Sophomore Alina Susani won $100 at the Women of Science Conference Program on Nov. 11 at Northeastern Illinois University for her art piece based on Marie Curie.

While she knew about the $100 prize, Alina said it didn’t drive her because she didn’t expect to win. She said still doesn’t know what she is going to do with the prize, she said she will probably save it for something later on.

Alina found out about this opportunity for exposure from her art teacher, Brian Wildeman, who tells his students about all upcoming art contests to expand his student’s exposure to the art community and to deadlines.

The submission is a triptych, which is a three-part art piece. One part is a graphite drawing of Marie Curie’s face, the second is a version of the drawing enhanced with Photoshop software, and the third is a multi-layered drawing with graphite and paint-marker on a plastic layer.

Alina said the skeleton layer was inspired by Marie Curie’s work in X-rays and that she chose Marie Curie because she inspired her the most. Coincidentally, a theater performance was given on Marie Curie at the contest as well.