Art of Science

In science, as in art, the practitioner pursues moments of discovery when observations become greater than the sum of their parts and begin to reveal an untold story. The Art of Science initiative recognizes the creative and experimental nature of science and challenges UC Santa Barbara researchers to visually communicate the beauty inherent to scientific investigations.

These are the winning images from the 2022 Art of Science competition.

1st Place

Lights, Camera, Action

Artist: Jonah Rosas, graduate student
Department: Biomolecular Science and Engineering

The mini-pancreas organs in this image are called pancreas organoids. They are tissue-derived structures that help researchers understand how cells build complex organs.

art of science first place

2nd Place

Tensellation

Artist: Katya Morozov, undergraduate student
Department: BioEngineering

This image is a “heat map” showing relative tensions felt by individual cells in a kidney tissue; red correlates with high tension and purple correlates with low.

art of science 2nd place

3rd Place

Growing Patterns in a Digital Petri Dish

Artist: Mert Toka, graduate student
Department: Media Arts and Technology

This work simulates the behaviors of ants and birds in a digital petri dish environment to investigate the aesthetic qualities of their self-organizing behavior.

art of science 3rd place

People's Choice

Little Worm, Big Impact

Artist: Chee Kiang Ewe, graduate student
Department: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

The humble nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans offers a simple and highly trackable system to study cellular behavior during development.

art of science people's choice award

To view the full gallery of entries from this year and previous years, visit the Art of Science Gallery website.


Spring / Summer 2022

Features


library books

Making a World of Difference

stylized bee image

Bee Happy

sports comic-book-style illustration

Gauchos Gone Pro