Donna Bilak

In addition to teaching at RISD, Donna Bilak teaches jewelry studies at Pratt and history of early modern science and technology to humanities and STEM students at NYU and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Her research combines workbench and archive to examine the interplay of culture and technology (and vice versa) as drivers of environmental change. She co-directs the Future of Jewelry Research Accelerator (with Brice Garrett) at Pratt’s Brooklyn Navy Yard and directs the materials research group Active Matter. Current projects include developing a biomimetic environmental art installation on Governors Island (with Farzad Mahootian, NYU) and conducting experimental research in re-creating imitation gemstones (vitrified metals and minerals) based on 17th-century alchemical recipes.

Donna’s publications include the special issue Gold & Mercury: Amalgamated Histories in Chemistry, Culture, and Environment (Ambix, 2023) and Furnace & Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1618) with Scholarly Commentary (University of Virginia Press, 2020), co-edited with Tara Nummedal and awarded the Roy Rosenzweig Prize by the American Historical Association.