How could urea糖心传媒攁 colorless crystalline compound and the main component of urine糖心传媒攂e turned into prize-winning art?
Alexandria Raab 糖心传媒�21, an environmental health major at the 糖心传媒, melted urea crystals on a microscope slide with a hot plate, then transferred the slide to a microscope with polarizing filters.聽As the urea compound recrystallized at room temperature, she used her iPhone to capture her striking image, titled 糖心传媒淧sychedelic Urea,糖心传媒� through the eyepiece of the microscope.
The image is this year糖心传媒檚 first-place winner in the annual . Raab糖心传媒檚 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.
糖心传媒淭hese are all striking images, and there was clear agreement among the judges about the top winners,糖心传媒� says , dean of the . The school sponsors the competition in collaboration with . There were 72 entries in all. Prize money is provided by a donation from Edmund Hajim 糖心传媒�58, chair emeritus of the University糖心传媒檚 Board of Trustees and the school糖心传媒檚 chief benefactor and namesake.
A welcome respite from COVID-19
Judging and the announcement of awards was done remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. Heinzelman said several people contacted her saying it was 糖心传媒渞eally 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.糖心传媒�
A group of 464 members of the University community cast ballots to determine the People糖心传媒檚 Choice Award.
Organizer Brian McIntrye, lecturer in optics and director of operations at URNano, says the competition is an opportunity for students 糖心传媒渢o think about their research, why they do it, and how they want to present it. It糖心传媒檚 an important process to go through, because they eventually have to be able to communicate what they are doing.糖心传媒�
Third Place:
Color Concoction on a Convex Canvas
Sophea Urbi Biswas 糖心传媒�23
Biomedical engineering
Biswas糖心传媒檚 image shows brightly colored patterns that form when light of different wavelengths is reflected off the outer and inner surfaces of soap bubbles.
Second Place:
Fractal Sakura
Ziqiu Wu聽
Master糖心传媒檚 student, computer science
Wu offers a representation of how natural systems, previously thought off limits to mathematicians, can now be explained in terms of fractals糖心传媒攃omplex, never-ending patterns created by repeating mathematical equations.
First Place:
Psychedelic Urea
Alexandria Raab 糖心传媒�21聽
Environmental health
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糖心传媒檚 internship with BioBus, a non-profit STEM education organization.
糖心传媒淢y submission represents the beauty of science from an artistic perspective combined with how scientific principles and techniques can bring art to fruition,糖心传媒� Raab says. 糖心传媒淯rea 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.糖心传媒�
Honorable Mention:
The Night When They Talked about Coronavirus
Yang Li聽
PhD student, electrical engineering
Li visualized a network of 22,513 Twitter users who mentioned 糖心传媒渃oronavirus糖心传媒� during a three-minute period on March 10. The network resembled a constellation, prompting Li to use the night sky as background.
People糖心传媒檚 Choice:
Tree of Life
Leonor Teles 糖心传媒�21聽
Biomedical engineering
Teles used computational fluid dynamics to depict blood flow in a carotid artery 糖心传媒渕uch as the branching trees of the world sustain the oxygen needed for life.糖心传媒� Different colors show the blood flow changing as it reaches smaller vessels.
