2025 Texas A&M Engineering Art Competition

A group photo with three individuals holding trophies. — 2025 Engineering Art Competition Top 10 Winners. (Left to Right) Sofia Flores, Fayrouz Elwassief, Natalie Neal, Dr. Bobby Bishop, Hajra Rahim, Sophia Jones, Isabella Chan Tack, Adelynn Belle, Sophia Wood, Lacie Horton

Credit: Hayden Schonhoeft/Texas A&M Engineering

With more than 40 entries, the 2025 Engineering Art Competition embraced the theme “Engineering Elegance: The Art of Innovation.” The artists represent 12 engineering departments – as well as general engineering – and brought technical thinking to life through creative, artistic expression.

Now in its second year, the competition and art exhibit was spearheaded by Dr. Robert Bishop ’79, vice chancellor and dean of the College of Engineering.

The top 10 art pieces were recognized for their creativity, hard work and relevancy to the theme. The winners, ordered first though tenth, are:

Hajra Rahim ’28

Sophomore, Biological and Agricultural Engineering
“Wired In”
Mixed Media

Portrait of a woman on a dark background, staring at a smartphone before her and trapped inside a laptop computer screen behind her. — Credit: Courtesy of Hajra Rahim.

This piece examines the tension between innovation and entanglement. A combination of oil paint and metal, mixed media allows the piece to symbolize the relationships of the digital world. The glowing screens symbolize progress and the elegant engineering that connects us, while the metallic wires echo the unseen circuitry binding us in return. It’s a reflection on how technology’s brilliance can both empower and ensnare, reminding us that function must serve humanity, not consume it.

Natalie Neal ’26

Ph.D. Student, Materials Science and Engineering
“Closing the gap in innovation”
Mixed Media

Collage of engineering schematics and components, including a light bulb, an early airplane, a pyramid and the Golden Gate Bridge. — Credit: Courtesy of Natalie Neal.

Engineering has served as a foundation for innovation. In this piece, this is demonstrated by a collage background of various printed materials found around the campus engineering buildings. On one side, some of “engineering’s greatest hits” are represented in marker and watercolor. On the other are stylized blueprints of future engineering works. The wires across the middle gap in the canvas show how we can stitch the past and future through engineering innovation.

Sophia Jones ’28

Sophomore, General Engineering
“Inspired Flight”
Colored Pencil

Monochrome pencil sketches of a hawk and albatross and graphically rendered airplanes and engines on a grid background. — Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Jones.

This piece explores the intricacies of mechanical designs and their interconnectedness with the natural world through the lens of biomimicry. Drawn from the peregrine falcon’s agile precision and the albatross’s effortless glide, it reflects how even the most exacting aeronautical structures find their origins in nature. This highlights how true precision in flight is not rigid but alive with rhythm and softness.

Sofia Flores ’29

Freshman, General Engineering
“Beyond the Blueprint”
Mixed Media

Brightly colored artwork depicting rockets, a Tesla coil, generators and a robotic hand in foreground and lightning, steam and planets behind. — Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Flores.

From the silent beauty of distillation towers to the charged dance of a Tesla coil, from the thunder of Saturn V to the delicate poise of a prosthetic hand, Beyond the Blueprint reveals engineering as poetry in motion. Hidden beneath the color and form, schematics painted in black-light ink whisper of unseen complexities that transform raw diagrams into the elegant machinery we celebrate, and innovation itself into art.

Lacie Horton ’26

Senior, Biological and Agricultural Engineering
“Datamelioration”
Acrylic Paint

Painting of bird standing atop stack of old electronic hardware. — Credit: Courtesy of Lacie Horton.

One of the most elegant aspects of modern technology is its compactness. A tiny flash drive can hold an entire lifetime of photos, yet only decades ago it would have been considered science fiction. This piece explores memory storage technologies such as the Manchester Mark I Williams-Kilburn tube, Commodore 1541 drive (and floppy disk below it), and magnetic core memory. As a modern touch, a heron (a bird known for its elegance, which has long inspired engineering endeavors) holds a 1TB SD card.

Adelynn Belle ’23

Ph.D. Student, Aerospace Engineering
“Mach Two-can”
Acrylic Paint

Artwork of bird shown in bright color blotches on a dull background featuring dark lines and shades to show the airflow of the bird’s flight. — Credit: Courtesy of Adelynn Belle.

Inspired by nature, engineers are always interested in pushing the boundaries of what is and what could be. As an aerospace engineer, I was interested in the supersonic flow behavior around my favorite bird, the toucan. In collaboration with Kevin Lieb and Walker Buckle, the flowfield illustrated in this painting was solved using computational fluid dynamics. Guiding art with rigorous simulation, this piece showcases the creativity, passion and engineering analysis that innovation requires.

Fayrouz Elwassief ’30

Ph.D. Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering
“GROUNDED”
Mixed Media

Mix of old photos of people and famous structures near bottom with painted sky, decorative sun and timeline of events above. — Credit: Courtesy of Fayrouz Elwassief.

“Good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgment.” — Dr. J.L. Briaud. With its vibrant, earthy colors, GROUNDED resembles a moment of appreciation for geotechnical science with all its failures and success stories, our geolegends who paved the ground for those who followed, and for the plethora of data gifted for us to build upon, with the magic of technology! A glimpse of my everlasting love for art, dipped in science, because they can always go together!

Sophia Wood ’29

Freshman, Mechanical Engineering
“Rendered”
Acrylic Paint

Painting of a flower outlined with geometric elements and measurements. — Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Wood.

This piece explores the relationship between the intricacy of computer-aided design and natural forms, where a geometric blueprint gives rise to a real flower. Symbolic of the ways in which engineers use technology to bring their designs to life, it emphasizes the potential of digital tools in bridging theoretical concepts with physical creations. In this way, through computer-aided design, engineers have the ability to make their ideas a reality.

Isabella Chan Tack ’27

Junior, Computer Science and Engineering
“Illumination through Engineering”
Mixed Media

Cut paper shapes, paint and fabric depicting running robot with engineering patterns, objects and blueprint following in its wake. — Credit: Courtesy of Isabella Chan Tack.

The piece features a robot fluidly running through the darkness and bringing light into its surroundings through the advancements made in engineering. Behind the robot, in the light, there are various designs featuring gears, models and engineering drafts, which are all tools that have been used throughout engineering. These tools are what led up to the creation of this robot, and they will continue to be used in the far future of engineering.

Mackenzie Edwards ’28

Sophomore, Nuclear Engineering
“Energy Within Reach”
Digital Painting

Painting of human hands releasing colorful clusters of atomic formations with arrows showing movements of smaller particles. — Credit: Courtesy of Mackenzie Edwards.

This piece captures the essence of nuclear fission in nuclear engineering, with the hands of an engineer showcasing a U-235 nucleus as a neutron approaches to begin the reaction. When the neutron strikes, the nucleus becomes unstable and splits into Kr-92 and Ba-141 nuclei, releasing energy and additional neutrons to sustain the following chain reaction. Symbolizing both power and precision, this piece represents the heart of nuclear engineering.

Art exhibit

All submissions are displayed outside of the dean’s suite on the fifth floor of the Zachry Engineering Education Complex.