Students join forces with faculty on summer research projects 

Faculty Adam Hawk and undergraduate Cole Lehto, work on metalsmithing research.
Faculty researcher and mentor, Adam Hawk (left), and undergraduate researcher, Cole Lehto, work on their research exploring the integration of traditional craft practices of blacksmithing and metalsmithing with new technologies, such as 3D printing, laser cutting and other computer-controlled tools. | Photo by Elora Hennessey/UWM Photo

This summer, more than a dozen Peck School of the Arts students worked on paid research projects through UWM’s Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program.  

The SURF Program, housed in the Office of Undergraduate Research, gives students an opportunity to collaborate with faculty members on thoughtful and sophisticated projects. Students who engage in SURF projects take what they learned in the classroom and apply it to field experience.  

Georgia Didier (Senior Film BFA) worked alongside Sean Kafer (Teaching Faculty II, FVANG; Program Director, docUWM) on a documentary under the title “The Brady Street Neighborhood Historical Project.” Didier highlighted the tactile, real-world experience as an important part of this project. 

“Through fieldwork and collaborative experiences working on the Brady Street Documentary Project, I gained a better understanding of what it takes to work with a crew and as a film editor outside the classroom,” said Didier. 

Student Georgia Didier working on documentary project.
Georgia Didier working on “The Brady Street Neighborhood Historical Project” | Photo by Sean Kafer

Didier and Kafer also worked with Emanuel Zander (Senior Film BFA) on this documentary. Zander expressed a passion for the project as he got to illuminate the rich and vast history of Milwaukee’s iconic Brady Street neighborhood. 

“From this project, I have gained the ability to pull from multiple sources of information and create a retelling of what the Brady Neighborhood was and what it has become today,” said Zander. 

Students work on documentary project
Students work on “The Brady Street Neighborhood Historical Project” | Photo by Sean Kafer

Syd Seebach (Senior Film Studies BFA) worked with Nathaniel Stern (Professor, Creative Technologies / Mechanical Engineering; Director, UWM Startup Challenge) on an exhibition titled “Generation to Generation: Mother Computer.” Seebach felt it was a fulfilling way of applying her coursework to a larger project. 

“PSOA is about the ability to develop an idea, and physically and creatively represent that idea,” said Seebach. “Working with the crew at Stern Studio is relevant to my coursework because it allows me to imagine more creatively.” 

Many more PSOA students were involved in SURF projects during the summer term: 

  • Justin Laabs and Cole Lehto working with Adam Hawk, “Digital Technologies in Traditional Craft” 
  • Pavonis Giron working with Yevgeniya Kaganovich, “Divergent Fates: Tree Intuiting Chair Paper, Remembering Tree, That Imagined Being a Chair” 
  • Anthony Zelazoski working with Yevgeniya Kaganovich, “Divergent Fates” 
  • Dakota Galkowski and Drew Talo working with Oksana Kryzhanivska, “Unveiling Posthuman Presence: Investigating Identity Shifts in Extended Reality Realms” 
  • Ang Van Den Eeden working with Geryn Roche, “Undergraduate Ceramic Glaze Research” 
  • Collin Chesak, Ambrose Schulte, Sydney Seebach and working with Nathaniel Stern, “Generation to Generation: Mother Computer” 
  • Sarah Johnson working with Michael Ware, “3D Printing in Colored Porcelain” 
  • Cole Lehto working with Glenn Williams, “Vel R. Phillips Plaza Art Project” 
  • Georgia Didier and Emanuel Zander working with Sean Kafer, “The Brady Street Neighborhood Historical Project” 
  • Aral Nen working with Sean Kafer, “Unity, Progress, and Activism in Milwaukee’s Urban Neighborhoods” 
  • Samuel Schoonover working with Sean Kafer, “Lasting Connections: The Service of Dr. Finlayson to a Community” 

For more information about the SURF program, visit its website.


Story by Jason McCullum ’25