Student Stories
![Students hang painted fabric in an illustration studio](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/23-IL-MFA-Social-Engagement-Agency-Students-Hanigng-Work-Cropped.jpg?h=6d62c805&itok=ZcDlM3eA)
In Social Engagement and Agency, a trio of RISD Illustration professors ask students to connect with local organizations, artists and individuals.
![Golden lion tamarins investigate a puzzle feeder made by industrial design students](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/23-ID-Animal-Enrichment-RWPZoo-Golden-Tamarin-Monkeys-Credit-Jo-Sittenfeld.jpg?h=52991962&itok=p2Qdw3Tp)
Students enrolled in Design for Animal Enrichment are challenged to look beyond anthropocentric design to consider the needs of animals at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.
![the form of a human head covered in mosaic-style pieces of tile](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/Cfc-head-hero-better.jpg?h=2a0b98b8&itok=Ab7ZVJ1W)
RISD students reconsider interconnected planetary problems using out-of-the-box thinking.
![a view into the towering canopy of trees at Saint-Gaudens Park in New Hampshire](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/Witness-2023-Site-Visit-Trunks-Hero.jpg?h=c9a3a702&itok=IeP2VJQy)
RISD students create evocative objects out of black willow, Japanese lilac and red oak from Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.
![Dezeen logo](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/press-dezeen%20%281%29.png?h=5e0c93d4&itok=TBz_XetA)
A group of RISD graduate students have created design projects and a research database examining a majority Black neighbourhood destroyed in the 19th century.
![two students hold mirrors to reflect the sun next to the Blackstone River](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-12/Briggs-hero.jpg?h=39848ab3&itok=k8En_u0_)
A fall studio called Solar Trajectories sheds light on historical experiments with mirrors, sun and steam.
![A digital rendering of an archival center for the Tomaquag Musuem designed by Marianna Pasaret](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/23-Tomaquag-INTAR-Studio-Marianna-Pasaret-1.jpg?h=9a743e22&itok=C8jb-3Vv)
In the advanced studio, students had the unique opportunity to connect with Indigenous community members to create culturally competent designs.
![A quilt by Xiao Guo featuring a sudoku grid overtop an image of her mother's face in bright colors](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/23-Jacquard-Loom-Xiao-Guo.jpg?h=fcf25457&itok=wtYfT4da)
Students enrolled in Jacquard Design engage with the textile industry’s complex past while skillfully crafting their own personal expression through the art of weaving.
![students forest for mushrooms in the very green Lincoln Woods](/sites/g/files/upbtqy111/files/styles/landscape_3_2_250x166/public/2023-11/D%2BM-Foraging-Hero2.jpg?h=6782c3c4&itok=DN4CbzOp)
Mycelium as Mode generates individual research projects exploring everything from decomposition to symbiosis to the containment of plastic waste.