West Virginia University will recognize individual achievement in promoting public understanding of science and research with a major new honor named for a U.S. senator from West Virginia who was instrumental in creation of legislation that formed the National Science Foundation.
WVU Chief of Staff Jay Cole and WVU Vice President for Research and Economic Development Curt M. Peterson announced that the Harley Kilgore Award for Promoting Public Understanding of Science and Research, which consists of a medallion and honorarium, will be awarded annually during the University’s Science Communications Symposium, set this year for April at the University’s Mountainlair.
Nominations for the award are being accepted through Feb. 15, 2011.
“The purpose of the Harley Kilgore Award is two-fold,” Cole explained. “First, it memorializes Senator Kilgore’s leadership role in setting and promoting federal science and research policy in the post-World War II era. Second, it celebrates outstanding achievement in promoting public understanding of science and research.”
A native of Harrison County, Kilgore represented West Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 1941 to 1956. During his senatorial service, Kilgore played a key role in the creation of NSF.
In 1944, Kilgore introduced the first legislation calling for the establishment of a federal research foundation. Over the course of the next six years, Kilgore was at the center of a debate about the best way to promote and organize American scientific research activity in the post-World War II era. This debate, which also featured Vannevar Bush, author of the watershed report Science: The Endless Frontier, culminated in the passage of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950.
Peterson said, “As one of the nation’s 11 public, land-grant, flagship, research universities with a comprehensive health sciences center, WVU has a special responsibility to promote public understanding of science and the use of scientific data and analysis in public policymaking. WVU is proud to sponsor the Kilgore Award as one activity in fulfillment of this responsibility.”
To nominate someone for the award, submit a one-page letter describing how the nominee has demonstrated exceptional leadership in the promotion and communication of science. Examples of such leadership include, but are not limited to, excellent teaching in the sciences (classroom or community) and sharing scientific ideas via media such as internet videos or opinion editorials.
The nomination letter, which must include the name, e-mail, telephone number and address of both the nominee and nominator, should be sent to 103 Stewart Hall, PO Box 6201, Morgantown, WV 26506.
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CONTACT: Gerrill Griffith, WVU Research Corp.
304-293-3743; Gerrill.Griffith@mail.wvu.edu
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