Accurately, effectively communicating what they do can be intimidating to many researchers. Asking them to summarize the activities of their labs in two-minute videos can make them break out into a cold sweat.

But for Nils Persson, a graduate student in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, it was no sweat. Persson won the grand prize of $2,500 in the Georgia Tech Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) Research Video Contest for his two-minute video, called “The Art of Spin.” The video uses the spinning-paint artistic approach to illustrate the experimental methods used by the Reichmanis Research Group.

“I’ve been making movies since junior high, so when I see a chance to make a movie, I always take it,” said Persson, who is co-advised by ChBE faculty members Martha Grover and Elsa Reichmanis. “Videos are the most exciting when things on screen are moving, but the only thing in our lab that moves is the spin-coater, so that was a natural starting point. The rest of the movement occurs on a molecular level while our polymers are crystallizing, so I had to find a way to show that.

“The options there are basically time-resolved electron microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations or pushing a bunch of wires and paper dots around on my dining room table to make stop-motion animations, so that choice was pretty easy.”

The contest objective is to “create a unique, succinct, two-minute video that communicates the significance and challenges in your research.” Click here to watch Persson’s award-winning video.

Photo captions:

PHOTO 1: Nils Persson used a GoPro camera, mounted on a light post, to capture the action from above.

PHOTO 2: Nils Persson with his award-winning video