{"id":766,"date":"2025-11-10T15:52:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T20:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/?page_id=766"},"modified":"2025-11-18T13:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:04:20","slug":"2023-winners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/2023-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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2025<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
2024<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
2023<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2022<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
2021<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
2020<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2019<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
2018<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1st Place | Photo Title: “Aquatic Oddball”<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Michael Corso \u201924, Aquaculture and Fisheries
Science<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 70 feet below the surface, a rare whitelined
toadfish peers out from the darkness to observe
a research dive group from URI. Corso captured
this photograph of a creature endemic to Belize\u2019s
Barrier Reef system while on an aquaculture
and fisheries science J-term course in scientific
research diving. Corso says, \u201cAs an AFS major,
[I] focused on biological survey techniques and
underwater photography while collecting real
scientific data.\u201d While the toadfish exemplifies the
extent of a reef\u2019s ecosystem biodiversity, warming
seas and ocean acidification are chipping away
at the natural world\u2019s biodiversity and weakening
reefs. \u201cThe highly specialized animals that rely
on these underwater jungles are being impacted
directly,\u201d Corso says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd Place | Photo Title: “Life is a Maze”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Janelle Mercer \u201923, Marine Biology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mercer took this photo of maze coral off the coast of
St. George\u2019s Caye, Belize, roughly 40 feet underwater,
during an underwater archaeology class with Anya
Hanson, Director, URI Diving Research and Safety
Program in Belize. Maze coral is a type of stony coral
with a photosynthetic dinoflagellate living within polyps
on the coral\u2019s surface, providing coloration. The polyps
and their corallite walls have a unique twisting, maze
like formation. Mercer, who earned her AAUS Scientific
Research Diver certification on this trip, is preparing for
a career in marine biology and conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3rd Place | Photo Title: “Got Nectar”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Vieira, Graduate Student in Plant Sciences and Entomology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This macro photo shows a brown-belted bumble bee foraging for nectar
from common milkweed. The female worker takes a break to re-energize
by sucking up the delicious, carbohydrate-filled nectar within the milkweed
flower with her long proboscis (tongue). The bumble bee was visiting one
of the many milkweed plants within the acres of pollinator plantings on
URI\u2019s East Farm. Vieira\u2019s research primarily focuses on assessing bumble
bee visitation to various flower species to enhance Rhode Island bumble
bee conservation programs by improving floral recommendations for
pollinator plantings throughout the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable Mention | Photo Title: “Crossing Under”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Olivia Mazzone \u201923, Marine Biology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This photo depicts a comb jellyfish floating amongst
seaweed at dusk off the southeast corner of
Conanicut Island. \u201cThe day that I took this picture
was the first time I ever picked up an underwater
camera. It was an assignment for a class,\u201d Mazzone
says. Her first attempts to photograph anything
underwater failed, she says, and she longed to
get out of the water and go home. \u201cFor whatever
reason instead of getting out of the water I lifted my
feet and let myself go completely. I became part of
the tide, and everything in my view became clear,\u201d
she says\u2014including this jellyfish, whom she now
considers \u201ca dear friend.\u201d
\u201cThere are things that I understand about the world that I can\u2019t communicate in words,\u201d Mazzone adds, but \u201cto show people
life as I see it is an act of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable Mention | Photo Title: “Male Bombus Impatiens”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gena Anika \u201923, Wildlife and Conservation Biology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This photo is a close-up image of a Bombus impatiens
(Common Eastern Bumble Bee) face. The yellow patch of
hair on the bee\u2019s face signifies it is male. There are pollen
granules present on the bee\u2019s face and you can see the
hexagonal lenses (ommatidium) in the compound eyes.
Anika used a digital microscope to observe the bee closely
to help learn bee characteristics and to identify its species
and sex for the class BIO 338 Bees and Pollination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorable Mention | Photo Title: “Fluorescence Microscopy of Neuromuscular Junctions”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alyssa Madden \u201923, Molecular Neuroscience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This fluorescence microscopy picture shows the neuromuscular
junctions in the calf muscle of a rabbit modeling cerebral palsy.
In the Manuel Lab, Madden is looking at the differences in
neuromuscular development in a rabbit model of cerebral palsy.
Using confocal microscopy, researchers can observe how the
structure of the neuromuscular junctions is affected by cerebral
palsy, in the hope of better understanding this disorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st Place | Photo Title: “Aquatic Oddball” Michael Corso \u201924, Aquaculture and FisheriesScience At 70 feet below the surface, a rare whitelinedtoadfish peers out from the darkness to observea research dive group from URI. Corso capturedthis photograph of a creature endemic to Belize\u2019sBarrier Reef system while on an aquacultureand fisheries science J-term course in scientificresearch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":701,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-766","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/701"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/766\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/photocontest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}