Staring at materials science and engineering graduate student Stephanie Lee's scanning electron microscope (SEM) image, a casual observer might see a cluster of orbs against a starry sky. It's no wonder, then, that Lee's image -- actually, of polystyrene particles just a few micrometers in diameter -- garnered her a Most Artistic prize in the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) fifth microscopy contest.

Soliciting entries from student users of any of CCMR's microscopy facilities, the periodic contest, whose latest winners were announced Jan. 28, honors the science, intricacy and even artistry of images of things too small to see with the naked eye.

"We want to teach students how to communicate their science," explained CCMR Director Melissa Hines. "One of the best ways is for them to show examples of their work."

This year's grand-prize winner for Best Scientific Presentation was Ian T. Clark, a graduate student in chemistry and chemical biology. Using a light microscope, he produced a colorful picture of hydrogen bubbles that form as silicon is etched in ammonium fluoride. The bubbles show that this etching technique creates an undesirable, rough silicon surface, he explained.

The first-prize winner in the SEM category was Naomi Birbach, a fiber science student, who captured unusual formations of sodium hydroxide crystals on cellulose acetate nanofibers.

Hong Dong, a former fiber science postdoctoral researcher, placed first in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) category for her detailed view of nylon nanofibers coated with gold nanoparticles.

And Hanying Li, a materials science graduate student, proved his skill with the light microscope by earning first place in that instrument category for his gel-grown calcite crystals etched in hydrogen chloride, with their quasi-pyramid shapes.

The contest recognizes not only the images, but the explanations behind them. Lena Fitting Kourkoutis, an applied and engineering physics graduate student, won an Honorable Mention award for her succinct image caption. It read, "High angle annular dark field (HAADF) image of Sr rich SrTiO3 demonstrating how the crystal accommodates the off-stoichimetry. Locally, single rock-salt type layers are introduced to account for the Sr excess. For comparison an HAADF image of stoichiometric SrTiO3 is shown in the inset."

For more information, visit http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu.