{"id":430612,"date":"2020-05-07T09:51:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T13:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=430612"},"modified":"2020-05-07T15:16:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T19:16:56","slug":"art-science-competition-2020-winning-images-430612","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/art-science-competition-2020-winning-images-430612\/","title":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s Art of Science competition a welcome respite from COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
How could urea\u2014a colorless crystalline compound and the main component of urine\u2014be turned into prize-winning art?<\/p>\n
Alexandria Raab \u201921, an environmental health major at the 做厙勛圖<\/a>, melted urea crystals on a microscope slide with a hot plate, then transferred the slide to a microscope with polarizing filters.\u00a0As the urea compound recrystallized at room temperature, she used her iPhone to capture her striking image, titled \u201cPsychedelic Urea,\u201d through the eyepiece of the microscope.<\/p>\n The image is this year\u2019s first-place winner in the annual Art of Science competition<\/a>. Raab\u2019s image will be placed on permanent display in the Carlson Science and Engineering Library, along with past winners and four other images that took prizes or received special recognition this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are all striking images, and there was clear agreement among the judges about the top winners,\u201d says Wendi Heinzelman<\/a>, dean of the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences<\/a>. The school sponsors the competition in collaboration with River Campus Libraries<\/a>. There were 72 entries in all. Prize money is provided by a donation from Edmund Hajim \u201958, chair emeritus of the University\u2019s Board of Trustees and the school\u2019s chief benefactor and namesake.<\/p>\n Judging and the announcement of awards was done remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. Heinzelman said several people contacted her saying it was \u201creally nice they could have something non-COVID to focus on. Even though it might seem minor compared to everything else that is going on, I think the competition had a positive impact on the University community.\u201d<\/p>\n A group of 464 members of the University community cast ballots to determine the People\u2019s Choice Award.<\/p>\n Organizer Brian McIntrye, lecturer in optics and director of operations at URNano, says the competition is an opportunity for students \u201cto think about their research, why they do it, and how they want to present it. It\u2019s an important process to go through, because they eventually have to be able to communicate what they are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sophea Urbi Biswas \u201923<\/strong> Biswas\u2019s image shows brightly colored patterns that form when light of different wavelengths is reflected off the outer and inner surfaces of soap bubbles. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ziqiu Wu\u00a0<\/strong> Wu offers a representation of how natural systems, previously thought off limits to mathematicians, can now be explained in terms of fractals\u2014complex, never-ending patterns created by repeating mathematical equations. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alexandria Raab \u201921\u00a0<\/strong> Raab took her photo in the lab of Alexander Shtukenberg, a research professor at New York University’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, during Raab\u2019s internship with BioBus, a non-profit STEM education organization.<\/p>\n \u201cMy submission represents the beauty of science from an artistic perspective combined with how scientific principles and techniques can bring art to fruition,\u201d Raab says. \u201cUrea consists of white crystals as a solid and is a clear liquid when melted, if viewed with human eyes only. Without the aid of a polarized light microscope, the beautiful kaleidoscope of vibrant color would not be seen. The shapes of the crystals, that make up the kaleidoscopic image as they recrystallize, demonstrate the crystalline structure of urea, which is what crystal chemists observe during their research.\u201d <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yang Li\u00a0<\/strong> Li visualized a network of 22,513 Twitter users who mentioned \u201ccoronavirus\u201d during a three-minute period on March 10. The network resembled a constellation, prompting Li to use the night sky as background. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leonor Teles \u201921\u00a0<\/strong> Teles used computational fluid dynamics to depict blood flow in a carotid artery \u201cmuch as the branching trees of the world sustain the oxygen needed for life.\u201d Different colors show the blood flow changing as it reaches smaller vessels.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A student\u2019s dazzling image of recrystallized urea, viewed under a microscope and shot with an iPhone, takes the top prize in the annual Art of Science competition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":431572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13092],"tags":[486,18632,326,16072],"class_list":["post-430612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-arts","tag-awards","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-river-campus-libraries","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA welcome respite from COVID-19<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\nThird Place:<\/strong>
\nColor Concoction on a Convex Canvas<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nBiomedical engineering<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nSecond Place:<\/strong>
\nFractal Sakura<\/i><\/h3>\n
\nMaster\u2019s student, computer science<\/i><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nFirst Place:<\/strong>
\nPsychedelic Urea<\/i><\/h3>\n
\nEnvironmental health<\/i><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nHonorable Mention:<\/strong>
\nThe Night When They Talked about Coronavirus<\/i><\/h3>\n
\nPhD student, electrical engineering<\/i><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nPeople\u2019s Choice:<\/strong>
\nTree of Life<\/i><\/h3>\n
\nBiomedical engineering<\/i><\/p>\n