Reaching Out To The Experts: We’ve Awarded Stipends In Our Research Program on Digital Communications

Last year we announced the launch of our new Research Program on Digital Communications. It is designed to tap into the best minds in the academic and public policy communities and stimulate research into the challenges facing the telecommunications industry. The program awards stipends to generate reports and provide new information, insights, and practical advice to policymakers and policy stakeholders.

Each stipend is for $20,000. Eight total awards were made during the first year of the program. Individual researchers affiliated with universities and not-for-profits are eligible to apply for the stipends. The deadline for the next round of stipends is April 1, 2011.

We decided to launch the Research Program for a number of reasons. First, we are excited about the future of our industry and the ways we can be of value to our customers. But that doesn’t mean we know the answers to all the questions people have about the business challenges and policy controversies that will arise in the next decade. So this is a way to get the best minds thinking more about these issues. And that’s related to the second reason for launching the program.

We hope to encourage scholars to take up these questions and bring wisdom and perspective from new voices into the debate. If we can expand the range of contributors to scholarship in fields that relate to our industry, we will have taken a step in the right direction with this program.

This week, we awarded research stipends to four scholars.

Professor Michael Devetsikiotis, from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University will write on “Modeling the Impact of Emerging Traffic Patterns on the Design of Aggregation Architectures.” We hope this research will increase understanding of next generation broadband infrastructure, especially the challenges of accommodating more video traffic.

Chanelle Hardy, Valerie Rawlston Wilson, and Madura Wijewardena, from the National Urban League Policy Institute, will write on “Maximizing African-American Broadband Adoption.” This project will provide insights into how to harness commercial, technical and policy drivers of broadband for African American consumers and businesses.

Catherine Tucker, Douglas Drane Career Development Professor in IT and Management and Assistant Professor in Marketing, MIT Sloan School of Management, will write on “Self-regulation, Privacy, and Advertising Outcomes.” The research will provide insight into the future of advertising in the digital environment.

And Jeffrey Prince, Associate Professor, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, will write on “Converging Markets and Consumer Choice.” This project will provide insights into the trajectory of markets for bundled service offerings.

We’re also proud to announce that five research essays we sponsored this year were just published in the December issue of the Federal Communications Law Journal.

We hope these essays provide insights as well as provoke discussion in academic, industry and policy circles. In all, the Time Warner Cable Research Program on Digital Communications continues to grow and we are proud of the steps we’ve taken this year.

Let us know what you think about the work we are doing. More information about the program and a chance for feedback can be found at www.twcresearchprogram.com.

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