How could urea鈥攁 colorless crystalline compound and the main component of urine鈥攂e turned into prize-winning art?
Alexandria Raab 鈥�21, an environmental health major at the 人妻少妇专区, 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 鈥淧sychedelic Urea,鈥� through the eyepiece of the microscope.
The image is this year鈥檚 first-place winner in the annual . Raab鈥檚 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.
鈥淭hese are all striking images, and there was clear agreement among the judges about the top winners,鈥� 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 鈥�58, chair emeritus of the University鈥檚 Board of Trustees and the school鈥檚 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 鈥渞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.鈥�
A group of 464 members of the University community cast ballots to determine the People鈥檚 Choice Award.
Organizer Brian McIntrye, lecturer in optics and director of operations at URNano, says the competition is an opportunity for students 鈥渢o think about their research, why they do it, and how they want to present it. It鈥檚 an important process to go through, because they eventually have to be able to communicate what they are doing.鈥�
Third Place:
Color Concoction on a Convex Canvas
Sophea Urbi Biswas 鈥�23
Biomedical engineering
Biswas鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥攃omplex, never-ending patterns created by repeating mathematical equations.
First Place:
Psychedelic Urea
Alexandria Raab 鈥�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鈥檚 internship with BioBus, a non-profit STEM education organization.
鈥淢y submission represents the beauty of science from an artistic perspective combined with how scientific principles and techniques can bring art to fruition,鈥� Raab says. 鈥淯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.鈥�
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 鈥渃oronavirus鈥� during a three-minute period on March 10. The network resembled a constellation, prompting Li to use the night sky as background.
People鈥檚 Choice:
Tree of Life
Leonor Teles 鈥�21聽
Biomedical engineering
Teles used computational fluid dynamics to depict blood flow in a carotid artery 鈥渕uch as the branching trees of the world sustain the oxygen needed for life.鈥� Different colors show the blood flow changing as it reaches smaller vessels.
