Myat Thinzar Aung
Professor of Instruction, Art and Art History
Art History & Criticism
Graduate Advisor of Record - Art History
Contact
Bio
Myat Thinzar Aung's research examines Roman architecture and villa environments, with interests in design planning, sensory experience, and digital modeling. These interests began during her undergraduate study abroad in London and Florence, where she became fascinated by the rhetoric of art and architecture in cities and their power to shape lived experience. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Iowa (2024), where her dissertation was awarded the D. C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize, the university's highest honor recognizing doctoral research with significant contributions to the field.
Dr. Aung has published two peer-reviewed articles on the geometric planning of Roman architecture, focusing on the Pantheon in Rome and the Serapeum at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. Her book project, Experiencing the Grotto: Multisensory Design in Villas of Roman Italy (2nd century BCE – 2nd century CE), is under advance contract with the University of Texas Press. As part of this research, she conducted a laser scan of a Roman garden in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, for architectural preservation and reconstruction. She is currently building interactions in 3D models of Roman grottoes in the Unity game engine to reconstruct and interpret how ancient visitors experienced these spaces. She is an active member of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and regularly presents her research at its annual meeting. By bridging ancient design with contemporary digital tools, her work brings the sensory experiences in antiquity into the present day.
She teaches courses ranging from introductory art history surveys to topic courses such as Sensory Art History, Art and Nature, and Time; courses on ancient cities including Pompeii and Rome; and a graduate research method and writing seminar.
Research Interests
- Roman Architecture, Villas, and Urbanism
- Ancient Roman Gardens, Grottoes, and Landscapes
- Lived Experience in Antiquity
- Multisensory Approaches to Art History
- Digital Humanities and 3D Reconstruction
Degrees
- D. Art History, University of Iowa (2024)
- Certificate in Public Digital Humanities, University of Iowa (2022)
- A. Art History, University of Iowa (2018)
- B. Art History and Classical Studies, Ripon College (2016)
