8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY DECEMBER 19-25, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com 831 Illustrations can show you images from mythical worlds, or be an abstract representation of something real. The craft has different uses—one of which brings science closer to people. At CSU Monterey Bay, the ninemonth Science Illustration Certificate Program helps students sharpen their skills to become scientific illustrators. The program is well-known nationwide and has been around since the 1980s. It was previously housed at UC Santa Cruz and moved to CSUMB in 2009. “The purpose of this program is to train people to make art that can explain science,” says Reid Psaltis, program director. Psaltis says science illustrations are everywhere, beyond the pages of specialized books and magazines. For instance, we can find them at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, on interpretive signage at local beaches and parks, and in murals. Sometimes they are accurate representations of what’s found in nature, such as the number of vertebrae in a dog; others are an amplification of nature, like putting together all of the amphibians, plants and insects that are part of an ecosystem; or they can be an oversimplification so viewers can understand different parts of the heart. Students in the program should show excellent illustration skills, but they don’t necessarily need an art or scientific background. “We look for people who have good observation skills so they can represent what they see,” Psaltis says. Part of the program requires students to enroll in an internship. Local organizations where CSUMB science illustration students intern include the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Monterey Audubon Society. The program attracts students from different backgrounds. One of them is Emma Regnier, who studied fine art and biology at Cornell University. “It’s well known in the world of science illustration. It has a very renowned reputation for producing a lot of great artists,” Regnier says. Sometimes, illustrations are needed because specimens can’t be photographed or don’t preserve well once scientists take them out of their natural habitat. One group of organisms that falls into this category are Rhizaria, a large, single-celled organism found in the open ocean. Rhizaria are miniscule to the naked eye, but get more detail in enlarged illustrations. They contribute to living plankton and transport carbon dioxide from the surface to the deep ocean. A membrane that surrounds them disappears once they are taken to the surface. “By the time you bring it up to the surface and on the ship, this [membrane] is gone,” says Colleen Durkin, an oceanographer with MBARI. Last summer, Emily C. Mitchell, who was a scientific illustration intern at MBARI and part of CSUMB’s science illustration program, joined the Carbon Flux Ecology Lab expeditions and jumped on the R/V Rachel Carson, MBARI’s coastal vessel, to observe and learn more about deep-sea Rhizaria with siliceous, or glass, skeletons and create illustrations of the translucent organisms after gathering information in real time. Durkin says Mitchell was seeing these organisms with fresh eyes. “She noticed just different morphologies, different shapes that we overlooked because we just expected everything to be one way,” Durkin says, noting Mitchell’s observations help them to hypothesize about these organisms. Mitchell was a paid intern at MBARI. The organization received a $10,000 grant from the Maxwell/ Hanrahan Foundation for a science illustration internship in 2022, and it was recently renewed for three additional years at $45,000. “It was just a one-year, kind of one-off opportunity, but because this went so well we’re going to be able to do it again for three additional years,” Durkin says. Natalia Llopis Monferrer, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral fellow at MBARI, says she really enjoyed working with a scientific illustrator because they are a bridge that helps them to better communicate their research with the community. Learn more about the Science Illustration program at CSUMB at csumb.edu/scienceillustration or 582-3785. Art Meets Science Students at CSU Monterey Bay learn how to make science more accessible through illustration. By Celia Jiménez CSU Monterey Bay student Natalie Chan draws a bat during a Science Illustration class. Students in the program sharpen basic skills using traditional methods such as pen and paper, later learning about different editing software. “It has a very renowned reputation.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE DANIEL DREIFUSS GIVE THE GIFT OF GOOD HEALTH! Our Local Impact: Our Big Idea expands FOOD IS MEDICINE in Monterey County through nutrition programs and farmers’ markets providing local, sustainably grown fruits and vegetables to families in need. Please Donate Today! 213 Farmers Markets hosted annually 2,750+ Families served weekly (avg.) $2.2M in Healthy Food Incentives provided over the past 10 years (includes: Fresh Rx, Market Match, Edible Education, and Farms Together Produce Boxes) Nov. 14 - Dec. 31, 2024 montereycountygives.com/harvest
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