NCSA's Donna Cox Nominated for 2005 World Technology Award
released 11.10.05
Contact
Trish Barker
NCSA Public Information Specialist
tlbarker@ncsa.uiuc.edu
217.265.8013
Angela Costa
angela.costa@edelman.com
650.429.2765
NEW YORK —
Donna Cox, leader of the Visualization Division at NCSA and a professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been nominated for the 2005 World Technology Network Award and deemed one of the most innovative individuals at the intersection of technology and the arts. The World Technology Awards honor individuals and corporations from 20 technology-related sectors viewed by their peers as being the most innovative and whose work has the greatest likelihood of long-term significance.
The WTN is a global meeting ground, a virtual think tank, and an elite club whose members are all focused on the business and science of bringing important emerging technologies of all types (from biotechnology to new materials, from IT to new energy sources) into reality.
Cox is a renowned expert on computer visualization; she and her team have thrilled millions of people with visualizations for the Oscar-nominated IMAX film "Cosmic Voyage," the PBS NOVA episodes "Hunt for the Supertwister" and "Runaway Universe," as well as Discovery Channel documentaries and pieces for CNN and NBC Nightly News. Cox and NCSA worked with the American Museum of Natural History to produce high-resolution visualizations for the Hayden Planetarium's 2000 Millennium show, "Passport to the Universe," and for "The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" She produced visualizations for the Hayden's "Big Bang Theatre" and is currently working with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to produce high-resolution data-driven visualizations of terabytes of scientific data for a digital dome program on black holes. She serves on the editorial board for Leonardo: International Journal on Art, Science and Technology and has authored many papers and monographs on computer graphics, information design, education, and scientific visualization. She also has exhibited computer images and animations in more than 100 invitational and juried exhibits.
"It's very gratifying to have my work and the hard work of my team recognized with this nomination," says Cox. "Our visualizations blend science and art and require intensive, iterative collaboration among the diverse members of true Renaissance teams, each bringing their unique knowledge and perspective to the project."
The World Technology Awards Gala ceremony, held in association with TIME magazine, CNN, and Science magazine among others, will take place Nov. 15 in San Francisco, concluding the two-day World Technology Summit.
Nominees for the 2005 World Technology Awards are identified based on an intensive, global process over a period of many months. Nominating members are primarily elected WTN Fellows from previous awards cycles, number more than 800, and are spread over 60 countries.
James P. Clark, founder and chairman of WTN, said, "The World Technology Awards program is not only a very inspiring way to identify and honor the most innovative people and organizations in the technology world, but it also is a truly disciplined way for the WTN membership to identify those who will formally join them, as WTN Fellows, as part of our global community."
For more information on the World Technology Network, World Technology Awards and World Technology Summit, please visit this website: http://www.wtn.net/.
NCSA™ (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) is a unique state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. Located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NCSA is one of the leading National Science Foundation-supported supercomputing centers. Additional support comes from the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, private sector partners, and other federal agencies. For more information, see http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.
