{"id":182214,"date":"2016-05-10T14:32:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webadmin.news-harvard.go-vip.net\/gazette\/gazette\/?p=182214"},"modified":"2019-03-15T10:34:11","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T14:34:11","slug":"funding-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2016\/05\/funding-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
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Doug Melton (from left) presented the Star Family Challenge awards to Edo Berger, Katia Bertoldi, Talia Konkle, Bence \u00d6lveczky, and Edward Glaeser. The grants are awarded annually to high-risk, high-reward research efforts that might not receive funding through other programs. Assistant Professor of Psychology Talia Konkle explained her research during the ceremony (photo 2).<\/p>

Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tCampus & Community\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tFunding the future\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tPeter Reuell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tStar Family Challenge supports cutting-edge research projects\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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A new effort to image the sources of gravitational waves. The development of meta-materials with previously unexplored properties. Using computers to survey urban environments as a measure of economic evolution. Advancement of computer models to help understand how the brain interprets shape. Monitoring brain activity over weeks or months as animals learn complex behaviors.<\/p>\n

The ideas may sound like science fiction \u2014 but with support from the Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research, they might one day be science fact.<\/p>\n

The Star Family Challenge, whose creation and funding were directed by James A. Star \u201983, makes grants annually to high-risk, high-reward research efforts that might not receive funding through other programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to challenge chairman Doug Melton<\/a> and his fellow prize committee members for the rigor and intellectual curiosity they have brought to the selection process,\u201d James Star said. \u201cThis is the third year in which prizes have been awarded, and the quality of the winning projects remains extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the challenge, the five faculty members selected for the awards \u2014 Edo Berger, Katia Bertoldi, Edward Glaeser, Talia Konkle, and Bence \u00d6lveczky \u2014 made short presentations to a standing-room-only crowd in the Faculty Room of University Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Star Family Challenge is remarkable in several aspects,\u201d Dean of Science and Mallinckrodt Professor of Geophysics Jeremy Bloxham said. \u201cFirst, it brings together faculty from different corners of Harvard. Each time I\u2019ve been to this event, it\u2019s been a treat to hear about areas of research that I don\u2019t think about everyday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event is also noteworthy because it\u2019s important today to have funding for people who are generating good ideas, rather than funding for people who are writing grant proposals that meet the particular description of the program they are applying to,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis program gives us an opportunity to recognize people who are thinking outside the box and generating truly imaginative ideas, and gives them a boost in research funding so they can explore the full potential of what they\u2019ve been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edo Berger<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Professor of Astronomy Edo Berger, that potential includes the chance to get a first-ever look at the cosmological events \u2014 like the collision of black holes \u2014 that create gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space-time.<\/p>\n\r\n

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