The challenge was simple: Take months or years of world-class scientific research and boil it down into a single image.
Maybe “simple” isn’t the right word. UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) postdoctoral researcher Siyang Wang used a different word: Thrilling.
“I was thrilled – excited by the challenge to distill complex vascular pathology into a single, compelling image,” she said. “It felt like a rare chance to turn technical data into a visual story that could both move and educate a broad audience.”
Wang, a researcher in the Tirrell Lab, was one of eight UChicago PME postdocs who submitted images based on their lab work for the Postdoc Showcase, a new feature of UChicago PME’s yearly Postdoc Appreciation Week. The images ran the gamut from microscope photography of arteries to selfies of stretchable, wearable tech to shots of familiar campus sights filtered through the delicate photonics of a multi-spectral electrochromic window.
“Once they realized it was less about simplifying and more about creatively communicating their science, many leaned in with impressive imagination,” said UChicago PME Director for Postdoctoral Affairs Vipul Sharma. “I was struck by how beautifully the images conveyed both rigor and creativity. They not only captured the research but also the passion and personal investment behind the work.”
For Tianda Fu, a postdoc in the Wang Research Group, selecting an image meant reviewing photograph after photograph of his own wrist to decide which one best showed off the soft circuitry adhering like a bandage.
“This image shows a fully soft computing unit worn on the hand,” Fu said. “It has integrated neuromorphic functions that can process the raw data from the sensor on the device and can transmit the data wirelessly. To my knowledge, it is the first fully soft wireless computing solution in the world.”
The images were on display in the ERC lobby for the duration of Postdoc Appreciation Week, with a special event on Thursday, Sept. 18, to honor the researcher-artists. National Postdoc Appreciation Week recognizes the significant contributions that postdocs make to their institute and U.S. research and discovery. In 2010, this week was officially recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Investing in postdocs is investing in the future of research and innovation,” Sharma said. “At UChicago PME, we’re committed to supporting them not just as researchers, but as whole people preparing for the next stages of their careers.”
Zakiya Barnes, a postdoc in the Rowan Group, did not submit her own image, but attended Thursday’s event to support her friends and peers.
“We all have a common goal, which is to excel in research, but we all have different aspirations for what we want to do within our research,” Barnes said. “I think it’s important to just be in a community and talk with people with similar interests and share our insights.”
Qizhang Li, a postdoc in the Hsu Group, said the Showcase was a chance to share part of lab life few outsiders see: Joy.
“I guess people often imagine postdocs as overloaded with geeky work – which is true – but this journey is also full of fun and beauty,” Li said. “To me, research is like solving a giant puzzle: Individual pieces may seem trivial or even boring, but together they could form a fabulous work of art.”