Research Image Student Competition

• If you incorporate a creative work by another person in your original work, that work must be open or you must show you have permission from the creator of that work. See this webpage for more information on copyright.
• All images supplied for the contest could be used for future R&I/university publications or events without compensation to the creator.
• Each participant/contestant may only submit one image.

A panel of judges will review the images based on criteria provided below and select first, second, and third place winners.

People's Choice voting is held at the Research and Innovation Month Kickoff scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. The image with the most votes from this event receives an additional 5 points to their overall score. Stop by to vote in the People's Choice poll and join in the celebration of research, scholarly, and creative activities!

Prizes – All prizes will be credited to the winning students’ as scholarship money.

• First Place -- $200
• Second Place -- $150
• Third Place -- $100

Three different winners will be awarded.

Visual Impact (10 points)
A successful entry provides viewers with new insight, is visually striking, and conveys skill and expertise in the chosen medium (e.g., photography). It conveys the fundamentals and principles of design and is executed with factual accuracy.

Effective Communication (10 points)
A successful entry communicates in a clear and understandable manner. It uses plain language, both written and spoken, in the entry itself and its accompanying text. An entry also must convey the knowledge-making represented in the image.

Freshness and Originality (10 points)
A successful entry has an individual voice, vitality, and energy; creates a novel presentation or tells a compelling story; and portrays insights and methods.

People's Choice (5 points)
The image with the most votes from registered attendees at the Research and Innovation Month Kickoff event.

Christopher Corkill, Undergraduate, Computer Science

Pinwheel Galaxy: A Cosmic Ballet Through the Lens of Discovery

This photograph of the Pinwheel Galaxy encapsulates discovery through astrophotography, capturing the galaxy's spiraling majesty via my Stellarvue SVX152T apochromatic refracting telescope and QHY268M camera. Inspired by the galaxy's vastness and structure, the final image is a composite, meticulously combined over a 13.5-hour exposure with LRGB + Hydrogen-alpha filters, then processed using PixInsight software to enhance clarity and color using calibration frames and photometric color calibration, inviting a gaze into the intricacies of the cosmos.

Alexis Burrell, Undergraduate, Marine Biology

Least Tern Nest with Waiting Eggs

This image illustrates eggs laid by a Least Tern mother which simply await their fate as they lie in the warm sand; often left unprotected on the shore, these eggs can represent vulnerability, but also resilience and trust in nature. Once spotted, the eggs are simply an unguarded, wonderful source of nutrients for many animals. Despite their vulnerable state, these eggs remained untouched until hatching weeks later. The eggs’ successful camouflage provides vital information on the reproduction of Texas Least Terns on our shores.

Antonio Cantu de Leija, Graduate, Coastal and Marine Systems Science

Roseate Spoonbill in Flight

Photograph taken while conducting bird surveys from a boat at an important nesting colony in Tampa Bay; An effort by TAMUCC researchers to better understand habitat requirements for this and other coastal birds and inform their conservation.

First Place

David Armstrong, Graduate, Marine Biology

Small animal, with a big impact, in a changing world.
Corals use calcium from the seawater to build three-dimensional structures and provide essential natural sea barriers protecting coastal communities. But we are unsure if the uptake of calcium is being impacted by changing ocean chemistries. With my research, I am aiming to examine how calcium collected for coral growth is impacted by predicted future seawater chemistries.

Second Place (Tie)

Eliza Mills, Graduate, Marine Biology

Tanker-surfing in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel
Bottlenose dolphins bow-ride on pressure waves at the front of large oil tankers. This image was taken during field collection in Port Aransas for a study on how vessel traffic affects dolphin behavior in an active ship channel. Port Corpus has undergone major oil exportation growth in recent decades. As dolphins in Port Aransas have not been studied since 1980s, it’s vital to understand dolphin behavior with the increase in vessel activity from port growth.

Second Place (Tie)

Rachel Moy, Graduate, Fisheries and Mariculture

Blowing Bubbles at the Beach
Estuaries are important because they’re extraordinary habitats where river meets ocean; this mix of fresh and saltwater creates a unique environment where many animals thrive. Some sea creatures commonly use estuaries as nursery grounds where they leave their young. Because of this, having a clean estuary is critical for future oceanic health. Being able to easily spot critters, like this little crab, shows us that we likely have a healthy estuary capable of sustaining life.

Third Place and People's Choice

Julie LeClair, Graduate, Counselor Education

Stop and Smell the Flowers
The Didelphis virginiana (Virginia Opossum), is North America’s only marsupial. In the Spring, travelers can see Lady Bird Johnson’s life’s work of the seeding of wildflowers along Texas highways. Traveling through the Hill Country, people will capture their memories in a field of bluebonnets, the State Flower of Texas. I took this photo because it shows that even animals can take a moment to stop and smell the flowers. LBJ State Park on 3/25/2023.

First Place

Dominic Vargas, Undergraduate, Environmental Science

Aransas Wildlife Refuge from boat dock
This photo was taken from inside a covered boat dock in the Aransas Wildlife Refuge during a sampling run and station repair for a water quality station in San Antonio Bay. In the doorway, stone revetments can be seen lining the waterway to the inter-coastal channel. These stones prevent erosion of the coastline from wave action be it natural or anthropogenic in production. This photo captures the beauty that can be found during field work and the wonder of marine architecture.

Second Place

Bright Nnadi, Undergraduate, Electrical Engineering

Innovation at its best
Learning and improvement is a key component of UAS, building of unmanned drones with interaction with other systems. Implementing electrical, mechanical and software engineering to design these drones and systems added to my knowledge and skills as an engineer.

Third Place

Magkena Szemak, Graduate, Coastal Marine System Science

Do you think bat or cat when you see this common Antarctic diatom? 
Diatoms are unicellular algae which form beautifully preserved silica skeletons. In the Prothro Lab, we study diatoms from sediment cores obtained from Antarctica, specifically the Amundsen Sea. Using at light microscope at 100x magnification, diatoms are counted and identified in order to determine abundance and thus past environmental conditions and climate.

First Place and People's Choice Award

Deven Perez, Undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering

Railway to Humanity - A Timeless Pastime
This image shows a two-way railroad track with two trains at the very end passing each other. I had an idea to use the fence as a sub framing tool to give the picture originality and depth. This image represents the industrialization of humanity as well as the beauty in man made architecture.

Second Place

Sophia Hoffman, Graduate, Biology

Survival - Black Mangrove Seedling. 347 Planted, 26 Survivors
This image was photographed in June 2019, following a study on how nutrients affect black mangroves, Avicennia germinans, and their establishment and growth in Texas saltmarshes. The mangroves were grown from propagules harvested on Ward Island and had about a 7% survival rate after 5 months, spread between maternal tree fertilization treatments and soil fertilization. The challenge of growth in any environment limits the number of individuals that will survive, however, nutrient fertilization could allow mangrove forests to become denser and the current coastlines of the Gulf Coast will be forever changed.

Third Place

Joshua Roe, Undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering

Adjustable Driving Simulator - Fully Adjustable Mobile Driving Simulator
Currently researching the mechanical adjustability of a mobile driving simulator. The simulator will be able to replicate placement of driver as well as steering wheel, pedals, etc. relative to vehicle being simulated. This 3-D model rendering denotes the most relevant progress on this project and has been fully designed by my colleague and I on a program called Fusion 360 in which allows for optimal visualization. In this research my mentor Dr. Jangwoon Park hopes to observe the human factors of autonomous vehicles by utilizing this simulator. The simulator will be a great asset for AV (autonomous vehicle) studies at TAMU-CC.

Fourth Place

Lawson Love, Undergraduate, Biomedical

Shining New Light on Discovery - Photosynthesis Lab
This image portrays the discoveries made in labs all across the world. One cannot make discoveries without running tests. This photograph was taken in a biology lab here at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. In the lab we were allowed to work with plants to test how different colors of light effect the rate of photosynthesis. This experiment was even linked to photography because both use light. Plants use light to photosynthesize and make sugar and oxygen, but a camera uses light to capture the world around us to frame that moment in time. This photo had very minimal editing. The only thing I did to it was to color grade it, in Adobe Lightroom, to better match the feel of the lab in real life.