May 12, 2021
IPI is thrilled to announce that Dr. Emma Richardson will start her role as Director of Research in July 2021. Emma is the first to hold this new leadership position, responsible for guiding IPI’s research agenda. Emma brings extensive research and leadership experience in the applied sciences, and an impressive professional record in higher education with a focus on cultural heritage. Prior to her appointment at IPI, she held the position of Group Lead for Analytics and Modelling within the Department of Data Science, National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK National Measurement Institute. Before joining NPL, she was Associate Professor of Materials and Head of the Material Studies Laboratory in the Department of History of Art, University College London. She has also held posts as Research Fellow at the Getty Conservation Institute and Conservation Research Scientist at The National Archives UK, working with diverse museum and archive collections.
As Emma prepares to join IPI this summer, she shared the following: “with the Image Permanence Institute playing such a pivotal role in developing the field of preservation science, I am honored to be taking up this new position and for the opportunity to help guide IPI’s next chapter. IPI is ideally positioned within a cross-disciplinary academic institution and I look forward to harnessing this through collaborations across the social and physical sciences with a view to shaping and evolving preservation practice.”
The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) in the College of Art and Design (CAD) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is pleased to announce its opening for a Sustainable Preservation Specialist. The Sustainable Preservation Specialist will provide information and guidance to a range of collecting institutions on the role of environment in preservation, and best practices for sustainable environmental management through a variety of consulting, outreach (teaching and publication), research, and technical support activities.
In May-June 2022, IPI conducted an online survey assessing how collecting institutions are using 3D printing and interacting with 3D printed objects and materials. The survey covered three major areas: 3D printed objects and artwork found in collections, conservation treatments of 3D printed objects, and 3D printing in preservation and access activities, including its use as a tool in conservation treatments of non-3D printed objects, exhibition and display, and collections transportation.
IPI is thrilled to announce that Dr. Marvin Cummings will join the team as Research Scientist in November 2022. Marvin brings extensive research experience from the technology sector, with a solid interdisciplinary background across the physical sciences, engineering, and archeometry.
The Image Permanence Institute received a National Leadership Grant for Museums from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in the amount of $711,598 to support a three-year research project that will study the relationship between equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and the physical stability of plastics and plastic composite artifacts found in museums.