Art and Science Meet: York Student Gets Mention in CUNY Photo Challenge

Photographer Lie Ling Jauw has been awarded an honorable mention in the CUNY Photo Challenge.

She is actually not a student of photography nor of any fine arts area. She is a Chemistry major who has never taken a photo class, relying more on science than on photo technology to create her entry.

The critics were at once impressed and curious about Jauw’s process.

“The judges like your magazine-quality illustration,” said Neill Rosenfeld, CUNY photo challenge curator. “We're curious about how/why you took this UV-lit image. What's your involvement with the creation of these nanoparticles? In any case [it’s] very well done!”

Jauw explained that it was a matter of art and science meeting in a  chemistry lab at York College, and could be used in oncology.

“This picture was taken in one of the laboratories at York College, CUNY,” said Jauw, a member of the graduating of 2018. “I synthesized the quantum dots myself for the ACS (American Chemical Society) Undergraduate Research under Inorganic Chemistry Lab class. So, when you shine the UV light in a dark room, the quantum dots would give off different colors based on their size.”

She added that this is one of her favorite experiments because these quantum dots “can be used to stain cancer/tumor cells and photovoltaic application as well.”

Kudos, Lie Ling as well as Dr. Yolanda Small, her quantum dot mentor in Inorganic Chemistry!