Through Intersection of Art and Science, Minneapolis College of Art and Design Performs Climate Change Research for U.S. Department of Defense

As areas of the Arctic thaw in already extreme conditions, the resulting environmental damage creates safety risks for the communities and U.S. Army operations. In collaboration with four other research universities studying the impact, Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is part of a $17-million cold-weather research project in Alaska funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL) and supported by the federal government’s Broad Agency Announcement Program. MCAD’s share of the four-year contract totals just over $1.8 million, making it the largest research grant in the history of the college. 

Dr. Olaf Kuhlke, MCAD Professor and Chair of Arts Entrepreneurship, is the lead investigator for MCAD on this multi-year project. Kuhlke, who has conducted Arctic research and fieldwork since 2018, is both a geographer and developer of entrepreneurship programs for universities, organizations, and Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canadian Arctic. He is joined on this project by researcher Steve Rowell; Anastasia Broman, a freshman in Creative Entrepreneurship, and Connor Johnson, a junior in Product Design. 

“The biggest challenge is to convey the magnitude of climate change to those people who don’t believe it’s real or pressing because it’s so intangible and unimaginable in many ways. But Arctic thaw matters to our national security–if you cannot maneuver an ATV for hunting, you certainly cannot drive a military vehicle on those same roads. Remember that Alaska is separated from Russia by only 55 miles,” says Kuhlke.

It’s not typical practice for the Department of Defense to include an art and design college as part of an interdisciplinary team of soil scientists, geographers, computer scientists, and engineers. Using photography, filmmaking, remote sensing, data visualization, and on-the-ground research in the most remote and inaccessible regions of the Arctic wilderness, the MCAD team’s purpose is to make data and information accessible. They are trained in creating detailed 2-D and 3-D visualizations and video narratives of how climate change is significantly impacting the environment, including increased erosion, ground shifting, and floods. Costly infrastructure, such as bridges, sewers, historical landmarks, buildings, and highways, is deteriorating. 

“While we are collecting data and images for the Department of Defense for national security purposes, our job is to humanize climate change and make it visible to the general public. We can give a real-life view of its effect on large towns and small villages in Alaska. It’s a preview of what’s to come for the northern states in the U.S.,” says Kuhlke.

Throughout the duration of the grant period, the MCAD team and counterparts from Virginia Tech, Stony Brook University, University of Minnesota Medical School, University of North Dakota, and CRREL will develop and publish their data on The Defense Resiliency Platform Against Extreme Cold Weather. 

Learn More

• Interview with Paul Kudak
  (mcad.edu)
• The Defense Resiliency Platform Against Extreme Cold Weather
  (drp.dataone.org)