A Tool to Google Petroglyphs
Eamonn Keogh, associate professor of computer science and engineering, received a $13,000 grant from the National Geographic Society/Waitt Grants Program to photograph petroglyphs in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

“There is also a chance I will be going to Easter Island in the new year,” said Keogh.

Keogh plans to build a computerized tool to allow a Google-like search of petroglyphs. Earlier this year, he received an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for the project, but it did not allocate resources for field work.

Grants are awarded for exploratory fieldwork that promotes new discoveries in the natural and social sciences. Applications are processed throughout the year, with about 100 grants of between $5,000 and $15,000 awarded within weeks of consideration.

Dance Scholars Honor Srinvasan
Priya Srinivasan, assistant professor of dance and performance theory, is one of two recipients of the Gertrude Lippincott Award presented by the Society of Dance History Scholars for an outstanding English-language article published in dance studies.

The award was presented at the society’s annual conference held in June at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The judges described Srinivasan’s essay – “The Bodies Beneath the Smoke or What’s Behind the Cigarette Poster: Unearthing Kinesthetic Connections in American Dance History” – as a “compelling reassessment” of modern dance history that “presents the perspective of previously eliminated or marginalized original sources.”

The Gertrude Lippincott Award is named for its donor, a teacher of modern dance in the Midwest who mentored many students.

The award carries a cash purse of $500.

CAREER Award
Kirill Shtengel, an assistant professor of physics who joined UCR in 2005, has been recognized by the National Science Foundation with a CAREER award, a prestigious honor recognizing the early career development activities of scholars most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. Shtengel’s interests focus on theoretical studies of unconventional phases of condensed matter.

The five-year $500,000 CAREER award will allow him to expand his efforts in studying various physical systems that may display this unconventional order.

“It will allow me to attract bright young researchers and build a group here at UCR, hopefully making it one of the most recognized centers in this emerging field,” he said.