4/30/2020 Kimberly Belser
Six graudate students from The Grainger College of Engineering reached the semi-finals of the Illinois Graduate College's 2020 Images of Research Exhibition.
Written by Kimberly Belser
Six graudate students from The Grainger College of Engineering reached the semi-finals of the Illinois Graduate College's 2020 Images of Research Exhibition. Here these students explain their image, the contest, and what they hope their research contributes to their field of study.
“A Small Cube to Solve Big Wind Load Problems,” Antonio Zaldivar de Alba, Civil and Environmental Engineering
[image:40857 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
My photo shows a cube developed at the Wind Engineering Research Laboratory (Wind Lab) to record wind-induced pressure during extreme winds. The cube is part of a mobile fleet of wind engineering instruments that have the objective of improving our understanding of severe winds and their induced loading. You can see in the picture little dots in the face of the cube, and it is at these dots where we record pressure information. They are distributed symmetrically all around the cube, allowing us to estimate the wind-induced loading.
Q: How did you capture this image?
I captured this image during a deployment at our laboratory in Rantoul, IL. That day, I and a group of my colleagues from the Wind Lab, deployed the cube with a meteorological tower to obtain data during strong winds. Also, this deployment was the first one after the development phase of the equipment and officially started the data collection phase of the project. This picture is an essential milestone of my research and the development of the mobile fleet of wind engineering instruments at the Wind Lab.
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
The cube in the photo is a centerpiece of my research. I investigate the effects of thunderstorm winds in building loads, and this cube will help my research by providing valuable data. Thanks to the mobile characteristics of the cube, we can deploy our instruments where the probability of high winds is higher and, in that way, increasing our chances of getting valuable data. With this cube, we will fill a gap in full-scale data of extreme winds, desperately needed for validation of models and simulations.
Q: How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
I hope that this image helps to promote the wind engineering field and show how broad it is. Also, I wish this picture helps to create interest in the young generations to get more bright young minds involved in wind engineering, helping us solve the most critical problems of the field.
Q: How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
I feel thrilled to be a semifinalist of the Image of Research 2020 competition, the fact that I can show to the University community part of my research and represent the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department fills me with pride. I am grateful to the Scholarly Commons of the University Library and the Graduate College for organizing this competition. Lastly, I want to thank the CEE department, my colleagues at the Wind Lab, my advisor, and my family for all their help and support.
“Microscopic Roses and Thorns on a Metal Surface,” Parinaz Fathi, Bioengineering
[image:40858 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
This is a Scanning Electron Microscopy image of nanostructures that we've prepared directly on a metal surface. The background of the image is the metal surface that we used, while the red and yellow "petals" and "thorns" are our nanostructures. You can see that the structures are quite thin and have kind of stacked against each other to form something that looks like a rose, which is why I called it "Microscopic Roses and Thorns on a Metal Surface".
Q: How did you capture this image?
I captured this image using the Scanning Electron Microscope in the Beckman Institute
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
This photo is actually from one of my side projects. What was really exciting about this project is that it came about entirely by accident. Near the end of my first year of grad school, I found that I was getting some very nice and unexpected geometries of nanostructures in batches of nanoparticles that were supposed to be spherical. It took some time to figure it out, but we finally realized how we could reproducibly synthesize these nanostructures (and it turned out to be a pretty easy synthesis once we figured it out). So really this image is significant to our work because its a culmination of years of exploration to figure out where these structures were coming from.
Q: How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
I hope this photo and the publication we are working on will provide an easy method for other researchers to obtain the nanostructures we've synthesized. We're also exploring the use of these structures in antibacterial applications, so perhaps these structures will be part of antibacterial surfaces one day.
Q: How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
It's very exciting and a huge honor! I really feel that an important part of research is being able to share our work with other people, even those outside of our field. Through images like the ones from the Image of Research competition, we can interact with people who may not have otherwise been exposed to our work, and can start a dialogue about the various kinds of research that students are contributing to the university and broader society.
“The Ephemeral Jelly,” Muhammad Jahidul Hoque, Mechanical Science and Engineering
[image:40859 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
This image shows the internal flow pattern of two merging droplets. When two dissimilar sized droplets coalesced, a jet-like internal flow and vortex rings (“swimming jellyfish”) was observed inside the merging droplet. This jet-like flow underwent a significant deceleration while the vortex-ring experienced slow radial expansion.
Q: How did you capture this image?
High speed time-lapse images of two coalesced droplets were captured from which this chronograph was developed to better understand the internal flow pattern.
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
My research area focuses on droplet coalescence dynamics and jumping phenomena on different engineered surface. This image was an output of the effort to develop a simple visualization technique of the internal flow dynamics during droplet coalescence.
Q: How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
This chronophotograph demonstrates the previously unidentified jet-like flow that occurs during the coalescence of droplets having different sizes.
Q: How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
It is an amazing feeling.
“Asphalt Concrete Brownie with Hot Asphalt Fudge,”Punit Singhvi, Civil and Environmental Engineering
[image:40860 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
Design of asphalt concrete is like a recipe, unique for every geographical location, traffic, drainage, and available materials. It requires right proportion of each of its ingredients (binder, aggregates, modifiers) to ensure the highest performance. The image presents asphalt concrete as a brownie made of stone matrix asphalt, topped with asphalt binder, sprinkle of yellow sulfur pellets (asphalt modifier) and white Sasobit (warm mix additive), garnish of polymer fibers on the top and hint of bio-based oil (asphalt modifier). The image is an abstract depiction of how asphalt concrete can be made with perfection by choosing right ingredients, to overcome the poor pavement conditions.
Q: How did you capture this image?
Asphalt binder when hot has honey or oil like consistency. While preparing a test specimen, I was pouring asphalt into the test molds and it almost felt like a hot chocolate fudge instead. So, I decided to imitate something like a hot brownie with fudge. Instead of using chocolate I replaced it with my asphalt samples. And later, improvised the garnishing (which can all be used in making asphalt concrete). I would like to credit my wife for suggesting me to walk to the parking lot and click the image with the pavement marking.
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
My research focuses on the understanding of asphalt material properties, design of asphalt concrete, asphalt chemistry, asphalt rheology and asphalt modification. The image communicates the idea of how asphalt materials if prepared with right blend of ingredients, utmost care, and precision can result in a wonderful functioning pavement. The image motivates me and encourages me to explore the enormous possibilities in design and engineering of these materials.
Q: How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
The image communicates the idea of how a sticky dirty asphalt if prepared with utmost care, precision, and right blend of ingredients can come out to be a wonderful functioning pavement. I hope the image inspires asphalt community to create, innovate, and design world class pavements.
Q: How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
Firstly, I would like to thank graduate college for creating Image of research platform to share creative ideas. I feel great and honored to be selected in the list of semifinalists. It gave me an opportunity to present my work with innovation and creativity.
“Inhale,” Whitney Sinclair, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
[image:40861 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
Nanoparticles are moving towards use as consumer products and therapeutic agents, and are gaining prevalence as environmental toxins. What happens when we inhale these nanoparticles? How will they interact with your lung tissue? With increasing concern about the impact that nanoparticles have on human health, I have taken an interest in the lung. The lung is the most susceptible region of the body to interact with environmental particulates. This photo is an image of lung endothelial cells and allows us to identify the ways in which nanoparticles (gold) alters the cell cytoskeleton (green).
Q: How did you capture this image?
I immunostained my sample to illuminate the cell nuclei (blue) and cytoskeleton (green). Utilized a confocal microscope at the IGB Core facility, I was able to image nanoparticles (gold) and their impact on lung endothelial cells.
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
For this particular collaborative research project between Professor Leckband and Murphy’s research groups, we were looking at the impact of nanoparticles on human lung tissue. This image was the first of many images we utilized to identify the morphological effects nanoparticles had on lung endothelial cells.
Q: How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
We are in the process of publishing a manuscript ‘Gold nanoparticles disrupt actin organization and pulmonary endothelial barriers’ that includes images similar to my competition submission. This manuscript is contributing to the growing array of literature that identifies the impacts of environmental and therapeutic nanoparticles on the human body.
Q: How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
I was told I was a semifinalists at the beginning of the Illinois ‘shelter-in place’. It was a pleasant surprise to receive positive news at that moment of uncertainty.
“The Heart of the Power,” Jianqiao Xiao, Electrical and Computer Engineering
[image:40862 class:fcenter]
Q: Tell me about your photo.
My photo captures a motor designed and built by my research group. The motor is a high-power, high-specific power and high-speed machine for aviation applications.
Q: How did you capture this image?
I took the picture when I saw the permanent-magnet(PM) array installed on the motor for the first time. Before that, I had been working on the computer model of the motor for a long time. So I was very excited when I heard the PM array was installed and ran to see the machine. The machine sat on the table in the machine shop. I walked around the motor and when I looked inside the motor at the PM arrays, they were so different from what appeared on the computer screen. Instead of the flat grey with perfectly smooth surfaces, the magnet arrays looked far more mysterious. The ambient light shined on the magnets, bouncing among the surfaces, getting dispersed and eventually entered my eyes. I understood the physics and math behind the machine and after all equations had been summarized into reality, I was able to discover something different and more beautiful. So I captured the picture, and tried hard to show what I saw and felt at that exact moment.
Q: What is the significance of the photo towards your own research?
I had been working on that motor for a long time before seeing it sitting in front of me. The photo is a big encouragement for me, since my research is hardware-focused; many projects may require years of work before seeing a result. As a record of my progress, the photo propels me to work hard on my research knowing that my current effort will turn into a fancy machine one day.
How do you hope your photo contributes to your field of study?
The motor shown in the picture is a result of group work of many graduate students. I hope my picture gives those who once worked on the motor an outcome of their contribution, and inspires my current colleagues and the future students to work in this field continuously.
How does it feel to be a semifinalist for the Image of Research 2020 competition?
I'm excited that my picture is among the 25 thoughtful and artistic semi-finalists, and glad that my picture is recognized. I'm also looking forward for the final result.