Rice joins other top research universities to launch Futurity.org – ‘Breaking News from the Future’

BY DAVID RUTH
Rice News staff

Rice University has joined 32 other major research universities to launch www.futurity.org, a site dedicated to sharing research breakthroughs directly with the public in an era when traditional news outlets are rapidly shrinking. The site reports on discoveries in science, health, society and culture.

The idea was the brainchild of University of Rochester Vice President for Communications Bill Murphy. After consulting with colleagues and friends at several universities, including Stanford and Duke, Murphy presented a beta version of the Web site at a March meeting of the Association of American Universities. That’s where Rice Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane jumped on board.

Murphy’s main point of concern — and those of many other major institutions — was how universities were going to compensate for the loss of newspaper reporters and sections dedicated to covering research discoveries, particularly in the physical and social sciences, engineering and humanities.

”With the implosion of the news media, universities are starting to ask how the public will learn about important research breakthroughs,” Murphy said. “This group effort, represented by Futurity, gives Rice and the other 32 university partners an opportunity to reach our publics in a new and direct way. This is especially important when you consider that many traditional communication outlets are either disappearing or have dramatically reduced their coverage of research news.”

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Thrane said she knew that Rice was a good fit for the pioneering project.

”We signed Rice up right away when we learned about Futurity, and we’ve already had four of our research stories featured prominently in this elite venue,” she said. ”This is one more option for us to share the tremendous work of our faculty members in ways that reach and interest broad audiences. And that visibility builds respect and support for our faculty and our university.”

The four Rice research and innovations that have been featured are

• Bioengineer Michael Deem’s Computer test IDs potent flu vaccines

• Chemist Jim Tour’s Unzipping to build the future

• Sociologist Stephen Klineberg’s Houston reflects America’s changing face

• Student Andy Miller’s Have tiny microscope, will travel

On June 19, Baker Institute fellow and associate professor of economics Vivian Ho’s research on insurance coverage for children will be featured on Futurity’s home page. In coming days, a report on biofuels and water consumption by Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will appear.

For research to be considered for Futurity, members of Rice’s News and Media Relations Office submit stories or news releases of 600 words or less. The research must be new and newsworthy and be accompanied by photos or graphics.

The next step for the coalition is to reach out to content providers like Google, Yahoo, iTunes and others to expand the Web site’s reach.

To sign up for daily e-mail updates, visit www.futurity.org.

To see a list of participating universities, click here.