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Into the Deep
No full textEarth and Environmental SciencesThe Image of Research 2012Second PlaceIn May of 2011 a multidisciplinary team of UIC students and professors from three departments embarked on an 8-day trip on the U.S. EPA research vessel RV Lake Guardian to collect lake bottom sediment samples from 28 locations in Lake Superior. This photo, taken at sunset on May 28th, 2011, shows team leaders Dr. An Li, from the department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health (left) and Dr. Karl Rockne from the department of Civil and Materials Engineering (right) preparing to send an MC-400 Spyder Corer down to collect sediment from the deepest point in Lake Superior. After a 30 minute trip down, the MC-400 reached the bottom at a depth of 398 meters, a few meters shy of the maximum lake depth. The collected samples are being analyzed for over 100 contaminants and are being dated in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences using gamma emissions from 210Pb and 137Cs radioisotopes to determine the timeline of contaminant deposition. The project will be able to answer spatial and temporal questions about contaminants, including where the contaminants are, when they started to appear, and whether they are still being deposited in Lake Superior
Frozen in Time
No full textEpidemiologyThe Image of Research 2011SubmissionMy dissertation was a clinical study performed at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and is focused on finding nutritional and lifestyle risk factors for prostate cancer among older African American men. The study collected plasma samples from 85 veterans to determine blood levels of specific hormones that are influenced by the diet.
My image is an abstract depiction of the Harris Brand -80'F freezer that was purchased with funds I obtained from a very generous seed grant from the Institute for Health Research and Policy (IHRP). The seed grant was made available for UIC pre-doctoral students who need additional funding to obtain materials for dissertation studies. My research would not have been possible without this funding, as my samples were sensitive immunoassays that needed to be batch-processed all together at the end of the clinical study.
My image of the freezer was taken on 11/12/2010 and subsequently edited with an application called 'percolator' to add the interesting texture to the photo
Building Coffins at Depo Krann, Cayes, Haiti, January 2010
No full textAnthropologyThe Image of Research 2012Third PlaceMy work with timber cutters in rural Haiti explores the dynamics of livelihood and conservation in the context of "environmental crisis." In the midst of my fieldwork to trace commodity chains from the forest to the consumer, the January 12, 2010 earthquake that took as many as 300,000 lives in Port au Prince sent shockwaves into every corner of the country. In Haiti's remote Massif de la Hotte, the rugged mountains of the far southwest, existing flows of people, commodities, capital and ideas were impacted by the earthquake in often unexpected ways. While timber cutters working the pine forests in the upper reaches of the massif scrambled for news of loved ones in the capital and prepared to receive refugees, the commodities they produced were re-routed to meet new demands created by the crisis. Pictured here, craftsmen in the Depo Krann woodworking complex in the southern city of Cayes (some 150 miles from Port au Prince) immediately shifted from production of furniture for local consumption to making coffins to meet overwhelming demand in the shattered capital
Project Snow Machine
No full textStudio ArtThe Image of Research 2009SubmissionMuch of my research deals with appropriating the marginal languages of disused and abandoned urban forms, and through public sculptural intervention, reintroducing people to their built environment. Project Snow Machine is such an urban intervention that borrows from the typology of municipal forms (signposts, signpost anchors, and parking meters) and recodes them to build a new public space. Divorced from the bonds of bureaucratic functionality, the powder-coated steel snow-ball makers designate a slightly subversive space for play and quite possibly battle. Three Snow Machines were installed for two weeks this winter throughout the city - one green, one yellow, one red - each bearing a sticker describing how to properly use the machine. The photograph depicts the boots of a Chicagoan chancing upon the absurd object, preparing to make the perfect snowball. What she does with it is up to her
New Species of Crystallophlomis from Tibet
No full textBiological Sciences (Ecology and Evolution)The Image of Research 2010Honorable MentionThe principal objective of my dissertation research is to reconstruct the evolutionary history of species in the genus Primula section Crystallophlomis, a lineage of flowering plants endemic to a north temperate biodiversity hotspot in south-central China. Accomplishment of this goal will permit insights into the mechanisms that create the high levels of biodiversity found in this region. This photograph was taken on June 23, 2009, in Bomi Xian (County) in Tibet. This exceptionally beautiful Primula is believed to be a new species of section Crystallophlomis never described before. It was found growing at an elevation of 3639 m near a large, glacial run-off stream. Fieldwork for my research involves the collection and pressing of plant specimens, documentation of locality and habitat, digital imaging, and gathering of leaf tissue for DNA extraction and analysis. The samples are sent back to the US for molecular analysis at UIC. This field research was supported by a MacArthur Foundation Building Capacity for Biodiversity Research, Conservation, and Education in Eastern Himalaya grant awarded to Dr. Jun Wen of the Smithsonian Institution
Merging
No full textEducationThe Image of Research 2009SubmissionMy research has been in cognitive aesthetics. After seven years of teaching and 35 years of being an artist, I realized that the perception of beauty, unlike Santayana’s belief that aesthetics are constant, can and does change. Artists don’t create just by gut instinct but also use cognition. My research also shows that aesthetics are influenced by culture, morals, and social conventions.
Many artists and people who write about aesthetics feel that to create art, we must separate ourselves from our humanity. I disagree. I know these feelings of separation and detachment, yet I also know that when I create I feel more human.
In Merging, I started with two collaged paintings on unstretched canvas. One is made up of photos of my family painted in blue and cut horizontally. The other is made up photos of my art and myself painted in warm colors and cut in rough vertical flames. I wove them together to show that in my life, my art merges with my family life—not smoothly and evenly—but rough and uneven—some parts hidden, some parts exposed. Researching and exposing my creative life allows me to understand my students who have their own aesthetic sensibilities
HIPPA Compliance
No full textPublic HealthThe Image of Research 2009SubmissionThe ProCEED (Prostate Cancer Study of Ethnicity, Exercise and Diet) was a case-control epidemiology study that was undertaken to assess racial differences in dietary risk factors for prostate cancer. Correlations between certain blood hormone concentrations and dietary intake were examined. Data collection forms were used to collect the dietary intake data.
The photo presented is an image of the data collection forms used to collect the dietary data for the ProCEED study. The style of this image is significant, as this picture could not have been taken in sharper focus due to patient privacy rules. The Health Information Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) regulations were enacted in 2003, just as I was embarking on my research. While beneficial for patients, these regulations have made medical research very challenging. I feel that this image reflects my research, as well as the historical environment within which it was conducted
So Many Ends of the World
No full textArt and DesignThe Image of Research 2010SubmissionThis image is a still from my Fall 2009 research project, So Many Ends of the World, a digital stereoscopic (3d) film designed for the C-Wall, a passive/active stereoscopic projection system. This system was pioneered at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at UIC. Primarily, my research is in the area of stereoscopic 3d cinema. So Many Ends of the World is the latest component of an ongoing exploration of the fine arts potential of powerful digital tools such as Autodesk Maya, a computer graphics modeling and animation suite. In this scene, the viewer travels over an unfamiliar planet, just above the atmosphere, finally encountering a brilliant star rise. The stereoscopic effect gives the viewer an immersive view of the planet; various layers of the atmosphere and surface details are heightened. The primary components of the technical arts research explored in this piece are: exploitation of the various camera techniques that are costly in physical cameras but readily available through Maya, experimentation with various states of liquid, gases and solids, including dynamic simulations and the abstraction of computer graphics in Maya and After Effects striving for an atypical stereoscopic animation—e.g. softening of edges, simulation of depth, augmented lighting scenarios, hyper- and hypostereoscopy
The Looking Glass
No full textPhotographyThe Image of Research 2009SubmissionMy recent graduate research is both conceptual and theoretical in nature. Ultimately, my broader interests reside in self-contemplation and greater insight into the world we live in. Similarly, in the work presented, I examine relationships and power between humans on an individual basis. I envision scenes and exploit my own understanding of reality and imagination. Humans, to a certain extent, possess the ability to construct the world around them and can do so for or against their favor. The dark nature of my images question whether or not the characters shown are in fact exerting this kind of control or merely being controlled by outside forces.
Central to my concept is the necessity of a specific atmosphere and mood. The addition of colored light allows for greater visual expression with the possibility of mimicking form and infusing light into an environment. This is actualized through meticulously placed wireless flash units and colored gels at the time of digital capture. “The Looking Glass,” set in a public bathroom, plays with the viewer in that both the existence and intention of the standing figure is not known
Research is an Infinite Loop
No full textGraphic DesignThe Image of Research 2009FinalistThis picture does not speak of the immediate research that I am currently pursuing through UIC, it does however speak with a metaphorical tone to my observation of research as a whole. Originally created as a self initiated visualization of the concept 'Inquiry by Design' - I created a short slideshow of ones quest to fill the holes of a piece of Swiss Cheese. In the end, the perfect match was an olive, which upon closer examination also has holes in it, thus leading to a new problem which holds an answer through research. An infinite loop of exploration, if one is so curious