is taking his work beyond science. In four of his last published articles, Singh has stressed the importance of the art that represents his work.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been interested in art,鈥 the assistant professor of macromolecular science and engineering said. 鈥淏ut, I never thought I could bring it to science.鈥
Now, his scientific art has seen the cover of four publications鈥攖wo editions of Soft Matter, Physical Review Letters and MRS Communications. But Singh鈥檚 vision reaches beyond publications. He is hoping that his passion for art in STEM can inspire young people to join fields they might not have considered before.
鈥淧eople are scared of psychics because they don鈥檛 see the connection when it鈥檚 just equations and plain text,鈥 Singh shared. 鈥淚f we present the same ideas in helpful and interesting graphics, I believe we can make science more accessible to everybody.鈥
Using programs like Blender, Povray and more, Singh is developing art like the image above that showcases the flow of dense suspensions, like paint, which is complicated by a hidden hierarchy involving not only particles but also a mesoscale network. A complicated concept made approachable by a visual.
With the help of first-year computer science student Casey Malcolm, Singh is visualizing even more of his work. Without a background in physics and chemistry, Malcolm was surprised at how much he enjoys the artistic side of this work.
鈥淟ast year, if you would鈥檝e told me I would be working in the polymer department, I wouldn鈥檛 have believed it,鈥 he said.
While Singh does the mathematical and physical work, Malcolm is tasked with bringing the data to life in an intriguing image and through these projects is gaining hands-on experience in data visualization and machine learning, something he鈥檚 been interested in since he arrived on campus.
鈥淚鈥檓 learning a lot of new things that I don鈥檛 have a ton of experience in,鈥 he said. 鈥滸etting this opportunity as a first-year student is really cool.鈥