Researchers Capture the Beauty of Our Weird, Wonderful World

From microscopic salt crystals to aerial views of invasive ferns, the winners of the 2022 Envisioning Research contest showcase the beauty of research – and help us understand just how strange and wonderful our world is.

The contest is a collaborative effort by NC State’s Office of Research and Innovation, the Graduate School, the NC State University Libraries, the Office of Undergraduate Research and University Communications and Marketing. Envisioning Research was open to faculty, staff, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and undergraduates.

A complete list of winners, runners-up and honorable mentions is below. You can see high-res versions of each entry, as well as captions about each image, by clicking on a winning entry’s name. You can find a gallery of all this year’s winners here.

Photography

First Place, Faculty and Staff: David Suchoff, a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œIs the Sun Rising or Setting on Floral Hemp?”

Second Place, Faculty and Staff: Michelle Jewell, a staff member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œHot and Humid Caving.”

Honorable Mention, Faculty and Staff: Daniela Jones, a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering, for β€œNC Farmer’s Complex Soils.”

First Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Emily Nastase, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œAfter the Burn.”

Second Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Andrew Howell, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œInvasion of the Oxygen-Sucking Floating Fern in North Carolina: Giant Salvinia, It’s Back!”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Steven Chavez, a graduate student in the College of Design, for β€œUrban Waterway Viewshed.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Muhammad Ali, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œRaising Chickens With a Fine View.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Taylor Pardue, a graduate student in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, for β€œA Forest-Half-Full Mentality.”

First Place, Undergraduate Students: Kenzie Cromer, an undergraduate in the College of Sciences, for β€œHello Again.”

Second Place, Undergraduate Students: Darius Ledbetter, an undergraduate in the College of Natural Resources, for β€œA Loblolly Pine Sunset at Schenck Forest.”

Honorable Mention, Undergraduate Students: Courtney Smith, an undergraduate in the College of Natural Resources, for β€œEmerald Ash Borer Exiting an Ash Tree.”

Graphics and Data Visualization

First Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Ben Coleman, a graduate student in the College of Design, for β€œAction Taken From Tragedy.”

Second Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Susmita Patil, a graduate student in the College of Design, for β€œRailroads of the Confederacy.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Margaret Lawrimore, a graduate student in the College of Natural Resources, for β€œFlood-Prone Development in Charleston, South Carolina.”

First Place, Undergraduate Students: Sophia Li, an undergraduate in the College of Design, for β€œGrowing Pains: Gentrification in South Park, Raleigh NC.”

Microscopy

First Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Cyrus Cao, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, for β€œMicroscopic Frosty Forest: Salt Crystals with Fluorescently Labeled Virus.”

Second Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Lilian Okello, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, for β€œ3D-printed Nanolandscape.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Lucille Verster, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, for β€œPolypropylene Nonwoven.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Yosra Kotb, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, for β€œFiery Craters.”

Honorable Mention, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Sreekiran Raveendran Pillai, a postdoc in the College of Engineering, for β€œIce Tree Under the Night Sky.”

First Place, Undergraduate Students: Sydney Andersen, an undergraduate in the College of Sciences, for β€œPolarized Optical Microscopy of Zinc Chloride from Solution.”

Second Place, Undergraduate Students: Ian Mercer, an undergraduate in the College of Engineering, for β€œLocally Epitaxial Lattice Matching.”

Honorable Mention, Undergraduate Students: Courtney Smith, an undergraduate in the College of Natural Resources, for β€œParasitoid Wasp Examining a Potential Host.”

Video and Interactive

First Place, Faculty and Staff: Jennifer Landin, a faculty member in the College of Sciences, for β€œWorldwide Serpent Deities…or Whales?”

First Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Wen Rivero, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for β€œPlasma, the Future of Food Safety.”

Second Place, Graduate Students and Postdocs: Christopher Brewer, a graduate student in the College of Sciences, for β€œThe Soxhlet Blues.”

First Place, Undergraduate Students: Sydney Andersen, an undergraduate in the College of Sciences, for β€œCrystallization and Melt of a Zinc Chloride Hydrate Crystal.”

This post was originally published in NC State News.