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Images of Research 2017

Liz Thomson

October 16, 2017

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1st Place

The Phenotypic Plasticity of Pristimantismutabilis

Chun Chun Ng

Program: Biomedical Visualization

Division: Life Sciences

This illustration was created as part of the research in exploring the best methods to teach high school or college-level biology students about phenotypic plasticity. This newly-discovered mutable rainfrog found in Ecuador has the ability to change its skin texture from tubercular to smooth within milliseconds depending on its environment. The frogs depicted in this image are modeling three different levels of smoothness in an accordance with their surroundings to demonstrate the adaptation of skin texture as part of the survival mechanism.

Description: Three rain frogs sit at different levels in water. One sits the highest on a mound of moss and vegetation. The second one sits lower on a connected structure. The third one is partially submerged in the water. The second and third frog

look upward to the first one. The frogs are a dark brown with gold color almost

rippling down their back. Pin size points give them texture all over. Their large, brown eyes protrude from the side of their faces. Overall, the image is a dark green color with a soft, indiscerniblebackground.

2nd Place

Intelligent Welding

Alexandra BasantesDefaz

Program: Materials Engineering

Division: Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences

I am not your stereotypical welder. I am an M.S. student in the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering conducting research in UIC’s Welding Laboratory under the direction of Professors Ernesto Indacochea and DidemOzevin. I am researching traditional welding techniques and autonomous welding in “real-time” to avoid defects. This addresses weld quality assurance by developing a combined real-time diagnosis, decision, and control system based on multi-sensor fusion and machine learning methodology. The major technology innovation of the research is that a welding machine will be able to make intelligent decisions in response to process variables, disturbances, and tool deterioration. This image, taken in the lab, represents the professionalism of understanding fundamentals and the power of simplicity. Having some expertise in welding has allowed me to excel in my research. It also shows the stark contrast of perception and reality. In the picture, I am focused to detail while commanding a metal-melting welder held inches away from my face as sparks fly. What you can’t see in the picture is that I am a 5’1” tall woman who is as strong and bright as the welding arc.

Description: In a nearly all black environment, a person bends over to cut a piece of metal with a welding torch. She wears a red, metal face protector that fully encapsulates her head and a dark blue jumpsuit with the initials “QC” on the left side of the torso. On the table is a bright burst of light with strings of light and firefly like sparks.

3rd Place

Surprise Symphony

Michaela Tures

Program: Graphic Design

Division: Arts and Humanities

For this project, I explored the symbols of western music notation. Specifically, I am interested in combining music and design as I study musical notation for my design thesis project here at UIC. I changed and distorted the symbols to emphasize the different elements of the composition--both visual and auditory. The piece I analyzed was Haydn’s Symphony No. 94, which is more commonly know as the Surprise Symphony. When I changed the various elements of the layered composition, it became less readable and more expressive. The idea is to be able to understand parts of the music without necessarily being able to read the notes. I wanted to show the scale of the poster, so I took a picture with myself as the scale.

Description: In black and white, a person with light skin and dark chin length straight hair stands against a brick wall outside and wears sunglasses and headphones. The person holds an enlarged, white sheet of music titled, “Surprise Symphony” by Franz Joseph Haydn. The sheet nearly engulfs the person. The title, musical notes, and key signature are highlighted in yellow with blue and red overlay in a disjointed fashion. The bottom left of the sheet curls upward exposing the person pants leg and black shoe.

Honorable Mentions

Under the Virtual Ice

Arthur Nishimoto

Program: Computer Science

Division: Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences

The search for life on other worlds starts here. The NASA-funded SIMPLE (Sub-ice Investigation of Marine and Planetary-analog Ecosystems) project takes one of the first steps in preparing to search for life under the icy surface of Europa by exploring the waters under the ice-covered lakes of Antarctica. Using multiple virtual reality devices at UIC's Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), my research allows a multi-disciplinary team from UIC, Stone Aerospace, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, San Jose State, University of Texas at Austin, and Montana State University to virtually recreate an autonomous underwater vehicle’s (AUV) mission based on data collected from numerous sensors during an expedition to the McMurdo ice shelf. The visualization application in the image depicts the underwater ice sheet as cubes derived from sonar scans collected from the AUV. Using EVL's wand controller, researchers can swim through the virtual lake-bed at real-life scale, follow the yellow path of the AUV, and view salinity, pressure, conductivity, and oxygen concentrations.
This image was created by Lance Long using multiple in-camera exposures of the subject wearing the head-mounted display in front of the visualization on a tiled display wall and just the display wall.

Description: In profile view, alight-skinned person of unknown race, wears a black

Head-mounted display,while holding a black wand controllerin his right hand. In the tinted turquoise colored background, different rectangular and square shapes descend from the top of the screen. Two yellow strands hang in a wavy line. While two other yellow strands form a V-like design heading off the screen.

Affect and Solidarity Constructed

Zachary Blair

Program: Anthropology

Division: Behavioral and Social Sciences

Shortly after the 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, I began a research endeavor to document and contextualize the event itself, as well as to understand the variety of ways the affected community interpreted and experienced grief, mourning, and solidarity in the wake of this tragedy. This research project resulted in the October 2016 publication of "The Pulse Nightclub Shooting: Connecting Militarism, Neoliberalism, and Multiculturalism to Understand Violence" in the peer-reviewed anthropology journal North American Dialogues. Buttressed by my previous research on discourse, difference, and urban development in the Chicago neighborhood of Boystown, my research on the Pulse Nightclub shooting continues to analyze the nexus of subjectivity, violence, and space.

Description: In black and white, a kidapproximately four-years old in shorts and a black t-shirt and sandals stands facing a make shift memorial. Photos of people, religious statues, and a sign partially in the frame reads, “... will not be defeated.” Text “Orlando” is prominent beneath one of the photo collages. Other words that stand out - “RIP,” “LOVE ALWAYS WINS,” “1 LOVE 1 PULSE WE ALL HURT 4 love.” The right half of the image is out of focus.

Peripheral Visual Function: Accessing the Unexplored

ShrestaPatangay

Program: Bioengineering

Division: Life Sciences

Our peripheral and central visual systems work synchronously to capture the world we see, while the central vision tells us “what” we are looking at, our peripheral vision helps us orient ourselves. Loss of peripheral vision would mean loss of edge detection, movement recognition and ultimately orientation. Unfortunately, unavailability of test targeting the periphery make it impossible to detect and monitor neuro-degenerative diseases that first manifest in these regions. My research focuses on the design and development of a diagnostic testing system that targets the peripheral visual field. PeriStim™ is a novel three-dimensional hemispherical pattern stimulus source capable of detecting functional changes in the eye before any significant peripheral cell loss is seen. This can help in early disease detection, assessment, prognosis, and management. This image was taken at the Neural Engineering Vision Laboratory (NEVL). It shows a subject undergoing the PeriStim™ test: The subject sits at a fixed distance with a recording electrode placed in the eye while a checkered pattern stimulus is presented. The electrode measures the response of the eye to this stimulus. The recorded response is called the peripheral pattern electroretinogram (ppERG).

Description: In an all black room, a person with her back toward the camera, rests her chin while looking into a large, conical device. Three identical round objects are aligned horizontally, in the middle. They are divided into four quarters. The cone has a checkerboard design of white and heather gray squares.On top and to the right, there are two rounded bolts.

Translation: Female Batik Worker

JuhrSelamet

Program: Graphic Design

Division: Arts and Humanities

This image was captured in 2016 during my thesis research project in Javanese batik, which was recognized in 2009 by UNESCO as a masterpiece of human heritage. Batik usually takes the form of patterned woven cloth, created by using canting or a wax pen to cover the parts of the fabric that tend to resist dyeing or color during the process. Its diverse patterns demonstrate cultural diversity and symbolize Indonesia’s historically complex religious views, cultures, and ethnic identities. Though Javanese are the most likely Indonesians to wear and promote batik, it remains present in most Indonesian communities and at least 18 Indonesian provinces. By creating solidarity across this broad number of different ethnic groups, batik has gained a reputation as a tool for strengthening cultural heritage and nation-building. This sense of belonging plays a significant role in providing cultural continuity, while making a notable contribution to the country’s economy. This image is of a female worker in a batik “Sri Kuncoro” workshop that is located in a village called Wukirsari - Giriloyo in Imogiri, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Description: In a small crafting room, fourIndonesian womenof Asian ethnicitysit on small wooden stools hand coloringlarge pieces of fabric. Their gaze focusing downward to their work. Two women wear acolored headscarf. They are mediumin skin tone, and two of the women have their long black hair in a knot at the base of their neck. Two of the pieces are in the early stages of coloring with light brown and yellow outlines of the various shapes. One of the pieces is further along with bold black shapes against a cream background.

Finalists

Circle Back

YannisDimoulis

Program: Industrial Design

Division: Arts and Humanities

There’s no denying that we live in a throw-away society. Many of us consume and dispose without a second thought. Rather than focus on changing cultural habits, I felt it was time to reevaluate the materials we use with the hope of finding one that can keep up with the disposable nature of our society. Three bags of hemp fibers and a bucket of natural latex (both of which are biodegradable) were my starting points in this study. From October to May, I spent most of my academic year examining the properties of these materials and how they might help reduce the carbon and waste footprints of our society’s penchant for consumerism. My image shows a series of vessels I made, each representing a different level of my understanding as I strove to reach the most efficient version. I tried different forms of hemp, different quantities of latex, and different curing times. This allowed me to reach a point where I was in control of the materials--rather than the other way around.

Description: Sixsquare, small dishes are laid out on a stark white table in a semi-circle. The dishes are made of pressed hemp and latex, molded to have shallow walls, and have the color of varying shadesof brown. Behind them are three small, glass bottles hemp seeds, hemp fiber, and latex. The first bottle tothe left is on its side with its seedsspilling out. The second bottle is open and mostly filled, and has some hemp fiber outside in front of it. To the right of the third bottle, is a white square mold.

Danio Rerio: A New Genomic Fishing Tool

SriivatsanGovindaRajan

Program: Biological Sciences

Division: Life Sciences

Danio Rerio, also known as Zebrafish, is increasingly becoming an attractive model system in labs and research centers around the world for studying diseases ranging from Alzheimer's and diabetes to various forms of cancer. Seventy percent of the protein-coding genes in the human genome share similarity with the genes found in the Zebrafish genome. In addition, 84 percent of the known disease-causing genes in humans have a Zebrafish counterpart. This high genomics-similarity to humans coupled with the ease of genetic manipulation and optical transparency makes it a fantastic tool to understand the various signaling pathways responsible for a variety of disease phenotypes.

Description:In an all black photo, an x-ray image of three small fish are positioned

in a Y shape design with their heads meeting in the middle. They are translucent

bright blue with highlights of pinkish/purple. Each fish shows one eye at its head with a spine following back towards the tail. The fish scales on the right are linear and repetitive.

Bee Pantaloons

Andrew Raduski

Program: Biological Sciences

Division: Life Sciences

Pollination biology of the wild relatives of cultivated tomatoes (an eminently important group) is largely unstudied in their native habitats. In the course of my thesis research, our expedition documented floral visitors of a wild species of Chilean tomato, Solanumchilense. These plants are found growing in deep canyons around the Andean foothills at the margins of the hyper-arid Atacama desert. The principal pollinators are females of a solitary bee species, Centrisbuchholtzi. The bees have specialized structures--which closely resemble pantaloons--for carrying tomato pollen used in provisioning their brood. The structures, termed “scopae,” are clearly displayed here in the act of grooming. This is one of few successful photographs, among hundreds taken in burst mode with manual focusing, highlighting the difficulties of working with fast-flying insects under natural conditions. This image was captured 25km East of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, near the Bolivia-Argentina-Chile tri-border.

Description: In the middle of the image, afuzzy bee is captured frozen in mid-air near yellowflowers of a tomato plant. The background is lightgray and out of focus. Green stems of the tomato plant jut out diagonally from the bottom of the leftcorner. A few flower buds hang down not quite ready to make they nature debut, and some other flowers are out of focus in the top left side of the image.

HIV Invasion

Christina Sidorowych

Program: Biomedical Visualization

Division: Life Sciences

HIV is a formidable invader and destructive assailant. The virus attacks theimmune system and destroys CD4 cells. Understanding the viral life cycle of HIV, its structural biology, and its interplay with the immune system is important to finding novel strategies to mitigate the attack. The HIV surface glycoprotein gp160, composed of gp120 and gp41, is the ‘key’ used by the virus for entry into the CD4 lymphocyte. The virus’ initial engagement with the CD4 cell is attachment of gp120 to the CD4 receptors on the cell’s surface. As the HIV envelope protein binds to the receptor CD4 and then to co-receptor CCR5, it causes a change in conformation and inserts fusion peptides into the cellular membrane, allowing the viral capsid to enter the host cell. As the foreign invader attacks the host, an electrical impulse forms as the proteins attach, grabbing the viewer’s eye. Created with a combination of PDB data and manual modeling in ZBrush and 3Ds Max, this dynamic composition elicits motion and quickly captures the energetic nature of HIV attachment and host cell entry.

Description: A textured red, yellow, and orange sphere has two leg-like antennae connecting it to a larger turquoise-colored surface. The textured sphere is like small grains of rice bound together. More rough, lavender antennae extend from the sphere in various formations. Similar spheres float in the background.

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