Science of Art Contest Submission Receives Honorable Mention, Displayed in San Diego Museum of Natural History

In 2022 the UC San Diego Library’s Research Data Curation Program (RDCP) hosted the second annual Art of Science contest. This event was inspired by the visually remarkable data sets that data curators from RDCP have seen arise from researchers at UC San Diego.

The Art of Science contest invites students, post-docs and faculty researchers, and project scientists to submit art in the form of graphics and images accompanied by a description to explain the work in an engaging and accessible way to those, not in their field of science.

UC San Diego students, postdoctoral and faculty researchers, and project scientists are invited to submit images, graphics, and descriptions related to their research that explains their work in a way that is both engaging and accessible to non-scientists.

Our lab member, Loren Phillips, submitted an arrangement of images taken in the optics lab, inspired by the global health-focused theme of Poulikakos Lab. This work received the Judgeโ€™s Honorable Mention Award and was displayed with the other winners in both the UC San Diego Library WongAvery Breezeway as well as the first floor of the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.

Below is the image, caption, and description that won the Honorable Mention:

The properties of butterfly wings may help us understand how to better diagnose cancer.

This image contains an arrangement of various images taken through a microscope. There is no color correction or grading, the color you see was captured under the microscope. The rainbow-like kaleidoscope pattern is created with dozens of images of butterfly wings as seen through a microscope through a Berek compensator. The central image is a tissue sample containing breast cancer. The colored squares are nanofabricated metasurfaces.

Loren is delighted to represent the lab and share some of the beautiful work that comes from our science. He looks forward to creating a submission for the 2023 Art of Science competition!

LINK TO ARTWORK:

https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/embed/bb4344382g/0

KPBS ARTICLE:

https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2022/08/24/subliminal-beauty-discovering-the-art-of-science

NBC SAN DIEGO ARTICLE:

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/entertainment/the-scene/art-of-science-contest-winners-share-uc-san-diego-labs-most-beautiful-discoveries/3033234/