Nine entries, each telling a scientific story with a careful balance of accuracy and beauty, have won the 2005 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored jointly by the National Science Foundation and the journal Science , published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
The contest, currently in its third year, recognizes outstanding achievement in the use of visual media to promote understanding of research results and scientific phenomena. The judges' criteria for evaluating the entries included visual impact, innovation and accuracy.
The winning entries communicate information about the brilliant spectrum of fluorescing molecules, the fleeting moment when one neuron prepares to signal another, the spectacular emergence of the 17-year cicada, and more. A news story in the 23 September 2005 issue of Science presents all of the entries, which will also be freely available at www.sciencemag.org/sciext/vis2005/ . The entries will also be displayed at the National Science Foundation's website, http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/overview.jsp
When the embargo lifts at 2:00 PM US ET on Thursday 22 September, a web version of the 17-year cicada movie, plus a " Science for Kids" story about this entry, will be freely available online at the EurekAlert! Kids Portal, http://www.eurekalert.org/cicadas
The winning entries are in five categories:
ILLUSTRATION
First Place:
Graham Johnson, Graham Johnson Medical Media
The Synapse Revealed
INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC First Place:
Cheryl Aaron, Omega Optical, Inc.
Fluoressence: The Essence of Fluorescence
PHOTOGRAPHY
First Place:
James S. Aber, Emporia State University
Autumn Color, Estonian Bog
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Honorable Mention:
Tracy M. Sterling, New Mexico State University
Transpiration: Water Movement Through Plants
NON-INTERACTIVE MEDIA
First Place:
Roger Hangarter, Indiana University
Return of the 17-Year Cicadas
Note: When the embargo lifts at 2:00 PM US ET on Thursday 22 September, a web version of this movie, plus a " Science for Kids" story about this entry, will be freely available online at the EurekAlert! Kids Portal, http://www.eurekalert.org/cicadas
Honorable Mentions:
Mogi Massimo Vicentini, Civico Planetario Di Milano
Planetary Motion From Euxodus to Copernicus
Steve Deyo, Kevin Fuell, Katherine Olson, Dan Ritter and Seth Lamos, UCAR/COMET
Rip Currents: Nearshore Fundamentals
Leslie Ann Aldridge, National Geographic TV & Film
Forces of Nature Interactive Website
Nina Amenta, University of California, Davis
Evolutionary Morphing: Statistical Interpolation of Ancestral Morphology
More information about the 2005 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge is available at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/overview.jsp . Please contact Susan Mason at +1-703-292-7748 (phone) or smason@nsf.gov (email).
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science ( www.sciencemag.org ). AAAS was founded in 1848, and serves some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of one million. The non-profit AAAS ( www.aaas.org ) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org , the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
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