PRESENTERS

Adolfo Arranz

Graphics Editor Reuters | South China Morning Post | IG @adolfux | https://www.perdigallos.com/

Daily Sketching Practice and Observation Drawing

Adolfo will discuss how the daily practice of live sketching and observation drawing has had a positive impact on his professional development—particularly in the application of illustration in visual narratives and technical explanations in infographics.

Adolfo is a Spaniard based in Hong Kong that helps to create visual explanations across a spectrum of topics, supporting the drive at Reuters to present new ways to present news. He likes to use handcrafted illustrations to approach the subject and create appealing visual stories. Adolfo Arranz previously worked as a creative director at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Mediacorp in Singapore. He has won multiple prestigious awards in visual communication.

Annie Campbell

Co-founder, Artist Now Medical Studios| Studio IG @nowmedstudios| IG @camp_illustrate| TikTok @illustrate_medart| YouTube| Learn Medical Art| Learn Medical Art IG @learnmedicalart|Learn Medical Art YouTube 

Lightning Round Presenter: Embracing short form video for your social media strategy 

Social media marketing is an ever-changing landscape, simultaneously exciting and daunting to step into. Join medical illustrator Annie Campbell as she delves into the power of video content in social media, exploring platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. In this age of information overload, Annie uncovers strategies for effectively sharing our expertise as medical and scientific communicators while fostering meaningful connections. Discover how to navigate this dynamic media and captivate audiences with compelling visual storytelling. 

Annie Campbell is the co-founder of Now Medical Studios—a multidisciplinary studio based in Scotland with global clients like Gore, Under Armour, and Scientific American. Her experiences as art director, project manager and multimedia artist for various clients across the U.S. and Europe have provided her with a broad range of skills and expertise that she instills in her talented team.

Annie firmly believes in lifelong learning and sharing. One of her passions is sharing the business of medical illustration with younger artists embarking on the field. As part of this endeavor, she and her business partner Emily Holden founded their learning channel Learn Medical Art to bring the world of medical illustration to a wider audience.

Lea Fabre

Coordinator, The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, RISD | IG @lrfabre42 |  leafabreart  | Facebook

Lightning Round Presenter: The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design

This will be a "walk through" of the Nature Lab, its aspects and resources, from the perspective of Lea Fabre, one of the Nature Lab Coordinators. 

Lea Fabre is a multi-dimensional artist, with their BFA in Sculpture from RISD. Their work often focuses on the environmental impacts of human behavior, in addition to diverting established waste streams. Ornithology and scientific illustration are of particular interest to them and frequently influence their artistic practice. Their knowledge of natural history and local ecology often brings them into close conversion with the Nature Lab collection. With a personal investment in community engagement with art, Lea has had work experience at Roger Williams Park Zoo and Waterfire. They find engaging people in the creation of art and the exploration of science to be both exciting and fulfilling. Their abiding passion for animals, and teaching others about them, has only grown as they care for the many animals in residence at the Nature Lab. Lea enjoys sharing their own sense of wonder with others, while helping students and visitors explore the collection and resources the Nature Lab has to offer. Outside of the Lab, Lea enjoys archery, singing with friends, and birdwatching.

Veronica Falconieri Hays, CMI

Founder |Falconieri Visuals | IG @falconierivisuals | TW @FalconieriV  | LinkedIn

Panelist: Building and Sustaining a Career in Visual SciComm

Veronica Falconieri Hays is the Certified Medical Illustrator behind Falconieri Visuals. She specializes in molecular, cellular, and medical visualization, including both still media and animation. Veronica launched Falconieri Visuals in 2017 and works primarily with biotech and pharma companies, researchers, and publications.

Prior to founding Falconieri Visuals, Veronica earned her MA in Medical Illustration from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. After graduating, Veronica worked within a cryo-electron microscopy lab at the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. She collaborated extensively with researchers as they discovered structures of biological molecules, and is a published author in several journals including Science and Cell.

Matteo Farinella

Artist, Author | cartoonscience.org | IG @matteofarinella | TW @matteofarinella

Lightning Round Presenter: Cartoon Science

Comics are becoming a popular format for science education and communication. Combining the benefits of traditional scientific visualization with powerful metaphors and character-driven narratives, comics can make even the most abstract concepts more accessible and engaging for a wider audience. This talk will provide a brief overview of the history of science comics, and discuss relevant examples from cartoonscience.org.

Matteo Farinella received a PhD in neuroscience from University College London in 2013. Since then he has been combining his scientific expertise with a life-long passion for drawing, producing educational comics, illustrations and animations. He is the author of Neurocomic (Nobrow 2013) and other science comics for both children and adults. He has worked with scientific institutions all over the world to make science more clear and accessible. Since 2019 he works as scientific multimedia producer for Columbia's Zuckerman Institute.

Sharon Field

Botanical Artist |sharonfieldartist.com.au | IG @ sharon_field_artist 

Lightning Round Presenter: 3000 Days... and Counting...

“3000 days ... and counting ...” is a visual artwork in the form of a scroll that started out as a casual exercise to comment on climate change from a personal perspective. It will take 8 years (or 3000 days) to complete. Over the past few years, scientists and activists have tried their best to bring about an awareness of climate change issues. Many people have listened and have agreed that there is a problem. Some people have taken action in their own way. Others have not known what to do. Others have denied that there is a problem. Art can also help communicate the message. I will tell the story behind “the scroll,” its message about climate change, and the impact it is having.

After careers in teaching and the civil service in various countries in the Pacific and Africa, Sharon Field embarked on a career as a botanical artist in 2009. Sharon is an elected member of the Board of the American Society of Botanical Artists, based in New York and is a speaker for the Australian Design and Fine Arts Society (ADFAS). Sharon has held numerous solo exhibitions, four joint exhibitions, and participated in many group exhibitions in Australia and overseas.

Megan K. Halpern

Associate Professor at Lyman Briggs College, at Michigan State University and the founder and director of MSU’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Collaboration, Learning, and Engagement (CIRCLE)

Art, Experience, and Science Communication

This talk will explore the intersection of art and science communication. First Megan will discuss a typology to help understand the different ways art intersects with or becomes science communication. This typology, developed with Hannah Rogers, focuses on the uses of art-science projects as one of four types of science communication: conveyance, contributive, contextual, and critical. Megan will then situate her own work and the work she teaches within this typology. She'll end by discussing a broad approach to science communication drawn from Dewey’s theory of aesthetics and share her current project: Science as Experience.

Dr. Megan K. Halpern is an Associate Professor at Lyman Briggs College, at Michigan State University and the founder and director of MSU’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Collaboration, Learning, and Engagement (CIRCLE). Her research interests include art-science studies, interdisciplinary collaboration, public engagement with science, feminist approaches to science communication, and research through design. She teaches science communication, science and technology studies, and courses that blend arts practice with science in society. She earned her PhD in Science Communication at Cornell University and completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Arizona State University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Society and Center for Science and the Imagination. Before earning her PhD, Dr. Halpern was a theatre artist and the co-founder and Artistic Director of Redshift Productions, a company that created performances inspired by science in collaboration with scientists.

Gb Kim

Artist and Scholar |https://www.gbkim.com/ | https://explorebiology.org/

Lightning Round Presenter: Sovereignty Over Sight

Science as it is practiced today would not exist without the image for the image was fundamental in the curation of the natural world and the culture of scientific objectivity. Whether the artist’s philosophy was aligned or served as foil to the philosophy of the scientific self, we cannot deny our political role in adjudicating how the world was and is to be seen. From a banana tree’s life cycle to categorizing the races of man, we have illustrated seeing into believing and believing into power. With our time we may not illuminate a thorough analysis of the scientific artist’s role but instead deliberate key histories we carry with us, how I choose to move through the work I am given, how I fail, and how we might be stewards of an ungeneralizable future.

Gb Kim is a visual artist and scholar of aesthetic politics, decolonial theory, and history & philosophy of science. Gb believes her responsibilities lie in using artistic practices to disrupt scientific practices, fully accounting the history and philosophy of science, and ultimately enabling a humane future. Their ongoing work is focused on imagining non-apocalyptic science fictions/futures. Gb received a BFA in Illustration from Parsons The New School and an MA in Arts Politics from NYU Tisch School of Arts. Currently she works with the XBio division of the Science Communications Lab as the primary scientific illustrator. 

Dave Mazierski, CMI, FAMI 

Associate Professor | Biomedical Communications, University of Toronto 

Panelist: Building and Sustaining a Career in Visual SciComm

Dave Mazierski obtained a BSc in Art as Applied to Medicine in 1982, and an MSc in vertebrate paleontology in 2008. His first professional assignment was to illustrate the world’s first and only atlas of camel anatomy, and he has contributed to many anatomical, medical and scientific publications, including Grant’s Atlas. He is a certified medical illustrator and a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators. He currently teaches foundation courses in anatomy and digital media production and illustration in the Biomedical Communications graduate program at the University of Toronto, as well as undergraduate courses in scientific visualization.

Angela Morelli

CEO, Co-Founder |InfoDesignLab | TW @angelamorelli | LinkedIn 

Data Visualization and the Ripples That Last

A participatory approach is the foundation for building design solutions that empower citizens, policymakers, experts, and non-experts to make informed decisions. Angela will guide us through her journey of co-designing scientific data visualizations in a participatory way, in order to capture the imagination of an audience.

Angela Morelli is an Italian information designer based in Norway. She is the CEO and co-founder of InfoDesignLab. Her goal is to co-design engaging solutions that empower audiences and support informed decision-making. From climate change to health, from education to social justice, she has worked with a wide range of scientific organizations and professionals including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the European Environment Agency, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the Center for Climate Research in Norway and the World Meteorological Organization. Angela was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum thanks to her commitment to communicating the science of Water Footprint through information design and data visualization. 

Marcelo Oliver

Owner, President | Body Scientific International | IG @bodyscientific | LinkedIn 

Panelist: Building and Sustaining a Career in Visual SciComm

Marcelo Oliver is owner and president of Body Scientific International. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1992. Over the past nearly 30 years he illustrated, art directed and helped design many medical education visuals used to educate patients, students and medical professionals. Body Scientific is published in over 100 textbooks and is an international company doing business in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Europe. Marcelo serves on the Association of Medical Illustrators Board of Governors as Treasurer and is also part of the Advisory Committee for the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Master of Science in Biomedical Visualization.  

Alyssa Pagan

Science Visuals Developer, Space Telescope Science Institute

Lightning Round Presenter: The Art and Science of Visualizing JWST Imagery 

The amazing visions from the Webb Space Telescope have captivated the world. However, there is a long and involved process by which the scientist's black and white observational data are transformed into dynamic color imagery for the public. Join image specialist Alyssa Pagan as she demonstrates the art and science of translating infrared light beginning with acquiring the data to finalizing the press release imagery which is intended to inform, inspire, and engage the public.  

Alyssa Pagan is a Science Visuals Developer who works in the Office of Public Outreach within the Space Telescope Science Institute. Using her background in art and science, she works closely with astronomers to create color images of space that are intended both to educate, inspire, and showcase the beauty of our universe.

Niharika Rajput

Wildlife Artist |paperchirrups.com | IG @paperchirrups 

Lightning Round Presenter: Cry for Help, a Bird's Appeal from the Shola Sky Islands

Niharika will bring the plight and struggles of the Shola birds to light and talk about her current National Geographic project. She will highlight the entire building process followed in creating 12 species of birds and landscapes. The talk will culminate in how art can be used as a medium to spread awareness, educate, and bring together communities to take action.  

Niharika Rajput is a wildlife artist, creative conservationist and National Geographic Explorer. Her work aims to use education, art and storytelling to increase environmental awareness. Rajput is a self-taught artist and educator who has learned to proficiently conduct her work through field experiences and by working closely with ornithologists, evolutionary biologists and wildlife organizations. In the age of the Anthropocene, Rajput hopes to foster an environment where communities can come together, be inspired, and collectively come up with solutions to conserve wildlife. 

Nirupa Rao

Botanical Artist |nirupa-rao.com | IG @niruparao | IG @spiritoftheforestfilm 

Indian Botanical Art in the 21st Century

Botanical artist Nirupa Rao will speak about her journey towards rediscovering this rather dormant artform in India, referencing in particular her experience of illustrating two books on the flora of southern India, and her recent animated film set in the region’s endemic nutmeg swamps. While examining the genre’s history in the Indian subcontinent, she will consider its role in tackling 21st century concerns like biodiversity loss and plant blindness.  

Nirupa Rao is a botanical illustrator whose work is inspired by close collaboration with natural scientists. A National Geographic Explorer and Fellow, Nirupa is the youngest artist featured in Kew Botanical Garden's Indian Botanical Art—An Illustrated History. She has illustrated two books: Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats and Pillars of Life—Magnificent Trees of the Western Ghats, and the cover of Amitav Ghosh's latest novel, Gun Island. She co-directed a short animated film set in the Myristica swamps of south India titled Spirit of the Forest, screened at Annecy 2023. She was also 2022’s artist-in-residence at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks.

Paula Spence

Art Director & Designer | paulaspence.com | doublenutkin.com

Panelist: Building and Sustaining a Career in Visual SciComm

 Paula Spence is an Art Director and Designer in the TV animation industry, most recently at Nickelodeon Animation Studio (a SpongeBob Universe movie for Netflix), ShadowMachine (Little Demon) and Cartoon Network Studios (Shorts, Close Enough, Regular Show, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack). She enjoys building teams of talented artists, making meaningful connections, and organizing the hell out of her projects. She serves as Recording Secretary at The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, and strives to engage her fellow members to work for the greater good of the union’s membership, future members, and the industry as a whole.

Travis Vermilye

Associate Professor, Dept. of Visual Arts, University of Colorado Denver |travisvermilye.com | IG @travis.vermilye 

Looking Back to Move Forward

When you feel like you need a shift in your art practice, looking back might offer some guidance on new directions. Travis will talk briefly about his career in medical illustration, and how the skills, tools, and techniques from that time combined with renewed interests helped him build a new path making visual art about science and nature. 

Travis Vermilye (ver-MIL-yuh) is a digital and mixed media artist who creates imagery inspired by the natural world. His abstract digital imagery and animated short films invite you to gaze into a dream-like microscopic realm and find a sense of joyous calm within the organic forms on display. Travis’s work grows from an award-winning 18-year career as a medical illustrator and animator with work shown on Dateline NBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show, in TheNew York Times, National Geographic, and via numerous medical organizations.

Travis is an Associate Professor in the Digital Design and Illustration Areas in the Department of Visual Arts, College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado Denver. He teaches courses in 3D motion design, motion graphics, digital design, anatomical drawing, and illustration.

Ben Zhao

Neubauer Professor of Computer Science, University of Chicago |Glaze 

Generative AI and Art

Generative AI models, including diffusion models for images and transformer LLMs for text, have changed the way we produce content and consume content. Ben will discuss some of the underlying characteristics of these models, particularly diffusion models for images, and describe their challenges, including issues of ethics, misuse, and negative impacts on human creatives in multiple industries. Finally, he will describe technological solutions that have been developed to protect artists, even as complex issues are being debated and deliberated in the courts and regulatory agencies. 

Ben Zhao is the Neubauer Professor of Computer Science at The University of Chicago. He completed his Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley (2004), and B.S. from Yale (1997). He is a Fellow of the ACM, and a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, MIT Technology Review's TR-35 Award (Young Innovators Under 35), ComputerWorld Magazine's Top 40 Technology Innovators award, IEEE ITC Early Career Award, Google and Amazon Faculty awards. His work has been covered by media outlets such as TheNew York Times, Boston Globe, LA Times, MIT Tech Review, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, New Scientist, and Slashdot. He has published over 180 articles in areas of security and privacy, machine learning, networking, and HCI (H-index 75).