INDUSTRY

First-ever awards program to contribute to public awareness of vital research ResearchChannel awarded matching funds to five institutions today as part of its first-ever Matching Funds Production Awards Program. The program encourages the creation of programs that further public awareness of research addressing important and wide-ranging issues. “We received a wealth of terrific proposals from a diverse group of institutions,” said Amy Philipson, ResearchChannel executive director. “The projects chosen represent outstanding work that demonstrates how the public can benefit from learning more about vital research developments.” ResearchChannel also announced its continuation of the program next year. Information is available at www.researchchannel.org. “We look forward to continuing this awards program next year and helping researchers make their important work more accessible to a large, public audience,” Philipson said. ResearchChannel’s Matching Funds Production Awards Program provides production funding for the documentation of the important work of world-class researchers — and brings that work to millions through its television and Internet platforms. The awards program also enables accredited universities and nonprofit research institutions to share their research through video production, especially those that would not have sufficient funds to do so otherwise. The Awarded Productions Montana State University in Bozeman will receive funding for a documentary on the behavior, ecology and conservation of the silky sifaka, one of the four most endangered lemurs in Madagascar. The documentary will highlight the conservation research of Ph.D. student Erik Patel. Sharon Pieczenik, the documentary filmmaker and a Montana State University graduate school student, hopes the film will help promote eco-tourism at Marojejy, a “World Heritage Site.” “I am extremely excited to be teamed up with ResearchChannel in order to educate and entertain both a television and online audience,” said Pieczenki. “Conservation is a hot topic that deserves a wide multi-media platform for communication.” The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, will receive funding for “Behind the Research: A Study of a Model Hot Spring,” a documentary showcasing the innovative research efforts of Brian Hedlund, UNLV assistant biology professor and a recipient of the 2006 National Science Foundation Early Career Award. Hedlund will review the relatively unknown world of thermopiles, organisms that thrive in high temperatures of geothermally heated regions of the earth. Findings from Hedlund’s research will lead to a better understanding of life in geothermal habitats and will expand the public’s overall knowledge of the diversity of life on earth. “UNLV-TV is thrilled to work with a scientist such as Brian Hedlund, a researcher committed to increasing public knowledge and interest in science,” said Laurel Fruth, assistant director of the UNLV School of Journalism and General Manager of UNLV TV. “This project furthers our goal of producing news documentaries worthy of national awards as we highlight UNLV's best and brightest minds.” The American Meteorological Society will be awarded funding for “AMS Journal: The Hurricane-Climate Connection,” featuring the work of Kerry Emanuel of MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and winner of AMS’s prestigious Bernard Haurwitz Memorial Lecture prize. The film will share revealing research about the influences of climate change on tropical cyclones and will highlight the threat hurricanes pose to increasingly populated, vulnerable U.S. coastal communities. “The American Meteorological Society has been searching for an affordable yet high-profile vehicle to communicate information about developments in the atmospheric and related sciences which affect the diverse user communities comprising our economy, as well as to the general public,” said AMS executive director Keith Seitter. “We believe ResearchChannel is that vehicle.” The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, based in Fort Pierce, Fla., will receive funding for “Corals at the Crossroads,” a documentary examining the threats modern life poses to coral reefs worldwide. The film will document the work of Brian Lapointe, whose research describes the pollution and eutrophication of coral reef communities in the Florida Keys. Brian Cousin, an award-winning staff filmmaker at Harbor Branch, who leads this film’s production, said, “Harbor Branch Oceanographic is proud and grateful to receive a grant from the ResearchChannel. It’s represents an excellent opportunity to illustrate some of Dr. Lapointe’s research into the effects of excess nutrients on coral reefs to a large audience.” The University of Wisconsin-Madison will receive funding for “Wisconsin Research Journal,” a documentary showcasing three UW research projects. The first program segment will focus on recent discoveries made by The IceCube Project, an observatory installed in the deep ice below the South Pole Station in Antarctica. The second segment will demonstrate a new MRI technique developed by UW’s Walter Block, which will deliver considerably more precise 3-D images of patients’ bodies in significantly less time than current MRI techniques. . The final segment is related to the Large Hadron Collider being built at CERN in Switzerland, and the network research being conducted at UW-Madison to develop the huge data transfers that will be required to enable analysis of the data collected by CMS at various scientific institutions around the world. “We are delighted to receive the grant and will be partnering with Wisconsin Public Television for one of the segments. We hope this will become a continuing series that will highlight the valuable and innovative research taking place at UW-Madison,” said Mary Waitrovich, digital media coordinator for UW-Madison’s Division of Information Technology.