2011 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge Winners Announced

The National Science Foundation (NSF) along with the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), today announced the winners of the ninth annual International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.

Illustrators, photographers, computer programmers and designers from around the world submitted visualizations to a once-a-year challenge designed to celebrate and encourage the visual communication of science for education and journalistic purposes. Two-hundred-twelve entries were received from 33 countries, representing every continent except Antarctica.

For the first time, this year's challenge allowed participants to submit entries online. The public also participated for the first time in the voting process, selecting their favorite images as People's Choice winners. One entry, "Velu the Welder" in the Interactive Games category, received 286 public votes. All together, the entries received 3,204 public votes.

Another entry, "Rapid Visual Inventory & Comparison of Complex 3D Structures" won 1st place from the judges and was the People's Choice in the Video category.

Also for the first time this year, participants and the public were able to use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to share their favorites with others.

Winning entries can be viewed on the NSF website, the Science website and in the February 3rd print issue of Science.

First place, Honorable Mention, and People's Choice winners are listed below.

VIDEO

1st Place & People's Choice: Rapid Visual Inventory & Comparison of Complex 3D Structures
Graham Johnson
The Scripps Research Institute: Molecular Graphics Lab

Andrew Noske

National Center for Microscopy & Imaging Research

Bradley Marsh

Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland

Honorable Mention: There's No Such Thing as a Jellyfish

Steven Haddock and Susan Von Thun
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute & jellywatch.org

Honorable Mention: High Density Energy Storage Using Self-Assembled Materials

Christopher Wilmer, Omar K. Farha and Patrick E. Fuller
Northwestern University

INTERACTIVE GAMES

1st Place: Foldit
Seth Cooper, David Baker, Zoran Popoviæ, Firas Khatib, Jeff Flatten, Kefan Xu, Dun-Yu Hsiao and Riley Adams
University of Washington

Honorable Mention: Meta!Blast 3D Interactive Application for Cell and Metabolic Biology. Level 1: The Cell

W. Schneller, P.J. Campbell, M. Stenerson, D. Bassham and E.S. Wurtele
Iowa State University

Honorable Mention: Build-a-Body

Jeremy Friedberg, Nicole Husain, Ian Wood, Genevieve Brydson, Wensi Sheng, Lorraine Trecroce, Kariane St-Denis, David Rowe, Ruby Pajares, Arij Al Chawaf, Shaun Rana and Nancy Reilly
Spongelab Interactive

Honorable Mention: Powers of Minus Ten

Laura Lynn Gonzalez
Green-Eye Visualization

People's Choice: Velu the Welder

Muralitharan Vengadasalam, Ganesh Venkat, Vignesh Palanimuthu, Fabian Herrera and Ashok Maharaja
Tata Consultancy Services

ILLUSTRATION

Honorable Mention: Tumor Death-Cell Receptors on Breast Cancer Cell
Emiko Paul and Quade Paul
Echo Medical Media
Ron Gamble
UAB Insight

Honorable Mention: Variable-Diameter Carbon Nanotubes

Joel Brehm
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Office of Research & Economic Development

Honorable Mention: Exploring Complex Functions using Domain Coloring

Konstantin Poelke and Konrad Polthier
Free University of Berlin

People's Choice: Separation of a Cell

Andrew Noske and Thomas Deerinck
The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego

Horng Ou and Clodagh O'Shea
Salk Institute

PHOTOGRAPHY

1st Place: Metabolomic Eye
Bryan William Jones
The University of Utah, Moran Eye Center

Honorable Mention: Microscopic Image of Trichomes on the Skin of an Immature Cucumber

Robert Rock Belliveau
People's Choice: The Cliff of the Two-dimensional World

Babak Anasori, Michael Naguib, Yury Gogotsi and Michel W. Barsoum

Drexel University

INFORMATIONAL POSTER & GRAPHICS

1st Place: The Cosmic Web
Miguel Angel Aragon-Calvo
Johns Hopkins University

Julieta Aguilera and Mark SubbaRao

Adler Planetarium

Honorable Mention: The Ebola Virus

Ivan Konstantinov, Yury Stefanov, Alexander Kovalevsky, Anastasya Bakulina
Visual Science

People's Choice: Transmission Electron Microscopy: Structure, Function & 3D Reconstruction

Fabian de Kok-Mercado, Victoria Wahl-Jensen and Laura Bollinger
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

-NSF-