and the ethics of our digital future. Visitors move through conceptual installations — data records, water samples, wood chips and more — that challenge assumptions about clean technology and offer a space for reflection on our increasingly digital world. Ostroverkhova contributed insights from her research on fungi-derived pigments such as xylindein, a substance used in Western European art since the 1400s and now explored as a sustainable material for electronics. She is collaborating with colleagues in the colleges of Forestry and Engineering to investigate how the blue-green color has held up to prolonged exposure to heat, ultraviolet light and electrical stress. David’s installation raised critical questions about the environmental costs of data centers and AI’s growing energy demands. “AI is needed and it’s useful. In fact, I use it for my research. But what is the cost for our children?” she said. “More than 10% of the energy consumption in Oregon is just for data centers.” Bringing hidden aquatic threats into view Microbiology graduate student Nilanjana Das is using art to give the invisible world of fish parasites new visibility — and new meaning. Through ethereal, cloud-like sculptures made of tracing paper and reed, she brings public attention to the microscopic organisms threatening aquatic ecosystems. Her work lives at the intersection of science, art and advocacy. Her exhibit has been on display at the Joan Truckenbrod Gallery in Corvallis and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. By combining scientific research with a visual language that invites curiosity and contemplation, Das hopes to make complex ecological issues more accessible to the public. She was one of 13 students who Natalie Donato’s digital art hopes to create better appreciation for our often misunderstood oceanic neighbors, the sharks. Nilanjana Das creates beautiful sculptures to recontextualize aquatic parasites like Trichodina (right) and Salmincola californiensis (below). 6 OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
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