Unraveling how mechanical forces / physical effects contribute to biological function is an underexplored yet important aspect of understanding living systems. This grant provides continuing support to a trio of early-career researchers at Rockefeller University for a series of experiments geared at understanding how mechanical force impacts two important biological functions: the copying of information stored in DNA (transcription) and the coordinated development of a field of cells into a multicellular functional unit (here, skeletal tissue). The proposed transcription research will study how force impacts the dynamics and fidelity of the primary biomolecular machine responsible for transcription, RNA polymerase (RNAP). Forces will be applied to RNAP either using laser tweezers or via collisions between RNAP and various biomolecules that mimic RNAP collisions in live cells. Fluorescence microscopy will capture RNAP dynamics and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) will reveal how the molecular-scale structure, and therefore the biochemical activity, of RNAP is modified by collisions. The tissue development research will use cryo-EM along with cellular biology methods that stimulate cell contraction -and thus force propagation- to study changes in molecular architecture that are driven by supracellular (beyond a single cell) force transmission.

This grant provides three additional years of support to Barnard College to continue the partnership with Athena Film Festival to develop and celebrate films by and about women that focus on STEM themes and characters. Grant funds will support an annual showcase screening at the Athena Film Festival, followed by a panel discussion with scientists and filmmakers; four annual fellowships to support screenwriters with STEM-focused scripts who attend a lab and receive six months of mentorship; and a $20,000 annual Development Grant that goes to an Athena List finalist or winner with a STEM-themed script and which includes a public reading of the winning script that takes place during the festival.

This grant provides three years of renewed support to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for a series of activities, programs, and initiatives designed to encourage UCLA film students to engage with scientific and technological themes in their filmmaking and to produce science-themed films and screenplays. UCLA will award three annual prizes: a $30,000 production award and two $15,000 screenwriting awards for feature films or episodic television. UCLA will also host an annual colloquium that brings film students together with leading researchers to discuss the newest developments in science and technology. This grant also provides funds for dedicated scientific advisors to help students with their projects, independent judges to evaluate student submission, and faculty support and other operational and promotional costs associated with administration of the program.

This grant provides three additional years of support to continue the partnership with Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (CMU) to award prizes to student screenwriters who write science or technology themed scripts. The CMU program includes a year-long screenwriting workshop that meets weekly and focuses on the challenges and opportunities posed by incorporating science into dramatic or comedic narratives; a mentorship program that pairs film students with working scientists to help them depict science accurately in their work; a guest speaker series by accomplished screenwriters and television writers; an annual screenwriting competition that awards $45,000 total per year to three to four of the best science-themed scripts submitted; and yearly showcases in Los Angeles and New York to bring student filmmakers into contact with leading producers, directors, and distributors in the film and television industry.

This grant provides support to the WGBH Educational Foundation for a one-hour NOVA documentary that will explore outer space as the new and rapidly expanding military frontier that has emerged as the world’s most essential warfighting domain. In addition to providing historical context going back to Sputnik, the documentary will explain how satellites are the foundation of the modern world, from GPS navigation and the internet to cell phones and traffic lights and from climate modeling and weather prediction to online banking and supply chains. NOVA will embed at the Space Force Command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs and will also be on hand to witness and report on the first military exercise in orbit planned for 2025. The show is scheduled for prime time in early 2026 and the Foundation would be the primary funder.