Grad student Mike Stumbras created a new way for the world to see science. By combining his passion for art with his love for science it allowed him to create a unique and new way of coloring ceramics: radiation.
Stumbras’s work is inspired by chemistry, but his interest spiked after finding a rock on a New York beach.
“I thought, ‘this is something I need as a glaze.’ I looked up how the color was formed naturally and I found it was formed by radiation from the earth’s crust,” Strumbas explained.
After this, Stumbras decided to find out if it was possible to mimic the color of the rock he found. Working with the Nuclear Science Department, Strumbas found a way to create works of art that also taps into the science found in nature.
With the help of health physics PhD candidate Charlie Wilson and health physics grad student Amin Hamideh, together they came up with the glaze that allows the pottery’s color to change in a way that hadn’t been thought of before.
Using radiation, Stumbras is able to change the color of pottery in its cold state as opposed to using heat to change it; but this achievement isn’t the only one he’s proud of. Instead of using harsh metals and the kiln to change the color of pottery, Stumbras is able to use radiation to change the color after the pottery has already dried and cooled. It’s a cheap and easy alternative to a traditional process. 
“I think it’s really lovely to have art that celebrates science and have science that’s informed by aesthetics,” says Stumbras. 
He hopes to change people’s minds by turning their attention to the science behind the pieces he creates.
Stumbras is currently working on a patent for his glaze and hopes to commercialize it, making it an environmentally friendly way to glaze ceramics.
For more of Stumbras’s work, go to http://mikestumbras.com/home.html