WASHINGTON, April 7, 2009 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced the winners of the "What is Nano?" video contest held by ACS Nanotation (http://www.acsnanotation.org), the Web community site for nanoscience and nanotechnology researchers and enthusiasts. Organized as an outgrowth of the Society's peer-reviewed scientific publishing in the area of nanoscale science, the contest sought creative videos that convey the scientific and cultural significance of nanoscience to a broad audience.
"The Nano Song" (http://tinyurl.com/thenanosong) won top honors in both the "People's Choice" and "Critics' Choice" award categories. The video was a collaborative effort by a research group from University of California, Berkeley, that included Patrick Bennett, David Carlton, Molly Felz, Nola Klemfuss, Glory Liu, Ryan Miyakawa, Stacey Wallace, and Angelica Zen. The People's Choice video award was based on polling results from online voters, whereas the Critics' Choice award was determined by a panel of expert judges that included Paul Alivisatos, Ph.D., (University of California, Berkeley), Angela Belcher, Ph.D., (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Aaron Rowe (Wired magazine), and Paul Weiss, Ph.D., (The Pennsylvania State University), who jointly evaluated video submissions based on creativity, scientific clarity of explanation, originality, and quality.
Commenting on the top video, award recipient Bennett said the group "wanted to make something that could be appreciated by everyone regardless of their technical background." That achievement was reflected in the more than 17,000 Web accesses recorded for their submission, as well as the hundreds of viewer feedback responses posted on ACS Nanotation.
"Nanotechnology Brings us Delicious New Solar Cells," created by Blake Farrow at the University of Notre Dame, was the runner-up in the People's Choice category. "Introduction to Nanotechnology," created by Dan Graham of Asemblon Inc., was the Critics' Choice runner-up.
The American Chemical Society's Publications Division publishes a portfolio of 34 peer-reviewed journals across the chemical sciences, including its flagship Journal of the American Chemical Society, begun in 1879, as well as the industry-leading Nano Letters (http://pubs.acs.org/journal/nalefd ) and ACS Nano (http://pubs.acs.org/journal/ancac3 ). The latter publication was designated Best New Journal for 2008 by the Association of American Publishers' Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division (AAP/PSP). The Society was similarly recognized recently for its excellence in Web technology innovation, receiving top honors from AAP/PSP for Best Website/Electronic Platform. ACS Nanotation is part of the society's innovation in the area of Web 2.0 community-building, as showcased within the ACS Network (http://www.acs.org/network).
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 154,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.