A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Intern

Two and a half years ago, I was wrapping up my freshman year at UNC-Chapel Hill as a journalism and communications major. It had been a huge year for me and for the community at large: we prepared ourselves for another Great Depression, we weathered a historic presidential election, and somewhere in there I think we won a national championship in basketball. Myself, I was trying to discover my niche and where my passion for storytelling was best suited. After covering politics for the Daily Tar Heel and not finding the enlightenment I was hoping for, I joined a team of ad hoc science bloggers called Science in the Triangle (SITT). Our goal was to create a one-stop shop for all things tech- and science-related within the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and RTP.

As I was still trying to figure out this “being a reporter” thing—let alone the principles of molecular biology and bioengineering—we began to make a push for “new” or “social” media. I didn’t know what that meant, either. Like…Facebook? A place where I list what bands I like and post inside jokes to my friends? I had just gotten a Twitter, as well, and gathered it to be a place where people would blab about what grocery store they were at or what they thought of Dancing with the Stars. I was skeptical of the business or news potential in these websites, to say the least. Read more »

Sunlight into gasoline? RTI VP says ‘yes’, future looks bright

A lot goes on at RTI International’s campus in RTP: everything from governmental prototypes of democracy in Iraq to cutting-edge chemical engineering and energy research. Dave Myers, RTI’s vice president of the Engineering and Technology Unit (ETU) said the expansive undertakings of the institution enable new scientific discoveries and progress on a regional, national, and global level.

SITT's Sabine Vollmer (left) and RTI VP Dave Myers

“The goal is to be considered to be among the upper echelon of companies making a difference,” Myers said. For his department’s energy programs, it’s vital to stay on top. The federal government only allots grant money to certain research organizations, and stimulus money has been hard to come by. Some of it won’t surface until as late as 2014, and a lot is still being allocated.

However, the state agreed to match Washington’s funds, even amidst its current budgeting crisis. And with new contributions from the Dept. of Energy, money going towards energy research at RTI has doubled since 2007, Myers said.

So what, exactly, is Myers’ team putting the grant money towards? Lots of different projects, but mainly, solar power. However, he isn’t talking about ordinary sun panels making electricity. Myers said his team is mixing sunlight and water to make gasoline.

These solar panels capture heat-waves from the sun and generate hydrogen, which the ETU can add to water and transform into hydrocarbons. Mix that with carbon-dioxide and you get methanol. (Methanol = CH₃OH, the chemical synthesis of CO₂ and H₂.) The methanol is then converted into liquid gasoline, the same kind our cars run on now.

Except it’s cleaner. This gas has fewer harmful emissions and byproducts than conventional oil-based petroleum burning. There’s also far less sulfur. Not to mention, it’s renewable. What’s key, Myers said, is that engine performance will be exactly the same. It maintains an incredibly high energy density, which is the most compelling aspect of gasoline from an engineering standpoint while battery technology for electric cars is still immature.

Other projects his team is working on includes novel LED lighting designs and the “pMUT” (short for Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer), a biomedical device that delivers real-time 3D ultrasonic images inside the human body. It has already been found highly beneficial for both cardiac and intravascular operations. No such technology has previously been available to surgeons, which is why the medical community is so excited for its introduction. RTP’s own National Institute of Health (NIH) originally funded the project; now, RTI is partnering with Duke to further development.

-Ross Maloney. Reporting by Sabine Vollmer, for Science in the Triangle. Read her “Inside RTP” feature on Myers’ interview here.

Reinventing How We Communicate Science

Most people are aware The Research Triangle Park (RTP) and the Triangle region in general has a plethora of science and technology related companies, people, and activities. Images of lab coats, techie start-ups, and research universities abound. But, innovation and science doesn’t operate in a silo, and it takes more than a test tube and a fume hood to create a successful research firm.

When you think of the support organizations needed to nurture the region’s innovation, thoughts of venture capital firms, incubator space, and professional service firms come to mind. However, as we were reminded last week at the annual ScienceOnline event, the RTP region is also a landing ground for science communicators, journalists, and bloggers who support and market the scientific community to the world.

As the members of this journalist community continue to expand, we are also witnessing the demise of print media outlets nationwide. This becomes a contradiction of sorts, and every journalist across the nation has their own hard-luck story. However, the fall of print journalism also presents communicators with the opportunity to jump on a whole new set of social media/Web 2.0 based tools to harness their efforts and expand their audience.

Which brings me to a list of five innovative ways our RTP science communicators are reinventing the nature of journalism right here at home:

1. Conferences, unconferences, and online collaboration. The recent ScienceOnline event is a testimony to the strength of organic gatherings as a way for science communicators to learn, share and collaborate with their peers.

2. Science in the Triangle. Science in the Triangle is an evolving experiment in community science journalism and scientific-community organizing. Launched online in April 2008, Science in the Triangle informs research park companies and employees about the advancements their neighbors are making through the internet and new media tools.

3. Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC). SCONC is a professional organization founded in April 2007 providing fellowship and networking among communicators who bring science to the public. The organization includes science writers, journalists, public information officers, teachers and institutional communicators from academia, government labs, industry, museums and schools — just about anyone interested in communicating science. SCONC President Ernie Hood also runs a stellar radio show highlighting interviews with science leaders from the region.

4. Networking 2.0. Communicators are taking interest in innovation-based events like never before with the benefit of creating connections and networking their way to the science scoop. The Triangle Area Research Directors Council (TARDC), Innovation in RTP, and American Scientist Pizza Lunch are just starters in a line-up of interesting programs being covered by freelance journalists across the region.

5. Blogs, blogs and more blogs. Traditional print media presented journalists with a number of challenges, not limited to scope and speed to market. With the access to online tools such as blogs, journalists now literally have the world as an audience at their fingertips. Some of our favorite blogs to follow:

A Blog Around the Clock

Bull City Rising

Cree LED Revolution Blog

Man in Ranks

Mister Sugar

Science in the Triangle

Social Wayne on the Social Web

Wake County Economic Development

*This list is in no way comprehensive. Please suggest additional blogs we should be watching!

Welcome to TheRTP Blog

Welcome to the inaugural post of the new TheRTP Blog. This is The Research Triangle Park’s first foray into the blogosphere.

Over time, various categories and streams in this blog will chronicle the Park’s efforts to link the “physical” Park to our virtual community and will share some of our thoughts and observations as we enter the Park’s next 50 years. As we build the blog and find our voice, early blogs will describe various inititives and efforts underway. Once we get the hang of it, we’ll tackle more substantive issues.

Fortunately, we have many partners who are much better at blogging and who can point to in the mean time. For news about the Park, science and innovation, and/or about the many RTP companies already in the blogosphere, please check out some of our favorites:

• A Blog Around the Clock
• Science in the Triangle
• Institute for the Future: Future Now

And of course, we’re always looking for other blogs that would expand our community. If you have suggestions, please send them our way!!