Two CCS Students Recognized in 2018 Art of Science Competition
The College of Creative Studies applauds Skylar Primavera (second year CCS Biologist) and Neeraj Kulkarni (fourth year CCS Physicist) for being awarded first place and honorable mention, respectively, in UC Santa Barbara's 2018 Art of Science competition. Open to all UCSB undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows, the Art of Science is an annual competition that shares the beauty of science through photographs and images that describe some aspect of research. Each of the 57 entrants submitted a piece that encapsulated their research. Winning entries will be displayed at the Santa Barbara Museum of Exploration and + Innovation (MOXI) and at the UCSB Davidson Library. The Art of Science Program is co-sponsored by the UCSB Library, CCS, Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships, and the Schuller Lab.
Primavera's winning entry was a watercolor painting of the splendid tamarisk weevil. The biologist, who is a researcher in the Dudley Lab, chose the splendid tamarisk weevil as the subject of the entry “because everything I research is with arthropods.” Primavera noted, "the splendid tamarisk weevil is the most visually appealing of them." Since Primavera's entry was the only painting submitted to the competition, the second-year student went out on a limb when submitting the piece. "I chose to paint my entry because I like to paint and it was a good excuse to use my time on that. Most people submit photographs of their research, so I wasn't sure if paintings were allowed." Now that Primavera's painting earned first place, it is safe to say there will be more non-photograph submissions next year.
Kulkarni's submission was an image of a high-resolution simulation of two fluids flowing past each other, titled Swirls Upon Swirls. His research consists of running fluid simulations of galaxies in Professor Peng Oh's research group and Kulkarni chose this image because it stood out to him. "I was running simulations as part of my research and submitted an image of one of these simulations," said Kulkarni. "The photo is not an image I made specifically for the Art of Science; I create these images on a regular basis.I was working with a few simulations and picked the one that looked the coolest." Kulkarni, who is graduating in June, will pursue a Ph.D. in Astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder next Fall.
Congratulations to all of the entrants and the winners! To see all of the 2018 Art of Science submissions, visit: http://art-csep.cnsi.ucsb.edu/.
