News Release 13-014
Winners of 10th Annual International Science & Technology Visualization Challenge Announced
More than 200 entries received from 18 countries
![Biomineral crystals found in a sea urchin tooth.](/news/mmg/media/images/scivis1_f4.jpg)
First Place and People's Choice for Photography: Biomineral crystals found in a sea urchin tooth.
January 31, 2013
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), along with the journal Science, today announces the 53 winners and honorable mentions of the International Science & Technology Visualization Challenge, a highly competitive contest jointly sponsored by NSF and Science. Science magazine is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
This latest competition received more than 200 entries from 18 countries, including entries from 19 U.S. states and Canadian territories. The Feb. 1, 2013, issue of Science features the winning submissions, which are also accessible to the public at NSF's website.
"It's the 10th year of this challenge, and each year, partnering with Science magazine, we receive beautiful and compelling visualizations that enhance public understanding of science," said Judith Gan, NSF's director of Legislative and Public Affairs. "Researchers are generating more information than ever before, and visualization techniques are evolving to meet the challenge of conveying this information in comprehensible ways, as well. This year's many outstanding contributions are evidence of this continuing adaptation necessary to illuminate increasingly complex information."
"This year's winning entries are a spectacular collection. Each one exposes a hidden facet of the natural world, or puts scientific concepts in a new light. And they use cutting-edge techniques to draw the viewer in," said Colin Norman, Science magazine's news editor. "That's exactly what we were hoping for when we joined with NSF a decade ago to launch the science and engineering visualization challenge."
Winning entries feature owls that can perform 270-degree neck rotations, biomineral crystals found in a sea urchin's tooth, a realistic video simulation of a human heart, a flash game about Special Relativity and other compelling visualizations.
A committee of staff members from Science and NSF screened the entries and sent finalists to an outside panel of experts in scientific visualization to select the winners. In addition, as was the case for the first time last year, the public participated in the voting process, selecting their favorite images as People's Choice awardees. The challenge received more than 3,150 public votes.
The winning entries are featured by category at the links below in NSF's International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge Special Report, where several winners are featured in a video produced by NSF.
The 2012 winning entries are included in five categories:
First Place & People's Choice:
Pupa U. P. A. Gilbert and Christopher E. Killian--University of Wisconsin-Madison
Biomineral Single Crystals
Honorable Mentions (2-way tie):
Kai-hung Fung--Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital (Hong Kong)
Self Defense
Viktor Sykora--Charles University (Czech Republic)
Jan Zemlicka, Frantisek Krejci and Jan Jakubek--Czech Technical University (Czech Republic)
X-ray micro-radiography and microscopy of seeds
First Place:
Emmett McQuinn, Pallab Datta, Myron D. Flickner, William P. Risk and Dharmendra S. Modha--IBM Research-Almaden (San Jose, Calif.)
Connectivity of a Cognitive Computer Based on the Macaque Brain
Honorable Mention and People's Choice:
Maxime Chamberland, David Fortin and Maxime Descoteaux--Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Lab (Quebec, Canada)
Cerebral Infiltration
First Place:
Fabian de Kok-Mercado, Michael Habib, Tim Phelps, Lydia Gregg and Philippe Gailloud--Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, Md.)
Adaptations of the Owl's Cervical & Cephalic Arteries in Relation to Extreme Neck Rotation
Honorable Mention:
Mark Nielsen and Satoshi Amagai--Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Chevy Chase, Md.)
Bill Pietsch and Davey Thomas--Astronaut 3 Media Group (Arlington, Va.)
Andy Knoll--Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
Earth Evolution: The Intersection of Geology and Biology
People's Choice:
Will Stahl-Timmins, Clare Redshaw, Mathew White, Michael Depledge and Lora Fleming--University of Exeter Medical School (England, U.K.)
The Pharma Transport Town: Understanding the Routes to Sustainable Pharmaceutical Use
Honorable Mention:
Debbie Denise Reese, Robert E. Kosko, Charles A. Wood and Cassie Lightfritz--Wheeling Jesuit University (Wheeling, W.Va.)
Barbara G. Tabachnick--California State University, Northridge
CyGaMEs Selene II: A Lunar Construction GaME
Honorable Mention:
Andy Hall--TestTubeGames (Cambridge, Mass.)
Velocity Raptor
People's Choice:
Gayatri Mehta--University of North Texas (Denton, Texas)
UNTANGLED
First Place & People's Choice:
Guillermo Marin, Fernando M. Cucchietti, Mariano Vazquez and Carlos Tripiana--Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Barcelona, Spain)
Alya Red: A Computational Heart
Honorable Mentions (3-way tie):
Christine E. Farrar, Zac H. Forsman, Ruth D. Gates, Jo-Ann C. Leong and Robert J. Toonen--University of Hawaii, Manoa
Observing the Coral Symbiome Using Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy
Thomas Brown--Nucleus Medical Media (Kennesaw, Ga.)
Fertilization
Michael Rubinstein, Neal Wadhwa, Frédo Durand, William T. Freeman, Hao-Yu Wu and John Guttag--MIT (Cambridge, Mass.)
Revealing Invisible Changes In The World
-NSF-
-
Honorable Mention for Posters & Graphics: Earth Evolution: The Intersection of Geology and Biology.
Credit and Larger Version -
1st place winner for Illustration: Connectivity of a Cognitive Computer Based on the Macaque Brain.
Credit and Larger Version -
View Video
International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge 2012 Video
Credit and Larger Version -
Winning entries can be seen in the February 1 issue of the journal Science.
Credit and Larger Version
Media Contacts
Bobbie Mixon, NSF, (703) 292-8485, email: bmixon@nsf.gov
Natasha Pinol, AAAS, (202) 326-7088, email: npinol@aaas.org
The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.
Connect with us online
NSF website: nsf.gov
NSF News: nsf.gov/news
For News Media: nsf.gov/news/newsroom
Statistics: nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards database: nsf.gov/awardsearch/
Follow us on social
Twitter: twitter.com/NSF
Facebook: facebook.com/US.NSF
Instagram: instagram.com/nsfgov