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Visualization of an Australopithecus afarensis specimen: Implications for functional foot anatomy
No full textBiomedical VisualizationThe Image of Research 2018First Place - Moving ImageThis is an excerpt from my Master's Project Research in Biomedical Visualization. The purpose of this project was to explore visual and technological strategies in creating an animation about the fossils of human ancestry. Working in collaboration with paleoanthropologist Dr. Zeray Alemseged at the University of Chicago, I reconstructed, modeled, and animated the foot of the Dikika Child fossil, also known as "Selam" or "Lucy's Child." This individual is the youngest early hominin specimen in the human fossil record, making her fossil essential in uncovering the history and evolution of our unique human characteristics. In particular, I explore how different features of the foot anatomy can be linked to the development of upright bipedal locomotion in humans. Using CT slices, I compiled 2D image data and used it to create 3D models of each skeletal feature. I then retouched the 3D surface of the models and applied lights and materials to them. I then animated them to reveal different important relationships. For comparison, I also completed the same process with a juvenile human specimen. This project not only facilitated the visualization of important paleoanthropological specimens, but it also fostered a relationship between the Biomedical Visualization department at UIC and the Organismal Biology and Anatomy department at the University of Chicago
KNEEL
No full textGraphic DesignThe Image of Research 2018First PlaceThis image is from an exhibition called Typeforce 9 in which Chicago designers are encouraged to create works coming out of their research and practice. I've been studying typographic forms and materials as they relate to identity at colleges and universities. KNEEL comes out of the 2016 NFL season's controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick and presents the authoritarian view of a graphic emblem, their jersey numbers which identify the players, and the official Flag Code in vinyl on the wall
Firing for the World
No full textAnthropologyThe Image of Research 2018Honorable MentionThis image depicts the debris of a 12th-century dragon kiln at Dehua in Southeast China. Thousands of porcelain shards and broken saggars on the site reveal an industrial scale of porcelain production in the preindustrial era. Located in the coastal mountain region, this kiln was also indispensable to the premodern global market since its products were made exclusively for export. In the summer of 2017, I conducted an archaeological survey at Dehua and found dozens of export-oriented kilns of this scale in an area of 100 square miles. By analyzing the homogeneity and heterogeneity of porcelain products within and between kilns, I am going to examine the production strategies used by local manufacturers to compete in the premodern global market. This research will expand the understanding of the historical development of mass production and globalization
Translation: Female Batik Worker
No full textGraphic DesignThe Image of Research 2017FinalistThis 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
Choreographed Testing of Total Knee Replacements
No full textBioengineeringThe Image of Research 2013FinalistTotal knee replacements are a common surgical intervention to alleviate debilitating pain at the knee, but wear of the implants has limited their longevity. Accelerated wear testing can be performed to evaluate materials and design, but current standards only test walking. My research indicates that these standards do not reproduce wear in the body, and that simulating other daily patient activities, such as sitting down, standing up, and walking up and down stairs, may more accurately predict the wear of total knee replacements in the body. This image is a still taken from the filming of my entry for the 2012 "Dance Your Ph.D." contest, which challenges Ph.D. students to translate their thesis research into a choreographed dance. The image shows a three-station knee simulator, represented by the three women with red knee pads, and the new inputs driving the simulator, represented by myself on the floor cycling their legs like pistons through the motions of the knee during wear testing. The dance film was a finalist in the competition and can be seen in its entirety online at https://vimeo.com/5050796
Keep Together As I May
No full textArt and DesignThe Image of Research 2012FinalistI create art installations that are self-contained support systems considering the ephemeral connotations of life. These systems each employ an inherent logic and often utilize plants and insects. Though I am in the School of Art and Design, I draw heavily across the disciplines, predominantly in the fields of botany, entomology, biochemistry and electrical engineering, to create my works. Keep Together As I May (2011) is a work I developed during my first semester as an MFA candidate. It is a visual allegory for life. Three hundred and sixty vaccine vials are filled with soil and each contains one grass seedling. A single line of absorbable suture holds the vials in a state of suspension. A plot of dirt below welcomes any fallen seedlings; eventually the suture will fully dissolve and all seedlings shall fall. A fluorescent light and humidifier system controlled via automatic timers regulate development. The vials dually purport and inhibit growth, literally and symbolically. The suture is a diminishing thread that binds individuals until it can no longer keep together. It is only when the upper strata, the suspended seedlings, belie their original form and succumb to a waning support that they may truly flourish. It is in the breakdown of a system that life may go on
"Little Boxes" on the Beachfront
No full textAnthropologyThe Image of Research 2012FinalistMy research explores the relationships between environmental politics, development, and human-environment interactions in the Dominican Republic. My interest in this topic was sparked by a conversation I had with a local fisherman in the Jaragua National Park, Pedernales. When asked if he would abandon his land near the sea if he were offered money, he replied, chuckling, "If they gave me a million pesos I would." This conversation led me to begin questioning people's relationships with the land and natural environment, and how certain conservation discourses and projects benefit from the marginalized positions of people in targeted areas. My ethnographic fieldwork focuses on Pedernales and La Ciénaga, two municipalities in the Dominican southwest. Taken in July 2011, this photograph captures a neat, uniform row of colorfully painted bungalows representative of the political and economic processes at work. Fishing families living in caves near Cabo Rojo beach were relocated into these houses built by the state. The presence of the fishermen in the caves was considered unsightly and threatening to ecotourists. While their homes now have a pleasant appearance, fishing families complain that they still have little access to potable water and are no longer able to plant subsistence crops because these, too, are thought to disrupt the landscape
PANGAEA: Return to the Supercontinent
No full textArchitectureThe Image of Research 2012Honorable MentionBefore the formation of continents 300 million years ago, our world is believed to have existed as a single supercontinent known as Pangaea. In the Fall 2011 design studio called "Offshore Cities," Pangaea provided a compelling reference for the design of a city as a single unified mass. Pangaea offers an alternative socio-economic model for a city through physical unification. It is comprised of tapered towers and elevated paths that provide infinite networks, valuing proximity and expedient connections. The contoured physical model was constructed using three-dimensional parametric modeling software. Through research on pattern and the Fibonacci spiral, a script was developed to manipulate the mathematical equation to form a three-dimensional form appropriate for the design of the city. This virtual model was transformed into a physical model through laser cutting technologies and the patient layering of chipboard for a high-resolution experience
View from Anderson Mesa; a Navajo Refugee Site
No full textAnthropologyThe Image of Research 2012FinalistThis photo was taken atop Anderson Mesa, in the Coconino National Forest, Arizona. My dissertation research is focused on the migrations of Yucatec Maya fleeing the violence of the Caste War of Yucatan, Mexico in the mid-1800s. These refugees established clandestine communities in the vast Petén jungles of Guatemala and Belize. In the summer of 2011 while instructing undergraduates at the Rock Art Ranch field school, I was intrigued to hear stories of similar events in local Arizona history. In the 1860s, Kit Carson led a brutal scorched-earth campaign to "pacify" the Navajo (known as the Navajo Wars). During these campaigns, small bands of Navajo fled to remote mesas in an attempt to hide from Carson's onslaught. On Anderson Mesa, Navajo families disguised their homes by living within large fissures on the side of the mesa. Anderson Mesa was also the location of centuries old Anasazi defensive walls and rock art, which undoubtedly attracted Navajo refugees to this location. I visited this site to further understand and obtain contemporaneous examples of indigenous responses to violence from settler societies, by the exploitation of frontier zones marginal to colonizing activity. I was guided to the unpublished site by forest archaeologist Peter Pillas
The Rise of Nostoc
No full textPharmacognosyThe Image of Research 2012FinalistThroughout the ages, natural products have played an integral role in providing diverse bioactive lead compounds and giving us inspiration for new drugs. Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, serve as a rich source of novel natural products. Published data indicate that over 4000 strains of cyanobacteria have been evaluated for various biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, enzyme inhibition, etc. Our lab focuses on collecting and culturing cyanobacteria, isolating bioactive compounds from cyanobacteria, identifying bioactive compounds using modern spectroscopic techniques, as well as biologically evaluating compounds from cyanobacteria. This photo, taken during a collection trip to Wisconsin in the summer of 2011, shows the colonies of a cyanobacteria strain: Nostoc. Nostoc colonies have been used to treat gout, fistula and several forms of cancer as early as 1500 BC. Cryptophycin, borophycin and numerous other bioactive compounds have been discovered from Nostoc. Could this Nostoc strain contribute to a new drug? We intend to find out