How do we make sense of the world around us? Art and science are two important, often distinct, portals into the unknown—but both are driven by the desire to find and understand patterns that emerge from noise.
“There’s a lot of crossover in the creative process between art and science, at least in my view as a scientist,” said Hanna Anderson, a PhD student at DEES and one of the organizers of Research as Art, a now-yearly exhibit of artwork by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers. “Sometimes people don’t realize the amount of creative thinking and detail-oriented work that goes into creating both science and art.”
Lamont’s Research as Art 2025 exhibit offers an opportunity for visitors to experience some of the research happening at Lamont, which is part of the Columbia Climate School, in a new light. Organized by Anderson as well as Ally Peccia, Aviva Intveld, Caitlin Locke, Lindsay Hogan and Phoebe Salowey, the exhibit is on display at the Monell Building on the Lamont campus through October 15, 2026.
Sample preparation is a job requirement for geochemists. Though this looks different for each, it often involves hours of meticulous and laborious crafting.
These trays contain representative samples of subducting sediment packages that span the Pacific Ring of Fire, wrapped in tiny x-ray tape tubes, and pressed into a 3D printed 8-slot sample holder (made by Ryan Harris in the LDEO Machine Shop).
They were analyzed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource in July 2025. Though their utility as scientific research material is transient, my attachment to them remains steadfast.
A Year in the Life of a Sanctuary Forest by Mukund Rao. A compilation of digital repeat photographs of the Lamont Sanctuary in 2021. These data are being used to understand how forest phenology is changing under climate change. See the Lamont phenocam views.
As part of Lamont’s Research as Art 2025, visual artist Kate Doyle facilitated a paint pour where the community worked together to create collaborative art pieces where “you have the intellect and the heart represented together.”
In her work, including as artist-in-residence at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Doyle explores the beauty and impact of natural systems. She questions human relationships with nature, with preservation, and with the prospects of climate change.
Hear more about Research as Art from the organizers below:
Learn more about how art meets science at two other art exhibits currently on display:
- Paradise featuring oil paintings by Selva Ozelli and photographs by Ian Hutton (Lamont Café through June 30, 2026)
- Climate Disasters Inspired by Great Masters featuring works by Palisades, NY artist Mary Tiegreen in collaboration with BingAI for Climate Change Resources (Monell Building through June 30, 2026)