by Chinny Tiu
When I received my acceptance to the CSN Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program last spring, I was so excited for the opportunity to immerse myself in a whole new field of chemistry research in Dr. Christy Haynes’s lab, and to explore Minneapolis, a city I had never been to before! Coming from a small primarily undergraduate liberal arts college in Massachusetts, I was also very curious about what it would be like to work in a bigger laboratory with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Little did I know that amidst learning to synthesize carbon dots, attending group meetings, and conducting many different experiments, I would also be reconnected with a passion that I have held close to heart since I was a young child through the CSN SURE’s SciArt program.
When I was younger, my vision for my future focused on art and writing. Though like many others, my career goals changed depending on the book I was reading, what sport I was playing, and just whatever caught my attention as I was learning more about the world around me. I also loved being outside and observing the simple forms of nature in my backyard, be it butterflies flitting from flower to flower, birds hopping on different branches, or the figures I could make out in the clouds. As I began to doodle these in my spare time, I also started to think more deeply about what I was seeing. I started wondering about the types of insects and plants I saw, and what made them different from each other beyond what I could see with my naked eye. This curiosity led me to further investigate the flora and fauna that surrounded me as I grew up, and eventually as I got older, they became my bridge into the world of scientific research.
(Warning: photos of insects and birds coming up)
When I first heard about the summer SciArt program, I was not sure what to expect. I opened the email about the program and was pleasantly surprised at the open-ended prompt that was given to us by Dr. Semarhy Quiñones-Soto, CSN’s 2024 Scholar-In-Residence.1 The objective of the program was for research students to “learn about science art/communication, and the importance of effective dissemination skills in the presentation of research findings to a broader audience.” The only restrictions that were given to us were that our projects must include (1) scientific results obtained from our summer research and (2) the importance of studying our assigned research topic. Our art projects were also expected to be scientifically accurate and understandable by a broad audience of scientists from different disciplines and non-scientists. Given this, I was very excited to start diving into my research project, so I could also begin brainstorming ideas for my SciArt project.
My ten-week research project focused on the use of carbon dots for the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) aka forever chemicals from the environment through a process called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation uses plants to pull contaminants out of the soil or water around them and has already been found to be effective in taking up a small subset of the existing library of 12,000+ PFAS molecules.2 Carbon dots come into the picture because they are easily synthesized biocompatible nanoparticles that can act as carriers for PFAS into and throughout plant tissue. In other words, carbon dots have the potential to carry PFAS molecules from soil or water into plants without causing harm to the plants.
For my project, I primarily spent my time understanding the affinity that different types of PFAS have for two types of carbon dots, and how changing conditions (such as pH) would affect these interactions. In addition to this, I also worked to optimize growth conditions for a particular type of aquatic weed called Lemna minor (commonly known as duckweed), and tried to identify critical plant pathways to monitor during PFAS/carbon dot exposure. This meant that a lot of my time was also devoted towards cultivating duckweed and keeping it happy!
duckweed. (photos by Chinny Tiu)
As I learned more about my research project, conducting experiments and gathering data, the SciArt project lingered at the back of my mind. I found myself constantly trying to think of ways to translate what I was doing into some form of art that could be understood by anyone without much background knowledge. I realized that in order to think of ways to convey my research, I had to break it down into simpler, more fundamental pieces of information first, such as focusing on how exactly pH affects interactions between carbon dots and PFAS. This process was one that actually helped me understand it better myself!
A few weeks into the SURE program, Dr. Quiñones-Soto hosted a webinar talking about her personal experience with career exploration, and how science communication allowed her to bring together her love for both art and science. She also talked about overcoming the fear of sharing her work with the public, and the unique opportunity that science communication provides in advocating for diverse representation in STEM. As someone who hopes to continue my scientific journey, hearing about Dr. Quiñones-Soto’s experiences inspired me to think of ways to incorporate science communication into my own future. As I progress through my scientific career, I hope to continuously contribute to increasing inclusivity and accessibility to science, particularly through illustration and different forms of media.
My SciArt project took a few different forms as I started conceptualizing ideas. I first thought of making an infographic, since I believed this would be the most efficient way to convey a lot of information if I could organize the elements in it effectively. I started thinking of color schemes, backgrounds, and what information I wanted to include in my infographic — how much detail would be too much? I had the base of my infographic far before I had the data that I wanted to include in it, so I let it sit for a while untouched.
After a few weeks of not looking at what I had drafted, I found that the idea grew stale in my mind, and I itched to make something that felt more engaging and fun. This was when I got the idea to make an animation instead! When I was in high school, I dabbled in making animations for school projects, so I thought why not try it again for my SciArt project? This medium was a little more challenging in terms of organization, since I had to be very intentional about the way I represented different parts of my project. Making an animation also required me to think through my experiments step by step without making the whole process too complicated. This forced me to step back from the day-to-day routine in lab and look at my project as a whole, allowing me to identify the key components of my project required for understanding the bigger picture of my research. Since I would be presenting this at a CSN-wide zoom meeting, I also wanted to make sure that it was short but effective at conveying the core of my project. After sketching out my ideas for the flow of my animation, I began to color and finalize my SciArt project, leading to this short stop-motion animation:
I was very nervous to share my SciArt project at the CSN meeting, since I had never had to watch people actively react to art I made. However, my anxieties were washed away as I received positive feedback and encouragement from different members of the CSN who seemed excited and supported my SciArt project! The CSN SURE Program was not only incredibly valuable in shaping my understanding and perspective of the PhD student experience, but also for helping me realize that there are ways for me to incorporate my love for art as I navigate the world of scientific research. Even more importantly, it reminded me of the importance of making science accessible, inclusive, and fun, in order to reach more people and take away the notion of science as exclusive and incomprehensible! While presenting my work was definitely outside of my comfort zone, I am very grateful that I had opportunity to do so and am looking forward to participating in more opportunities to share the science I love and am involved in in the future!
References
- Dr. Semarhy Quiñones-Soto is CSN’s 2024 Scholar-in-Residence. https://susnano.wisc.edu/2024/04/01/dr-semarhy-quinones-soto-is-csns-2024-scholar-in-residence/.
- ITRC: PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. Introduction. https://pfas-1.itrcweb.org/1-introduction/.