Much preparation leads to Wake Forest participation in ACCelerate

After a year of much planning, Tim Pyatt and Andrea Ellis are looking forward to a special Atlantic Coast Conference event in mid-October that showcases Wake Forest in a setting other than on a playing field or a court.

Pyatt, dean of Z. Smith Reynolds Library, and Ellis, assistant vice president of innovation, served on the ACC steering committee that helped organize the first “ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival.”  Presented by Virginia Tech and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the ACCelerate Festival is a three-day celebration of creative exploration and research at the nexus of science, engineering and design.

It will be held at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 13-15 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 pm. each day.

The event is free and showcases the 15 universities of the ACC.  It gives all of the universities an opportunity to display their work to each other and to the public.  In addition to the 47 featured interactive installations, the festival will include panel discussions and performances through the three days.

Representing Wake Forest, Pyatt and Ellis began last October serving on the steering committee comprised of members from all ACC universities.  By November, they had proposed the Wake Forest projects for the festival.  And, after considerable deliberation, the final decisions were made later on which projects would be selected for showcasing at the festival.  Throughout the summer, they have worked to settle the numerous details and logistics required to make it a successful event.

Asked how the public will respond to the Wake Forest exhibits and presentations, Pyatt replied, “All are amazing in their own way.”

The Wake Forest exhibits and presentations include:

  • IMPROVment: Improvisational Movement for Brain and Body Health
  • Wake the Vote
  • The Story of My Life
  • What is Language? Challenging our Intuitions and Assumptions

“Wake the Vote is so relevant and timely while IMPROVment epitomizes the Wake Forest ethos — bringing liberal arts and medicine together for the good of society. The Story of My Life celebrates six disabled adults and their personal stories. And What is Language combines humanistic research with data analysis. I think the public will be impressed by the impact of research at Wake Forest on society,” Pyatt said.

For more about ACCelerate, read here.

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