The winner of our spring At Large photo contest is Flavio Griggio, whose image reveals the complexity and beauty of multiple layers in a manufactured film. The photo (above) is prominently featured in the April 2016 issue of Research|Penn State, which arrived on campus last week.

Flavio was a doctoral student in the lab of Susan Trolier-McKinstry, director of the W. M. Keck Smart Materials Integration Laboratory.

His photo is a colorized image, taken with a scanning electron microscope, of a thin film that combines several useful attributes. It vibrates in response to ultrasound waves, converts the vibrations to electrical signals, and transfers those signals to a wire or other transmitting structure. The film was designed as part of a miniature ultrasound device that could be used to detect cancers of the skin or eye.

Thank you to all who sent images for our consideration. You make the job of choosing a winner difficult, but very enjoyable!

We now announce the contest to find another superb image for the At Large feature in our October 2016 issue. In addition to publication in Research|Penn State, the winner will receive a high-quality print of the At Large spread, suitable for framing.

Here are the contest guidelines:

• Image must relate to research being conducted by someone at Penn State.
• Image must be a strong horizontal so it can completely fill a two-page spread, and must be visually compelling.
• Image must be available at high resolution, at least 300 dpi (this is not the same as ppi). Keep this in mind as you shoot photos, especially through microscopes. We have had to eliminate beautiful images from consideration because they were not shot at a high enough resolution to be enlarged to publication size.
• Image can be a scenic, close-up, or micrograph. It can be realistic or abstract (such as a patterned structure), color or black & white or colorized. Archival shots will also be considered.
• Although we may use a shot with a person (or people) in it, we do not use portraits.
• Please provide basic information about the image, such as where it was shot, by whom, and what research it relates to. We will write the short description that appears in the magazine.

Please send your photos to me, Cherie Winner, at clw43@psu.edu. Lo-res versions are fine at this stage. If we select your image, we’ll ask for the hi-res version. Deadline for submission is Friday, July 1, 2016. For more information, drop me a line via email or call me at 3-4750.