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Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., is a science professor, but said she instills in her students the importance of how art can influence and help explain science.

Garcia, of Nova Southeastern University, will join the group of jurors this year as a judge in Florida Atlantic’s annual Art of Science photography and videography contest.

“As a microbiologist, I have collaborated with art professors to teach students how to make art using bacteria,” Garcia said. “Through this agar art project, often feared microorganisms were viewed with a different perspective and students learned that bacteria could be beneficial and sometimes even beautiful.”

Garcia, who teaches undergraduates, takes students to the microscopic level focusing on finding new phage, viruses that infect and kill bacteria, for use as alternative treatments for antibiotic resistant infections.

“Although art and science seem like completely opposite fields, I believe that they are similar in that they both require creativity and experimentation,” Garcia said. “The Art of Science contest is a great way to showcase the interdisciplinarity of the arts and sciences and to make complex research more accessible to the general public.”