Page 22 - CEMS News Summer 2020

ALUMNI NEWS
Creative outlet
Mark Ellis’ passion for photography is on full display at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum.
Mark Ellis (ChE, Math ’82, PhD ChE ’90) has a longstanding connection to the University of
Minnesota. Having spent many years on campus as an undergraduate and graduate student, he returned to CEMS as an adjunct faculty member and taught process design and process control courses for a decade.
In late 1989, Ellis began his 30-year career at 3M Company in St. Paul, first as a process control engineer, then focusing on sustainable adhesive R&D for products like medical dressings, automotive attachments, electronic device assembly, outdoor graphics films, and office supplies.
Throughout Ellis’ technical education and career, a common creative outlet was nature photography. Beginning with a generous gift at age 12, a manual 35mm camera, he began photographing nature scenes and wildlife at his family’s northern Minnesota lake cabin. Even a part-time job at a B&W darkroom helped pay a portion of his undergraduate education.
Once digital photography flourished, Ellis’ nature photography also thrived. He could often be found
in the serenity of northern Minnesota wilderness, photographing wildlife including the common loon, moose, the night sky, and aurora scenes. Extending
to time-lapse photography led to beautiful personal projects illustrating swirling stars and shimmering aurora moving across the Minnesota night sky.
His personal video projects caught the eye of researchers at leading natural history documentary organizations, and his time-lapse clips have been licensed and featured by the BBC’s Natural History Unit, Nat Geo WILD, leading science blogs, and Minnesota Public Television (Almanac).
A common theme of Ellis’ photography has been nature conservation and education. He donated video clips to an award winning 2015 wolf documentary production “Medicine of the Wolf” (Amazon Prime, iTunes, Hulu).
When the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum was being relocated to its beautiful new building and location, researchers for the Museum’s interactive
Top photo: CEMS alumnus Mark Ellis attended the CEMS Centennial & Jubilee social event at the Bell Museum in June 2019 (Photo credit: By Rebecca Studios). Bottom photo: An example of Ellis’ nature photography, courtesy of Mark Ellis.
display production company found Ellis’ work and licensed several of his video clips. His video scenes
can be found among the Museum’s legendary nature dioramas, specifically the moose diorama and in a short phenology movie on display. “It was especially rewarding to pass the Bell Museum’s scientific and quality scrutiny to have my work on display there,” said Ellis. “It really brought my U of M experiences and legacy full circle, merging art and science at the Bell Museum.”
www.markellis.com https://www.facebook.com/markellisphotography/ https://vimeo.com/markellis https://www.instagram.com/mark.ellis.photography/
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