(Frankfort, KY) – The Kentucky House of Representatives honored Dr. John Trent for winning Apple Computer’s national Science Innovator Award. As director of molecular modeling at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Dr. Trent and 14 key scientists are discovering new treatments for deadly cancers.
Majority Leader Rocky Adkins (D-Sandy Hook) introduced a proclamation on the House Floor which recognized Dr. Trent for his efforts which have resulted in the creation of potential drugs that could ultimately save lives and improve the well-being of citizens of Kentucky, the United States and around the world.
With this award, Dr. Trent joins a distinguished group of scientists from Harvard, Princeton, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, UCLA and Duke who were recognized for innovative use of Apple’s technology in scientific research. Researchers at the Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville analyze millions of potential drug compounds against 28 different cancer targets using thousands of computers sitting on desktops in K-12 schools across Kentucky.
The computers are part of one of the world’s largest computing grid, run by Kentucky Dataseam Initiative, a Kentucky-based organization that works with 52 school districts to improve education technology use and supply computing power to leading researchers at the state’s premier research universities. By accessing the computing power when students are not using them in class, researchers can reduce time to discover drugs by years. Please click here to read more.
Legislators provided coal severance funding so that Kentucky Dataseam can donate computers to coal county school districts. The program also conducts workshops for teachers and organizes visits by the professors so students can understand important research programs in the state. The University of Louisville also contributes scholarships for students graduating from coal county schools to study science, technology, engineering and math at the University.