Popular Auburn Engineering study abroad program now open to alumni, others
Published: Jan 10, 2023 12:00 PM
By Jeremy Henderson
Engineering in the Arts, a popular Auburn University study abroad program intended to introduce engineering concepts through various art forms, is no longer just for students.
"Engineering in the Arts has been very successful, so successful that we've heard from alumni that have said that they want to be involved somehow," said associate mechanical engineering professor Michael Zabala, who has led the program since its inception in 2019. "We talked about ways that we could do that and essentially came up with an eight-day condensed version of the course we offer students."
The course will be held May 20-28, once again in Florence, Italy.
"Florence is just the perfect location for it," Zabala said. "The city was so central to the technological, artistic and political innovation of the Renaissance."
Zabala stressed that participation in the program, which also confers two continuing education credits, isn't limited to Auburn alumni, but to "anyone interested in learning about engineering, and about how engineering has informed the arts."
An emphasis of the course is historical figures of the Renaissance that held major influence on the origins of biomechanics as a field of study as well as modern-day Western art, engineering and architecture. Lectures will be held in the morning; topics include Leonardo Da Vinci, the Engineering of Musical Instruments and Michelangelo and Sculpture. Afternoons excursions supplementing the lecture material will include concerts, tours of the Accademia Gallery that houses Michelangelo's David, visiting the Uffizi gallery to see the paintings of Leonard Da Vinci and a fresco painting class followed by a tour of the Palazzo Vecchio.
For more information, visit: https://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/engineeringarts.htm
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