Heather McDowell is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona W.A. Franke Honors College, where she is double majoring in Philosophy and Law. Her work sits at the intersection of art, advocacy, and public discourse, with a focus on making complex social and political issues more accessible.
She is the creator of “Generation-Z: Generation Unprecedented,” a nine-foot tapestry that chronicles the experience of growing up in the 21st century through an anthology of journalism. Combining interdisciplinary research with fiber arts, the piece translates contemporary headlines and cultural moments into a visual narrative, offering a unique perspective on the collective memory and challenges shaping Gen-Z. The installation is currently on display at the University of Arizona Main Library and was constructed during her Makerspace Research Collaborative internship at CATalyst Studios, where she currently works.
In addition to her creative work, McDowell has experience in environmental advocacy and policy through her work with the Sonoran Institute, where she has supported research, data organization, and public outreach related to water policy in the Southwest. This work informs her broader interest in how creative expression can bridge the gap between technical fields like law and policy and the public, making important conversations more engaging, visible, and impactful. She plans to attend law school to pursue a career in natural resource and water law and is currently researching environmental law and policy surrounding data center development in the Southwest, including developments like Project Blue, for her capstone honors thesis.
Transcript:
0:02: From KXCI Tucson, this is Research Matters.
0:05: My name is Bridgitte Thum, and today we are welcoming to the studio, a double major in philosophy and law, who’s also part of the Honors College at the University of Arizona.
0:15: Welcome to Research Matters, Heather McDowell.
0:17: Thank you.
0:18: I’m so happy to be here.
0:19: Thank you for having me.
0:19: Are you working in any labs currently?
0:21: For my intern project at the Makerspace Research Collaborative, my mentor was Jen Nichols, and she’s amazing.
0:27: Thank you, Jen.
0:28: I am currently a student worker at Catalyst Studios in the library at the University of Arizona.
0:34: It’s a maker space and what that means is that it’s kind of like a modern art studio, so we have traditional art like painting, drawing, but we also have access to a lot of technologies like 3D printers, fabrication, CNC laser cutters, a VR lab.
0:49: We also have a sound studio where you can record music and learn how to podcast and things like that, but every semester there’s something new.
0:55: The work I do there is I make stuff and I get paid to teach people how to use these wonderful tools and try to empower students to make amazing things.
1:03: You literally have like an embroidery machine with all the different threads.
1:07: Oh yeah, you show them how to do that.
1:08: Yes, that is my specialty.
1:10: The Catalyst Studios lab is sort of a learning lab then.
1:14: Absolutely.
1:15: We mainly teach fabrication.
1:17: And on the flip side of that, kind of the software you need to fabricate.
1:21: Is it something that’s open to all students at the U?
1:23: It is.
1:24: It’s a part of the main library, so it’s also open to the public.
1:27: That’s kind of how I got started at the studio is I kind of just stumbled in there because I like to make stuff so much that I started working there and doing research there.
1:34: I wanted to find a medium to change the world around me and just be a part of community and the society we live in.
1:41: That’s why.
1:42: I decided I wanted to go to law school.
1:43: I also love the arts, so it’s very important to me to balance those together.
1:49: When I started my internship at the Research Collaborative Catalyst, The New York Times has this part on their site where you can cross-reference every single front page headline ever.
1:58: I’m Generation Z, and I feel like I’ve just heard so much in the past 5 years.
2:03: What an unprecedented time.
2:04: Like, and it just became very obvious to me.
2:07: Let’s anthologize every single major event from Generation Z.
2:11: I embroidered headlines from The New York Times and I polled, interviewed and researched my peers to figure out what was going to go on there.
2:18: Every headline is backed up by a story because I wanted to remind people that these aren’t just things that have happened, these are things that have stories and these are things that are literally like woven into our lives, so to speak, just symbolic to what a tap.
2:31: means it’s about stories, it’s about community and it goes from 9/11 to the present.
2:36: It’s in a display case at the library right now.
2:39: I’m really proud of it because it’s just, it’s so moving.
2:42: It became bigger than myself because I was like maybe this is a secret to quelling some sort of division or some sort of sort of polarization and just remembering like the fact that we went through them together is kind of unifying and beautiful and that that was my.
2:56: intention with the piece was just to remind people this experience is ours, and there’s something unifying in that.
3:02: You’ve been listening to Research Matters.
3:04: Our guest today is a student worker at the Catalyst Maker Space, which is located at the main library at the University of Arizona.
3:14: Where Heather McDowell’s piece, Generation Z, Generation Unprecedented, is on display currently.
3:22: Thank you so much for your time and thank you for coming to tell us about the work that you’re doing.
3:28: Thank you so much for having me.
3:29: Again, this was a huge honor.
3:30: I really appreciated it.
3:32: So, thank you.
