Art of Science


Nature has always astounded those who study it scientifically, with the complex yet elegantly simple beauty of its designs. The image that one sees—whether looking through a microscope into a single cell or peering through a telescope at a vast galaxy—is sometimes as aesthetically pleasing as a Monet or a Rembrandt. The goal of the Art of Science Competition is to explore and illuminate the aesthetic beauty that results when science, art, and technology intersect.

People's Choice Poll

Vote for your favorite submission! Voting will be open to anyone in the University of Rochester community and will be limited to one person, one vote. The poll will open after the submission period has ended.

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Call for Entries

The 2025 competition will give consideration to the artistic representation of science, technology, engineering, math, and sustainable themes. Entries with a focus on creativity and uniqueness will be favorably considered.

Eligibility

  • Photographs, illustrations, visualizations, renderings, and posters are welcome.
  • Entries must connect to the theme of STEM.
  • Entries must be high resolution images (300 dpi) in JPEG format and at least 3,000 pixels wide on the longest edge.
  • The competition is open to students, faculty, and staff of the University of Rochester.

Prizes

Students only:

  • First place—$1000
  • Second place—$500
  • Third place—$250

Student, faculty, and staff:

  • People's Choice: $250

Winning entries will be displayed in the Carlson Library.

Dates and Deadlines

Submissions will be accepted from January 1 through March 16, 2025. All submissions must be uploaded by 11:59p.m. on Sunday, March 16th.

How to Submit

Use our online submission form to enter. Entries must be high resolution images (300 dpi) in JPEG format and at least 3,000 pixels wide on the longest edge.

Judging will be based not only on the image but also on the description of the image. The description should be accessible to the general public.

All entries, once submitted, are final and cannot be edited. Contest coordinators reserve the right to remove submissions deemed in violation of our MELIORA values.

Questions

Contact the Art of Science team at artofsciencecontest@gmail.com.

Past Winners

The annual competition highlights the intersection of science, art, and technology as part of the Rochester experience.

Swirls of color.

2024 Winners

A record 84 University of Rochester faculty, students, and staff submitted entries to an annual competition to explore and illuminate the aesthetic beauty that results when science, art, and technology intersect.

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Orb with orange and yellow swirls.

2023 Winners

University of Rochester students, faculty, and staff showcased the beauty of everything from camouflaged spiders to jets of high velocity plasma at the 13th annual Art of Science Competition.

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Bioglass-coated bacterial cells imaged with fluorescence microscopy.

2022 Winners

This year’s Art of Science competition, which explores “the aesthetic beauty that results when science, art, and technology intersect,” drew more than 50 entries and more than 700 votes cast for People’s Choice.

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Colorful crystals that look like flower blooms.

2021 Winners

Rochester students and researchers used cutting-edge lab technologies to create the images in this year’s Art of Science Competition.

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Feather-like display of crystals under a microscope.

2020 Winners

A student’s dazzling image of recrystallized urea, viewed under a microscope and shot with an iPhone, takes the top prize in the annual Art of Science competition.

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Dandelion with fuzzy seeds with the seeds connected by colorful geometric designs.

2019 Winners

The Art of Science Competition continues to embody the “complex yet elegantly simple” systems found in nature, in engineering, and in all scientific fields, as this year’s winners show.

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A 3D rendering of an Eastern Yellowjacket appearing to be made of a clear glass material with the purpose of displaying selected internal organs and structure.

2018 Winners

The goal of the Art of Science Competition is to explore and illuminate the aesthetic beauty that results when science, art, and technology intersect. A record 52 entries were received from students, staff, and faculty members in 25 departments and programs.

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Four illustrations of colored particles forming different patterns at different frequencies.

2017 Winners

“You can see the most incredible images in things you never would have thought of,” says Hajim School of Engineering dean Wendi Heinzelman describing the student artwork on display in the the annual Art of Science Competition.

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