Our talented faculty continues to be involved in cutting-edge research, original creative programs and performances, and quality teaching. I hope you'll enjoy this issue of Research in Review magazine, which conveys some of the excitement of discovery and creative activity that abounds here at FSU.

We've recently had some exciting news of awards to FSU, and I'd like to mention just two of them. Both will have a significant impact on our state.

The first is a $52 million, five-year award from the Navy that gives FSU a significant role in determining the research agenda for the next-generation of electric ships. FSU's Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS) is a centerpiece for the Navy's plans for this revolutionary technological conversion over the next several decades.

The second is a $2.5 million award to FSU to create the Florida Center for Reading Research that likely will become one of the preeminent centers in the nation for developing research-based reading initiatives. Research in Review editor Frank Stephenson and writer David Cox report on what Professor Joseph Torgesen and colleagues at the new center are doing to improve reading skills of Florida's students.

You can read more about those projects in this issue. Here's a glimpse of some of the other features you'll find:

Engineering Professor Ben Wang's work also is having an impact on Florida. His search for a better process to manufacture fiberglass boats shows promise for making the $3.5 billion Florida boat-building industry far less hazardous to workers and the environment. Writer Patrick Smith talked with Professor Wang, who heads FSU's Florida Advanced Center for Composite Technologies, about his quest for better, safer, affordable materials and more environmentally friendly ways to build them.

I think you'll find James Call's piece on Classics Professor James Sickinger's research interesting. It shows that 2,500 years ago Athenians were making information requests and reviewing budgets, decisions and proposals made by public officials. Sickinger's work has earned him a prestigious three-year appointment as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the American School in Athens.

And finally, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's vision for Urban Bush Women began as a graduate student at FSU in the late '70s. After spending time in New York, Zollar is back at FSU as an artist-in-residence and her celebrated dance troupe has toured throughout the United States and Europe. In Ellen Ashdown's piece, Zollar talks about the UBW, creativity, and training a new generation of dancers.

You'll learn more about these exciting activities in the pages that follow.