Cutting Edge Research at URI Showcased on Rhode Island PBS

WSBE Rhode Island PBS and the University of Rhode Island announced a new collaboration this week to bring public attention to the cutting edge research projects and scientific advances at the University.

A variety of research projects will be showcased quarterly in a series of half-hour prime-time features. The first documentary, Baby Talk: Unlocking the Secrets of the Baby Brain, premieres on November 14 at 9:30 p.m. on WSBE Rhode Island PBS (over the air on digital 36.1; Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; DirecTV 36 / 3128HD, Dish Network 7776; in MA, Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD).

Additionally, short URI Today segments will air between regularly scheduled programs. Topics of these 2-6 minute segments will range from growing tomatoes to the study of the secretions from the blowholes of whales.

Programs and segments are being co-produced by the University of Rhode Island New Media department and Rosewood Productions.

“We’re pleased to be able to recognize the excellent work of the URI faculty, staff, and students, and to share it with a wider audience on Rhode Island PBS,” said David W. Piccerelli, president of WSBE Rhode Island PBS.

“Local stories that touch the lives of real people in our community have a home on Rhode Island PBS,” he said. “We are committed to sharing those stories as part of our mission, amplifying individual voices that might not otherwise be heard. And when the local stories have national – even global – significance, we feel an added sense of Rhode Island pride in showcasing the gems found in our own back yard,” he added.

In Baby Talk: Unlocking the Secrets of the Baby Brain, premature babies, some as tiny as the palm of

Sean, now an adult and seen here with his Mom, holds a tiny 

shirt he wore as a premature infant. Sean is a participant in a 

longitudinal study that boasts 85% retention rate over 

more than 20 years. 

an adult hand, lie in incubators linked to monitors and lifesaving equipment. The care in a neonatal intensive care unit is extraordinary, the devotion unceasing, and so is the worry - about the next minute, the next month, the next 10 years - especially for parents. But research being done by two University of Rhode Island nursing professors is showing that a simple delivery room procedure and interventions throughout childhood could mean improved health and easier transitions to adult life.

Baby Talk: Unlocking the Secrets of the Baby Brain takes an intimate look at the work of Mary Sullivan, interim dean of URI’s College of Nursing, who is spearheading the longest running U.S. study of premature infants, and Clinical Professor Emerita Judith Mercer, who has found that delaying umbilical cord clamping for pre-term babies produces dramatic health benefits.

NetWorks 2013: Twelve Artists You Should Get to Know

In 2008, a unique Rhode Island arts project launched through collaboration between Joseph Chazan, M.D. and Umberto Crenca, Artistic Director of AS220. "NetWorks" was created to document, celebrate, and foster the richly creative and diverse Rhode Island artistic community.

Each year since its launch, the project has created an archive of video and photographic profiles that are enriched by museum and gallery exhibits, catalogs, and panel discussions.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS is proud to present this year's video profiles of the artists as part of the station's commitment to making works of local artists more accessible to a wider community audience. Parts 1 and 2, filmed by Richard Goulis, air Sundays, November 17 and 24 at 6 p.m., as part of Rhode Island Stories.

The artists profiled in NetWorks 2013 are:

Jesse Burke - Photography
Michael Glancy - Glass
Tracy Mahaffey - Stone Carver
Paula Martiesian - Oil Painter
Stephen Metcalf - Sculptor
Morris Nathanson - Fine Artist
Allison Paschke - Painter & Sculptor
Peter Prip - Metalsmith
Anthony Russo - Illustrator
Dean Snyder - Sculptor
Rosanne Somerson - Furniture
Judyth vanAmringe - Sculptor

JFK - Fifty Years Later

November 22 marks the anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy - JFK. His murder in 1963 stunned the nation, and the documents and evidence about the events and people surrounding the incident were classified for 50 years.

On November 17 at 9 p.m., we air on Rhode Island PBS Secrets of the Dead: JFK: One PM Central Standard Time, the minute-by-minute chronicle of the assassination as it was revealed in the CBS newsroom from the moment the President was shot until Walter Cronkite’s emotional pronouncement of his death, one hour and eight minutes later. The drama of JFK: One PM Central Standard Time — the episode title is taken from the time President Kennedy was declared dead at Parkland Hospital — is played out amidst the chaos in Dallas, in the hospital, and in the CBS newsroom in New York. Included in the program will be moving memories from men and women who were with there on the day – in Dallas and New York.

On the anniversary November 22, we will air the brand new 4-hour story JFK: American Experience, starting at 11 a.m.

From the Web site:

Forever enshrined in myth by an assassin's bullet, Kennedy's presidency long defied objective appraisal. Recent assessments have revealed an administration long on promise and vigor, and somewhat lacking in tangible accomplishment. His proposals for a tax cut and civil rights legislation, however, promised significant gains in the months before his assassination. While maturation, as evidenced in the handling of the Cuban missile crisis, was apparent, the potential legacy of the New Frontier will forever be left to speculation.

Enjoy an extended preview of the American Experience program by clicking here. The compelling preview focuses on the 1960 presidential campaign.

Musical Tributes and Stories Commemorate Veterans Day

November 11 is Veterans Day. On WSBE Learn, we will air National Salute to Veterans 2012 at 8 p.m., America's Veterans: A Musical Tribute 2011 at 9 p.m. and America's Veterans: A Musical Tribute 2010 at 10 p.m.

On WSBE Rhode Island PBS, we encore The Providence Journal documentary Coming Home on Sunday, November 10 at 6 p.m. on Rhode Island Stories. On Monday, Out on a Limb at 9 p.m. presents the amazing advances made in prosthetics, taking the machines from the lab to the bodies of amputees.

Then on Monday, November 18 at 9 p.m., we air Sea of Change, a documentary that explores exciting new research from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University about the use of SCUBA diving as a therapy for treating paralysis and PTSD. At 10 p.m., we air We Served Too: The Story of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots.