This year’s Science as Art competition, sponsored by the Science Learning Center, challenged students to consider the inherent beauty in science and scientific concepts. Students from across campus responded with paintings, drawings, 3D models, and photography expressing medical science, engineering, astronomy, and more. Take a look at a few of the winners (and some of our other favorites) here.

In her piece called Vitality, recent LSA alumna Brenda Shih (’15) explored the structure of neurons and their design parallels with trees. Her drawing received an honorable mention.
Neuroscience senior Ashley Miller went in a metaphysical direction with her painting, seeking to show the moral questions and compromise faced by animal researchers. Her work, Unobjective Research, won the best drawing/painting and people’s choice awards.
Recent art and design alumna Stephanie O’Neil (U-M ’15) created a digital 3D model of a malaria parasite, earning her the award for best digital rendering.
Recent biochemistry graduate Brian P. Cary (’15) illustrates the colorful—and eerie—allure of a Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE) protein, which has been linked to diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Art history junior Dan Sharp’s piece, Shipping and Handling, invites viewers to consider the science of cycles, particularly recycling and waste. It won the award for best sculpture.
Art and design alumnna and grand prize winner Sidney Krandall (U-M ’15) drew an original (and highly practical) concept design, developed to help patients strengthen their hand muscles outside of a clinical setting.
Engineering student Tyler Sandberg’s winning photograph evokes the magic and the expanse of the heavens, through use of only a dSLR camera and stock lens.