Category Archives: Research

SPIRITED AWAY, AND A NEW PHOTO CONTEST

The winner of our fall At Large contest is this photo of a Mongolian horse herder gathering his mares prior to milking. The photo is featured in the Fall 2017 issue of Research/Penn State magazine, which arrived on campus last week.

Every autumn this horseman, like others in the region, harvests milk from his mares and ferments it to create a mild alcoholic beverage called airag. Kirk French, a senior lecturer in anthropology, took this photo in 2016 as part of his research on the social and economic impacts of small-scale production and use of alcoholic drinks in cultures around the world. His work has taken him to Mexico, where locals ferment agave sap and distill whole cane sugar; Scotland, where whiskey production is a fine art; and North Carolina, to interview moonshiners.

Thank you to all who sent images for consideration in this contest.

We now announce the contest to find another superb image for the At Large pages of our Spring 2018 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:

  • Deadline for submission is Friday, January 5, 2018.
  • 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 at a size of 11” x 17”. Keep this in mind as you shoot, 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, color or black & white or colorized. Archival shots will also be considered. Previous winners can be seen here, here, and here.
  • Although we may use a shot with a person (or people) in it, portraits will not be considered.
  • You may submit more than one image, but please be selective; do not send a link to an entire collection of images and expect us to look through them all.
  • Please provide basic information about the image, such as where it was shot, by whom, and what research it relates to.

Please send your photos to 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. For more information, drop me a line via email or call me at 3-4750.

our winning image, and a new contest

The winner of our spring At Large contest is this photo of small craft off the Stone Town district of Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. The photo is featured in the Spring 2017 issue of Research|Penn State magazine, which arrives on campus  soon.

For hundreds of years, similar boats carried on extensive trade among ports from India to Oman and Yemen in the Middle East and along the Swahili coast of East Africa. Janet Purdy, a doctoral candidate in History of Art and Architecture, took this shot when she visited Stone Town in 2016 to study the trade routes and the massive, elaborately carved doors commissioned by wealthy Omani merchants who lived there in the 19th century.

Zanzibar was a thriving cultural crossroads where people, goods, languages, religions, and artistic practices met and blended. The doors, bearing symbols and decorative elements from many sources, were so important as the public “face” of their owners that they were often the first part of a new building to be made.

Thank you to all who sent images for consideration.

We now announce the contest to find another superb image for the At Large pages of our Fall 2017 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:

  • Deadline for submission is Friday, June 30, 2017.
  • 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) at a size of 11” x 17”. 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, color or black & white or colorized. Archival shots will also be considered. Previous winners can be seen here, here, here, and here.
  • 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.

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.  For more information, drop me a line via email or call me at 3-4750.

Books Galore

If you’re looking for a holiday gift—or a special treat for yourself—consider a book by a Penn State author. In addition to their scholarly and technical works, many PSU faculty members also write books with a general audience in mind. Here are a few we’ve heard about in recent months.

Continue reading Books Galore

Colombia Ho

This week, director of research communications Dave Pacchioli is in northern Colombia to observe and write about an ambitious new project led by Penn State scientists Mark Guiltinan and Siela Maximova. Mark and Siela have the sweet job of studying cacao, the plant that gives us chocolate.

Continue reading Colombia Ho

Photo contest winner, and new contest

The winner of our fall At Large contest is this photo of glittering blue-green damselfish amid coral branches on Australia’s Northern Great Barrier Reef. The photo is featured in the Fall 2016 issue of Research|Penn State magazine, which arrives on campus this week.

This image was shot by F. Joseph Pollock, a postdoctoral scholar working with Penn State biologist Mónica Medina, during a sampling trip to Lizard Island in 2015. Continue reading Photo contest winner, and new contest