The idea of infinity is a personal belief. While researching how artists and scientists visualize the concept of infinity, I have found very few variations. The most popular rendering is the mathematical infinity symbol, which is well understood by most people and artists. However, I believe infinity is a more of a never-ending void. Using my own beliefs and research on the concept of infinity, I have created an intimate atmosphere of robotic creatures moving through an illusion of never-ending, multi-dimensional space.
This image is a still shot from the original physical sculpture that I created using a two-way mirror and a glass mirror to perpetuate an infinite trail of images. The project is a tangible representation of spatial infinity: small mirror-climbing robots represent the hypothetical life existing in between the physical world and the infinite void of space. Currently, a high-definition documentation video of this piece is being displayed on an ultra high-resolution tiled display system at UIC’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory.
This photograph is of an American-made, British-owned 19th century sugar mill that was constructed at the Maya site called Lamanai in Belize, Central America. Lamanai is unique for the fact that it was among a handful of large Maya sites that were not abandoned during the great Maya collapse circa 1200AD. This site was chosen for sugar production in the 19th century due to its location along the New River, as well as a cheap exploitable work force of rural Maya still living near by. However, the Maya soon rebelled against poor treatment and low wages, the English owners were ravaged by jungle diseases, and the mill was abandoned. I visited this site my first year in Belize while I was a supervisor on an excavation at a Classic Maya site called Chan. However, it was this interaction between the Maya of Lamanai and the British colonizers (symbolized by the sugar mill) that first piqued my interest in the living descendants of the Maya, and their interactions with other culture groups after the conquest. I am currently working with Dr. Joel Palka to study the historical archaeology of an unconquered Maya group called the Lacandon, who live in southern Chiapas, Mexico.
The image represents a visualization of water flow for an area around Mariner Valley on Mars using Rain Table. Rain Table lets users interact with large two-dimensional maps on a high-resolution digital table to select locations of rainfall.
Users position tracked electronic pucks over areas to indicate the location, or locations, of rainfall, as several people can cooperatively interact with the system at once. The pucks' coordinates are input to a mathematical rain runoff simulation model, which generates a real-time visualization of the rainfalls, the development of channelized streams of water, and the effect of these streams as they merge with one another and flow into lakes and rivers and oceans.
Rain Table allows users to interactively explore the flow of water across digital maps and discover the concepts of watersheds, floods, and the interconnectivity of river systems. Multiple pucks allow each user to generate water flow independently of one another so small groups work together interactively, eliminating passive viewing and equalizing user’s control of the visualization model.
The image shows four screens of a digital table shot from overhead while several users interact with it.
My research examines the roles of different cells mediating sexual transmission of HIV in male genital tissue. Due to their proximity to the tissue surface, I am particularly interested in Langerhans cells (LCs), an antigen-presenting cell concentrated in mucosal tissues. I have shown previously that in vitro derived LCs are capable of enhancing HIV infection of target cells following activation. Recent publications have suggested male circumcision may provide some protection against acquiring HIV infection. Since LCs exist in high concentrations within male foreskin, I am therefore investigating their involvement in mediating HIV transmission in this tissue.
The image displays Langerhans cells within male foreskin. Tissue samples were sectioned to 10µm thickness, then stained with antibodies against LC-specific cell surface markers. Images were acquired on a microscope equipped with deconvolution software. LCs are seen in green, with tissue structure visible in orange. Cell nuclei are stained blue. Using this image, and several other similar images, I have been to examine the localization of LCs in tissue.
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” —Albert Einstein
What if we could see the passage of time? This image came from an investigation in visualizing the passage of time. It is a collection of overlapping photographs of a simple sundial. Each hour is marked by a shadow projected from the stone, starting at 6AM and ending at 6PM. The result is a surprisingly beautiful map of lapsed time. The image also teaches us that nature has its own ideas about design.
It is known that stem cells can differentiate into various cell types depending on the physical properties of their immediate surroundings. I am interested in engineering the cardiac microenvironment in order to coax differentiation of adult stem cells into cardiac muscle by inclusion of rod-shaped microstructures in a three-dimensional gel. Here, differential interference contrast and fluorescent imaging was used to show these microstructures (blue) interacting with a group of stem cells that were labeled red with commercially available quantum dots. The cells interact with the microstructures and the shape of the cells close to the rod is different from those away from it. The long-term goal of this research is to manipulate the microenvironment of the injured heart tissue to foster increased endogenous stem cell differentiation and, therefore, improve cardiac function.
