Student/Postdoc Photography, 1st Place. Mario Simon Pinilla Gallego. Bumblebees pollinate many crops and wild plants. But their populations are declining, in part due to diseases and pathogens. I am studying the how some of these pathogens disperse in bee populations, with the final goal of help with bumblebee conservation.
Faculty/Staff Photography, 2nd Place.. Matt Bertone. A recent survey of insect pollinators of the famous Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) by Youngsteadt et al. (2018) yielded numerous species.This specimen of Aphria (in the family Tachinidae) represents one of the most common fly species collected at flowers of the carnivorous plant, despite the genus being uncommonly collected in general. This fly feeds on immature moths as larvae.Student/Postdoc Photography, 2nd Place. Amber Hubbard. This work focuses on the ability to have hands-free conversion of two-dimensional plastic materials into functional three-dimensional structures. These samples were prepared using a pre-strained polymer film and locally shrinking it with an external stimulus, in this case infrared light. The ability to control the sequence of this self-folding movement is highly important to future applications where targeted final geometries are desired.
Student/Postdoc Microscopy, 1st Place. Rashmi Vadlakonda. This scanning electron image shows a 60 micron Stainless Steel powder particle that resulted as a by-product from the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. During the DMLS process, powder particles are ejected from the melt pool similar to the process that produces spatter in welding. The study of DMLS spatter characteristics is significant because it has potentially different morphology and properties than the original powder feedstock which is seen in the margins of the image. The unique formation of oxide islands on the surface of the ejecta particle give it an appearance similar to that of a golf ball and this phenomenon has yet to be characterised in published literature.Faculty/Staff Microscopy, 2nd Place. Alan Tonelli. This confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) image shows us the macro-phase separation of three components after solvent casting. In order to form a nanocomposite with advanced mechanical and thermal properties, we blended here high-molecular-weight poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and a special type inorganic-organic hybrid molecule (POSS) with a certain ratio. This sample is one of the many control samples but we think it requires a special attention in terms of its artistic value.
Faculty/Staff Microscopy, 1st Place.Anna Stepanova. An scanning electron microscopy image of a germinated Arabidopsis seed next to the seedling that grew out of that seed.Faculty/Staff Photography, 1st Place. Alice Alonso. Unique ecosystems described as “estuaries†form where rivers meet the sea. Upstream changes in land use and land cover impact the quality and quantity of riverine flows to estuarine environments, in turn leading to degradation of many nearshore habitats. Oyster reefs are one example of an estuarine system experiencing widespread degradation due to changes in riverine waters. Oysters provide important ecological benefits to estuarine systems, and their degradation is believed to drive large-scale changes in estuarine water quality. We are using satellite imagery to characterize these large-scale relationships between upstream change, river flow, and oyster reef health. As a case study site, we are focusing on the Suwannee River Estuary, which is home to miles of threatened oyster reefs and showcased here in a USGS Landsat8 image. The blackwaters of the Suwannee breathtakingly contrast with the greenish-blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.Student/Postdoc Microscopy, 2nd Place. Jordan Tabor. In the SmARTextiles lab, we research smart, adaptive, and responsive textiles. We strive to create electronic textiles (e-texitles) which are textiles with enhanced functionality like sensing, heating/cooling, or energy storage. In most cases, e-textile products are not produced via large-scale manufacturing processes, which serves as a barrier to commercialization. This image displays a multi-component fiber produced in a commercially viable extrusion process. In my research, I will produce this unique fiber cross-section with a conductive polymer which will allow the fiber to act as a sensor. The unique cross-sectional shape will allow the fiber to sense a variety of stimuli. Ultimately, these sensory fibers will be incorporated into prosthetic devices such that the environment within prosthetics may be monitored and better understood. Amputees are often uncomfortable when wearing their prosthetics. With a better understanding of the inner prosthetic environment, the design of prosthetics and comfort of amputees may be improved.Faculty/Staff Graphics, 1st Place. Josh Gray. Lake Urmia, Iran was once one of the largest saltwater lake on Earth. Damming of its tributaries and pumping of groundwater to support higher intensity agriculture, along with climate change, have reduced Urmia’s extent to 10% of its former size. This image is a false color composite of three Landsat satellite images from the summers of 1987, 2010, and 2015. Black and dark blue areas show the current extent of the lake, yellow areas depict loss from 1987-2010, and red shows further losses from 2010-2015. The easternmost extent of the image shows an intricate braided pattern of ephemeral streams and vegetation. Yellow and pink hues in the brighter croplands highlight new fields since 2010. We use massive stacks of satellite imagery to map where and how agriculture is changing, and to model the effect of this on water resources. Ultimately, we hope these insights will support a more sustainable future.
Student/Postdoc Graphics, 2nd Place. Vaclav Petras. Two parallel mountain valleys with variable distribution of trees and other vegetation. Green color indicates trees, brown color lower vegetation and yellow bushes or no vegetation. Bottom of the valleys as well as side valleys are characterized by presence of higher trees while the ridges are often not vegetated. Individual trees appearing as smaller rounded green spots are visible on the slopes of the mountains.Student/Postdoc Graphics, 1st Place. Anna Petrasova. Visualization of spatio-temporal patterns of pedestrian occurrence at Victoria Square in Adelaide, Australia. The position of pedestrians was extracted from timestamped webcam images and processed into a pedestrian density voxel, a 3D grid structure, where x and y axes denote the position of a pedestrian and z axis represents time during the day. The colored shape – an isosurface of pedestrian density voxel – shows which parts of Victoria Square are used more intensively during the day. The color ramp draped over the isosurface represents a time axis showing one end of the square to be crowded throughout the whole day while the rest of the square, with the exception of the lawned area, is used mostly in the afternoon and evening. Research team: Anna Petrasova, Helena Mitasova, Aaron J. Hipp.
Faculty/Staff Graphics, 2nd Place. David McAllister. A new computation method is presented for calculating pixel colors in stereo anaglyph images. The method processes both positive and negative parallax. The method requires knowing the RGB spectral or wavelength distributions of the display device and the transmission functions of the filters in the viewing glasses. An approximation is required (the solution of a nonlinear least-squares program) for each pixel in a stereo pair that minimizes distances in the CIEL*a*b* uniform color space. The colors produced are more faithful than those from any other known method. Inexpensive cardboard red/cyan viewing glasses can be purchased from Amazon for viewing via LCD monitors and projectors.
Student/Postdoc Video, 2nd Place. Amber Hubbard. This work focuses on the ability to have hands-free conversion of two-dimensional plastic materials into functional three-dimensional structures. These samples were prepared using a pre-strained polymer film and locally shrinking it with an external stimulus, in this case infrared light. The ability to control the directionality and degree of curvature within a sample is vital for future applications such as remote deployment and hands-free gripping devices.
