The Scanning Electron Microscopy Show in the F.W. Olin Center Atrium this week was the culmination of collaboration between students in “Frontiers of Nanotechnology” and students in “Photography II.” Members of both classes displayed and discussed images they captured using the scanning electron microscope this term, and photography students also juxtaposed these with pictures taken with traditional cameras.
In the nanotech class, co-taught by Electrical Engineering Professor Palma Catravas, Biology Professor Brian Cohen and Chemistry Professor Michael Hagerman, students learned to operate the microscope.
They used materials provided by Professors Seyffie Maleki (Physics), Kathleen LoGiudice (Biology) and Sam Amanuel (Physics), and David Frye of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Some materials studied during microscopy labs, co-developed with Mark Hooker, bioengineering technician, also came from the visual arts students.
“The samples provided by the photography students presented interesting imaging challenges,” Catravas said of items like phone books and paper bags. “They helped nanotechnology students master different microscopy techniques.”
Photography students, like Alec Rosen '10, also learned to use the microscope. “It was very interesting, I never see things that close up,” said Rosen, a psychology major. “It showed me that there are different perspectives, different ways of looking at things.”
Union Graduate College Electrical Engineering student Yohan Dupuis said engineers "usually see how technology works, but this nanotechnology class focused on something different. It was like, not learning how a TV works, but learning what’s inside a TV on the molecular level.”
Photographer and Visual Arts Professor Martin Benjamin agrees that the microscope introduces students to a whole new realm of knowledge.
“If you’re trying to create art, the more input you get on all facets of the world, the better off you are,” Benjamin said. “In this case, for instance, you’re seeing things in a way you can’t ever see them with your eyes.”