Rice University joins other leading research universities to launch futurity.org

CONTACT: B.J. Almond
PHONE: 713-348-6770
E-MAIL: balmond@rice.edu

Rice University joins other leading research universities to launch futurity.org

Rice University has joined 35 other major research universities to launch www.futurity.org, a site dedicated to sharing research breakthroughs directly with the public in an era when the Internet and digital communications complement traditional news outlets. The site reports on discoveries in science, health, society and culture, and it reflects a new trend of universities taking advantage of the Web to reach new audiences.

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.

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 14 of our research and innovation stories featured prominently in the beta version of this elite venue,” she said. “This is one more way we are sharing 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.”

To see the stories, visit http://futurity.org/tag/rice-university/.

To be considered for Futurity, research must be both new and newsworthy. Rice’s News and Media Relations staff must submit photos or graphics along with their news releases.

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.