Scripps Howard Foundation awards new research grant

Dr. Debashis Aikat

Dr. Debashis Aikat, an award-winning researcher and professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, is the recipient of the new Scripps Howard Foundation Research Grant.

The goal of the $3,000 grant is to identify recent journalism and mass communication research with compelling use and potential impact on the journalism and communication industries. The end product of the grant will be creation of a website so this information can be shared with, and used by, educators and professionals.

Aikat will review all AEJMC conference papers and published research, identify papers with compelling use and potential impact, then post reviews and links on a website designed to foster a stronger connection between the academy and the industry. "This grant will enable me to collaborate with leaders in our field to launch the 'AEJMC Research Works' initiative to perpetuate in print the wealth of research wisdom to benefit our colleagues in academe, industry and beyond."

The Scripps Howard Foundation Research Grant is a successor to the research the Scripps Howard Foundation has previously funded on behalf of AEJMC's Council of Affiliates.

Sue Porter, vice president of programs for the Scripps Howard Foundation, said, "We look forward to seeing academic research maximized throughout the communications industry. Now, rather than funding several industry-oriented research projects by members of the academy, this grant will enable Dr. Aikat (EYE-cat) to ... identify research of interest to the communications industry and through creation of a website make it available for usage. Press releases about the content that are issued twice annually to both industry associations and JMC educators will help make the website known." Also, AEJMC will hold a session at the 2015 Conference in San Francisco to release the results of this project.