Rachel Laurenz is a junior pursuing a bachelor of science in Kinetic Imaging at Western Michigan University. She participated in the inaugural art+science course in 2024 and is passionate about nature and expressing creativity. Hiking, photography, videography, and web design are some of her favorite pastimes. Laurenz strives to find new ways to connect her passions and pastimes through experimentation and collaboration.

TSN Conference 2026

January 23rd, 2026 (Friday) // 11:20 am – 12:20 pm // Room 104 // Coalesce: Science and Art Collaborations to Foster Environmental Engagement // In a challenging environmental landscape, unconventional approaches to engage people in conservation are urgently needed. Our panel of science and art students and professors will share perspectives on teaching and research practices to provide new insights into environmental issues and creative conservation solutions. As educators, we’ve created an interdisciplinary program that provides students with experiences that bridge science and art, fostering creative problem solving. Science students learn to communicate not only facts but also stories and data visualizations that engage audiences. Art majors learn about ecological processes and ideas that can be fertile ground for artistic exploration. As researchers, we use scientific and conservation evidence, artificial intelligence, and kinetic imaging to tell stories of bird extinctions. Together, we practice making our disciplines more relatable to each other and by extension, more relatable to the public.