero waste without the hassle.

When the capstone team began their research, One Drop hadn’t opened yet, so there was no sales data or customer list to work from. “We had to build everything around who we expected would shop there. A lot of new businesses skip the step of asking who would actually buy from them, but it shapes everything from the wording on the homepage to how the products are organized. The personas gave us room to be creative with the design,” Dupey said.

Within the website, they built a personality-based product finder, which helps visitors find products that fit their lifestyles based on three quick questions. The website also needed to work well on a phone, as more than 70% of visits to One Drop ��. site come from mobile devices, and it needed to function alongside the business ��. point-of-sale system.

“We chose Wix because it ��. easy to use, could handle both Jenny ��. current vision and her future plans, and would let her update the site herself without needing a developer for every change. Once Jenny approved our initial mockup, I took over client communication, design, and the build, and refined the site through rounds of her feedback and user testing,” Dupey said.

As One Drop Refillery continues to grow, Fravel sees opportunities around marketing, social media, customer research, branding, sustainability education and developing new ways to reach the community. She hopes collaborative opportunities continue, as they create a meaningful connection between students, local businesses and the community.

“I think there are so many opportunities for a business like mine to benefit from both the creativity, fresh perspective and expertise that Stout students can bring to a project like this,” she said. “As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats. Having a team of students bring their time, creativity, research and fresh perspective to something as important as a website was a tremendous gift. It was also rewarding to watch the students take a real-world business challenge and turn it into an experience where they could apply what they’ve learned.”

Capstone project leads Dupey to launch new business

Dupey had built a few websites on his own before, but One Drop was the first time he’d worked with a real business owner on something that mattered to her.

Since opening its doors six months ago, One Drop Refillery customers have refilled 1,270 bottles and counting. / Jennifer Fravel

“You’re dealing with real feedback, real deadlines and a business counting on the site to work. A website has to be creative enough to catch someone ��. eye, but it also has to make them want to do something. A good-looking site that doesn’t lead anywhere isn’t doing its job. Visitors should be able to tell within a few seconds what the business does and what their next step is, whether that ��. visiting the store, becoming a member or finding a product,” he said.

When the capstone was completed, Fravel asked Dupey to keep helping with the website, which led him to officially start his own business, Dupey Consulting. Since then, he ��. worked on projects for a flooring company and a wedding and decor rental business, and built a software as a service (SaaS) app and a customer relationship management (CRM) system for freelancers.

“I come from a family of small business owners, so I enjoy helping local businesses grow. I’m thankful Jenny gave me the opportunity, and to my teammates for helping get the project off the ground,” he said.

Dupey plans to graduate in 2027. After graduation, he plans to stay in his role at Bernicke Wealth Management and keep growing Dupey Consulting. “I chose BIT because it fit my schedule, came from an accredited university, and lined up with the work I already do every day,” he said. “One thing I’ve noticed is that almost everyone in the program is working full-time while going to school, which says a lot about the people in it and makes the class discussions more grounded in real experience.”

Working with clients in business and industry is part of the applied learning experience at �� Polytechnic, preparing students from Day One to enter the workforce. The university ��. First Destination report shows that 100% of recent BIT and DMT graduates are employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation, and have average starting salaries of $65,000 and $51,000, respectively.

Von Maur retail competition awards American Marketing Association student team with honorable mention

Proposed store concept, Simple just Works, gives Gen Z male shoppers a space of their own

Supporting entrepreneurs: One Drop Refillery benefits from new website built by business, digital technology students

Hudson small business collaborates with capstone class to reach sustainably-minded shoppers

Faculty integrate AI research in machine learning, business technology, composition courses

University ��. 360-degree approach to artificial intelligence aims to ‘equip students with hands-on experience and an applied understanding’

Hudson small business collaborates with capstone class to reach sustainably-minded shoppers One Drop Refillery BIT capstone project. Photo by Jennifer Fravel.

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Hero Caption: One Drop Refillery, owned by Jennifer Fravel, now has two locations in Hudson.

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Engineering, technology professor researches impact of AI on students’ creativity, problem-solving

goersab — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:41:28 +0000

Engineering, technology professor researches impact of AI on students’ creativity, problem-solvinggoersab October 15, 2026

Future engineers use Meshy software for AI rapid prototyping of kindergartens’ ideal toys

Abbey Goers

The Alternative Uses Task, designed by psychologist J.P. Guilford in 1967, is a psychometric test used to measure divergent thinking, a core element of human creativity. It evaluates an individual ��. ability to brainstorm unique solutions to an open-ended problem.

With this method of measuring creativity in mind, �� Polytechnic engineering and technology Assistant Professor Kevin Dietsche is researching the impact of AI on undergraduate students’ creativity and problem-solving growth during a pilot study in his Design for Industry course.

“AI and emerging technology become tools that we use to foster creativity. But the question is, will AI aid in or harm the students’ creative process?” Dietsche said. “It ��. part of the experiential learning process – to show if a new method can work. There ��. no failure, but it ��. a test to see what works best; of finding a different approach. We’re looking for continuous improvement and to showcase our university ��. polytechnic advantage through research.”

The Design for Industry students used Meshy, an online AI software, for mid- and high-level fidelity rapid prototyping. Recently, 11 kindergartners from St. Paul ��. School in Menomonie visited the future engineers in the university ��. Woods Lab. They paired up to draw and build low-fidelity prototypes of their ideal toys, using arts and craft supplies.

The students then used Meshy to turn the sketches and photos of the initial toy prototypes into printable 3D models. Soon, they will meet with the kindergarteners again to see if the models accurately capture their young clients’ visions.

“The printed prototypes are part of the larger goal in the product development cycle to move students towards a manufacturable wooden toy, as the wood is the end product material that consumers are looking for. Meshy and AI are there to help them work through and flex their problem-solving muscles and work through iterations more efficiently,” Dietsche said.

The final prototypes will be manufactured out of ash wood donated by the City of Menomonie ��. Urban Forestry Board.

Benefits or setbacks of using AI for rapid prototyping on student creativity

Dietsche ��. research is part of a three-year, cross-disciplinary project supported by the G.A. Taft Manufacturing Engineering Endowed Professorship. Meshy was purchased through the professorship.

During next spring semester ��. course, one group of students will use AI, and one will not. Technology education seniors Annika Schlueter, of Oconto, and Miranda Johnstone, of Milwaukee, will serve as Dietsche ��. co-principal investigators. They predict each group will experience pros and cons and that the use of AI will have multiple effects.

Schlueter and Johnstone see the benefits of using AI for rapid prototyping. They think it can make the ideation and design process faster and allow users to focus more on other aspects of engineering design and development. However, while Schlueter supports finding ways to positively embrace AI in the classroom, Johnstone contends that it can hinder some learning experiences critical for students.

Schlueter, a teaching assistant in the Woods Lab in Jarvis Hall Tech Wing, thinks that platforms specifically designed for prototyping such as Meshy, are going to be career-changing in the future, especially for engineers. “I believe AI will be used more for rapid prototyping in large companies to help get ideas to customers as quickly as possible. I think the implementation of programs like Meshy in future classes could be a great asset because it would allow fast prototypes to be created, with the use of digital manufacturing to bring those ideas to life right away,” she said.

Johnstone believes that using AI can negatively impact how creative problem solving takes place and in turn effect how students learn. “Understanding how AI impacts people in their critical and creative thinking is important to know how it can/should/should not be used to advance society. There is something important about cultivating a learning environment where students learn through trial and error, failure, experimentation, and discovery; a learning space that doesn’t necessarily exist when AI is used,” she said.

In past iterations of this project, Schlueter has often seen students wanting to create toys that already exist to some extent, like monster trucks or dolls. “I think the use of generative AI software can really broaden their ideas and help them create things that don’t already exist. AI could take common interests of the kindergartners and combine them into something completely different, which may create something very interesting to see and research,” she said.

Johnstone thinks that AI may yield more ideas for toy generation, but they will not be any more creatively successful than those created by people without using AI. “I predict that students who go through the creative thinking process to generate a toy idea on their own will, afterward, have a more well-rounded and creative mindset than those who used the AI to generate solutions for them, simply because they went through that generation phase on their own,” she said.

They will present their preliminary findings at the Wisconsin Technology Education Association conference next spring.

Kids’ and their college friends’ toy designs

Encouraged by Dietsche to be as creative as they wanted to be, the kindergarten and college student pairs made toys with paper straws, Play-Doh, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, markers and craft foam.

Here are some of their designs:

Jace and Tristan formed a T-rex head out of green and brown Play-Doh and mounted it on the top of a cardboard race car that will eat bugs. Because Jace likes dinosaurs but doesn’t like bugs, of course.
Murdock and Michael constructed a brown truck. The kindergartner and college friend made a good team, helping each other pick up Play-Doh bits that rolled off the table.
Karis, Silu and Brendan made a magical purple and pink glitter-spraying wand, topped with a heart.
Raegan and Trenton crafted a red unicorn on cardboard wheels. Even the kids noticed that cars and animals are popular themes.
Josie and Dio created a brown and black bunny, inspired by Josie ��. own bunny, Shyly.
Madelyn and Mackenzie rolled out strips of Play-Doh and made a rainbow desk for Barbie and a chair with a seat in the shape of a sun – a very cheerful spot to study for the world ��. most famous doll.
Everett, Nolan and Caleb crafted blue and green ancient Greek-style helmets with red visors made of Play-Doh for miniature warriors.
Zyla and Andrea built Bob the Turtle. He ��. purple and pink with googly eyes and looks like a good animal friend to talk to.

�� Polytechnic ��. Robert F. Cervenka School of Engineering is home to five ABET-accredited programs that also include computer and electrical engineering, engineering technology and plastics engineering, as well as a sixth bachelor ��. program in packaging. A master ��. in manufacturing engineering is available on campus or online.

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Future engineers use Meshy software for AI rapid prototyping of kindergartens’ ideal toys Engineering Technology, Kevin Dietsche GA Taft, fall 2026

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Graphic design, interactive media senior awarded national AIGA Worldstudio D×D Scholarship

goersab — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:11:38 +0000

Graphic design, interactive media senior awarded national AIGA Worldstudio D×D Scholarshipgoersab October 12, 2026

Mireles-Melgarejo ��. designs inspired by effects of agricultural industry on immigrant workers, Mexican beverage tradition

Abbey Goers

Communication design connects people to ideas or products through the power of storytelling, offering an entire experience in just a few short words or images. It is more than an advertisement. It is meant to cause people to pause and consider what they are seeing, with the aim of informing, inspiring, or stirring an emotional or behavioral response.

�� Polytechnic graphic design and interactive media senior Sam Mireles-Melgarejo was recently awarded a national AIGA Worldstudio D×D Scholarship for her communication designs: a three-part poster series advocating for immigration reform on behalf of farmworkers and bilingual packaging inspired by Pajarete, a Mexican beverage tradition.

“I was honored to receive this scholarship, which will allow me the time to be more involved in important conversations surrounding social justice, representation, and design, while worrying less about the cost of college experiences,” said Mireles-Melgarejo, who has minors in graphic media and print management and Spanish.

GDIM senior Sam Mireles-Melgarejo was awarded a national AIGA Worldstudio D×D Scholarship.

Nine award winners and five honorable mentions were selected from 204 applications. Among the winners were students from large art institutions, including Savannah College of Art and Design, Columbia University and Otis College of Art and Design.

“While our program is well known in the region, Sam ��. scholarship award proves that �� Polytechnic students produce work on par with the best in the country. Our graphic design and interactive media students embody the polytechnic experience by applying their skills across multiple media and collaborating with adjacent disciplines. Sam ��. projects and portfolio are great examples of the high-quality work coming from the Midwest,” said GDIM Program Director Katie Lupton.

AIGA, the professional association of design, together with DxD (Diversify by Design), are in the 31st year of the scholarship program, which encourages social and environmental responsibility and cultural awareness in the next generation of artists and designers.

Poster series strives to start productive conversations

Growing up in Abbotsford, in rural Wisconsin, Mireles-Melgarejo saw firsthand the effects of the agricultural industry on immigrant workers, who make up a large percentage of the industry but without the same rights as American-born farmers.

Mireles-Melgarejo ��. poster series depicts the harms and dangers that immigrant farmworkers face, despite being an essential part of the workforce, and is meant to advocate for social dialogue and productive conversations.

The series' red poster states, “They take the heat so you can eat.”

“Although this is a very complex issue, starting with acknowledging what these workers do for the food supply merits more than working in exploitative conditions without proper protections, both on a greater social scale and in the farm environment,” Mireles-Melgarejo said. “When viewing these posters, I’d like people to take a step back and take in the bigger picture. We are all people working together to keep our systems running, but I’d like to invite people to draw back the curtain behind why it is important to take care of those who put food on the table, regardless of status.”

Her main source of inspiration was the relationship between immigrant farmworkers and the environments they work in. Reminiscent of spaghetti western movie posters and film credits, the series has bold colors and graphics and features photos of immigrant workers in fields and orchards and phrases that cause the reader to pause:

A red poster states, “They take the heat so you can eat.”
A green poster states, “They kill the pests but get no rest.”
A blue poster states, “They work the farm but face more harm.”

Each poster also offers facts and statistics to accompany the statements, as well as a call to visit Farm Aid for more information.

“I tried to find organizations that have put the effort and resources into gathering the information necessary to advocate for this mission. Farm Aid, the organization that is featured in this series, is a nonprofit music festival that works to expand knowledge about agriculture, food justice, and taking actions to change the system for a more equitable and vibrant American farming industry,” Mireles-Melgarejo said.

“Among those viewing this series would be people who are drawn to advocate for food justice or those who may be unfamiliar with the difficulties of farming in general. This series tugs to a very specific situation, with the people working in these conditions still being moms, dads, sisters, brothers and neighbors,” she added.

Campana Pajarete shares traditions, offers representation

Mireles-Melgarejo created the brand Campana, Spanish for bell, to package Pajarete, a traditional Mexican crème liquor. Pajarete is made with raw milk, high alcohol by volume (ABV) sugar cane distillate, chocolate, sugar and instant coffee. Campana offers a safer and more accessible alternative to the experience, made with processed milk and a lower ABV content.

Sam Mireles-Melgarejo ��. bilingual packaging for Campana, inspired by Pajarete, a Mexican beverage tradition.

“What was once an alcoholic beverage that represented herdsmen ��. early day of work has now transitioned into a drink that represents gathering and community,” she said. “Campana encapsulates the social gathering that the origins of this drink have evolved into, with the target audiences being those who have tried the beverage in its traditional form, and are looking for a safer, more accessible alternative, or those who are looking to know more about the story of its Mexican traditions.”

Mireles-Melgarejo created the logo for Campana by carving a relief stamp of a cow and small birds, representing herdsmen ��. early mornings. The terracotta milk bottle features a bilingual label explaining the traditions behind Pajarete, including an outline of the state of Jalisco, where it originated. It ��. packaged inside a burlap bag tied with twine and a bell, also representing the start of the day.

“The bilingual packaging is meant to reach a broader audience and help them connect to the product beyond their personal desires. It helps people to see a representation of themselves, acknowledges their existence in the world and offers the preservation of their rich history,” Mireles-Melgarejo said.

Sam Mireles-Melgarejo ��. logo and wordmark ideation for Campana.

She researched firsthand accounts of the creation and meaningfulness of Pajarete through social media posts and stories. She also conducted a competitive analysis of similar products in the market, including Clase Azul, an ultra-premium tequila bottled in hand-painted ceramic decanters and capped with an iconic bell; and Five Farms, a farm-to-table cream liqueur made in County Cork, Ireland.

“I wanted to find out how to create a packaging experience that did Campana Pajarete justice without saturating the market with something expected. The design for Campana ��. packaging uses textures, like terracotta, familiar to Mexican artisanry, and a design that attracts with organic illustrations,” said Mireles-Melgarejo, who plans to graduate in fall 2027 or spring 2028 and is considering careers in prepress, color management, web design or packaging.

“Special thanks to the graphic design department and Nagesh Shinde for challenging my creative limits, the Multicultural Student Services office, Avigdor Edminster, Cortney Benjamin, and M. James Heu for their support in my endeavors and in the scholarship application process,” she added.

�� Polytechnic ��. School of Art & Design, one of the largest public art schools in the Midwest, offers bachelor ��. degrees in animation and digital media; game design and development-art; graphic design and interactive media; illustration; industrial and product design; interior design; studio art; arts administration and entrepreneurship; fashion design and development; and video production, as well as an M.F.A. in design.

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Hero Caption: Graphic design and interactive media senior Sam Mireles-Melgarejo's award-winning three-part poster series advocating for immigration reform on behalf of farmworkers.

Katie Lupton

Katie Lupton is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Interactive Media. She teaches graphic design, focusing on print, typography, experiential design, and design thinking courses. Lupton is the faculty advisor for the �� AIGA Student Group. She started her teaching career as a lecturer at �� and adjunct instructor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. After five years, she moved to the Myrtle Beach area and taught at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina.

Her studio practice combines print, pattern, packaging, and product design. The work aims to investigate relationships between design constraints and parameters within systems. The tactile nature of the work is heavily influenced by play and participation and how both can be incorporated into design solutions.

Lupton's work has been exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Can Can Wonderland (the first arts-based public benefit corporation in Minnesota), U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Coastal Carolina University.

Full Name: Katie Lupton

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College: College of Arts & Human Sciences

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Degree: B.F.A. Art (Graphic Design)

University: University of Wisconsin-Stout

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�� Polytechnic AI-driven tools enhance access to historical information

goersab — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:08:00 +0000

�� Polytechnic AI-driven tools enhance access to historical informationgoersab September 30, 2026

Applied mathematics student, archivist build resources for researchers, genealogists, community members

Abbey Goers

At �� Polytechnic ��. University Archives and Area Research Center, thousands of handwritten records, such as genealogical surname cards, court files and naturalization documents, hold decades of regional history that are effectively locked away in cursive scripts that make the records difficult to search.

This summer, applied mathematics and computer science senior Jake See began the first phase of a project – the Automated Handwriting-Transcription Tool – to bring these materials, and the information they hold, to researchers.

“The archives is exploring how artificial intelligence and other computational tools can support the work of preserving and providing access to historical records. The handwriting recognition project is one part of a broader effort to explore how new technical tools can assist archival work. A successful handwriting recognition system could make historical records faster to process and easier to search and review,” See said.

AMCS senior Jake See, Head Archivist Victoria Stewart and Emerging Technologies Archivist David Statz

During his internship, See applied classroom concepts and independent research toward the real-world problem of the barriers of manual transcription within archival research, and contributed to the university archives’ research and innovation goals.

His internship was a subcomponent of Emerging Technologies Archivist David Statz ��. project, the Local AI Classification and Metadata Engine, which looks at the archives’ unorganized digital folders and produces natural language descriptions of each file, identifying what an image or document contains and suggesting a likely category for sorting and searching.

“The projects aim to spare archivists and researchers the slow, manual process and time of transcribing records one card at a time. By creating these tools, additionally, these materials become searchable for students, genealogists and community members who can’t visit in person,” said Statz, who contributed technical expertise to See in his project.

Automated Handwriting-Transcription Tool

Over his 200-hour internship, See established the technical groundwork for an automated handwriting-transcription tool built entirely on free, open-source software.

“One challenge facing the archives is the large amount of handwritten material in its collections. While many of these records have been digitized as images, the information within those images cannot easily be searched without first being converted into machine-readable text,” he said.

Jake See gathers additional cards in the University Archives.

Using handwritten genealogical records from the archives as an initial collection, the project has involved two main stages.

The first stage was developing a computer vision pipeline to turn raw archival scans into usable data for handwriting recognition. Using image-processing and computer vision techniques, See developed a system that identifies and extracts individual record cards from scanned pages, locates the relevant fields within each card, distinguishes handwritten content from the preprinted form, removes unwanted printed elements, and segments the remaining handwriting into individual lines.

See developed tools for reviewing the pipeline ��. output and manually adjusting crops when necessary, as well as a provenance system to keep the processed data traceable back through its source records. He also developed tools for transcribing and auditing the resulting images, producing a curated dataset of more than 1,500 handwritten lines.

See ��. project focused on index cards from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s that recorded birth, death and marriage announcements from the Dunn County News during those decades. The initial sample of approximately 2,400 cards – a mere fraction of the total amount contained in the archives – was selected by Statz as a standardized, consistent handwritten record for the project. Head Archivist Victoria Stewart framed the project by sorting the cards to isolate and only collect the birth, death and marriage cards since those most closely align with the county records for the initial sample. After sorting, Stewart and archives employee Renee Smith scanned the cards for See ��. use.

“These cards (in their current form) live in boxes and bags in the closed stacks. Researchers would have to manually search the cards to find this information or manually search the newspaper. In working with students, I can advise on archival practices and the limitations or restrictions of access for the analog materials. The students then create and build new technologies to bring my vision of access to life,” Stewart said.

Jake See and David Statz at the CZUR digital scanner.

The second stage uses the prepared images to develop the handwriting recognition system itself. The project combines OpenCV, an open-source computer vision library used extensively in the image-processing pipeline, with PyLaia, an open-source handwritten text recognition framework used to train a model to convert the segmented handwriting into text. There is also a record-keeping system that traces every processed image back to its original document, as well as tools for transcribing and auditing the results.

The complete data and model-training pipeline has been validated, and the project is moving into training and evaluating its first baseline recognition model.

“Human review was built into the process from the beginning, combining the efficiency of automated processing with human verification and oversight. Because accuracy and the integrity of historical records are essential, human oversight remains an important part of the process. These tools are intended to supplement human expertise by automating repetitive work while keeping people involved in reviewing and verifying the results,” See said.

The scanning of cards also continues as more samples can be uploaded to the database. With a new CZUR scanner – an overhead, camera-based digital scanner – archives can scan and download an item in 1.5 seconds, saving countless hours of work.

Examples of the cards Jake See scanned to train the transcription tool.

See plans to share the tools as free, open-source software once complete. Because the work is built on openly available, non-commercial technology rather than subscription services, other libraries and archives, particularly smaller institutions with limited staff and budgets, could adapt it for their own handwritten collections.

“Jake ��. work establishes the foundational tool on which the archives will build as the tool becomes more complex to review more elaborate, cursive scripts found in other historical documents. The open-source foundation promotes transparency, sustainability and collaboration across teaching, research and administration,” Statz added.

Collaborations creating student opportunities

See ��. internship was built upon an ongoing collaboration between the archives and the university ��. mathematics, statistics and computer science department, initiated by Stewart to create opportunities for students to gain hands-on technical experience while developing tools that address real needs within the archives.

Mathematics and computer science Professor Seth Dutter had advised archives staff on the overall project in the earliest stages of development and recommended See for the internship based on his coursework performance and completion, technical skill and excitement for the project. Understanding the value and importance of the internship, Library Director Roxanne Backowski provided support to hire and fully fund the internship.

“The partnership gives students an opportunity to gain substantial experience in areas such as software engineering, computer vision and machine learning while working through the challenges of developing a real system from end to end. That experience can help prepare students for technical careers or further study while allowing them to apply what they learn in the classroom to projects that directly support the archives’ work,” See said.

Statz thinks student internships play a central role in providing them with hands-on experience with real AI systems while advancing campus priorities in artificial intelligence.

“Applied learning is one of �� Polytechnic ��. defining strengths. Jake ��. internship provides an excellent example of how students gain hands-on experience with emerging technologies while addressing real-world challenges,” he said.

Local AI Classification and Metadata Engine

Wandering up and down the archive aisles, Statz gazed at the hundreds of aging ledgers, boxes of documents and photos, and countless other objects and thought about the archives’ digital files.

He was struck by an inspiring question: Could a digital folder of completely unlabeled images and documents with no metadata or tags – descriptive data of digital objects used to search for or categorize the objects – be turned into something structured and searchable, all without relying on commercial artificial intelligence platforms or uploading files to the cloud?

The answer is yes. Statz ��. goal for the Local AI Classification and Metadata Engine is to offer a sustainable, modular open-source AI engine that adapts to any context where unstructured images or documents need interpretation and generates clear, meaningful descriptions.

The Old Wilson House Mansion in downtown Menomonie, as it originally appeared before being remodeled.

“Everything happens locally, with no data leaving the machine. It ��. fast, private and flexible. We created this because manual tagging takes time and rarely stays consistent. Archives, libraries and departments often have backlogs of unclassified material that can’t easily be searched or reused. This tool gives those projects a head start – a structured lens on what ��. there – so teams can focus on review and refinement rather than starting from scratch,” Statz said.

For example, when fed a photo of the Old Wilson House Mansion in downtown Menomonie, the tool was able to label the image as depicting “a large Victorian-style house with a pointed roof, a chimney and a porch. The presence of a tree in front of the house suggests that the house is located in a yard. The architectural style and the time period are estimated to be from the 19th century. The house appears to be a significant landmark, possibly a historical site or a well-preserved example of Victorian-era architecture.”

The newly created label will help researchers more quickly find this historical photo using keyword and metadata searches, such as “Victorian-style house,” in the archives’ digital collection.

A home constructed within Ray Hall is being transported to its permanent foundation.

Statz ��. first success was with a prototype completed in May 2025. It runs on three local language models and performs image, text and optical character recognition analysis through automation instructions written in Python, a computer programming language often used to build websites and software. The resulting descriptions are then processed through a local database that groups related terms and concepts, allowing the system to narrow and rank potential category matches before final selection. That version remains the foundation for all future scaling.

In June 2025, a simplified institutional version was built to demonstrate feasibility using Ollama, an open-source tool that runs AI models locally.

“Together, the two trials showed that independent local AI classification is both practical and effective. The next step is to scale the system for broader use,” Statz said. “Once the base system is fully operational, it can be expanded with automated ingestion workflows and other enhancements to improve speed, efficiency and ease of use from the end user ��. perspective.”

Statz has collaborated with the BOSE research cluster at UW-Eau Claire, which provides the power to experiment with larger models and multimodal workflows.

From engineering to communication and counseling, manufacturing, marketing and design, construction, supply chain and more, �� Polytechnic is preparing graduates to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving workforce by embedding AI training in all of its degree programs. The university ��. AI Innovations Committee, centers, and services collaborate with community, business and industry partners to help Wisconsin leverage AI-driven solutions that put it ahead of the curve.

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�� Polytechnic chemistry professors’ patent detects amino acid linked to M.S., rheumatoid arthritis, cancer

giffeyt — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000

�� Polytechnic chemistry professors’ patent detects amino acid linked to M.S., rheumatoid arthritis, cancergiffeyt September 28, 2026

Faculty, student research paves way for patented biochemical discovery

Tom Giffey

More than a decade of work by two �� Polytechnic faculty members and their student researchers has led to a newly patented process that allows for the easy detection of an amino acid linked to multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and potentially cancer.

Biochemistry Professor Jennifer Grant and chemistry Professor Dmitry Kadnikov recently received official word from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that their patent for an improved chemical probe for detecting citrulline has been formally granted. This amino acid is an indicator of autoimmune diseases, such as M.S., as well as a number of neurological disorders, cancer and immunity in general.

Despite its importance – citrulline also plays a role in DNA transcription – it is difficult to detect: The modification that creates citrulline only adds the weight of one hydrogen atom to a protein, and available chemical probes were cumbersome and costly. Researchers were discouraged by these factors, and citrulline detection remained a rarely explored subject.

Grant has been intrigued by citrulline since she worked as a postdoctoral fellow 20 years ago. She saw how a chemical process to detect citrulline more easily could work in theory but learned that the sole researcher who had been investigating the process had moved on to other topics.

“I started thinking about this, and I realized I’ve got a pretty good organic chemist as a colleague,” she recalled – and thus began a more than decade-long partnership with Kadnikov to develop the new detection process.

�� Polytechnic Professors Jennifer Grant, left, and Dmitry Kadnikov successfully applied for and received a patent.

The now-patented process occurs in two steps: First, a small, sensitive chemical probe latches onto the citrulline. Then, a chemical tag is added, attaching to the probe and making it easier to detect. Crucially, the kind of tag can be modified to meet a researcher ��. needs. It may be an antigen, a nanoparticle or even a fluorescent tag useful for imaging. Grant compares the process to a factory using interchangeable parts.

“Once we have the citrulline roped in, so to speak, we add any reagent we want to,” she explained. “That is the real novelty of the project.”

The professors’ research has been boosted by grants from WiSys, the Universities of Wisconsin technology transfer agency, and the work of numerous �� Polytechnic students who have assisted with research in their labs. For example, two biochemistry alumni – Dylan Meyer, now a senior research scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Justin Olson, a senior data scientist at Alpha Theory – co-authored a scientific paper with Grant. The paper, published in the journal Computational Biology and Chemistry in 2017, identified several motifs – specific sites on a protein residue that are converted to citrulline.

Such undergraduate research experiences aren’t exceptions at �� Polytechnic, where applied learning and research are core to the university ��. polytechnic identity. On campus, labs and studios outnumber traditional classrooms by a 3-to-1 ratio, and 100% of Blue Devils graduate with applied learning experiences.

In addition to their expertise in the lab, Kadnikov and Grant had to cultivate patience during the patent process. Their application was submitted in 2020, published in 2022 and cleared the final technical and legal hurdles just this year. Now that it has been approved, the professors hope the invention will be used by scientists around the world researching autoimmune diseases and other ailments.

Grant also looks forward to continuing work on citrulline at �� Polytechnic.

“As a biochemist, where my first thought is to try and understand the natural system, I wasn’t ever setting out to get a patent – so this is a real milestone,” she said.

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Faculty, student research paves way for patented biochemical discovery Professors Jennifer Grant and Dmitry Kadnikov in �� Polytechnic lab

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Hero Caption: Professor Jennifer Grant works with students in the proteomics lab at �� Polytechnic.

Jennifer Grant

Teaching Interests: Proteomics (Bio425); Biochemistry (Chem311); General Chemistry (Chem135); Human Biology Lecture & Laboratory (Bio132); Biochemistry Lecture & Laboratory (Chem311); Introduction to Biotechnology (Bio210, Online); Advanced Biotechnology (Bio470); Introductory Biology (Bio101); General Chemistry (Chem 135); Biology of Aging (Bio125)

Research Interests: The impact of proteins in disease and the creation of functional foods using biochemistry.

Professional Interests: Mass spectrometry, protein chemistry, protein separations.

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University: Case Western Reserve University Medical School

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University: Oberlin College

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Fall 2026 lineup features panel on ‘25 Years After 9/11,’ acclaimed painter Stonehouse, ‘Metamorphoses’ production

goersab — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 15:35:00 +0000

Fall 2026 lineup features panel on ‘25 Years After 9/11,’ acclaimed painter Stonehouse, ‘Metamorphoses’ productiongoersab September 17, 2026

Community invited to exhibitions, discussion panels, keynote speakers, film screenings and performances

Abbey Goers

From canvases featuring a cast of hybrid creatures, weeping figures and antlered beings to a theatrical performance cast representing tragic Greek and Roman mythological characters. An exhibition offering a behind-the-scenes look at the regional underground music scene, as well as civic, free speech and literary conversations and a special discussion panel focusing on “25 Years After 9/11,” there are events for everyone at �� Polytechnic this fall.

And in addition, upcoming annual signature events that highlight the innovation, leadership and impact central to �� Polytechnic are:

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1 p.m.: Cabot Executive-in-Residence keynote address by Eric Erpenbach, senior software engineering manager for IBM Fusion.
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6 p.m.: Stout Game Expo, western Wisconsin ��. largest game developer exhibition.
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6 p.m.: School of Art & Design Showcase, featuring the works of hundreds of SOAD students and highlighting graduating seniors.

Civic and community conversation events

�� Polytechnic ��. Center for Applied Ethics and the Menard Center for the Study of Institutions and Innovations host several community events each semester.

The Constructive Dialogue Series will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays Sept. 17 and Sept. 24, in Harvey Hall room 143. In a time of polarization, many people feel stuck between speaking up and keeping the peace. This three-part series offers a different path — one that honors free expression while strengthening our ability to listen, understand and engage across differences. Registration is required. The series is hosted by Continuing Education & Conferences.

9/11 panel speakers Lopa Basu, Tim Shiell, Chris Engen and Damir Kovacevic

A faculty and staff panel on “25 Years After 9/11” will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts. �� Polytechnic professors Lopa Basu and Tim Shiell, Col. Chris Engen, and UW-Eau Claire Professor Damir Kovacevic will discuss the many facets of this historical and terrible event in American history. The discussion will focus on 9/11 and its literary representation, the shifting landscape of civil liberties, the War on Terror, the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran, new realities in the face of terrorism, U.S. standing in the world, and other topics.

In partnership with the Jack Miller Center, the Menard Center will host a one-day symposium for Wisconsin middle and high school social studies teachers on Saturday, Sept. 26. The Free Speech, Citizenship, and Civil Dialogue symposium will focus on the First Amendment, free expression rights, and the practice of civil dialogue, particularly in the classroom. Participants will receive a $200 stipend upon completion of the symposium. Registration is open to teachers.

During Free Speech Week, a public screening of “Mighty Ira: A Civil Liberties Story,” a documentary film that profiles Ira Glasser, the former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, will be shown at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the MSC ballrooms. After the screening, documentary co-producer Nico Perrino, executive vice president of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), will offer comments and respond to audience questions.

A Banned Books Week event, “The Right to Read in Prison,” will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the MSC ballrooms. Attorney Harvey Silverglate will serve as keynote speaker. After Silverglate ��. presentation, a panel of faculty, including B.S. criminal justice and rehabilitation Associate Professor Richard Gee, who has taught at the Stanley Correctional Institution, will share their experiences.

Free Speech Week and Banned Books Week guest speakers Harvey Silverglate and Nico Perrino

Philosophers’ Cafés are informal, friendly conversations on contemporary issues and are open to all. Led by Universities of Wisconsin faculty, events are at 7 p.m., at Brewery Nønic in Menomonie:

Wednesday, Oct. 14: Distinguishing Military from Law Enforcement: Considerations and Implications
Wednesday, Nov. 11: Can We Promote Health Without Reinforcing Weight Stigma?

Approximately 60 students will participate in four free expression and civil discourse Discussion Dinners over the course of the year. Each dinner will center around a controversial ethical or political issue, with tables facilitated by faculty members Mitch Ogden, Cynthia Bland, Daniel Sinkovits, Lopa Basu, Tina Lee, Dana Linnell and Mary Paz Alvarez Valverde. The series is sponsored by the Menard Center for the Study of Institutions & Innovation, Center for Applied Ethics, Office of Student Opportunity & Excellence, Freedom of Expression Steering Committee, and the Provost's Office.

Art & Design Exhibitions

Furlong Gallery opens the 2026 fall exhibition schedule with two solo exhibitions.

'Belief in the Cure' by Fred Stonehouse, acrylic on panel

“Emblem and Epigraph/Curses and Catchphrases: Fred Stonehouse, Paintings 2015-2025” is on exhibition through Saturday, Oct. 24. A reception and artist talk, "Belief in the Cure," will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, with the reception at Furlong and the talk beginning at 6 p.m. at Harvey Hall Theatre.

Acclaimed Wisconsin painter Fred Stonehouse shows regularly in New York at Howard Scott Gallery and in Los Angeles with Koplin/DelRio. He has exhibited in Mexico, Amsterdam, Rome, and Berlin, and is currently an associate professor of painting and drawing at UW-Madison.

The paintings in this exhibition demonstrate recurring themes in Stonehouse ��. practice: devils and saints, mythic hybrids, buffoons and imaginary beings paired with cryptic words and phrases, Stonehouse said. His work “exists somewhere between a joke and a prayer. The humor in my work is obvious I think and serves as a foil to some of the darker psychological themes,” he added.

“Low-Fidelity Design: Making Techniques from the Minnesota Underground Music Archives” will be on exhibition from Monday, Nov. 9, to Saturday, Dec. 12. A reception date is to be determined.

“Low-Fidelity Design” delves into the regional underground music scene to uncover how artists craft visual identities. Showcasing affordable methods like Risograph, screen printing, and DIY art from the Minnesota Underground Music archive, the exhibition explores the connection between sound and visual expression. Bringing this body of work to �� Polytechnic bridges community archive research with a polytechnic design context, highlighting accessible, resource-driven visual making and low-fidelity production methods for student designers.

Gallery 209 rotates exhibitions on a weekly basis. Located in the Applied Arts building on the second floor. This semester, Gallery 209 will feature five class exhibits, five thesis exhibits, a fashion group show and a solo show by studio art major Cora Kauffman.

A “Skizzenbuch Exhibition,” a German word that translates to sketchbook, will offer a glimpse of work in progress by School of Art & Design students. The exhibition will take place over homecoming weekend, Oct. 16-18, and will be curated and organized by students.

School of Art & Design students take over Q.arma with juried ‘Fieldwork’ exhibition

Fine arts students display nearly 60 contemporary works in three-story exhibition in Minneapolis

The Library Art Lab, on the first floor of the Robert S. Swanson Library & Learning Center, showcases student artists, faculty and campus collaborations. Exhibitions include applied research, capstones, clubs and classwork. There are two exhibitions each semester. The Art Lab currently features selected works from “Fieldwork,” a n exhibition with artwork by more than 40 students and which took place in June at Q.arma Gallery in Minneapolis. In November, the Art Lab will display artwork from a Special Topics studio art course focusing on repetition. And an art education senior group exhibition will take place December through January.

University Theatre

University Theatre will present “Metamorphoses,” led by Director Audric Buhr, at Harvey Hall Theatre. Performance dates and times are Nov. 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets will be available at uwstout.universitytickets.com.

Adapted from Ovid ��. classic poem, the play “Metamorphoses” by Mary Zimmerman is staged in a series of vignettes. It captures the stories of Greek and Roman mythological characters King Midas, Orpheus and Eurydice, Phaeton, Alcyone and Ceyx, Eros and Psyche, and others.

Musical performances

Stout Choirs will present “Festival of Light,” directed by Jerry Hui: Saturday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., at Our Savior ��. Lutheran Church, 910 9th St. E., Menomonie. The concert will mark the festive occasions that celebrate light, including Diwali from India, Hanukkah from Israel, Lucia Day from Sweden, and Christmas.

Blue Devil Jazz Orchestra will present “Going Crackers,” directed by James Anderson: Sunday, Dec. 6, 2 p.m., in the MSC Great Hall. Celebrate the season with music featuring the “Nutcracker Suite” and holiday favorites by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and more.

Symphonic Band, directed by Erika Svanoe, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 p.m., in the Memorial Student Center Great Hall. The concert will feature music surrounding the concept of time.

Tickets will be available at uwstout.universitytickets.com.

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Community invited to exhibitions, discussion panels, keynote speakers, film screenings and performances 'Night King II' by Fred Stonehouse, acrylic on canvas

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Hero Caption: 'Night King II' by Fred Stonehouse, acrylic on canvas, is on display at Furlong Gallery as part of the 'Emblem and Epigraph/Curses and Catchphrases' through Oct. 8.

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School of Art & Design students take over Q.arma with juried ‘Fieldwork’ exhibition

goersab — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:50:00 +0000

School of Art & Design students take over Q.arma with juried ‘Fieldwork’ exhibition goersab September 16, 2026

Fine arts students display nearly 60 contemporary works in three-story exhibition in Minneapolis

Abbey Goers

Cradled in straps of pale linen, supported by a copper-piping frame, rests a foot-long double-headed spoon, forged and fastened to the lower portion of a white-tailed deer leg and hoof. Around the corner, adhered to the gallery wall, are rune-like letterings created with tape – shapes that seem so familiar, yet so alien. And the posterior view of a skeleton painted with bleach is stretched across richly textured mauve fabric near the slumped figure of a soft, headless man-like 3D creature.

For two weeks this summer, 46 emerging artists in �� Polytechnic ��. School of Art & Design took over three floors of the Q.arma Building in Minneapolis for “Fieldwork,” a curated exhibition featuring 57 works of art spanning painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, comics, photography, ceramics and metals.

Travis Bennett's 'Untitled (Dining Object No. 1)'

“The top-to-bottom ‘Fieldwork’ exhibit at Q.arma was a unique opportunity for our students to come together,” said Senior Lecturer Darren Tesar, program director of B.F.A. studio art and B.S. arts administration and entrepreneurship. “It showed that our studio art program and the School of Art & Design is a leading institution of contemporary art. We are not bound by dogma or tradition. It ��. important for people to see our students’ full range and complexity.”

Selected works from “Fieldwork” will be on display through October at the university ��. Library Art Lab, on the first floor of the Robert S. Swanson Library & Learning Center.

Engaging in every aspect of an exhibition

Alongside faculty, recent B.F.A. studio art graduates Ashley Hannasch and Xander McFaul helped install “Fieldwork.” They thought the Q.arma experience was a unique opportunity to engage in every aspect of an exhibition in a setting outside of the university – from transportation to curating to installation and final gallery preparations.

McFaul, of St. Paul, whose pieces in the show were “Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink Moon” and “This Is Our Last Song,” said, “This is significant on my resume and opens the door to more Twin Cities opportunities in my future. I encourage students to apply to as many of these opportunities as possible, as well as start curating their own shows in their own spaces and communities.”

A detail of Xander McFaul's 'Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink Moon'

Hannasch, of Lakeville, Minnesota, agreed. “Working alongside faculty and students strengthened my confidence in exhibition planning and gave me a deeper understanding of the collaborative nature of working in a gallery,” she said. “I encourage current students to seek opportunities both within and beyond the university, trust their instincts, and build relationships with fellow artists.”

Hannasch, whose exhibit piece was “Spineless,” noted, “I believe artists grow strongest when we communicate, collaborate and support one another as a community.”

Ashley Hannasch's 'Spineless,' bleach on fabric

Two current students, Travis Bennett and Cora Kauffman, think “Fieldwork” was a great opportunity to showcase their work to a bigger audience outside of campus.

“It helped me understand how my work exists within a larger gallery space and gave me more experience for future exhibitions,” said Bennett, a fashion design and development and studio art major, concentrating in metals and contemporary art jewelry.

Bennett, of Hager City, creates artwork with a Midwestern-Gothic flair, inspired by his material-based investigation of the relationship between the body, animals and objects of utility. His piece in “Fieldwork” was titled “Untitled (Dining Object No. 1).”

“Growing up in the rural Midwest has influenced my work a lot. I thought about the way we harvest our food, and I wanted to transform a deer's foot, something that is a byproduct of hunting, into a utensil and case that feels both functional and uncomfortable,” he said.

Cora Kauffman's 'Before you even know it,' packing tape

Kauffman is inspired by forms of language. “After my semester abroad in Japan, I knew I had to continue this line of work. I thought about the forms present in the written Japanese language and how to create something that invokes these forms while remaining as ephemeral as spoken language is,” she said. Her “Fieldwork” piece, “Before you even know it,” consisted of several site-specific installations of rune-like letters.

Kauffman, a studio art major from Chippewa Falls, was awarded a solo thesis show at the university ��. Gallery 209 this fall. “This experience was a great opportunity for me to learn how an exhibition is organized and installed. I was also able to learn how to manage my time as I installed my piece in the gallery,” she said.

Ella Borchert's 'Soft Male Figure,' soft sculpture

Collaborations to create trajectory

“Fieldwork” emphasized the university ��. commitment to preparing students for professional careers in the arts, highlighting the making, collaboration, curation, installation and professional practices that shape contemporary artists.

The exhibit included a juried collection by intermediate and advanced studio art courses, an independently organized exhibit by the student-run Fine Arts Association, and a series of pop-up presentations and sales by the Print Club, Comix Club, Metals Guild and more.

Sabrina Hagberg's 'Shards of My Reflection,' oil on wood

Tesar and Professor Alex DeArmond knew Q.arma had a history of exhibiting emerging artists’ works. “Owner Jono Query has a passion for providing art spaces to students, knowing how difficult opportunities can be after graduation. We wanted to create a connection. Studio art seemed to be the best vehicle for an exhibit,” Tesar said. “If we’re going to show our strength as part of the university, we need to show our work professionally in spaces like Q.arma. We need to provide access and opportunities outside of our campus for our students and create a trajectory for them for after graduation.”

Ashley Hannasch's 'Spineless,' bleach on fabric; and Bryan Irish's 'Clothesline,' condoms, found objects, clothesline, clothespins

After the exhibition, which was held June 6-21, Tesar and other faculty realized how much students want more external professional, collaborative and entrepreneurial experiences.

“There ��. only so much that an in-class curriculum can do. The experience allowed us to fill a gap that we can’t provide in the classroom – for the students to see how art plays out across a wide range of organizational models. The collaboration between Stout and Q.arma provided access for students to see and act with economy and culture in the private sector,” Tesar said.

“Every single student could put on an exhibition. Younger students need to learn that they can’t just follow; they have to create these opportunities for themselves as well. And we need to help them recognize it takes a collection of people to make these possibilities happen,” they said. “Creating the experiences gives students that confidence – it gives them the know-how. They become aware of the nuance and simplicity of making things happen professionally.”

Meghan LeMay's 'Bouquet Twisters,' leather, PVA size liquid sealant, oil paint, wood

�� Polytechnic ��. School of Art and Design, one of the largest public art schools in the Midwest, offers bachelor ��. degrees in animation and digital media; game design and development-art; graphic design and interactive media; illustration; industrial and product design; interior design; studio art; arts administration and entrepreneurship; fashion design and development; and video production, and an M.F.A. in design.

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Fine arts students display nearly 60 contemporary works in three-story exhibition in Minneapolis Q.arma, Xander McFaul, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink Moon

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B.F.A. Studio Art

Train to become a successful studio artist. Apply your knowledge, techniques, and methods while pursuing a concentration in a studio art discipline.

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Hero Caption: Recent studio art graduate Xander McFaul displayed 'Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink Moon' at the 'Fieldwork' exhibition at Q.arma.

Darren Tesar

Darren Tesar ��. activity—visual, curatorial and textual—can be understood as simply as a prolonged proximity maintained between entities, materials and/or processes. Prolonged proximities that produce a kind of pidgin—a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. The result is a production and maintenance of signs that are doubly non-native, meaning the author and object/subject are both made into partial objects.

This notion of partial plays off all three of its possible meanings, namely having a particular liking or fondness for something or someone, that, by nature of its sentimentality (a form of bias or prejudice), relates to being or affectation only in part, not total; incomplete.

Notable activities include: phantoms (1996), MnArtists, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2024; CLING RING, MirrorLab, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2022; _storation of limbs, MnArtists, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2021; NCAF Development Grant, Taipei, Taiwan, 2020; Yoke Anima, Seohak Gallery, Jeonju, South Korea, 2019; Curator: unsupportive, N/A Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, 2019: VAF Fund, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2018; Guest Curator (with Wen Li Chen): he’ (FOGSTAND Gallery) Taiwan Academy, New York, NY, USA 2018; Rough Sleeper, Sadie Halie Projects, Minneapolis, MN, USA 2018; bar-mouthing, Sadie Halie Projects, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2106; bar-mouthing, (Exhibition text, They Rephrased the Question for Another Answer: Chun Kaifeng), Fost Gallery, Singapore, 2016; fromming (Exhibition text for Death is the mother of beauty: Charles Matson Lume), New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, New York Mills, MN, 2015; Refining Commitment, Serpentine Magazine, USA & DE, 2015; Guest Curator: Absolving the Object: Kaifeng Chun, Richard Frater, Song-yun Kim, Latent Spaces, Singapore, 2015; Time after Time, Market Gallery, Glasgow, UK, 2014; Nameless Forms, Latent Spaces, Singapore, 2014; Refining Commitment, XMS Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, 2013; Reverential, published for the exhibition, Della Liquidezza Della Terra, Milan, Italy, 2013; Resident Artist at Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon, Seoul, South Korea 2013

Full Name: Darren Tesar

Job Title: Senior Lecturer / Program Director

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Area of Expertise: Contemporary Sculptural Practices & Environmental Aesthetics

College: College of Arts & Human Sciences

Department: School of Art & Design Visual & Performing Arts Department

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All Degree Programs

B.S. Arts Administration & Entrepreneurship

Curriculum Vitae: Darren Tesar CV (217.26 KB)

Website: Personal Website YouTube Channel

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Degree: M.F.A.

University: Glasgow School of Art

Degree: B.F.A.

University: University of Wisconsin-Stout

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Before They Started Stout: Polytechnic students do more before ‘Day One’

giffeyt — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 20:46:45 +0000

Before They Started Stout: Polytechnic students do more before ‘Day One’giffeyt September 3, 2026

Whether it ��. space-oriented research, welding prowess or Science Olympiad success, Blue Devils arrive with talent and motivation

Tom Giffey

Because of its polytechnic focus on applied learning, industry collaborations, and career-oriented experiences, students at �� Polytechnic are poised to Do More on Day One. In fact, they often do more even before Day One: Diving into applied research that could impact space missions. Building high-value industrial skills on the shop floor. Winning national scholarships for success in STEM competitions.

These experiences exemplify the ambition and talent of students who are drawn to be Blue Devils. Meet three �� Polytechnic undergraduates who have been busy doing more before, during and after Day One.

Student Reese Hufnagel spoke about her research at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly in Florence, Italy, in August. / Submitted photo

Starting early with space-bound research

If she is asked to write an essay on her summer vacation, Reese Hufnagel of Anoka, Minnesota, would have plenty of material: This summer, she spent 10 weeks interning at NASA. She made presentations at space conferences in Italy and the United States. She and her business partner and research mentor, Professor Matthew Ray, submitted a provisional patent for their work designing materials to mitigate the risk of space debris crashing to earth.

Now she ��. beginning her third and final year at �� Polytechnic, and the coming semester will not only be filled with courses and lab work but also with submitting new research proposals, conducting materials tests, pursuing an internship for next summer and applying to graduate schools.

Hufnagel ��. �� Polytechnic experience exemplifies the university ��. “Do More on Day One” slogan: She started working on research before classes began during her first year – or, as she put it, on “Day Negative Two.” Hufnagel, who will graduate with a B.S. chemistry degree in May, was drawn to the university for both its size and its polytechnic focus, both of which have allowed her to work closely with faculty.

“The thing that mattered most to me was finding something that felt like a good fit, where I was comfortable,” she said. “I knew the way I learned best was through physically doing things, so the polytechnic aspect really stood out to me.”

Falling space debris poses an escalating risk as spacecraft get stronger and more heat resistant

Student Reese Hufnagel and Professor Matthew Ray examine the material solutions and ‘designing for demise’ to counter public safety risks.

Hufnagel was intrigued by the possibility of studying materials science at �� Polytechnic, and her mother, a school counselor, helped her contact Ray. He had an opening in his lab, and Hufnagel had lab experience from earning her associate ��. degree while in high school.

“He asked me directly, ‘What do you want to do?” recalled Hufnagel, “and I said ‘space.’ Any way we can connect it (to research), I will be there.” The connection they found was the problem of space debris surviving reentry – something that is becoming more common both because of the exponential increase in rocket launches and the fact that newer carbon-fiber materials don’t burn up as easily as older rocket components.

For the past two years, Hufnagel and Ray have focused on creating a catalytic additive that, when integrated into carbon-fiber materials, can cause them to disintegrate when they reach a specific trigger temperature. This research led them to form a business partnership, Aurora Catalytic.

“Once we realized that there was commercialization potential with it, then we basically just wanted to see how far we could take it,” Hufnagel said. It was on behalf of Aurora Catalytic that she spoke at both the Wisconsin Space Conference in Kenosha and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly in Florence, Italy, where she made connections with scientists from around the world.

Before attending the conferences, Hufnagel interned at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, conducting validation tests on equipment for a probe slated to be sent to Venus.

Hufnagel said these opportunities would have been unlikely if she was an undergraduate at another institution. “It allowed me to start doing something that I wanted to do right away,” she said of the university ��. polytechnic approach. “And you can’t do that at other schools.”

Isaah Holden has balanced his mechanical engineering studies at �� Polytechnic with his employment at OEM Fabricators. / Submitted photo

Love of welding leads to engineering program

While a junior at Unity High School, Isaah Holden of Luck took a welding class and fell in love. He progressed quickly, practicing multiple techniques during extra hours in an open lab. Within months, through the Youth Apprenticeship Program he landed a job with Schaffer Manufacturing, a metal fabrication business in nearby Milltown. Through on-the-job training, Holden learned how to read blueprints, fit parts and size up welds. Eventually, he earned his American Welding Society D1.1 qualification, and after graduating high school was hired by OEM Fabricators.

“It was really just a gradual progression of on-the-job training, being obsessed with welding, and having people around me who supported me that paved the way to where I am now,” he said.

Holden knows that welders are in high demand and can be well-paid, especially when working on pipelines or in oil fields. But he also knew the occupation had drawbacks: It ��. dirty, physically demanding and potentially dangerous.

To give himself additional career options, Holden enrolled at �� Polytechnic based on the reputation of the engineering program.

�� mechanical engineering major Isaah Holden, inset, and an example of his welding work. / Submitted photo

“The first time I stepped on campus was the day of orientation,” said Holden, who expects to graduate this fall with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. “I really liked how small it was compared to some larger universities. I also liked how the engineering department really invested in labs for the students. It wasn’t like all you were going to be learning was textbook material: You actually apply the things you’ve been learning.”

Throughout his college career, Holden has continued to work at OEM Fabricators. “I started at OEM as a welder and eventually worked my way into engineering as I progressed through my mechanical engineering degree at Stout,” he said. “Having a welding background has helped me a lot because I understand both sides of manufacturing. I can design something on the computer, but I also understand what it actually takes to build and weld it out on the shop floor.”

Holden credits his �� Polytechnic experience with giving him this dual perspective.

“Stout has prepared me really well through the hands-on classes and projects we have done,” he said. “I’ve gained a ton of experience with several different manufacturing techniques and engineering methods that involve different types of analysis. College also teaches you how to work through the struggle and the grind, and that you can do and manage hard things. I think Stout ��. mechanical engineering program has been a really good balance of all that.”

�� Polytechic first-year student William Engel was drawn to the university because of its packaging program.

Science Olympiad standout drawn to packaging

William Engel, an incoming freshman from Boyceville, excelled as a competitor in Science Olympiad, earning nearly 170 medals and nine state championships in the STEM-based competition.

Earlier this year, he was chosen from among more than 4,000 applicants as one of five winners of a $10,000 Science Olympiad Founders’ Scholarship, with other recipients heading to schools such as Michigan State, University of Pennsylvania and University of Texas. Engel was the first Wisconsin student to ever receive the honor.

What really sparked his interest in science and technology, however, was a trip to IKEA. While hunting through the store for a desk for his brother, Engel became fascinated with how IKEA products were packaged, from the shape of the boxes that held the company ��. furnishings to their strategic placement on pallets. Packaging, he learned, was an entire discipline of its own – a discipline, he discovered, he could pursue at �� Polytechnic.

�� Polytechnic student William Engel at a Science Olympiad competition. / Submitted photo

In fact, the university ��. B.S. packaging program is ranked No. 3 in the nation, something Engel learned while touring �� Polytechnic in advance of the Wisconsin Science Olympiad State Tournament, which was held on campus last year. “We were shown the mechanical engineering, plastics, and the packaging labs, while also meeting with the professors along with students who all were passionate about their fields and simply loved being at Stout,” Engel said.

“I really like that Stout is a polytechnic university and emphasizes experiential learning,” he continued. “I find hands-on work to be extremely beneficial for learning. While on the packaging program tour I was amazed that Stout holds such a high ranking.”

After eight years competing in Science Olympiad, Engel knows a lot about high rankings. “Science Olympiad helped me build important skills by teaching me how to work under pressure, and problem solve with limited materials,” he said.

Engel also enjoyed interacting with other Science Olympiad coaches and competitors: “It ��. fun to collaborate with other schools to improve not only our skills but to share our knowledge with other teams as well.”

Now, he ��. looking forward to similar collaboration in a polytechnic environment. Even before he began classes this semester, Engel said, he had the opportunity to connect with professors in the packaging program.

As the semester begins, Engel said, “I am excited to start learning more and getting hands-on experience in my major, and to also get to know more people from other places across the state.”

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Hero Caption: �� Polytechnic student Reese Hufnagel during her summer internship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. / Submitted photo

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