College’s Odyssey Magazine Receives Award
June 2014 Odyssey magazine cover receives silver award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
The University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences received a silver award for its June 2014 Odyssey magazine cover from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) through its 2015 District II Accolades Awards program.
The award was presented to the college’s graphic designer Loretta Kuo and director of communications Abby Robinson on Feb. 2, 2015 at the CASE District II Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
The award-winning cover aimed to intrigue readers in the magazine’s feature story on big data research titled “Now You See It: Unexpected Patterns and Connections Fuel Data-driven Discoveries.” Kuo and Robinson worked with the company eyeTricks 3D Stereograms to create a “magic eye” image, also called a 3D stereogram, to express the feature story’s theme that patterns can emerge in unexpected ways and places with big data.
The cover displayed a repeating image—of the small flowering plant Arabidopsis—arranged so that viewers see the words “BIG DATA” emerge from a background of tiny green leaves and stems. The image was provided by Caren Chang, a professor in UMD’s Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, whose research on Arabidopsis was highlighted in the feature story.
Judges comments included: “The cover art brings the reader into the issue in a participatory way. This cover definitely stands out, in more ways than one, and is very creative and fun. Certainly innovative and invites readers to their “big data” story in a way that's unexpected and capturing the readers attention right away.”
Odyssey magazine is published twice per year and mailed to all college alumni, faculty members, staff members, and students, with a goal of keeping them up to date on the college’s latest strategic research areas; the careers and philanthropy of its alumni; recent and upcoming events; and honors and awards received by faculty, staff, alumni and students.
UMD is a proud member of CASE, which supports alumni relations, communications, development and marketing professionals at educational institutions worldwide. The association provides networking, recognition and continuing education for more than 68,000 professionals at more than 3,600 colleges and universities, primary and secondary independent and international schools, and nonprofit organizations in more than 77 countries.
CASE District II is the largest CASE district, representing professionals and institutions in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and West Virginia.
Media Relations Contact: Abby Robinson, 301-405-5845, abbyr@umd.edu
University of Maryland
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
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College Park, MD 20742
www.cmns.umd.edu
@UMDscience
About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 7,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $150 million.