MechSE postdoc wins Beckman research image competition

Scientists at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology recently showed off their research through the Beckman Research Image Contest, and one of MechSE’s own was a winner. The contest featured four winners in the following categories: undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researcher, and faculty.

Mark Levenstein won in the postdoctoral and staff researcher category. Levenstein is a postdoc in Professor Amy Wagoner Johnson’s lab in MechSE. Wagoner Johnson also runs the Applied Biomaterials and Biomechanics Lab in the Beckman Institute.

Levenstein’s image is an optical micrograph of a baby Acropora palmata coral polyp inverted and modified for enhanced contrast of the newly formed tentacles. The polyp is shown growing on a novel carbonate reef restoration substrate, which hopefully will increase the settlement and survival of juvenile corals into adulthood.

The four framed images are being featured in the Beckman director’s conference room. Last year’s winning images will be hung throughout the Beckman’s halls.

“Researchers at the Beckman Institute use our state-of-the-art tools to work together across disciplines and break new barriers,” said Jeff Moore, the director of the Beckman Institute and an Ikenberry Endowed Chair in the Department of Chemistry. “These images show that research is not only important, but also visually beautiful. I continue to be amazed and inspired by the entries in the Beckman Research Image Contest.”

Read about the other winners on the Beckman website >>