Susan Mayer, Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy, discusses the sources of inequality in the United States, differing definitions of equality, and how to make equality a reality. She emphasizes the need for equality of opportunity in education, the work force and family life.

Robert Townsend, co-director of the Thai Family Research Project, discusses the importance of individual entrepreneurs in shaping local and regional economies and reducing poverty. His findings draw on over 10 years of data collected from nearly 3,000 households throughout Thailand. This research contributed to the creation of The Enterprise Initiative, a new project funded by the John Templeton Foundation which focuses on wealth creation and poverty reduction in developing countries.

Olaf Schneewind, M.D., Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology, and Joe Kanabrocki, Ph.D, Biosafety Officer for the Ricketts Biocontainment Laboratory, talk about a new state-of-the-art facility designed to develop new treatments, diagnostic tests and vaccines for emerging infectious diseases. The Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory (HTRL) will house research on microbial agents that are considered either Risk Group 2 (agents that cause mild to moderate symptoms in humans, but are not life threatening) or Risk Group 3 (agents that have the potential to cause lethal human infections, but have at least one effective treatment). The HTRL has been designed and built according to the strictest federal standards and incorporates multiple layers of safety and security to protect laboratory workers and the surrounding environment.

Dr. Spook (Nathan Vogel) is a VJ/DJ live A/V act who began creating electronic music and 3D visuals in the early 90's. Nathan is a producer and director at Minds Eye Media that spends most of his time creating a wide variety of digital projects including Maya 3D animations, music videos, VJ graphics, DVDs, video games, motion graphics, feature film special FX shots and original computer animated shows. As Dr. Spook, Nathan runs and operates a trance record company called GeoMagnetic featuring electronic music CDs and DVDs from around the globe.

A short personal project, this animated self portrait hints at what motivates Creamyorange. Nick Campbell is currently working at Digital Kitchen as a Designer and Animator.

Errata is an animation made by photocopying copies of copies. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, each successive copy becomes a frame of animation, meaning that each on-screen image is a copy of the last. All movements, pans and zooms in the film were accomplished using standard zoom and shrink features on copy machines; the animation camera used to shoot the copies onto 16mm film was not used to manipulate or direct the film's motion. Comprising thousands of copies made on a dozen copiers, the resulting imagery is a moving Rorschach test of analog textures, bleeding ink spots and pareidolic cloud formations.

microtakeover is an exploration of the small vastness of life. An expression and indirect communication that intends to let the viewer experience however many levels of size and the causation that space defines.

Lift Motion Design and Creative Chaos created this astounding intro video for the Moton Graphics Festival 2008. The production process heavily integrated the motion with the sound design by The Great Mundane.

Chicago Motion Graphics Festival 2007 The Premier Midwestern Event catering to 3D and Compositing Effects January 25-28th 2007, various locations downtown Chicago This four-day festival pairs daily educational opportunities with nightly industry events. [ Thr ] Screen Magazine's Star Awards (see the nominees) [ Fri ] Motion Graphics Interactive Mixer @ Bridges Media Group [ Sat ] Two Hi-Def Screenings of Festival Winners @ the Chicago Cultural Center [ Sun ] Forward thinking online event in the virtual worlds of SecondLife.com The educational conference hosts workshop, lectures, panels and classes on all four days. Check the website for a complete list of topics and presenters. Festival Badges and individual tickets on sale now! Also, Join us Wednesday night for our free informational Pre-party and DVD launch --> Onomatopoeia Wednesday Jan 24th @ Dulcenea, 1431 N. Milwaukee Ave. from 7pm - 12am www.MGChicago.com

The Somersault's Winter Reel is incredible. I don't like to post too many reels, but this one has a combination of diverse styles, high-end work and innovation. Somersault has a new site too. And... they're looking for a full-time and freelance 2D and 3D artists, so if you're looking in Chicago, here's an opportunity.

Kevin at LimeBlog just published this mix of live footage taken at the recent MG Festival. From his site: "Clips from the Motion Graphics Festival here in Chicago over a 3 day period touring local post production facilities. Overall a very cool experience, looking forward to next years." Go there to leave a comment about the video!

Chicago Motion Graphics Festival 2007 The Premier Midwestern Event catering to 3D and Compositing Effects January 25-28th 2007, various locations downtown Chicago This four-day festival pairs daily educational opportunities with nightly industry events. www.MGChicago.com

The main disk of Stash 37 is probably our most consistently impressive to date with these highlights punctuating the line-up: Psyop makes more epic Coke magic with "Happiness Factory: The Movie" (on the cover); Framestore swims upstream for the Chemical Brothers' "The Salmon Dance" video; No Brain and Mac Guff put a Rubik twist on traffic for Citroen; The Mill proves Guinness is "Alive Inside" in spectacular fashion; Asylum grabs us front row seats for a peek into the intricate and sordid lives on HBO's "Voyeur"; Three Legged Legs ramps the action way up for Amp energy drink; Stefan Nadelman brings a little sting to his own peculiar bee movie; and Wizz gets steamy in the shower with the new sexy robot for Phillips.

Dr. Bruce Lahn discusses newly discovered variants in two genes, one of which affects brain-size in humans. Because these variants have arisen very recently, studying them may help researchers understand the ongoing evolution of the human brain.

Margaret Gardel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Physics, is a 2007 recipient of the NIH Director's Pioneer award, along with four others from The University of Chicago. Fundamentally interdisciplinary, Gardel's research straddles both the physical and biological sciences by exploring disease on a molecular level. Gardel explains how the physical structure of cells may yield clues to advanced treatments for cancer and other diseases.

Maria Woltjen, Director of the Immigrant Children's Advocacy Project, describes how she founded a program to provide unaccompanied immigrant children with guardians ad litem. In 2005, nearly 8,000 unaccompanied immigrant children were taken into federal custody and many of these children had to face immigration judges without any legal aid. By working with multilingual law students, The Center pairs advocates with immigrant and refugee children to ensure the child's welfare is represented, not the interests of traffickers or smugglers.

Jean Decety, Professor, Psychology and Psychiatry, explains his research into pain responses and how physicians learn to turn off the part of the brain that activates feelings of empathy. Decety co-authored Expertise Modulates the Perception of Pain in Others, published in October 2007, which discusses the necessary ability of a doctor to regulate pain perception in order to better treat patients.

Martha Roth, Ph.D., Professor of Assyriology, discusses the final volume of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, a comprehensive lexicon of ancient Akkadian dialects 86 years in the making. Roth has served as Editor-in-Charge of the project for the past 11 years.