Cultivating creativity (and majors) with computational craft

According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics the job outlook for computer scientists and engineers is stellar for the long term-President Obama and industry leaders encouraged colleges to graduate 10,000 more engineers a year. Computer science and engineering salaries are high, but yet it is unlikely that the number of technology majors will meet the projected demand. Sadly, for many students their first college computer science or engineering course is their last. This is particularly true for women and other under-represented groups. Over the last 20 years, we have tried to increase enrollment and retention by embedding embedded systems throughout our computer science curriculum. This year, we have extended that effort to a general education course that satisfies our campus' art and diversity requirements. Creative Fabrication demonstrates the creativity inherent in computer science and engineering through the implementation of three art projects: 1) an LED enabled sculpture representing disability, 2) a moving sculpture representing disability, and 3) a sculptural assistive technology solution designed for a specific disability. All projects connect technology to differently abled human beings via computational crafting - fabricating aesthetically pleasing and functional works.