The fourth time’s a charm. On February 9 at University Galleries, Illinois State’s Office of Student Research was finally able to host an in-person finalists’ reception and exhibit for the Image of Research competition.
The office was forced to move the annual event online in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and postponed this year’s third edition last week when a major winter storm dumped a foot of snow on Bloomington-Normal leading the University to close for two days. But things fell into place on Wednesday. More than 30 people, including Illinois State President Terri Goss Kinzy, attended the awards reception for an exhibit that featured prints of each image from the competition’s 22 finalists (12 graduate and 10 undergraduate submissions).
“It is such a pleasure to finally be able to have this in-person,” Office of Student Research Director Dr. Gina Hunter told the audience during the awards ceremony. “Two years ago I had everything but the cookies ordered, and COVID happened. … We’ve been doing it online and having the online exhibit. But this year, finally we get to print them and see them up close and meet all the students, and it’s really wonderful.”
Kendra Paitz, MBA ’06, M.A. ’11, director and chief curator of University Galleries, said visitors were streaming into the exhibit all day to see the students’ images, which were displayed alongside artworks featured in the ongoing 2022 Faculty Biennial.
“People were waiting for us to open the doors (this morning),” Paitz said on Wednesday. “It is really thrilling to have it in person.”
The Illinois State competition, which is modeled after similar events held worldwide, requires participants to submit one compelling, static image of their research along with a brief narrative. A panel composed of Cecil McDonald Jr., a Chicago-based artist, and Kandace Rusnack, national director of the Education B2B for The New York Times, evaluated the submissions based on visual impact; originality; and the connection between the student’s image, narrative, and research project. The public voted February 9 for the People’s Choice award winners.
Hunter was impressed with the diversity of the entrants, who came from three of the University’s colleges and ranged in academic level from freshmen to third-year graduate students. “(This competition) gives a creative outlet for students and a chance to show something that maybe very few people get to see about their research. And it shows all of these students have faculty mentors that they’re working with. So it really supports ISU’s main mission of individualized attention, of commitment to engaged research and teaching.”
Below is the complete list of winners. View all of the finalists’ images on the Office of Student Research’s website.
Graduate category
First place ($200):
Psychedelic Songbird Cerebellum by Elliot Lusk (biology)
Second place ($150):
Worth Every Penny: Establishing Pennycress in Illinois Agricultural Systems by Bethany Wohrley (agriscience)
Honorable mention ($50 each):
Futureland in Blue by Rochele Gloor (creative technologies)
Worse Off Together: Consequences of Microsporidian and Virus Co-infection for Parasite Dynamics and Bumble Bee Host Health by Elyse McCormick (biology)
Arabidopsis thanliana trichome by Trevor Rickerd (molecular biology)
People’s Choice ($100):
Worse Off Together: Consequences of Microsporidian and Virus Co-infection for Parasite Dynamics and Bumble Bee Host Health by Elyse McCormick (biology)
Elliot Lusk, Psychedelic Songbird Cerebellum 
Bethany Wohrley, Worth Every Penny: Establishing Pennycress in Illinois Agricultural Systems 
Rochele Gloor, Futureland in Blue 
Elyse McCormick, Worse Off Together: Consequences of Microsporidian and Virus Co-infection for Parasite Dynamics and Bumble Bee Host Health 
Trevor Rickerd, Arabidopsis thanliana trichome
Undergraduate category
First place ($200):
Unraveling the Consequences of Human Longevity by Katelyn Tenuto (psychology)
Second place ($150):
Protein Zoo by Shaniya Barrett (molecular and cellular biology)
Honorable mention ($50 each):
Refining Techniques for Assessing Best Management Practices for Nitrate Load Reduction by Comparing in Situ Tracers by Joseph Hoberg (geology)
Complete Evidence by Sarah Patterson, and (anthropology)
Priceless Prairies by Madison Steines (conservation biology)
People’s Choice ($100):
Priceless Prairies by Madison Steines (conservation biology)
Image of Research winners react
Lusk won first place in the graduate category for his image of a nestling European starling’s brain. “(I am) ecstatic, over the moon,” said Lusk, a third-year graduate student in the School of Biological Sciences from Bloomington. “It’s great to win the first in-person one.”
Lusk used a confocal microscope in the School of Biological Sciences to create a bioimage of the bird’s brain and added some colors in Adobe Photoshop. “We were encouraged to bring in our own samples. And I look at bird brains and brought in one, one day, and I was hunting around. I just had it up there on the computer screen, and it just blew my mind.”
Tenuto, a junior psychology major and biological sciences minor, said she was shocked and excited to win first place in the undergraduate category. Her image came out of her research with Dr. Benjamin Sadd, associate professor of infectious disease ecology.
“My research is about how humans are living longer over generations, and our risk for cancer is increasing,” said Tenuto, of Huntley. “I just wanted to highlight the importance of genetic testing. So the right half of the face is old and aging and then the reflection of the eyes is a family tree with the squares in the circles. And that reflects how we need to assess our family history now so that we can reduce the risk and be proactive for when we age.”
Lusk was impressed with the variety of research on display at the exhibit: “It’s awesome to see just all the different walks of research, everything from bones to biology. There are some amazing fine art selections too. It’s really something that anybody can relate to and anyone can enter.”
The winning entries will be on display on the main floor of Milner Library through March and thereafter at the 2022 University Research Symposium and other campus events. The undergraduate winning submissions will also be on view in the lobby between Hewett and Manchester Halls for the entire next year.
The competition is sponsored by the Office of Student Research, the Graduate School, Milner Library, and University Galleries. For more information about the event, visit the Office of Student Research’s website.
