Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
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EATING TOGETHER: Explorations in an Anti-Social Food System
Will Lentz master’s thesis Eating Together: Explorations in an Anti-Social Food System promotes a resurgence in the social value of communal eating experiences. In a time when isolation and independence are increasingly common, Lentz offers products and provocations aimed at bringing people back together over food.
PLAYING WITH FIREBRANDS: Amplifying Student Voices in Public Education
Andrea Cameron’s master’s thesis, Playing with Firebrands, explores student agency in education. Inspired by the work of progressive educators and student-centered design, the motivation was to incorporate principles from progressive education into public education. The objective was to take the best practices in privatized education and make them accessible to public schools.
WITH, DESPITE, BECAUSE: Living your Best Life with Chronic Pain
After five years of living with a back injury, Alexa Forney made a startling realization: her life with chronic pain was actually better than it had been before. Even more shockingly, her research made it clear that she was not alone.
DIGITAL NATIVES: Promoting Analog Behaviors in Children’s Cognitive Development
In her thesis Digital Natives, Gahee explores designing technologies for children. She uses as her point of departure the notion that young children today "lack analog activities," as they spend most of their time using tablets and cellphones. She argues that existing products in the market are designed to be addictive—creating passive behaviors in children.
ABSURD INTELLIGENCE: Explorations of the Unconscious
Xumeng Mou considers herself lucky to have been born a daydreamer. Growing up in an environment that valued so-called rationality and objectivity over fantasy and creativity placed her natural inclinations at odds with outside expectations. This inner conflict led her to explore the human mind and to examine whether daydreams should rightfully be considered “barriers to success.”
INVISIBLE TETHERS: How Time and Memory Shape Products and Places
Arjun Kalyanpur’s master’s thesis, Invisible Tethers, posits that people are connected to one another through time via shared experiences and history with objects and places. Initially driven by a personal fascination with time, it was not until a trip to California that his thesis began to take shape.
AWE AND ASTONISHMENT: Wonder in the Age of Democratized Magic
Josh Corn’s master thesis, Awe and Astonishment: Wonder in the Age of Democratized Magic, aims to inspire wonder and awe through the design of products, services, and experiences. Josh asserts that the door to people’s curiosity and wonder is closing due to the evolution of technology. Josh states, “science pushes on to understand the world around us and as technology continues to innovate, we have seen a diminishment in the value we place on the unknown and the mysteries around us.”
FINDING THE WILD: A Visceral Approach to Sustainability
Jenna Witzleben’s Master’s thesis, Finding the Wild: A Visceral Approach to Sustainability, explores an alternative future trajectory—“rewilding”—and how physical and emotional reconnection with our natural environments can inspire lifestyles of environmental stewardship.
Has Your College Kid Eaten Lunch Today? Eez Clock Will Let You Know!
It's probably the biggest cliché—and the biggest truth—that a long-distant parent wants to know if their kid has eaten, if she's home or at work, and basically know that they're okay. First-year student Smruti Adya's cleaver Arduino-based invention—the Eez Clock—solves the problem by notifying the concerned parent about the general whereabouts of their distant child and whether that child has eaten all the meals for the day.