Abhinendra Singh is taking his work beyond science. In four of his last published articles, Singh has stressed the importance of the art that represents his work.
“I’ve always been interested in art,” the assistant professor of macromolecular science and engineering said. “But, I never thought I could bring it to science.”
Now, his scientific art has seen the cover of four publications—two editions of Soft Matter, Physical Review Letters and MRS Communications. But Singh’s vision reaches beyond publications. He is hoping that his passion for art in STEM can inspire young people to join fields they might not have considered before.
“People are scared of psychics because they don’t see the connection when it’s just equations and plain text,” Singh shared. “If we present the same ideas in helpful and interesting graphics, I believe we can make science more accessible to everybody.”
Using programs like Blender, Povray and more, Singh is developing art like the image above that showcases the flow of dense suspensions, like paint, which is complicated by a hidden hierarchy involving not only particles but also a mesoscale network. A complicated concept made approachable by a visual.
With the help of first-year computer science student Casey Malcolm, Singh is visualizing even more of his work. Without a background in physics and chemistry, Malcolm was surprised at how much he enjoys the artistic side of this work.
“Last year, if you would’ve told me I would be working in the polymer department, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.
While Singh does the mathematical and physical work, Malcolm is tasked with bringing the data to life in an intriguing image and through these projects is gaining hands-on experience in data visualization and machine learning, something he’s been interested in since he arrived on campus.
“I’m learning a lot of new things that I don’t have a ton of experience in,” he said. ”Getting this opportunity as a first-year student is really cool.”
