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News Release 17-027

NSF and Popular Science announce winners of 15th annual 'Vizzies'

Challenge recognizes effective visualizations from science and engineering


"Self Reflected Under White, Red, and Violet Light" was named Expert's Choice for illustration.


March 29, 2017

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 Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Today, Popular Science magazine and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announce the winners of the 15th Annual Vizzies Challenge, celebrating the use of visual media to artfully and clearly communicate scientific data and research.

The competition recognizes the best photographs, videos, illustrations, interactive apps, and posters and graphics produced by academic researchers, artists or hobbyists.

"Congratulations to all of this year's winners, and for everyone who took the time to create Vizzies entries," said NSF Director France Córdova. "Scientific visualizations have an exceptional ability to explain, spark interest and inspire."

"Visual representations are a crucial way to communicate scientific ideas to the public," said Popular Science online director Amy Schellenbaum. "They are a great way to help a larger group of people understand the amazing occurrences taking place right under our noses every day."

A team of experts at NSF and Popular Science pared hundreds of submissions down to 50 finalists; from those 50, a panel of outside experts picked five Expert's Choice winners. Popular Science readers chose five People's Choice winners.

The honorees are listed below. More information, including their visualizations, is available at the NSF winners page or on Popular Science's site.

Photography

  • Experts' Choice: "A Hungry Starfish Larva," by William Gilpin, Vivek N. Prakash and Manu Prakash.
  • People's Choice: "The Octobot, a Completely Soft Machine," by Lori K. Sanders, Ryan L. Truby, Michael Wehner, Robert J. Wood and Jennifer A. Lewis.

Video

  • Experts' Choice: "Network Earth," by Mauro Martino and Jianxi Gao.
  • People's Choice: "Planet Nine," by Patrick McPike, Mark SubbaRao and Mike Brown.

Illustration

  • Experts' Choice: "Self Reflected Under White, Red, and Violet Light," by Greg Dunn, Brian Edwards and Will Drinker.
  • People's Choice: "Zika Virus," by David S. Goodsell.

Interactive

  • Experts' Choice: "Flyover Country," by Shane Loeffler, Amy Myrbo, Sijia Ai, Reed McEwan and Alex Morrison.
  • People's Choice: "ASL-LEX: A visualization of American Sign Language," by Naomi Caselli, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Ariel Cohen-Goldberg, Ben Tanen and Karen Emmorey.

Posters & Graphics

  • Experts' Choice: "Here There Be Robots," by Eleanor Lutz.
  • People's Choice: "Micro-pumping Mechanism of Hummingbirds' Tongues," by Esther Ng.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
 Rob Margetta, NSF, (703) 292-2663, email: rmargett@nsf.gov
Molly Battles, Popular Science, (212) 779-5112, email: Molly.Battles@bonniercorp.com

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.

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