When art imitates life, will it breed more life? An experimental collaboration between the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) and Department of Art and Design aims to find out.
On Earth Day, Associate Professor of Art Kimberly Callas and students Marcos DeJesus, Eliana Duarte, and Victoria Rivoli delivered a presentation on their work creating 3D-printed sculptures that mimic the shapes of reefs that are commonly found in Mid-Atlantic waters. These sculptures will soon be placed in the UCI’s aquaculture tanks at Naval Weapons Station Earle to learn whether oyster larvae are any more likely to colonize them than the cinder block-shaped oyster castles or other materials that have been used to build an artificial reef off the facility’s shores.
Callas and the students began studying reef shapes in the fall, consulting UCI Coastal Resilience and Restoration Practitioner Meredith Comi and Marine Biology Technician Amanda Boddy for insights on how to make them lifelike. They initially created a group of small prototypes with soft materials like clay and foam that were 3D scanned and manipulated digitally to add texture and refinements. Once the digital models were 3D printed, students made rubber molds of them and cast them in a concrete material that is ocean safe. The pieces were then scaled up to craft a group of harder sculptures of varying sizes that attendees at the presentation could touch and feel.
Comi said the sculptures will be placed in the tanks over the summer and monitored with the help of a team of marine and environmental biology and policy students. The shapes and textures that are most successful will be reproduced as larger marine concrete versions in the 30-pound range – hefty enough to withstand the pounding of the waves and currents, but light enough for the team to handle.
“It has been such a rich experience for my students to participate in this collaboration and work with scientists to come up with these ideas that are actually going to be involved in research and shore protection,” Callas said.
The research being conducted at the Earle reef is restoring the environment while producing valuable data on the power of nature-based solutions for improving coastal resilience. Oysters are famous as nature’s water purifiers, with one adult capable of filtering excess nitrogen and pollutants from 50 gallons per day. As the reef structures accumulate sediment and become further armored by the oysters and other organisms growing on them, they can also serve as “speed bumps” that blunt the force of waves and prevent erosion. Funding for the research was secured by Congressman Frank Pallone and is administered through Office of Naval Research grant N00014-24-1-2035.
UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington said the sculpture project will serve as an opportunity to experiment with new shapes, sizes, formations and textures to determine if they provide any advantages for shore stabilization.
“The living laboratory gives us a chance to test these ideas in the natural environment by measuring wave energy across the reef, changes in the currents, and how the shoreline changes over time,” Herrington said. “What we’re trying to understand is not only what geometries work best, but also what topographies work best. The partnership with the Art Department and Kimberly’s students has allowed us to think outside the box.”
The talk was held in the Great Hall Pompeii Room as part of Monmouth University Student Scholarship Week. Click here to view a research poster (PDF, 100 MB) summarizing the students’ process for creating the sculptures.