What began as a scientific inquiry into the invisible microbial world has evolved into a full-fledged art movement at Wagner College, bridging science, creativity and community engagement.
The project was led by Dr. Melissa Lamanna, a scientist and educator who was recently awarded a $3,000 Mellon Periclean Faculty Leadership course grant from Project Pericles for her Spring 2026 Clinical Microbiology course. The grant recognizes her innovative approach to civic and community-engaged learning, which fuses science, art and public education.
“While I am professionally a scientist, I am an artist and creative at heart,” said Lamanna, an assistant professor and director of the graduate program in microbiology. “Scientists and artists aren’t opposites, they’re both seeking to understand and recreate the world around them.”
Project Pericles, a non-profit organization made up of a consortium of colleges and universities dedicated to advancing innovative teaching and learning, praised the interdisciplinary nature of the project, noting it provides “excellent civically and community-engaged experiences for our next generation of leaders,” and highlighting the collaboration between Wagner College students and high school students to explore microbes through public art.
Students in Lamanna’s Clinical Microbiology class collected bacteria samples from streets and four public spaces in New York City, cultivated them in the lab, and photographed the resulting petri dishes. Over two months, the photographs were transformed into 17 original digital artworks that combined scientific accuracy with creative expression.
The work was displayed in The Scientific Art Show, held at Wagner College and the Brooklyn Public Library. Both events were free and open to the public, attracting between 200 and 300 attendees. Visitors engaged directly with the student-artists and learned about microbes and the societal importance of antibiotic resistance.
Funding from Project Pericles allowed the project to unite multiple communities. Wagner students collaborated with participants from the Brooklyn Public Library’s college program, exchanging ideas through virtual meetings and in-person visits.
Lamanna recalled a memorable moment from the project: “Within saying hosting the scientific art show was an amazing experience. I was filled with so much pride by the hard work of my students and honored that members of the Wagner community stopped and viewed our work. However, the most predominant memory for me - oddly enough - is holding up traffic so that our snacks could make it into the Brooklyn Public Library. The image of my students carrying in snacks for 50 people with me serving as a crossing guard will forever be a comic and fond memory. Trust me, many a car honked on this day.”
The artwork now decorates the third-floor hallway of Mergle Hall at Wagner, adding color and curiosity to campus. Students said the project empowered them and gave them a sense of purpose beyond the classroom.
“I didn’t feel like I was just working on a class project,” one student said. “It felt like I was contributing to society and making a difference.”
Another student said, “I was nervous at first, but seeing people interact with my work made me proud, I was contributing as someone who had something meaningful to share.”
Lamanna is preparing to publish the initiative in a science education journal. “Knowledge is power,” she said. “By fusing art and science, we empower people to see and appreciate the invisible world that surrounds us all.”
