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Plantation vs. Natural Regeneration

As the climate crisis continues, governments around the world are spearheading tree planting initiatives. While the intention behind such a goal is noble, the execution can fail if consideration for all variables in the trees health are not considered. This is especially true in dry land environments. Trees need to be planted in soil that has the nutrients they need and surrounded by a biodiversity of other organisms to assist in their growth. There needs to be a strategy for watering that does not rely on quickly depleting and expensive municipal water sources. Animal grazing needs to be regulated in order for the young trees to reach maturity. These are all factors that often get overlooked in amidst the green excitement that ensues from the combination of a very large number next to the words "tree initiative".

The Saudi government has a goal to plant 10 billion trees by 2030 under the name "The Saudi Green Initiative". The Saudi Green Initiative approached me with the desire to illustrate tree planting through natural regeneration rather than plantation so that stakeholders could quickly grasp the considerations that need to be made when deciding where and how many trees to plant. This illustration has been distributed throughout the Saudi eco-scientist and political realm, reaching as far as the crowned prince of Saudi Arabia.

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Passive Rainwater Harvesting Beside Highways

Highways are designed to deflect water off the road to keep driving conditions safe. This water is often viewed as a problem and funneled away as quickly as possible. What if we saw this massive amount of water as an opportunity to foster a thriving ecosystem that supports animals and pollinators, provides shade to reduce heat emitted from road, creates a more beautiful commute, and offers a supplemental source of food that naturally grows on native plants.

The Saudi Green Initiative asked me to visualize what roadside plantings and passive rainwater harvesting could look like in Saudi Arabia. This illustration shows a strategy for implementing roadside swales to catch water from the road and nearby land and use that water to create a roadside ecosystem.

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Green Belts to Stop Sand Encroachment

When cities are established near sand dunes, sand encroachment into the city can be a problem. In order to keep sand dunes from spreading, a wall of vegetation needs to be in place to stabilize the soil and act as a wind break. This provides an opportunity to create native plant ecosystems at the edge to provide food and medicine grown locally for the inhabitants of the city.

A scientist who is planning green solutions for Saudi Arabia at KAUST asked me to illustrate the opportunities present in creating a green belt at the edge of sand dune adjacent areas.

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KAUST Enrichment for Youth Illustration

I was tasked with creating a website banner illustration that would embody the science and technology youth outreach programs facilitated through KAUST Enrichment for Youth.

The intention was to show the human and natural world connecting and intertwining with the technological world. The center of the frame is an iris that represents the primary sensory stimuli that humans use to conduct research. To the left and the right of the iris are a series of lenses that represent the different modalities that science and technology use to examine the world, ranging from the macro to the micro. The human hand reaches to the robot hand signifying the current technological renaissance.

The representation of technology was carefully chosen. I wanted the natural aspects of the piece to take precedence and show that technology is only a tool to study the natural world, but nothing can replace direct connection to the earth.

I had an absolute blast creating this piece. Check out my full website design for KAUST Enrichment for Youth.

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Wadi Qadid Research Station Grant Proposal Graphics

Experiment stations provide the infrastructure and resources to continuously support collaborative, cross-sector research in target areas of significance to local stakeholders. The mission of experiment stations is to make science useful.

I was tasked with visualizing an agricultural research station for the Center for Desert Agriculture at KAUST, starting with a picture of the potential site location and a list of programmatic needs. Following the proposal, this project received 1 million USD in funding (as of March 2023).

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Molecular Plant Figure for Professor Brande Wulff at KAUST

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Native Genome Project Informational Video

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Triticum Wheat Targeted Biotic Stress Resistance Traits

This illustration was created for the Open Wild Wheat Consortium. Check out the website I designed!