Published: November 16, 2007 12:01 am      

Adkins, Dataseam receive award

LOUISVILLE — State Rep. Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, and the Louisville-based Kentucky Dataseam Initiative have received the Richard Thornton Award from the Kentucky School Public Relations Association.

They were honored for their efforts to place computers in eastern Kentucky schools. The Kentucky Dataseam Initiative and Adkins have been instrumental in donating hundreds of computers to eastern Kentucky schools.

The computers are used by students daily and are used after-hours for scientific research.

Dataseam executive director Brian Gupton and Adkins have sent speakers to eastern Kentucky schools, motivating students to pursue careers in science and technology.

KYSPRA created the Richard Thornton Award in 2001. It is presented to an individual or organization for exceptional leadership and dedication to public education in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Dataseam Initiative began a collaboration with the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville in 2004. Today, with more than 6,000 processors, Dataseam operates one of the largest managed computing grids in the world. Thousands of computers benefit students by day and cancer researchers by night.

Working closely with Dataseam to place these computers in public schools, Adkins has demonstrated a commitment to improving access to technology and improving opportunities for our students.

He has been a champion of the project since the Boyd County school district became the first eastern Kentucky district in the partnership. Because of his enthusiasm for the project, many more eastern Kentucky school districts have become partners in the Dataseam initiative.