Faculty/Staff Photography, 2nd Place. Paul Franzon. Measuring the wire properties for connections between circuit functions on a silicon chip.
Undergraduate Student Photography, 1st Place. Kaitlyn Tiffany. Dr. Mary Schweitzer, of the College of Sciences, is a molecular paleontologist that uses fragments of ancient protein to uncover the mysteries of dinosaur evolution. This image was taken during a prospecting trip for new fossils in the badlands of Montana near the town of Malta. When asked why the rock was so perfectly round, Dr. Doug Czajka (a member of Dr. Schweitzer’s field research team) responded that as glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age, boulders were tumbled beneath the ice and dragged along the ground. Over thousands of years they were formed into smooth shapes and left in precarious places, such as this one atop a bluff in Montana.
Faculty/Staff Microscopy, 2nd Place. Richard Spontak. This unedited polarized light microscope image shows the crystal morphology of a special type of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) solvent-casted with carbon tetrachloride. POSS is a unique hybrid molecule that fuses in organic as well as inorganic chemistry; since it improves thermal and mechanical properties of polymeric materials drastically it is applicable in a wide range of industries from electronics to biomedical applications. The crystal morphologies that we investigate, guide us to the direction of its final application. POSS molecules can form a continuous surface that can be used as a protective coating on polymers against X-rays and UV light. You don’t need to look at the sky in the middle of the night to see shooting stars. If lucky enough, they also can be seen under a microscope. Let’s make a wish!Faculty/Staff Photography, Honorable Mention. Yu-Fai Leung. This image, taken on Barrientos Island in the Antarctic Peninsula Region, depicts two penguin species, gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) (the two resting on their nests and protecting chicks underneath their abdomen) and chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus) (the two walking). Both species on this popular tourist destination are being examined in a current study for their behavior responses during the most vulnerable nesting/hatching period to tourist activities, including wildlife viewing, photography, and talking. Field experimental and observation data were collected during the 2019-2020 Ecuadorian Antarctic Expedition between December 2019 and January 2020. This study is a collaboration among Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain, and NC State University, with the logistical support from the Instituto Antártico Ecuatoriano.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Microscopy, 1st Place. Siyao Wang. Highly selective and light-weight protective suits featuring excellent breathability, mechanical robustness and catalytic degradation performance towards toxic chemicals are highly desirable for first responders. However, current multilayered chemical/biological (CB) protective textiles exhibit several drawbacks including high thermal burden and secondary contamination. New materials with light weight and breathability need to be developed. Here we are studying a novel class of polymer named Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) with comparable surface area and porosity to activated carbon. PIM-1 Fibrous mat was made via electrospinning, where the fiber morphology could be controlled by adjusting different parameters including solution properties, voltage, feeding rate etc. Morphology control using this new material helps us better understand the polymer/solvent interactions and also improve the material functionality. The image depicts the morphology of PIM-1 fiber electrospun with a mixture of toluene and tetrahydrofuran which looks like glowing neurons with a colored filter and shiny dots (by photoshop).
Faculty/Staff Video, 2nd Place. Colin Keenan. “The Naturalist’s Workshop” is an educational application for the Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, developed by NC State’s VRPlants research team in collaboration with staff from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Naturalist Center. Within the application, museum visitors are seated at a virtual desk. Using their hand controllers and head-mounted display, they explore drawers containing botanical specimens and a naturalist’s tools-of-the-trade. While exploring, the participant can receive new information about any specimen by dropping it into a virtual examination tray. 360-degree photography and three-dimensionally scanned specimens are used to allow user-motivated, immersive experience of botanical meta-data such as specimen collection coordinates. Naturalist’s Workshop aims to provide a user-stimulated lesson on the value and usage of botanical collections for museum patrons of middle school, high school, and undergraduate/adult audiences in play sessions of 5-15 minutes.Graduate Student/Postdoc Microscopy, Honorable Mention. Paul Cray. Our lab seeks to understand how the intestinal lining is damaged and repaired after chemotherapy. In particular we are interested in how the cells directly communicate with one another via direct channels called gap junctions. Gap junctions allow for cells of different types to convey messages that both inform and dictate the activity of the target cell. In this picture, we have stained murine small intestinal smooth muscle for connexin 43 (green), which can complex with other connexins to form gap junctions. The bright green dots show formed gap junctions and the blue stain shows the nuclei of the cells.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Microscopy, 2nd Place. Sarah Orr. Salinization of freshwaters is an emerging ecological issue that is reported to affect 1/3 of lakes, rivers, and streams worldwide. Aquatic insects, such as mayflies, play an essential role in freshwater ecosystems, but are disappearing with salinity stress. The physiological explanations are unclear, but we have begun examining chloride cells (ionocytes), that are responsible for ion transport and osmoregulation in the mayfly, N. triangulifer (Baetidae). We used scanning electron microscopy to assess chloride cell abundance and size across mayflies exposed to different major ion gradients. We found that animals are able to make modest morphological changes to acclimate to elevated major ion concentrations and reduce toxicity.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Photography, 2nd Place. Manraaj Singh Alag. Prototype for future efficient hybrid cars with power as same as the traditional cars.Graduate Student/Postdoc Graphics, Honorable Mention. Vaclav Petras. NC State University campus buildings showing maximum allowed building occupancy for COVID-19 research restart. Bright yellow and orange colors represent a high number of researchers in the building throughout the day while building height represents a number of researchers allowed at one time. Showing one of the proposed scenarios from early June, 2020. Data provided and analysis performed by the Office of Research and Innovation. Geospatial data processed in GRASS GIS. Visualized using Kepler.gl.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Photography, Honorable Mention. Sara Sheykhi. I collected these colorful solutions in test tubes as they flowed from a silica gel column, which is used to separate chemical mixtures. I was looking for a specific product of a nucleophilic substitution reaction between a dianhydride and a diamine. When chemists run the products of a reaction through a silica column, molecules exit the column at different times, depending on their polarity, allowing for isolation of the desired products. Because my reaction produced strongly colored compounds, I could tell which test tubes held different reaction products with the naked eye. My work photo was selected and published by C&EN which is the most important science news. I was proud to mention in c&en that this work has been done in NCSU by me.
Faculty/Staff Graphics, 2nd Place. Javier Brumos. Tomato ripening is a group of highly coordinated developmental processes that culminates with seed maturation and dispersion. The plant hormone ethylene triggers fruit ripening regulating the expression of thousands of genes controlling fruit softening and accumulation of pigments, sugars, and compounds that transform the fruit into an attractive meal for animals that in turn spread the fruit seeds. In the illustration, tomatoes exhibit different stages of ripening. The photography was taken at the North Carolina State University greenhouses at Method Rd, converted to a cartoon using the Impressionist Effect on the Gallery App, and both layers were overlaid using Photoshop.Faculty/Staff Microscopy, 1st Place. Elisabeth Wheeler. Cell sizes and arrangement in woody stems correlate with climate and growth form. The anatomy of ancient woods can help with reconstruction of ancient environments and be used to identify the source plant as well as infer vegetation structure and paleoenvironment. Japanese Pepper Vine (Piper kadsura) is a classic example of a vine; it has wide water-conducting vessels (black circles) and wide rays (strips composed of dark-orange rectangular cells). Most vines have anatomy that is a variation of this theme. This image was acquired while building a reference collection useful for current studies of fossil woods from National Parks.
Undergraduate Student Photography, 2nd Place. Carmen Mackenzie Cromer. I study lemur vocalizations with Dr Lisa Paciulli. Our goal is to record and analyze call patterns in several species of lemur, including aye-ayes, ring-tailed lemurs, and Coquerel’s sifakas. Male and female ring-tailed lemurs make different types of calls, and I want to know why. To answer this question, I go to the Duke Lemur Center and record lemurs in free-range enclosures. I record audio footage continuously and jot down what they are doing every five minutes (this is known as scan sampling). I also take notes on the appearance of the lemurs, looking for specific features that will allow me to easily recognize an individual when he or she vocalizes. I usually stay out for five to seven hours at a time with the lemur troop.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Photography, Honorable Mention. Alejandro Valdes, Bram Frohock, Carlos Peniche. Synoxazolidinone derivatives are promising antibacterial compounds with plenty of potential applications in human health yet to be explored. In the Pierce lab, synthetic methods for accessing this kind of natural compound have been developed, and, by making changes in the chemicals used, completely novel synoxazolidinone derivatives with improved biological activity can be prepared. When particularly pure, some analogues precipitate forming beautiful crystalline structures. As if working on the synthesis of promising future antibiotic derivatives were not exciting enough, from time to time, daily lab work delights us with some unusual forms and shapes. Shown in this picture is an intermediate product that was just collected from a purification procedure and concentrated into a round-bottom flask forming a one-of-a-kind, breathtaking crystallization pattern. While working towards making synoxazolidinone antibiotics, these crystal patterns are one of the many pleasant rewards of the lab.Graduate Student/Postdoc Photography, 1st Place. Christina Burnham. A group of life sciences and engineering students spent two and a half months in Namibia researching the efficacy of using drones to detect poachers and count wildlife through NC State’s Wildlife Aerial Observatory program. One aspect of this field work included night flights using a quadcopter drone outfitted with a thermal imaging infrared camera, as shown in this photo. I was inspired by the beauty of the Milky Way galaxy visible in the rural Namibian night sky juxtaposed with imagery of a young researcher using cutting edge technology and this shot was the result.
Faculty/Staff Photography, 1st Place. Javier Brumos. Plants are sessile organisms with an extraordinary phenotypic plasticity. Responses of plants to external stimuli take place in a dynamic environment where plants thrive due to their ability to integrate all the information coming from their surroundings. Plant hormones play a central role in the integration process modifying the plant internal developmental programs according to external cues. Understanding how plant hormones regulate the integration process is critical for coping with the consequences of global environmental changes facing our planet, as well as with the increasing agricultural demand for food, raw materials, and energy driven by the growing global population.
Faculty/Staff Graphics, 1st Place. Abhishek Singh. An artistic representation of an all-atom model of a trimer assembly of a synthase protein complex that polymerizes glucose into cellulose in plants. Also highlighted are biologically relevant parts of protein in different colors.Faculty/Staff Microscopy, 2nd Place. Javier Brumos. Most of the times, roots remain unnoticed because they are out of site exploring the underground. However, they are essential for a plant’s life. Roots take up water and nutrients from the soil and are the foundation of the plant, connecting the visible part of the plant to Earth. Roots communicate with the environment and with the shoot to coordinate growth and development accordingly to the surrounding conditions. Hormones play a key role in the communication process. We study the functions of auxin and ethylene, two major hormones controlling plant growth and development in response to external cues. The picture depicts an Arabidopsis root expressing a gene involved in auxin production (in magenta).
Graduate Student/Postdoc Graphics, 1st Place. Phyo Phyo Kyaw Zin. Macrolactones, macrocyclic lactones with at least twelve atoms within the core ring, include diverse natural products such as macrolides with potent bioactivities (e.g. antibiotics) and useful drug-like characteristics. We have developed MacrolactoneDB, which integrates nearly 14,000 existing macrolactones and their bioactivity information from different public databases. The chemical network shows the entire MacrolactoneDB wherein compounds with similar chemical structures and properties are clustered together. Each node is a chemical structure and is colored by its maximal biological activity in the general spectrum (pChEMBL value) from green (high) to red (low). The rest of the chemical space which does not have activities reported in the ChEMBL database is colored white. This technique allows us to visualize the chemical linkages and offers an informative look at underexplored structural class like macrolactones.Honorable Mention. David Felipe Rodriguez Mora. My graduate research delves into the millenary biocultural relationships of the A’i indigenous people of Colombia, evaluating their plant classification systems and their sacred plant uses. For the A’i people, their relationships with the life forms of the forest constitute their source of spiritual wellbeing, part of their overall health. Their vast knowledge and understanding of plants and their uses for holistic health have been acknowledged by renowned Amazon explorers such as the late Harvard professor Richard Evans Schultes, who highlighted their sophisticated plant preparations. This photo captures a healing session conducted by a 106-year old A’i indigenous shaman. It features multiple plants being used for different forms of healing, including the sanganga leaves (the bunch in his hands), as well as pegote and copal (smoke in the room). The practice also involves the support of his female counterpart, his partner Grandma María, who is weaving a basket behind him.
Graduate Student/Postdoc Video, 1st Place. Tyler Goode. Modern body armor for military and police utilize high-toughness polymer fabrics, such as Kevlar, to arrest a projectile and dissipate energy. Understanding how these fabrics deform and fail under ballistic impact is imperative to designing armor that successfully protects the user. In this research, multi-layer Kevlar fabric samples representative of soft body armor are subjected to high-velocity impact to explore the effects of projectile shape, projectile velocity, fabric configuration, and backing material on the resulting back-face deformation (BFD), which can cause serious injury or death – even if the projectile does not penetrate the armor. The high-speed video, shot at 100,000 frames per second played back 5,000 times slower, begins with a projectile exiting the gas gun barrel, cuts to the impact of the front face of the fabric sample, and ends with the impact shown again of a side view of the back-face deformation.
Faculty/Staff Video, 1st Place. Arun Kumar Kota. Imagine accidentally spilling coffee or ketchup or some juice or a sauce on your clothes! Wouldn’t it be cool if the liquid just rolled off and left no stain on the clothes?! That is precisely what we achieved with “superomniphobic” coatings – here, “phobic” means repellent, “omniphobic” means repellent to virtually any liquid, and “superomniphobic” means extremely repellent to virtually any liquid. In this video, a polyester fabric coated with a superomniphobic coating remains stain-free in spite of dropping a wide variety of edible liquid droplets on it. Not only edible liquids, such fabrics are repellent to virtually any liquid (aqueous or organic; acid, base or solvent; thick or thin etc.).
Faculty/Staff Video, Honorable Mention. Vaishnavi Thakar. The map animation depicts the space-time spread pattern of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina State Counties, from March 15 to June 15, 2020. Colors varying from light green (least cases) to red (most cases) represent an increasing number of cases in each County with progression in time. It is observed, neighboring counties have similar number of cases in time, are depicted by similar colors. Visual representation shows presence of “positive spatial autocorrelation” in COVID-19 case datasets i.e. similar values cluster together on a map (e.g., red –red, red- orange, light-green – dark green). Analyzing the space-time pattern can help in containing the spread of COVID-19. Grey: 0 Light green: 1 – 100 Dark green: 101 – 250 Light orange: 251 – 500 Dark orange: 501 – 1000 Red: > 1000 This animation is supported by “Windows media player”.
Undergraduate Student Video, 1st Place. Carmen Mackenzie Cromer. As part of my research with Dr. Lisa Paciulli, I record and analyze ring-tailed lemur vocalizations at the Duke Lemur Center. The sounds used to create this video were recorded when a neighboring lemur (Fritz) from another enclosure howled, setting off an intense vocal symphony from Liesl and her family members. To visualize the audio information, my brother and I used a mathematical algorithm to find which frequencies of sounds add together to create the resulting lemur vocalization. This mathematical algorithm is called a short-time Fourier transform, and is shown in the animations using a graph called a spectrogram. This graph lets you see at a glance the range of frequencies, and how much of each frequency, is present throughout the audio recording.
Undergraduate Student Video, Honorable Mention. Grayson Morrow. Networkimpact.io is a collaboration between the business school and the Kauffman Foundation. The purpose of this study is to develop indices for social network engagement and embeddedness in entrepreneurship ecosystems. Using an entrepreneur’s engagement data, we can calculate how engaged that individual is with their immediate audience relative to the rest of the Networkimpact.io community. This data will allow us to scientifically compare entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country and offer ways for these communities to save time and money. The video we submitted is an engagement map that show the 25 closest ties of a particular entrepreneur and demonstrates how connected each of those ties are to each other and to the entrepreneur.
Undergraduate Student Video, 2nd Place. Andrew Mistele. This work focuses on studying unsteady (time-dependent) aerodynamics by modeling and simulating situations where vortex shedding has significant effects on the system. Dragonfly flight physics are an example of such. In the simulation, the depicted wings flap (heave) and pitch, and a few simple rules are applied to govern discrete-vortex shedding from the wings. The interactions between large numbers of tiny discrete vortices (“vortex particles”) shed from the wings causes the larger, more vibrantly-colored vortex clusters to form. Cluster behavior evolves from the interactions of the vortex particles within the cluster and influences from the wings. The colors in the video of the simulation represent the vorticity of the flowfield, and do not depict individual vortex particles. Only a
Graduate Student/Postdoc Video, 2nd Place. Sravanthi Vallabhuneni. There are many robots that can manipulate (e.g., pick up, move and release) solid objects. In this video, we show a unique robot that can manipulate liquid droplets (colored for visual appeal). In order to manipulate liquid droplets, the platform and the arms of the robot are coated with a “superomniphobic” coating – “phobic” means repellent, “omniphobic” means repellent to virtually any liquid, and “superomniphobic” means extremely repellent to virtually any liquid. Our superomniphobic robots can manipulate a wide variety of liquid droplets (aqueous or organic; acid, base or solvent; thick or thin etc.), on-demand and without any liquid loss.
