When you enter the doors of Bond Life Sciences Center, you're greeted by a large open space with plenty of natural light. If you walk to the center of the room and look up, you'll see the massive Joy of Discovery sculpture (pictured above) that's been on display in the atrium of the building since 2007. To get a closer look, travel to any of the building's upper floors to view a portion of the sculpture at eye level.

The artist and architect behind the sculpture, Kenneth Frederick von Roenn Jr., said that the work is meant to celebrate and encourage research. "I wanted the sculpture to embody the enthusiastic, self-perpetuating joy of discovery woven into the fabric of MU's Bond Life Sciences Center," von Roenn said.

The work is four stories tall and made of aluminum circles suspended along a curved aluminum spine, with spiraling forms of acrylic and discs 3 feet in diameter. The discs contain actual images of current Mizzou research on transparencies that can be replaced or updated over time — and it's time to update the discs! 

Since February, the Bond Life Sciences Center has asked Mizzou investigators to submit research images to be considered for featuring on one of the transparent discs within the Joy of Discovery sculpture. More than 40 images were submitted from the following departments:

Animal Sciences
Biochemistry
Biological Sciences
Forestry
Geological Sciences
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Medical Pharmacology & Physiology
Opthamology
Orthopaedic Surgery
Physics & Astronomy
Plant Sciences & Technology
Veterinary Pathobiology

Now, judges will evaluate the images, along with the original sculpture artist, to see which ones would look the best and work well as the glass transparencies and decide which eight will make the final cut. 

The final 8 images will be announced later this summer.