Informatics PhD student Colter Wehmeier receives the The Fiddler Innovation Fellowship. The Fiddler Innovation Fellowship is an annual student scholarship awarded by eDream.
My PhD is joint between CYI and UIUC. Arts and Cultural Informatics here, and Science & Technology in Cultural Heritage there. I hope to study the design and social dynamics of public commons, both physical and digital. This research aims to build equitable social infrastructure for stronger, more resilient communities.
I started studying Architecture here at UIUC in 2012, going through to my M.Arch. In 2013-2014 I was brought on as a SPIN intern under Donna Cox and the Advanced Visualization Lab at the NCSA. NCSA’S Advanced Visualization Laboratory (illinois.edu)
I was brought on to research real-time visualization (AR/VR) and interaction opportunities for architectural/urban heritage, with concentration on historic/political sites in Cyprus like the Paphos Gate. Our research project, headed by Georgios Artolopolous at CYI, is also aimed to inform urban redevelopment projects for Cyprus’s capital city of Nicosia.
This project is an ongoing collaboration between UIUC and the Cyprus Institute, whose research specialties include digital cultural heritage and preservation. My SPIN internship lasted from 2014. I transitioned to research assistant with time. The Fiddler Fellowship supported my research and studies since 2017, which covers my masters degree up to now.