| PROVIDENCE, R.I. (January 7, 2026) — Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has secured more than $1.6 million in recent research funding, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. As universities across the U.S. grapple with funding cuts for ongoing research projects, federal and private backers are widening the scope of their investments to include Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs) like RISD—institutions of higher education with research programs that operate with limited federal funding. The grants support work ranging from inclusive research approaches to carbon exchange in the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean to automated 3D textile manufacturing.
“RISD is leading the charge among art and design schools that recognize the unique contributions artists and designers can make to all kinds of research,” said Katherine Cooper, Director of Academic and Creative Partnerships.
Cooper is leading a three-year effort with Margot Nishimura, Assistant Provost for Academic Engagement, and Tyanna Buie, Associate Professor in RISD’s Printmaking department. Supported by $400,000 in NSF funding awarded to RISD, the work contributes to the Supporting Partnerships for Advancement, Research, and Knowledge (SPARK) project—a collaboration among RISD, SUNY Brockport, Guilford College, and Southern Arkansas University. The cohort is focused on expanding research and partnership capacity, building relationships with industry collaborators and nonprofits, and strengthening the infrastructure that supports these efforts. |
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| Above, Associate Professor Tom Weis addresses the International Atomic Energy Agency at a nuclear safeguard symposium; below, digital textile weaves proposed by Professor Brooks Hagan (image by Francoise Guimbretiere). |
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| “The goal is to create an inclusive research enterprise that can support the inquiry, scholarship, and practices of multidisciplinary faculty,” said Nishimura. “By developing a robust framework of policies, procedures, and systems, we’re opening the doors for faculty research projects that make a greater impact regionally, nationally, and internationally.”
Nishimura is also co-principal investigator for the Rhode Island Research Administration Collaborative (RI-RAC), a statewide NSF grant of more than $3 million, with more than $500,000 in funding specific to RISD. The project brings together five Rhode Island-based ERIs to increase research administration capacity, broaden the scope and reach of research in the state, and increase the number and diversity of faculty participating in externally funded research through workshops, a summer institute, and a shared inventory of resources and research expertise.
NSF also recently awarded $205,000 to Brooks Hagan (MFA 02 TX), Professor of Textiles, for Accelerating Yarn Fabrication Research Using Simulation-Informed Rapid Prototyping, running through summer 2029.
“We are witnessing an explosion in the possibilities of textile manufacturing with the emergence of new automated equipment for 3D weaving, braiding, and volumetric knitting,” said Hagan. “This new manufacturing capability enables the creation of not just sheets of cloth but complex objects created via a single operation.” |
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| NSF funding supports multiple initiatives led by RISD Nature Lab researchers, including the annual Vis-a-Thon program using art to express complex scientific concepts. |
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| Hagan and his team—including collaborators at Cornell University who were also awarded NSF funding—plan to design and disseminate inexpensive, easily modifiable advanced yarn fabrication systems, as well as Yarncraft, a process-agnostic computer-aided design tool supporting complex, multiprocess yarn forms. The work is intended to improve efficiency and end-product quality across applications from shoes to aerospace composites to integrated building envelopes.
RISD is also receiving support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which works to reduce political polarization by supporting education, democracy, and peace. Tom Weis (MID 08), Associate Professor, was awarded a two-year, $500,000 grant to examine how emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs)—including artificial intelligence and cyber weapons—affect nuclear decision-making and escalation dynamics. Weis and his team will produce immersive, design-driven simulations of real-world crisis scenarios in an effort to reduce nuclear risk.
Other NSF-funded RISD research underway includes an NSF-supported stormwater management project led by Johanna Barthmaier-Payne, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, with partners at the University of Rhode Island, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Louisville (KY). RISD’s Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab is drawing on two NSF grants: one led by Jennifer Bissonnette, Houghton P. Metcalf, Jr. (HD 96) Director, supporting the lab and its cross-collegiate Vis-a-Thon series; and another based on research in the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean led by Georgia Rhodes, Visualization and Imaging Research Manager.
“These highly competitive NSF awards are a testament to the students, professors, and institutions that contribute to these projects and help solve complex challenges,” said Senator Jack Reed in a recent press release. “They allow for critical new discoveries; shape our understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math; and expand economic growth here in Rhode Island and beyond.” |
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About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) is a creative community founded in 1877 in Providence, Rhode Island. Today, we enroll 2,606 students hailing from 62 countries. Led by a committed faculty, they are engaged in more than 40 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and supported by a worldwide network of over 33,000 alumni who demonstrate the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society.Beyond facts and figures, what is the spirit of this community? Through a cross-disciplinary curriculum of studio-based learning and rigorous study in the liberal arts, RISD students are encouraged to develop their own personal creative processes, but they are united by one guiding principle: in order to create, one must question. In cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD seeks to activate a critical exchange that empowers artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world. RISD’s mission, at both the college and museum, is not only to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, but to transmit that knowledge and make global contributions. Visit risd.edu to learn more. |
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