Jenibel Paray (graduate student, Rochester Institute of Technology) received an ACC Fellowship in 2016 to research art conservation practices in the United States. Her fellowship informed her master’s thesis in Physics/Conservation Science at De La Salle University (Manila) and set the trajectory for her graduate work in Color Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. From the lights of Times Square to LED-based multispectral imaging, read the full spectrum of her experience below.


I’m Jenibel Paray and I was an ACC grantee in 2016 for Conservation. I worked at the Indianapolis Museum of Art as their conservation science intern for my grant and was able to finish my thesis there. I visited several museums in the U.S. during my grant year such as Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles County Museum. Smithsonian Museums, Metropolitan Museum of Art and many others.


Jenibel in 2016 conducting research on powdered pigments of molybdenum orange, tightly packing pigments in drilled holes of an aluminum sample holder (left) and analyzing pigments under Scanning Electron Microscope (right)

My most memorable city is NYC and given what is happening right now, I’m truly sad. I have below, a picture taken on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art back in 2016. I love NYC for so many reasons, the Broadway shows, the museums, the lights in Times Square, Central Park. I was fortunate enough to go back to NYC every year after that.

I’m very thankful for the opportunity that ACC gave me. I was able to learn more, improve my research skills and understand more of American culture. It opened a lot of opportunities for me. In fact, I’m currently in Rochester, NY right now doing a graduate program in Color Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. A year after my grant, I was accepted in a graduate degree program in New York. Because of the pandemic, the universities were closed, and we had to stay home. I’m still able to work on some of my research at home and attend online meetings.

I’m currently finishing research in LED-based multispectral imaging. I would like to share with all of you how science helps in art conservation. Multispectral imaging and hyperspectral imaging are great techniques in the imaging of artworks. I attached a picture of my LED-based multispectral imaging set up being tested on targets. Because I can’t go to the lab during this time, I’ve been mostly doing research writing at home and coding for computational imaging.

NY is really hit hard during this pandemic and I wish the pandemic will end soon. Be strong everyone!

Stay safe,
Jen from New York


Grantee Reflections is a platform for ACC alumni to share their collective voice as an international community of artists, scholars, and cultural ambassadors. This is a cultural exchange of words, image, video, and sound from around the world. While our bodies cannot travel, our minds can still meet.