News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren Rotman" <>]

Winners of the Annual Internet2 IDEA Awards Announced

Two Categories of Awards Recognize Innovative and Influential Advanced
Applications that Leverage IP and Optical Networking

ARLINGTON, VA - April 22, 2008 - Today at its annual Spring Member Meeting,
Internet2 announced the 2008 winners of its Internet2 Driving Exemplary
Applications (IDEA) Awards program which seeks to recognize leading
innovators who have created and deployed advanced network applications that
have enabled transformational progress in research, teaching and learning.
This year Internet2 introduced, in partnership with Level 3 Communications,
a new award category called the Wave of the Future which focused on
applications that specifically require or make use of dedicated optical
circuit technology. 

This year's IDEA Award winners include Bradley University's production of
"The Adding Machine" and the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the
National Institutes of Health's "Geography-independent Cancer Research
Tools." The IDEA Wave of the Future Award winner is The CSIRO Australia
Telescope National Facility's "Using Advanced Networks to Transform
High-Angular Resolution Astrophysics." The University of Delaware's Phoebus
project and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's High-Energy Physics dynamic
circuit network data transfer application earned honorable mentions.

"We are excited to extend this latest round of IDEA Awards to our colleagues
who have truly pushed the boundaries of new technology and networking to
make significant progress in their individual application fields," said Jack
Suess, CIO, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and vice-chair,
Internet2 Applications, Middleware & Services Advisory Council (AMSAC). "In
doing so, these applications and their collaborators also serve as models
for the entire community and we believe in turn will open new opportunities
for a broader sector of our members and partners."

Chosen from many distinguished nominations, the winning submissions were
judged on the depth of their positive impact on their primary users, their
technical merit, and the likelihood the application would be more broadly
adopted. Bradley University's innovative multimedia production of Elmer
Rice's "The Adding Machine" was a dynamic intermedial collaboration that
integrated remote actors from various locations onto the stage in Peoria,
Ill. using advanced videoconference technology. The performance, created in
collaboration with the University of Waterloo and the University of Central
Florida, also utilized virtual scenery, recorded video, avatar performers,
photographs, graphics and sound to create one of the most visually powerful
live performances. The school continues to explore and innovate performance
techniques with these technologies on other theatrical events.

"The convergence of theatre performance, production and dramaturgy with
multimedia, streaming video technology and advanced networking systems
brought many talented individuals together to literally re-invent the stage
with 'The Adding Machine.'" said Bradley University president Joanne K.
Glasser. "Collaboration on an unprecedented scale was central to the success
of this innovative project, which was created by dynamic interdisciplinary
teamwork among five academic and administrative units on the Bradley campus;
enthusiastic interaction with local and national commercial and professional
partners; and the international inter-institutional collaboration with our
colleagues at the University of Waterloo and the University of Central
Florida. Supporting this interactivity was the advanced networking
infrastructure that served as the vital conduit that connected it all
together. Without Internet2, this work would have gone--literally--nowhere.
We are humbled and grateful to Internet2 for this prestigious award."

The U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health
is developing advanced network-based tools and techniques that leverage the
speed and capability of research networks like Internet2 to enable doctors
from around the world to more effectively participate in cancer research
studies and enable more comprehensive analysis of cancer research data.
These tools have transformed the way geographically distant cancer
researchers are able to collaborate (e.g., over 40 researchers and medical
professionals across 6 countries) who have now conducted over ten studies in
just two years which has significantly benefitted the field. While these
breakthrough tools are currently being utilized for cervical cancer
research, there is significant potential for extending their use broadly in
the biomedical field.   

"Advanced research networks such as Internet2 could not be more critical in
the global enterprise to address the world's health by enabling
geographically distant researchers and health care workers to collaborate
remotely," said George Thoma, chief, Communications Engineering Branch, U.S.
National Library of Medicine. "The tools include systems to store thousands
of images and longitudinal patient records, and provide access to these
images by shape, color and texture features. The focus of current research
is to study cervical cancer caused by the Human Papillomavirus, but other
research areas are planned."

Lastly, the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility received the award
for its recognized leadership in the development and use of the electronic
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI) technique. E-VLBI is considered
one of the most powerful methods for high-resolution imaging of distant
radio sources, such as pulsars, quasars and radio galaxies. The technique
links geographically dispersed telescopes using advanced optical networks
for near real time analysis of telescope data. The CSIRO team has worked
closely with other institutions in Asia, Europe and the United States. As
the winner of the Wave of the Future award, the team will receive a
dedicated optical circuit for a one year period from Internet2 WaveCo,
sponsored by Level 3 Communications.
 
"Though we have made enormous progress since our first e-VLBI tests in 2006,
we had not yet been able to just set up an experiment and press the 'GO'
button. This dedicated circuit will let us explore ways to overcome these
challenges and move forward with more aggressive e-VLBI experimentation.
More than that, what we discover about overcoming high data throughput
roadblocks can be applied to applications in other scientific disciplines,"
said Dr. Shaun Amy, data transmission specialist for CSIRO's Australia
Telescope National Facility.

Awards were presented at Internet2's 2008 Spring Member Meeting held in
Arlington, Virginia on April 22, 2008. Additional information about the
Internet2 IDEA Awards can be found at: http://www.internet2.edu/idea/

To view the netcast of the awards presentation, see:
http://events.internet2.edu/2008/spring-mm/sessionDetails.cfm?session=3810&e
vent=280

Additional Details:
Bradley University's Live Multimedia Production of "The Adding Machine"
Collaborators:
* George Brown, Director - Chair, Department of Theatre Arts, Bradley
University
* Jim Ferolo, Art Director - Chair, Multimedia Program, Bradley University 
* Chuck Ruch, Associate Provost of IRT, Bradley University 
* Gerd Hauck, Chair - Department of Drama and Speech Communication,
University of Waterloo 
* John Wayne Shafer, University of Central Florida Conservatory Theatre

U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
Collaborators: 
* George Thoma, Chief, Communications Engineering Branch, National Library
of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
* Sameer Antani, Staff Scientist, National Library of Medicine, National
Institutes of Health 
* L. Rodney Long, Electronics Engineer, National Library of Medicine,
National Institutes of Health
* Mark Schiffman, Senior Investigator, National Cancer Institute 

Wave of the Future
The CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility's "Using Advanced Networks
to Transform High-Angular Resolution Astrophysics."
Collaborators:
* Shaun Amy, Data Transmission Specialist, CSIRO Australia Telescope
National Facility 
* Chris Phillips, e-VLBI Project Scientist, CSIRO Australia Telescope
National Facility 
* Tasso Tzioumis, Project Leader, Australia Long Baseline Array, CSIRO
Australia Telescope National Facility 
* Adam Deller Ph.D., Student, Swinburne University of Technology

About Internet2
Internet2 is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium. Led by the
research and education community since 1996, Internet2 promotes the missions
of its members by providing both leading-edge network capabilities and
unique partnership opportunities that together facilitate the development,
deployment and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Internet2 brings
the U.S. research and academic community together with technology leaders
from industry, government and the international community to undertake
collaborative efforts that have a fundamental impact on tomorrow's Internet.
For more information: http://www.internet2.edu

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