Fri, Jul 27, 2007
August 3 - 5, 2007
WHITE HOUSE, FRI 1:50PM
Sicking Awarded National Medals of Science and Technology
President George W. Bush will present the 2005 and 2006 National Medals of Science and Technology at a White House ceremony on Friday, July 27, at 1:50 p.m. The ceremony will be carried live by satellite feed and Webcast on the White House Web site. UNL professor of engineering Dean Sicking, director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, will be at the White House East Room to receive his 2005 National Medal of Science and Technology.
Sicking's work for the MwRSF includes development of the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barrier for use on high-speed oval race tracks. This system has been installed at several NASCAR and IRL race tracks, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and is credited with saving numerous drivers' lives. Over the relatively short period since the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility was created, it has brought in more than $14 million in external research funding and has come to be recognized as a global leader in roadside safety research. Its safety products have been adopted widely and benefit everyone from motorists to race car drivers.
Sicking is the only person from Nebraska to ever receive the National Medal of Science and Technology.
SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY, THROUGH AUGUST 5
3 Regional Artists Featured In 'Sheldon Connections'
Works by Ann Gradwohl, Susan Knight and Jamie Burmeister have been installed in Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery's exhibition spaces on the north side of the second floor July 13 through Aug. 5. All exhibitions are free.
Sheldon Connections is taking advantage of the museum's exterior renovations this summer to turn some exhibition spaces into dynamic public sites July 13 through Oct. 14. Two more sessions, Aug. 10-Sept. 9 and Sept. 14-Oct. 14, will offer more artists, exhibitions and events. The Nebraska Art Association, Sheldon's dedicated nonprofit support group, sponsors this initiative to bring new artists and audiences to the Sheldon. more...
SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY
MARY RIEPMA ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Disappearances, Paprika Play at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents Disappearances and Paprika. Both films will show through August 2.
Based on the award-winning novel by Howard Frank Mosher, Disappearances stars legendary actor/songwriter Kris Kristofferson as schemer and dreamer Quebec Bill Bonhomme -- in a spellbinding tale of high-stakes whiskey-smuggling, a family's mysterious past, and a young boy's rite of passage (Charlie McDermott). Quebec Bill, desperate to raise money to preserve his endangered cattle herd through a long winter, resorts to whiskey smuggling, a traditional family occupation. He takes his son, Wild Bill, on an unforgettable trip that will long remain etched in the viewer's mind: a journey through vast reaches of the Canadian wilderness and into a haunted and elusive past. What they find is the stuff of genuine legend.
With Paprika, director Satoshi Kon unleashes another eye-popping anime adventure. The visually striking thriller is set in the not-too-distant future, where doctors are developing a groundbreaking new psychotherapy treatment called PT. This coincides with the invention of a device called the "DC Mini," which enables researchers to enter the dreams of a subject and explore matters of the unconscious mind. But one day, a "DC Mini" prototype goes missing, and the doctors are thrown into a world of confusion. They realize how dangerous a turn of events this could be, and to ensure that things don't spiral out of control, they embark on a mad quest to track down the missing prototype. As the characters use their dreamworld alter egos to enter the dreams of troubled patients, the line between reality and unreality begins to blur, until no one knows for sure what is real and what isn't. An adaptation of a story by the acclaimed Japanese writer Yasutaka Tsutsui, Paprika tells a tough-to-decipher, but spellbinding, tale. Kon's thought-provoking film features an absurdly catchy J-pop score and an unforgettable visual landscape.
More information is available at the Ross website.
