Piece description from the artist
Alkanes and friends is an artists rendition of a simple series of hydrocarbon molecules, the alkanes. It also includes their friends, alcohol, ester and other derivatives of the hydrocarbon alkanes. These derivatives contain additional atoms such as nitrogen and oxygen. Even though the alkanes themselves are hydrophobic and do not mix well with water, some water and hydrogen bonding is depicted, including a cooperative chain of hydrogen bonds. The style is an artists modification of kekulke structure, sort of a mash up between the line diagrams and 2D graphs used in chemistry notes and more space filling 3D style rendering. Working in this blended style provided a set of interesting challenges, balancing space filling ideas and realistic geometries against showing more parts of each molecule and creating an engaging drawing.
Dr. Regina Valluzzi has an extensive scientific background in nanotechnology and biophysics. She has been a scientist in the chemical industry, a green chemistry researcher, a research professor at the engineering school at Tufts, a start-up founder engaged in technology commercialization, and a start-up and commercialization consultant.
Even during periods of intense activity as a scientist, Dr. Valluzzi has always held a strong interest in the visual arts and in visual information. While she majored in Materials Science at MIT, she also obtained a second degree in music and a minor in visual studies. Visual arts have managed to permeate her technical work; during her Ph.D in Polymer Science and Engineering at UMass Amherst, she completed a thesis that required advanced electron microscopy, image analysis, and theoretical data modeling. These experiences provided the visual insight and information that now influences much of her artwork.
Dr. Valluzzi’s work has been included in private collections across the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai and Malta, and in the corporate collection of "Seyfarth Shaw" Boston law offices around Boston. She has a selection of pieces on loan to the MIT Materials Science and Engineering Department as indoor public art. Her accomplishments include having published thirty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, having made several scientific patents, having been a subject matter expert for an encyclopedia chapter, and having been invited to speak at science talks across the US, Europe, and Japan.
Her newsletter is a good source of ongoing information: http://eepurl.com/daiLQ
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