Read the research blog Further Findings.
Research Prizes and Honors
[Have you or a colleague won a research-related prize or honor? Let the Research Alert know.]
COMPUTER SCIENTISTS HONORED AS OUTSTANDING YOUNG INVESTIGATORS
BY THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE OF TEXAS
In recognition of their contributions to the field of computer science, Doug Burger and Stephen Keckler will receive a 2010 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). The award honors outstanding young Texas researchers in medicine, engineering, science and technology innovation.
ENGINEERING PROFESSOR WINS AWARD FOR BEST PAPER OF YEAR
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Signal Processing Society’s Best Paper Award for 2009 goes to Al Bovik, professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The paper, “Image quality assessment: from error visibility to structural similarity,” has been cited more than 1,300 times since its publication in 2004.
News and Information
OSP SETS DEADLINES FOR BUSY JANUARY
The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) is expecting very high volumes during the month of January. If your completed proposal is not received by OSP by the internal deadline, OSP cannot guarantee that your proposal will be reviewed and submitted. Proposals submitted after the internal deadlines will be reviewed and submitted in the order in which they are received. Find updates on the Office of Sponsored Projects Web site.
OSP internal deadlines are as follows:
- Welch Foundation Research Grant, Jan. 13, 2010
- American Heart Association, Jan. 19, 2010
- NIH, Jan. 29, 2010
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR SPRING 2009
The Office of the Vice President for Research is accepting applications for Spring 2010 Undergraduate Research Fellowships (URFs). The deadline is Feb. 1, 2010. The program provides support for specific scholarly research projects conducted by full-time UT undergraduate students enrolled in any department. Find more information at the Fellowships page on the Research Web site.
HAMILTON BOOK AWARD SUBMISSIONS DUE FEB. 1, 2010
The Office of the Vice President for Research is accepting submissions for The Hamilton Book Author Awards, underwritten by The University Co-operative Society. Please submit your nominations according to the guidelines stated on the Hamilton Book Author Awards Web site.
UNIVERSITY CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARDS
The Office of the Vice President for Research is seeking nominations for The University Co-operative Society’s Research Excellence Awards. Each dean or vice president may submit one nominee for each of the two categories of Research Excellence Awards. They are:
Career Research Excellence Award – For a researcher who has maintained a superior research program across many years. The award will be accompanied by a check in the amount of $10,000.
Best Research Paper Award – For a researcher who was the principal or sole author of a peer-reviewed scholarly paper reporting original research that was published during calendar year 2009 in recognized research outlets in his or her field of study. The award will be accompanied by a check in the amount of $5,000.
Nominations are due in the Office of the Vice President for Research on February 22, 2010. Please contact your dean or vice president, or go to the Awards page on the Research Web site for more information.
QuotedUT Researchers in the News
[A sampling of recent quotes by university faculty members and researchers. To be included in this section, let the Research Alert know when you or a colleague have been quoted.]
The New York Times
Jan. 5, 2010
HEADLINE: Using a Virus’s Knack for Mutating to Wipe It Out
(Claus O. Wilke, professor in integrative biology, is quoted in an article about using the high rate of mutation and replication by viruses to cause their own extinction, called lethal mutagenesis.)
But if a virus’s rate of mutation gets too high, mathematical studies suggest, it will suffer. “Most mutations are bad,” said Claus O. Wilke, an evolutionary biologist at The University of Texas. “And so by increasing the amount of mutations, you can decrease the number of good offspring.”
(Also from this article, James J. Bull, professor in integrative biology, is quoted as a co-author of a UT Austin study and paper published in Genetics at: http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/abstract/genetics.109.108803v1)
James Bull, a co-author of the new study, thinks it shows how unexpected virus evolution can be under lethal mutagenesis. Whether that evolution could pose a risk to patients is an open question. “I’m on the fence on whether that really is a problem,” Dr. Bull said. “But I think it’s worth looking at.”
Research Opportunities
Important university research deadlines:
Awards and Grants
Limited Submissions
AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT
The University of Texas at Austin Stimulus Package Web page is online.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Recovery Act Limited Competition: NIH Director’s Opportunity for Research in Five Thematic Areas: Applying Genomics and Other High Throughput Technologies; Translating Basic Science Discoveries into New and Better Treatments; Using Science to Enable Health Care Reform; Focusing on Global Health; and Reinvigorating the Biomedical Research Community
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Feb. 15, 2010; Application, March 15, 2010
Recovery Act Limited Competition: Behavioral Economics for Nudging the Implementation of Comparative Effectiveness Research: Pilot Research
Deadline: March 19, 2010
NASA
Recovery Act- Research Opportunities In Space And Earth Sciences: IceBridge: Support for 2010 Activities
Deadline: Feb. 26, 2010
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2010
Program Announcements, along with deadlines for submission, for these awards are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in January or February 2010.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
FY 2010 Precision Measurements Grants Program (opens pdf)
Deadlines: Abbreviated Proposal, Feb. 5, 2010; Invited Full Proposal, May 7, 2010
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Pre-Application for the 2010 NIDA Avant-Garde Award Program for HIV/AIDS Research
Deadline: March 1, 2010
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Environmental Synthesis Center
Deadlines: Preliminary Proposal, March 23, 2010; Full Proposal, July 14, 2010
ARTS, HUMANITIES AND CULTURE
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The Albert J. Beveridge Grant for Research in the History of the Western Hemisphere
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2010
The Michael Kraus Research Grant in American Colonial History
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2010
The Littleton-Griswold Research Grant for Research in U.S. Legal History
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2010
OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Global Venture Challenge
Deadline: Jan. 18, 2010
American Association for Cancer Research
Landon Foundation-AACR INNOVATOR Awards
Deadline: Jan. 20, 2010
The National Academies
Research Associateship Programs
Deadlines: Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1, 2010
Geoscience Research at Storm Peak (for undergraduate field research)
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2010
Research Project
[Let the Research Alert know about your research projects.]
High-Definition and Immersive Acquisition, Processing, and Display Equipment for Video Processing and Vision Science Research and Education
RESEARCHERS: Alan Bovik, principal investigator, and Wilson Geisler and Lawrence Cormack, co-principal investigators
AGENCY: National Science Foundation
AMOUNT: $205,912
New, state-of-the-art video quality assessment (VQA) algorithms will be developed that are explicitly designed for use on High Definition (HD) video streams. These will be designed using perceptual criteria and taking into account such human factors as head and eye position. An open database of raw digital HD videos will be developed, along with multiple distorted versions of each video and human subjective scores on the distorted videos.
Since HD videos are often resized for display on smaller screen, scalable VQA and IQA algorithms will also be developed that will, for the first time, be able to assess the quality of images or videos, in a perceptually significant way that have been scaled or resized from their original dimensions.
The development of successful HD Video Quality Assessment (VQA) algorithms that correlate highly with visual perception will represent a major advance in video engineering. The construction of an HD video quality database will be the first of is kind.
The equipment and developed algorithms will also be used as exemplars in the UT-Austin image and video processing educational program. The equipment will be used to generate numerous video processing teaching examples.
