In the tree covered hills of Ottakring, the 16th district of Vienna, a young boy walks with his mother and discovers a building of a kind that he has never seen before - one with a tall tower, crowned with a glistening sunlit dome. Curious, the boy stops walking and asks his mother, "What's that?" She explains to him that it's an observatory where you look at the stars. "I want to look at the stars," the boy replies. You can, when you're a little bit older, his mother tells him, while continuing their walk.
Dr. Helmut Jenkner
This childhood discovery constituted "the big bang" for Helmut Jenkner, now deputy head of the Hubble mission at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. As soon as he was "a little bit older," a 15-year-old Jenkner excitedly waited for nightfall to pay visits to the Kuffner-Sternwarte , the observatory he once discovered by chance. At his very first tour, the young Jenkner was instantly fascinated by the new world that opened above him in the night sky. He would make visits once, twice, or three times a week. At that time, the operative thing was to push the curfew more and more. Most certainly, the young man did not yet realize that his late nights at the Kuffner-Sternwarte were just the first steps into his lifelong international career in astronomy.
Interaction with an electronic partner can be complicated. Images in simple Word docs pop up in places where they shouldn't. Excel sheets suddenly calculate functions whose existence one wasn't even aware of. And Photoshop with all its functions still remains a blurry mystery to John Doe. Today's state-of-the-art software can do a lot, but too much sophistication often leads to frustration rather then excitement for the average user, who becomes a regular in the "how to" help section.
York Professor Wolfgang Stürzlinger
A long time ago: Stürzlinger’s first computer
Back in 1981 in the town of Ried, Upper Austria, the father of a then 15-year-old boy faced that kind of situation with some software that was supposed to ease his work as a tax consultant - well, at least in theory. Since his son spent most of his free time in front of a Commodore 3032, he asked his offspring: Can you do SOMETHING USEFUL with this thing, such as creating a program to improve my work? His son, Wolfgang Stürzlinger, now associate professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at York University in Toronto, surely could: At the age of 15, he wrote his first commercial software package for his dad, a new tax-consultant program. With easy-to-use functionalities and a user-friendly interface, the software met his father's demands - and apparently also the needs of the rest of the market: By 1989 RZL Software was the leading developer of tax consulting software in Austria, a position it still retains.
Today, Wolfgang Stürzlinger's research interest still focuses on finding solutions for real-world problems with computers, combining the research fields of human-computer interaction, computer supported collaborative work, and virtual reality. As Stürzlinger puts it, "We are still in a state where the computer controls the user, instead of the way it should be: The user controls the computer!"
Re$earch Re$ources: €1.75 Billion of New Research Money Available for European Projects and International Cooperations
On November 30, 2007, the European Commission issued calls for proposals in 32 research areas, making available about €1.75 billion from the 7th Research Framework Program. Funds will also be made available for the Marie Curie International Staff Exchange Scheme, which will strengthen the relationships of European research organizations with their international counterparts.
Call for proposals are found under all four specific programs of the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) namely Cooperation, Ideas, People, and Capacities. There is also a call for proposals under the Euratom Specific Program.
Work in Progress at the Institute of Science & Technology Austria: Search for Scientists and Release of the First Activity Report
bridges vol. 16, December 2007 / News from the Network
Austria's newest addition to its basic research institutions is the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. Looking back at the year's end on all that has been accomplished during the past 12 months should certainly fill the participants with pride and joy. The development of the Institute is successfully moving forward under the leadership of its Interim Manager Gerald Murauer, both in terms of demolition and construction work for the new campus, and in the formation of the scientific research groups.
At a ground-breaking ceremony on the campus on November 28, 2007, Claus Raidl, chairman of the Board of Trustees of I.S.T. Austria, explained the progress so far: Rules and regulations for the successful operation of I.S.T. Austria have been established, and industry has set a remarkable example in supporting I.S.T. Austria financially.
The Austrian Science Talks this year were held in the US for the fourth time, this time on both the East and West coasts. More than 150 participants took the opportunity to talk with Austrian and European representatives from politics, industry, and science about "Excellent Research - the Principle of Elite."
Research for Success
"We have learned a lot since last time we were here," said Ingolf Schädler, deputy general of the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, in his opening speech. FTE-Politics in Austria has gained a new significance. Austria shows up noticeably on the international radar map of R&D. Austria invests in R&D, is "doing well," and is visible internationally. As keywords, Schädler mentioned the recently nominated K2-Competence Centers of the COMET program and the I.S.T. Austria.
Research Promotion at the European Level
News that the European Research Council (ERC), for the first time, is
providing funding for basic research at the European level within the
scope of the Seventh Framework Program produced great interest among
participants. Christian Krassnig (Los Angeles) and Ernst-Ludwig
Winnacker (New York) introduced the ERC and its grants and reported on
more than 9,000 applications for the first call, a number that far
exceeded all expectations. There is a noticeable pioneering spirit at
the ERC and now there is also competition at the European level that
will be evaluated by excellence alone. Both Winnacker and Krassnig
asked: "Why [should there be] research (and research promotion) at the
European level?" They found answers in stimulated economic growth,
bundling of resources, encouragement of national politics, and
strengthening of human capital, to name a few of the benefits.
"I think it's crucial to better inform scientists
abroad, especially those living in the US, about the situation in
Europe and the Associated Countries. In this regard, the event in NY
was a model. This is true for the content as well as the format." Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
Time for networking.
Austrian Science Talks in Los Angeles on October 13th, 2007
bridges vol. 16, December 2007 / News from the Network: Austrian Researchers Abroad
In its "moves & milestones" section, bridges presents career steps and other outstanding events in the professional lives of Austrian scientists and scholars in the US and Canada.
Eric Kandel
has received the 2007 National Academies’ Best Book of the Year Award for his personal memoir, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind. Kandel, who is the 2000 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine, has been university professor of physiology and cell biophysics, psychiatry, biochemistry, and molecular biophysics at Columbia University since 1974.
Werner Ploberger
was installed as the first Thomas H. Eliot Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Before becoming a professor in the economics department at Washington University in 2006, he was a professor in the department of economics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. Ploberger obtained his doctorate as well as his master’s degree at the Vienna University of Technology.
bridges vol. 16, December 2007 / News from the Network
The OST network of Austrian scientists & scholars abroad was established by the Office of Science & Technology (OST) at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC, and focuses on the outreach of government-related agencies to Austrian scientists in North America. Its main objective has been to support the scientific community with information and specific advice wherever necessary and requested.
Encouraged by the OST, an independent association - ASciNA (Austrian Scientists and Scholars in North America) - was founded in 2002 with local chapters being established throughout the US and Canada. For further information about ASciNA please visit www.ascina.at
On November 30, 2007, the European Commission issued calls for proposals in 32 research areas, making available about €1.75 billion from the 7th Research Framework Program. Funds will also be made available for the 
has received the 2007 National Academies’ Best Book of the Year Award for his personal memoir, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind. Kandel, who is the 2000 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine, has been university professor of physiology and cell biophysics, psychiatry, biochemistry, and molecular biophysics at Columbia University since 1974.
was installed as the first Thomas H. Eliot Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
