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Art of STEM home

2024 Jury Awards

Case Western Reserve University

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Runner-Up

High School Students

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The Science of You and Me To me, the greatest scientific and artistic masterpiece is the human. This illustration celebrates the existing research on the human body and the wonders that we have yet to decipher. As we live in our bodies every single day, sometimes we fail to realize the delicate biological balances and intricacies at play in producing every thought and action. Take for example our cardiovascular system, which exists autonomously. It contains the heart and 60,000 miles of blood vessels(the red and blue structures in my illustration) working to pump and circulate blood and vital nutrients throughout the body. But the science of humans doesn't stop at the anatomical level. You and the lady in my illustration might have nearly indistinguishable skeletons, but your minds, tainted with different cultures and environments, set you apart. Inspired by Da Vinci’s realistic portraits that stemmed from his numerous anatomical studies, I started off with a pencil sketch of a skeleton and then slowly filled in the lady’s flesh accordingly. I colored the illustration digitally and left some pencil sketch marks across the canvas to emphasize the layers of my art process—a parallel to the fundamental scientific discoveries that built up to our present knowledge.
Mindful Relief My piece of artwork is the visualization of the relief after hemispherectomy. Hemispherectomy is the surgical procedure where the diseased half of the brain is removed. Most patients who get this procedure are children between the ages of 7 to 16 years old and this is due to severe epilepsy or spasms. After the surgery you would think there would be huge changes to a person but there are reports that patients lives are completely normal and they do everyday things like everyone else. Patients get this procedure to no longer endure the pain of seizures but to live a life of relief.
Impact Imagine the power and beauty of a steel sphere impacting the undisturbed surface of water at supersonic speeds. Take in the progression from surface to depth at three kilometers per second in less than a fifty-thousandth of a second. The artificially colored density gradients of the simulation accentuate the swirling dance of water and air as the surface rises up and the shock wave descends. What can an insignificant sphere teach us as we delve into the depths of high-speed water entry? This extreme struggle between steel and water is at the edge of the unknown, but could yield tantalizing insights into the damage a naval ship might experience from future high-speed projectiles. The study of a simple sphere could lead to lives being saved. Imagine the impact.
Icee You The Great Lakes ice cover on Lake Erie is great winter fun for pups and people. Sometimes ice covers the entire lake! Together with freezing temperatures and high winds, the ice creates beautiful, one-of-a-kind sculptures. This typically occurs in mid to late February. The ice cover also plays a critical role in our environment. Ice cover protects lots of ecosystems and cold-water species like plankton, whitefish, and lake trout. The number of days with ice cover tells us a lot about climate patterns, too. Ice cover has been decreasing since the early 1970s due to global warming. Did you know that less ice cover means more lake-effect precipitation in the winter? This also means that you should be extra careful when walking on ice, because it may look thicker than it actually is. So, whenever you feel the winter blues, head on down to Lake Erie to marvel at the magnificent works of art from Mother Nature, herself!
Damaged Doll For this piece, it is related to psychology, specifically BPD, and how self-image works. Many people, including myself, have changed themselves because someone they loved asked them to or not. This can lead to one losing themselves and their mental health for the sake of others. BPD, or Borderline Personality Disorder, can significantly impact self-image, often leading individuals to adapt their behaviors and personalities in response to the demands and expectations of others, which can result in a loss of identity and mental well-being.
In-flight Inspiration While birdwatching last summer, I captured this photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding in a patch of anise sage. It was amazing watching these tiny birds zip about from flower to flower. Hummingbirds are incredibly unique. They are the only birds that can fly forward and backward, hover in mid-air, and even fly upside down. They flap their wings over seventy times each second and can fly up to sixty miles per hour. Despite weighing less than a nickel, hummingbirds fly hundreds of miles every year during migration. Hummingbird flight is a marvel of nature and is widely studied by engineers. In 2017, researchers at the University of Toronto mimicked the strokes of hummingbirds’ wings to design lightweight wind energy nanogenerators, offering improved efficiency and low-cost deployment. In 2019, researchers at Purdue University modeled drones after hummingbirds’ flight which proved more effective for navigating tight spaces, increasing potential for faster rescues during disasters like building collapses. Applying elements of nature to engineering, called biomimicry, is widely utilized in many STEM fields. I love birdwatching both because it provides an escape from school and work and because it gives engineers a grounding in the real world that is useful for innovation.
Breathe. Every day, we are surrounded by a whirlwind of our past inventions and discoveries, but very rarely do we stop to appreciate the color and wonder of our world. From medicine to mechanical engineering, aviation to astronomy research, botany to biology, we are surrounded by science, technology, and innovation: we almost literally breathe it in every day, and breathe it out as we pursue our individual lives. The objects and symbols in this piece represent aspects of STEM that I have been involved in or that have directly impacted my life. This piece was hand-drawn using digital illustration software, which enabled me to freely play around with contrast, light, color, and shapes, and achieve the grayscale/muted color effect and light contrast. Through the lighting, color, line directionality, and composition choices, the beautiful chaos of invention grows, literally, from the mind of humanity, evoking the same sense of wonder that one would receive with a fantastically surprising discovery, and encouraging everyone to take a step back, breathe in the world, and marvel: look at all that we have achieved so far — what more could we achieve in the future?
A Fruitful Year The Pomegranate symbolizes beneficial, productive and profitable life in Chinese culture due to its unique multi-seeds natural structure. Additional, the round shape stands for the perfect and ideal life of hope as well. Both characteristics lead to the special meaning of this kind of fruit in social background, which displays the amazing relationship between the nature and the human. By means of Chinese traditional ink painting technique of calligraphy, could I express my understanding of the ART of STEM. Hopefully this ink painting would bring you all a fruitful year.