Liya L. Regel Scientist, Artist, Innovator

Liya L. Regel

In her college years, Liya Regel simultaneously studied physics at one institution and concert piano at another. When informed that this was not allowed, with her mother's encouragement she chose physics.

Today, the world-renowned Clarkson electrical engineering professor continues to make her mark in science and art.

RHAPSODY OF COLORS
— mixed media with
particles from gold dust
on canvas. Private Collection.

For the last 14 years, Regel has served as the director of the International Center for Gravity Materials Science and Applications at Clarkson. And for the last seven years, she has used her scientific knowledge and love of experimentation to create brilliantly colored paintings and exquisite miniatures of outdoor scenes. Her pioneering technique involves mixing paint with gold particles and applying precious and semiprecious gems.

This is no coincidence, according to Regel. She believes the same forces that drive scientists and inventors to extend the frontiers of human understanding also inspire artists to make sense of the world through color, form and texture.

"It is the innate human impulse to create, to understand, that motivates both the scientist and the artist," she says. "The vocabulary of science and art may differ, but the elegance, the eloquence of mathematical equations and the harmony of a painting appeal to the same underlying sense of beauty."


It is, she explains, the powerful force that propels both her pioneering research in materials science and her artistic explorations in music, literature and visual media.

RIO — Mixed media with
gold dust and mother-
of-pearl on canvas.
Private Collection.

The international scientific community recognizes Regel as a highly innovative materials scientist. Her research focuses on crystal growth and thin-film deposition under different forces of gravity, from the microgravity environment of near-Earth orbit to the high-g's produced by a centrifuge. She led the establishment of the world's first centrifuge dedicated exclusively to materials processing and flow visualization in high gravity at Clarkson in 1993.

Regel's research has brought her numerous awards, including an honorary doctoral degree from Clarkson, and has resulted in more than 250 publications, including 11 books, and travel to 65 countries for invited lectures and research collaboration. Her latest research focuses on the creation of an innovative process to grow artificial diamonds at low pressure and temperature. Patents for her process are pending.

Over the last three years she has had public and private art shows in New York, Paris, Moscow, Washington D.C., Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. Her paintings and gicleé hand-embellished prints are found in private collections in the U.S., Canada, Russia, France, Italy and Israel. Her art is also on permanent display at the United Methodist Church in Penn Yan, N.Y., and at the Clarkson University library. Earlier this fall she gave an illustrated lecture "My Life in 3D" at Museum McCord for the Association Culturelle des Femmes de Montreal.

Faceted diamonds shown
as-grown. Dimensions
approximately 2.5 to 3
mm (about 1/4 carat).

Her passion for art and science has roots that reach back to her childhood in Russia. "I was lucky to be surrounded by members of the Russian intelligentsia — eminent physicists, artists, musicians, poets and writers," she recalls. "Science and art were interwoven into the fabric of our family life. As a child I sketched and studied music seriously. I was always encouraged to learn by reading and to ask questions about the world around me."

She has also continued to compose delightful music over the years for the enjoyment of family, friends and her colleagues. Many of her paintings are accompanied by stories and music she has composed.

Regel would seem to be the quintessential "Renaissance" woman but she is quick to dismiss the notion. "People have often perceived me as a multitalented, unusual person, but I do not believe this is true. Everyone has unique talents that can be used to enrich all our lives."

Next spring, Liya Regel's art will be featured in a special solo exhibition at the Huntsville Museum of Art and the Alabama A&M University State Black Archives Museum and she has also been invited to present lectures at the Research Center as part of an A&M University celebration. Exhibitions in Washington D.C., New York, Paris and Moscow are planned.