This grant supports the production, broadcast, and promotion of four primetime science-themed documentaries by the popular PBS series, American Experience. Supported documentaries include Edison, about the life and enormous scientific contributions of the famed American inventor; Penn Station, about the ambitious engineering marvel that brought the Pennsylvania Railroad’s tunnels and trains under the Hudson River and into Manhattan; Tuberculosis, about the rise and fall of the most lethal disease in American history; and The Great Fire, about the 1910 wildfire that burned three million acres across Washington, Idaho, and Montana and subsequently gave rise to the conservation movement, the establishment of the U.S. Forest Service, and the battle between Roosevelt and the railroad barons to establish a public, scientifically managed system of national forests. Additional funds from this grant support the development of an interactive mobile app, the Engineering Map of America, that will offer entertaining and educational walking tours of select engineering sites across the country.

Funds from this grant support a project by award-winning producer Michael Schwarz to develop, produce, and air a three-hour PBS special on the intellectual, cultural, and technological history of Silicon Valley from its origins in the 1870s to today. The film will explore how and why Silicon Valley has, decade after decade for nearly 100 years, produced world-changing innovation-not just new products but whole new industries: vacuum tubes, radio, radar, integrated circuits, venture capital, PCs, printers, genetic engineering, software, networking hardware, the internet, social media, cloud computing, mobile. Guided by a distinguished group of scholars, historians of technology, and other experts, the program will examine how the Valley has managed to stay on the cutting edge of technology even as that edge has shifted and pivoted dramatically, and why its success has been so difficult to emulate. By casting a longer and more informed historical lens on Silicon Valley, the proposed show promises to stimulate a deeper understanding of how government, academia, and the private sector can collaborate successfully and also provide new insights on innovation and entrepreneurship, especially as applied to technology. In addition to the three-hour film for broadcast, funds from this grant support a public engagement and educational campaign targeted at middle and high school students, a website, a multiplatform digital media strategy including a social media campaign, short-form videos and interactive maps for web tablets and phones, and a strong publicity and promotion effort that should significantly expand both the audience for the show and discussion of the issues raised.

In March of 2003, director and longtime diving enthusiast James Cameron piloted a specially designed submarine, the Deepsea Challenger, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench - the deepest point in the ocean, becoming only the second man in history to make the journey. Spending some nine hours at the bottom of the ocean, Cameron captured the entire incredible journey on film, including never before seen images the trench floor. Funds from this grant will support the production of three separate media projects related to Cameron's pioneering dive, a 90-minute 3D feature film, a two-hour television documentary, and a 40-minute 3D film designed for oversized screens. Additional funds will support the production of educational resources to complement the film's scientific content, as well as digital and media outreach activities.

This grant supports the production of a three-hour NOVA special, Making of North America, which takes a unique "biographical" approach to communicating facts about the geological and geographic history of the continent. Making of North America will put to use the work of two new graphics projects, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Transparent Earth and Time Tunnel, to take the audience on a three-billion year adventure and "detective story." Scientists on the program will try to solve mysteries such as what is raising the Rockies and what is fueling the "hot spot" in the middle of the continent while taking a fresh look at landmarks like the Grand Canyon. The three hours will include a first program, Primeval Forces; a second hour, The Birth of North America; and a final show, The Human Landscape. The series will be augmented with enhanced digital content, most notably a mobile interactive map available on multiple platforms and a Google Earth tour. Funds will also support the development of a suite of teaching resources and a science cafй toolkit to attract younger audiences.

Funds from this grant to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will support the development, production, and broadcast of a feature-length documentary on the Philip Glass opera, Einstein on the Beach. The documentary will explore the intersection of Einstein's life and legacy with the making of the opera.

This grant provides continued support for enhanced coverage of economic and financial topics on The PBS NewsHour. Through its recurring weekly segment, Making Sen$e with Paul Solman, the NewsHour aims to produce and broadcast at least 60 on-air segments over the next two years covering economic and financial topics. Additional funds from this grant will support a host of complementary web activities, including the production of at least 60 web-only videos on economic topics, continued operation of an online "Q&A desk" where Solman answers questions from readers, the development of a free iPad app allowing iPad users to easily access NewsHour economics content, and the production of syllabi, lesson plans, and other materials to facilitate the use of NewsHour segments in American classrooms.

This grant provides support for the production and broadcast of a two-hour NOVA special about the elements of the periodic table, their discovery, and the important role they have played over the course of human history. Hosted by author and New York Times technology columnist David Pogue and based on Theodore Grey's bestselling book, The Elements, the NOVA special will cover a broad range of topics, including the organization of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev, how early human technological development was driven largely by our understanding and mastery of metals, and the role rare earth elements currently play in such modern conveniences as cell phones and batteries. Also funded through this grant are digital outreach efforts to broaden the scope and impact of the special, including production of exclusive web-only content to complement the special, expanded activities on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and the development of an interactive iPad app.

Funds from this grant support the production and broadcast of a two-hour PBS series on how new developments in neuroscience may affect the criminal justice system and our understanding of free will and personal responsibility. Produced by Graham Chedd and hosted by Alan Alda, the series will seek to explain the science behind fMRI brain scans-both its enormous potential and its very significant current limitations-and explore what this new technology could mean for how we determine guilt and innocence. The series will feature commentary from a host of experts-neuroscientists, philosophers, ethicists, legal scholars, and judges- bringing diverse variety of perspectives to the topic and ensuring that it remains both engaging and accessible.