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Individual Presenters - use this form to submit research abstracts with one student author
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2008 Showcase Program- a pdf version of the Abstracts with programs (not availble until early April).
2008 Showcase Poster- a pdf version of the poster.
Dr, Robert Pinsky- United States Poet Laureate (1997–2000), Translator, Essayist, and Teacher
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Previous RISC Showcase Speakers
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2008 Vectren RISC Keynote Speaker
Dr. Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky’s first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism, and such national enthusiasm in response, that the Library of Congress appointed him to an unprecedented third term. Throughout his career, Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world.
As Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky became a public ambassador for poetry, founding the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of Americans — of varying backgrounds, all ages, and from every state — shared their favorite poems. Pinsky believed that, contrary to stereotype, poetry had a vigorous presence in the American cultural landscape. The project sought to document that presence, giving voice to the American audience for poetry. The anthology Americans’ Favorite Poems, which include letters from project participants, is in its eighteenth printing. The new anthology, An Invitation to Poetry, comes with a DVD featuring twenty-seven of the FPP video segments, as seen on PBS.
Elegant and tough, vividly imaginative, Pinsky’s poems have earned praise for their wild musical energy and ambitious range. His book Gulf Music (FSG, fall 2007) is his seventh volume of poetry. His The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996 was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received the Lenore Marshall Award and the Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union. His most recent chapbook is entitled First Things to Hand (Sarabande, May 2006).
Pinsky’s books about poetry include Poetry and the World, nominated for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, The Sounds of Poetry, and more recently, Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry. Pinsky contends that, though intimate, poetry addresses cultural needs by communicating a shared set of social meanings, a paradox that becomes part of his effort to demonstrate the complexity of American poetry.
Robert Pinsky’s landmark, best-selling translation of The Inferno of Dante received the Los Angeles Times Book Award in poetry and the Howard Morton Landon Prize for translation. He is also co-translator of The Separate Notebooks, poems by Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz. Pinsky’s prose book, The Life of David, is a lively retelling and examination of the David stories, narrating a wealth of legend as well as scripture.
The poetry editor for the online magazine Slate, for seven years Pinsky appeared regularly on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He writes the weekly “Poet’s Choice” column for the Washington Post. He was elected in 1999 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Pinsky’s poems appear in magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly,The Threepenny Review, American Poetry Review, and frequently in The Best American Poetry anthologies. He teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University. Robert Pinsky is also the winner of the PEN/Voelcker Award, the William Carlos Williams Prize, the Lenore Marshall, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s 2006 Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in Literary Arts. He is one of the few members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters to have appeared on “The Simpsons.”
Research, Innovation, Scholarship, and Creativity
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Previous Keynote Speakers
2007
Greg Marshall of the National Geographic Society
Greg Marshall is the Executive Producer/Director of Remote Imaging at National Geographic. Greg is also marine biologist, inventor, filmmaker, producer, and cinematographer. Marshall earned an undergraduate degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Masters degree in Marine Environmental Science from SUNY Stony Brook, and began his career as a freelance photojournalist and cameraman. He then served as director of a marine research program for three years with USAID. While in that position he produced a film about fisheries and habitat in Belize that encouraged the U.S. government to appropriate millions of dollars for conservation of that country’s unique marine ecosystem. Also in Belize, snorkeling among the coral reefs, he was struck by the sight of a remora—a commensal fish—attached to the side of a shark. Imagining the unique perspective the remora must have when “hitchhiking” with its host, Marshall conceived of creating a remote camera known as CRITTERCAM technology. The camera attaches benignly to an animal and documents life from its perspective, recording video, hydrophonic audio, depth, temperature, light level, and velocity. In addition to collecting critical research data for science, CRITTERCAM also provides images that capture audiences’ imagination. and has been used to document behavior of more than 30 other marine species, including great white sharks, sperm whales, emperor penguins, walruses, seals, sea turtles, and killer whales. With the success of his ongoing marine research program, Marshall and his team have now launched a Terrestrial CRITTERCAM effort to help unveil the hidden lives of lions and tigers and bears. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner for Cinematography and Sound. Recently, Marshall produced a 13-part scientific adventure series, called CRITTERCAM Chronicles, for the National Geographic Channel. Crittercam technology was also featured in the blockbuster film March of the Penguins.
2006
Dr. Kevin Bassler
Dr. Bassler is a physicist at the University of Houston who doesn't like to be constrained by normal notions of what physics can and should be applied to. He uses physics to understand the basis for his photographic artwork, but he also applies what he knows about the physics of complex networks to fields as broad ranging as business, geology, biological evolution, and computer science. In his work, he looks at how many systems that are seemingly not connected, combine in unexpected ways.
2005
One of the most honored scientists in America, Dr. Bass has been called the "father of CSI" and a legend in the field of forensic anthropology. He created the world's first laboratory devoted to human decomposition - the Anthropology Research Facility at the University of Tennessee. This research facility was immortalized by Patricia Cornwall's best-selling book, The Body Farm. Dr. Bass continues to lecture to audiences around the world and recently completed a book entitled "Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensics Lab - the Body Farm - Where the Dead Do Tell Tales."
Previous Showcase Keynote Speakers
2004
In addition to being a guitarist, songwriter, studio musician, entrepreneur, and founder of the We are Family Foundation, Nile Rodgers is one of the most sought after record producers of all time. His inventive mind and creative nature make his work as groundbreaking today as it was 20 years ago. This four-time Grammy winner has inspired generation after generation and established himself as a respected icon in the music industry and business world.
2003
Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, businessman and author. He is well known for his work in Virtual Reality (VR). He coined the term "Virtual reality" and co-invented fundamental VR components such as interface gloves and VR networking. He was the Chief Scientist of the Engineering Office of Internet2 in the 1990s, served as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-immersion Initiative, a coalition of research universities studying advanced applications for Internet2, and was a Visiting Scientist at Silicon Graphics Inc., where he developed solutions to core problems in telepresence and tele-immersion. He has been an active speaker at most companies and organizations that deal with computer technology. Jaron has been active in the world of new "classical" music since the late seventies. He is a pianist and a specialist in unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string instruments of Asia. Lanier's paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and Europe.
2002
Artist Judy Baca is known for her brilliantly colored urban murals, especially Great Wall of Los Angeles, a dynamic depiction of California ethnic history that stretches half a mile long. For this work and others she enlisted the help of many scholars, kids, artists, and other helpers, combining art and community organizing. Baca has directed several Los Angeles-based murals programs, which have produced hundreds of murals in that city.
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For additional information, contact:
Dr. Jim Durbin