{"id":16226,"date":"2022-05-23T15:55:29","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T19:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=16226"},"modified":"2022-05-31T12:34:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:34:36","slug":"attuned-to-the-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"Tamer Zaki<\/a> is an expert on turbulence and how fluids twist and whirl\u2014when waves break on the ocean surface or the wind kicks up during a storm. But on evenings and weekends, this professor of mechanical engineering<\/a> who studies the movement of air and water is immersed in another element\u2014earth\u2014as an accomplished potter. To Zaki, a lump of cool, wet clay is ripe with possibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPottery fulfills a different and instinctive desire to build something tangible, or physical, to engage my tactile senses,\u201d he says.
\nZaki began working with clay in 1999 while a student in mechanical engineering at Penn State. He found pottery similar to the research process: You imagine something and proceed to create it.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cIt\u2019s a journey from clay particles to a mound of clay on the wheel; from an imagined idea to a form; and, by fire, from greenware [water soluble] to bisque and all the way to a vitrified ware,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Zaki especially cherishes what he calls the \u201crelationship\u201d between potter and clay, which he shares with other ceramics enthusiasts by teaching classes at Baltimore Clayworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must be attuned to the clay during every stage of the process, making sure it has the right elasticity, consistency, and moisture. The feel tells you about its strength and how far you can stretch it. The material also has memory: On the wheel, it twists in a spiral imprinted by the potter\u2019s hands and winds back as it dries. It’s thermally stressed when it\u2019s fired, and some of that stress is relieved when cooled,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamer Zaki is an expert on turbulence and how fluids twist and whirl\u2014when waves break on the ocean surface or the wind kicks up during a storm. But on evenings and weekends, this professor of mechanical engineering who studies the movement of air and water is immersed in another element\u2014earth\u2014as an accomplished potter. To Zaki,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":16630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4945],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-other-life","issue-spring-2022"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tamer Zaki is an expert on turbulence and how fluids twist and whirl\u2014when waves break on the ocean surface or the wind kicks up during a storm. But on evenings and weekends, this professor of mechanical engineering who studies the movement of air and water is immersed in another element\u2014earth\u2014as an accomplished potter. To Zaki, a lump of cool, wet clay is ripe with possibilities.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4403.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"902\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Leigh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":270,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"My Other Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg\",\"width\":922,\"height\":614},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/attuned-to-the-clay\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c\",\"name\":\"Monica Leigh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Monica Leigh\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Tamer Zaki is an expert on turbulence and how fluids twist and whirl\u2014when waves break on the ocean surface or the wind kicks up during a storm. But on evenings and weekends, this professor of mechanical engineering who studies the movement of air and water is immersed in another element\u2014earth\u2014as an accomplished potter. To Zaki, a lump of cool, wet clay is ripe with possibilities.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1352,"height":902,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4403.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Monica Leigh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Monica Leigh","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/"},"author":{"name":"Monica Leigh","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c"},"headline":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019","datePublished":"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/"},"wordCount":270,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg","articleSection":["My Other Life"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/","name":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019 - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-05-23T19:55:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-31T16:34:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TamerZaki_Potter_VaccaroPhoto-4617-1.jpeg","width":922,"height":614},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2022\/05\/attuned-to-the-clay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Attuned to the Clay\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/acfe7b0b2b4e334734cec46640d4b37c","name":"Monica Leigh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/453a535757449a6e5df98157a139bf964b78333c2f686d5468bf82ada8e18252?s=96&r=g","caption":"Monica Leigh"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16226"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17435,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16226\/revisions\/17435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}