Image of Research at Illinois State

Cultural Anthropology, Dance and Know You Are a Part

My research focuses on the efforts of a dance company to reinsert and centralize Afro-Brazilian experiences within contemporary social life and historical narratives of the city of Pelotas, Brazil. My research foregrounds the collateral of...

Sun, Time and Vivid Dreams

My research is focused on incorporating my indigenous Yakut upbringings into the virtual space of videogames. In my culture, we still believe in shamanism and see the world as a complex multi-layered universe filled with spirits. I'm also...

Mask for Mask? Queer Hook-up Culture during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Casual sexual intercourse (hook-up) has been identified as a cause of coronavirus transmission, predominantly in the LGBTQ community. Despite pandemic guidelines for people to social distance and quarantine at home to stem transmission...

Dancing in Quarantine

My research investigates the impacts of Covid-19 and the quarantines it caused on dancers. The image of dancers wearing masks outdoors shows the resilience and possibilities artists have found during the pandemic. The quarantine enforced...

Agronomic Intercropping Systems in Corn and Soybeans

In Illinois one sees miles of corn or soybean fields, but they are never planted together in today’s agriculture. Corn and soybeans are valuable commodities contributing to essential products. This image highlights the production system...

Behind the Doors

I study home, displacement from it, and suffering within or outside of it. I believe our bodies, our domestic spaces, and our homelands are three parallel homes on different levels. Definitions of home are related to definitions of Us...

The Ringyas: No Escape from Suffering?

Scottish poet Edwin Muir’s poem “The Refugees Born for A Land Unknown” described the precarious journey of refugees who, escaping death and cruelty at home, arrive at their destination only to find “no doors open” leading them to think...

To be 'S', or not to be 'S'?-- that is the question

The research I conducted focused on developing a class of catalysts capable of creating alternate routes to compounds that can be used in the synthesis of medicines like cinacalcet, a drug used in the treatment of osteoporosis. The...

Dripping Down the Drain

According to a 2017 study, 10% of American households are unable to afford their water bills. This creates a massive problem for families across the country where failure to pay leads to hefty late fees and water service disconnection. My...

Maternal Influence on Construction Ability

This picture of a mother stacking blocks represents our research question: do infants demonstrate an increase in construction behaviors if their mother models high levels of construction behavior? Through observations of videos of 31...

Relaxing the Reds

This is Cashmere; she is a female red panda at Miller Park Zoo, where I worked as an animal care intern. My project was to socialize the pandas and get them comfortable with zookeeper interactions. Zoos need the animals to be comfortable...

She's Got Her Head in the Stars

Since childhood, I have dreamed of outer space; but as I got older, I realized I was a little more interested in science fiction than science. I am fascinated with the misunderstood genre of science fiction which is rarely considered of...

Looking Glass

My image reflects my research on the topic of personal identity and the human form. While drawing this portrait, I studied many facets of the human figure. I tried to incorporate many components of figure such as hands, neck, chest...

This collection showcases winning and finalist entries from the annual Image of Research at Illinois State competition. The competition invites Illinois State students to create or capture one static image of their research and to write a brief narrative explaining how the image relates to their research. Students are asked to choose compelling images to capture the viewers’ attention. The images could take any form, including photographs, drawings, or digital creations, and could convey the research concretely or abstractly. Submissions are evaluated by a committee of jurors. The committee evaluates the submissions for visual impact, originality, and the connection between the student’s image, narrative, and research project. The public at-large votes for the People's Choice Award via the Office of Student Research website.