Fri, Jun 15, 2007
June 15 - 17, 2007
BUILDING ON RESEARCH
UNL Engineer Wins Prestigious NSF CAREER Award
University of Nebraska-Lincoln civil engineer Yong-Rak Kim has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.
CAREER is one of NSF's most prestigious and competitive grant programs. The awards are given to junior faculty who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. "I'm very excited," Kim said. "A CAREER award can be a solid foundation on which to build your own research program." more...
MEMORIAL STADIUM, JULY 25
Tickets on Sale for Cornhusker Summer Music Games
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Band Program will host the Cornhusker Summer Music Games Drum Corps International competition July 25 at Memorial Stadium.
Drum Corps International is a nonprofit youth organization serving junior drum and bugle corps around the globe. From modest beginnings in 1972, DCI has developed into a powerful youth activity with artistic and organizational influence on the world's drum and bugle corps, marching bands, and related activities. Thirty-five World Championships in 17 cities have provided entertainment to more than half a million people in stadiums and to millions more through a PBS telecast. Regional, focus, sponsored and sanctioned shows have brought the drum corps experience to several million more in hundreds of towns and cities throughout North America. more...
ENGINEERING PROFESSOR HONORED FOR INNOVATION
President Awards Top Tech Award to Sicking
The White House announced this week that Civil Engineering Professor Dean Sicking has received the nation's highest honor for technology. The National Medal of Technology honors America's leading innovators. It is given to individuals, teams and companies that develop and commercialize technological innovations and processes that improve the nation's economic, environmental and social well-being.
As director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, Sicking was instrumental in developing the award-winning Steel and Foam Energy Reducing Barrier that has been installed at racetracks throughout the country. The SAFER barrier absorbs energy to reduce the crash's impact and then distributes energy over the wall without forcing the vehicle back into traffic.
Sicking also is director of the Mid-America Transportation Center, a regional consortium for transportation research. In August 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded UNL a $6.2 million grant to serve as the lead institution of MATC. Sicking also is director of the Nebraska Transportation Center, which houses MwRSF, MATC and other engineering programs and partners with health and safety programs at other University of Nebraska institutions.
MUELLER PLANETARIUM
Mueller Planetarium Enters New Era With Fulldome Digital Shows
"It's the biggest advance -- or change -- in the Planetarium's capabilities since the theater opened 49 years ago." So said Mueller Planetarium coordinator Jack Dunn about the planetarium's new projection system in the digital fulldome format. Starting June 1, audiences will experience immersive high-tech adventures in Mueller Planetarium. Dunn said the closest other fulldome digital theaters with such features are in Denver, Chicago and Wichita.
Visitors can fall through a black hole, witness the beginnings of the universe, fly through Saturn's rings and much more. Dunn said it's very difficult to describe the experience in words: "You really have to see it to understand how powerful a medium fulldome is." The purchase of the fulldome equipment was made possible by a gift through the Friends of the University of Nebraska State Museum. The actual projection design, known as "Sphemir," was invented by Paul Bourke at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Dunn is Bourke's U.S. collaborator to spread information about the spherical mirror design. more...
MUELLER PLANETARIUM
MARY RIEPMA ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Into Great Silence, Year Of The Dog Play at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents Into Great Silence and Year Of The Dog. Both films will play through June 21.
Into Great Silence fits neatly into the sub-category of films that need to be experienced rather than just watched. Over 162 minutes director Philip Groening films a group of monks who dwell in the Carthusian monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. The monks have taken a vow of silence, and live life at such a gentile pace that it took them 13 years to respond to Groening's request to make a film about them. The subjects of Groening's film fill their days with slow and highly repetitive routines, so the director shoots at a suitably slow pace, highlighting simple tasks such as praying, gardening, cooking, and doing laundry. Groening lived with the monks for four months and worked under strict conditions dictated to him by the order; no voiceover, music, or interviews were to be included in the film, and Groening was to be the sole crew member on the shoot. The film is mostly comprised of a long, lonely trip into silence, and will doubtless leave its audience members in a contemplative and restful state of mind once the journey comes to a peaceful end.
Year Of The Dog stars Molly Shannon as Peggy, a happy-go-lucky secretary who is a great friend, employee, and sister. She lives alone with her adorable beagle, Pencil and the two of them have a blissful relationship full of love, appreciation, and companionship. One night Pencil wakes up to go potty and unexpectedly sets off a chain of events that change the course of Peggy's life. Mike White, who has penned such Sundance favorites as Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl, makes an auspicious directorial feature debut at this year's Festival with Year Of The Dog, a richly crafted tale of self-discovery that is at once comedic, poignant, and compassionate. Taking place in a compelling world, populated with his signature brand of funny, off-kilter characters who are endearing and extremely committed to their cause, it's is a charming and resonant film that will leave you laughing and crying, especially if you are a dog lover.
More information is available at the Ross website.
