Comics
Math, Magic and Maryam
ARTIST
SABRINA KAUFMANN
Sabrina Kaufmann is an illustrator from Luxembourg. Since her childhood, she has always loved drawing and writing, a passion that finally led her to become a freelance artist and teacher in the manga field. In love with fashion and aesthetic worlds, she focuses mainly on illustrating beautifully dressed ladies in enchanting settings. Since 2016, she has been constantly working on her free-to-read webcomic project Illustrated Fairytales, after Grimm’s and Andersen’s stories. Most importantly, she strives to create meaningful content that motivates and inspires, and loves sharing the behind-the-scenes of everyday freelance life on her social media.
Location
Luxembourg
Artistic Focus
Manga & Illustration focusing on femininity, fashion and fairytales
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
Math, Magic and Maryam
Chronicles from Platform 6
Why did you participate in LUX:plorations?
“It seemed like an amazing idea to illustrate science with comics! It makes it way easier for young people to understand in a funnier and more entertaining way.”
What did you like most about LUX:plorations?
“The fact that science, which seems difficult at first, can actually be simplified in an easier way that anyone can understand. I think the whole team did a great job on all the different stories :)”
What was the biggest challenge for you?
“Understanding the science part so that I could actually illustrate it correctly – if I would have failed to understand and illustrate it accurately, of course it would’ve been difficult for the readers to understand it, too. It was especially challenging with the Maryam Mirzakhani comic, where the concept seemed so difficult to grasp at first. The challenge here was really understanding some more difficult concepts, making them approachable and appealing to the general public.”
SCIENTISTS/AUTHORS
NHAT MINH DOAN
Nhat Minh Doan from the Department of Mathematics (DMATH) at the Uni.lu is investigating curves on surfaces and their moduli spaces.
Research Focus
Geometric Topology
Affiliation
Department of Mathematics (DMATH)
University of Luxembourg
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
Math, Magic and Maryam
KAMELIA JAMAATI
Kamelia Jamaati is a computer engineer and psychologist from the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) of the University of Luxembourg. She is analysing patterns in educational data in order to predict special needs of children with, for instance, ADHD or dyslexia.
Research Focus
Educational Data Mining
Affiliation
Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET)
University of Luxembourg
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
Math, Magic and Maryam
POORANI GNANASAMBANDAN
“I develop transparent materials that are highly conducting to serve as top electrical contact (electrode) for solar cells.”
Research Focus
Transparent contacts
Affiliation
Transparent and Optically Tuneable Materials and Nanostructures, Materials Research and Technology (MRT) Department
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
Math, Magic and Maryam
Why did you participate in LUX:plorations?
“Because pictures and comics are a great and fun way to visualize complex scientific concepts.”
What did you like most about LUX:plorations?
“The opportunity to work with researchers from other fields and collaborating with them.”
What was the biggest challenge for you?
“Collaborating remotely and explaining difficult concepts and abstract science in a relatable way.”
MENTOR
VERONIKA MISCHITZ
Veronika Mischitz (Véro) is a former biologist, turned freelance visual storyteller. For over a decade, she focuses on visualizing and communicating science to broad audiences from various backgrounds through the medium comics. Driven by curiosity and a sense of wonder, she loves to explore unknown territory, learn new things along the way and turn them into compelling stories. Veronika is also teaching the magic of her craft to kids and adults. She is a mentor for LUX:plorations and the creator of the comic story “Why Science Comics?”.
Work Focus
Visual communication, storytelling, science comics
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
Why Science Comics?
A Furry Tale
A Gut Feeling
The Adventures of Tuwwo the Water Molecule
Math, Magic and Maryam
Why did you participate in LUX:plorations?
“As a comic artist and science communicator LUX:plorations is a dream come true: A group of highly motivated experts from different fields joining forces and creating outstanding science comics as a result!”
What did you like most about LUX:plorations?
“Working with such motivated, open and mindful participants as well as team members from all over life sciences and MINT was amazing. Creativity and inspiration grew from our efforts as we explored new toolkits and skills together.”
What was the biggest challenge for you?
“Clearly, remodeling the on-site teaching program into an online class and executing it was a big challenge. Ensuring ongoing attention and support for all participants was extremely important to me and more difficult in an online-setting. But I think, we did a good job on that.”
SUPERVISOR
NICOLE PASCHEK
Nicole Paschek loves to talk about science. During her studies in behavioural and neural biology, she also found her passion for writing and decided to study journalism as well. As a journalist, she realised that scientists sometimes struggle to explain what they do in an understandable way. Improving those skills is the mission of DESCOM, a training programme in science communication for doctoral candidates in Luxembourg. Since 2019, Nicole has been working as Project Manager of DESCOM.
Work Focus
Science communication, science education
Contributions to LUX:plorations:
The Adventures of Tuwwo the Water Molecule
Math, Magic and Maryam
Why did you participate in LUX:plorations?
“Science and Comics. This combination sounds too good to be true. I had to be part of this!”
What did you like most about LUX:plorations?
“With LUX:plorations we are bringing people from seemingly different worlds closer to each other: artists, scientists and the public. And by doing so, we realize that those worlds are in fact not so different from each other.”
What was the biggest challenge for you?
“Coordinating a long-term collaborative group effort of 34 people without loosing someone on the way.”