⚒️ Jesse Colin Jackson - Building an Open-Ended Career in Academia

Описание: In this episode, I sit down with Jesse Colin Jackson — artist, designer, engineer, professor, Associate Dean of Research & Innovation at UC Irvine, and Executive Director of the Beall Center for Art + Technology.

Jesse’s career is a rare blend of art, engineering, architecture, design thinking, academia, and technology research. His path wasn’t linear — and that’s exactly the point. From failing out of engineering school to rediscovering art, chasing an architecture dream, and building an academic life grounded in curiosity and experimentation, Jesse shows how open-ended careers actually come together.

We dig into how creativity works, why iteration beats perfection, how artists ask questions that technology can’t, and how students can navigate college and AI with intention. If you’re curious about creative careers, interdisciplinary work, higher education, or building a meaningful long-term path, you’ll get a ton from this conversation.

In This Episode

• Blending art and engineering to shape a creative academic career
• What “open-ended work” looks like in research and the arts
• How design thinking and art thinking overlap
• The role of iteration, failure, and restlessness in innovation
• How architecture school shaped his artistic voice
• The Beall Center for Art + Technology and UCI’s Arts + initiative
• How AI is changing creativity and learning
• Why college still matters — and what students often misunderstand
• Hard-earned advice for early-career creators and researchers

About Jesse Colin Jackson

Jesse is a Professor of Electronic Art & Design at UC Irvine, the Associate Dean of Research & Innovation for the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the Executive Director of the Beall Center for Art + Technology. His work explores the architectures we build — physical, digital, and imagined — through sculpture, visualization, and technology-driven art.

Learn more: https://jessecolinjackson.com/about

Music🎵 by Lidérc

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