[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hi, and welcome to Inside Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week we go inside the Grawemeyer Awards.

One simple idea can change the world.

That's the idea behind the Grawemeyer Awards, a prestigious set of awards created right here at the University of Louisville.

Back in 1984.

These awards were created by H. Charles Grawemeyer, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist who wanted to honor people whose ideas have impacted music, education, religion, psychology and world order.

Well, since then, the University of Louisville has honored that legacy by sharing the ideas of these award winners with the rest of the world.

That legacy continues today with the Grawemeyer Scholars.

You'll hear from some of the students who were given the opportunity to create future change.

But first, we take a closer look at the legacy of the Grawemeyer Awards.

>> Why do we need to think big?

The world is at an inflection point.

Legacy ideas are not the solution we need right now.

>> The ideas that change the world or have an impact on people are interconnected.

>> We've got to come together and bring our collective imagination to make this world a better place.

>> The Grawemeyer Awards, all five of them bring real distinction to the University of Louisville.

Charles Grawemeyer was an engineer turned investor, and he wanted to give back to the world, and he wanted to give back to U of L, where he had gone to school.

[MUSIC] What he did was kind of think outside his sphere.

He wanted to recognize ideas that had world changing potential.

That's what he cared about.

>> Whether we're thinking about education or political science with world order, whether we're thinking about music, I think there's a core around what does it mean to be human?

And I think there's a core around what are big ideas that can change the world.

[MUSIC] >> This is an award that highlights ideas that are accessible to everybody.

>> It's one of the only awards I know in academics that actually has the finalists chosen by the general public.

[MUSIC] >> And so it's this very well-rounded concept where it's backed by the academics or the professionals, I guess, so to speak, and selected by the lay people, the works that are selected kind of appeal to both ends of those spectrums.

[MUSIC] >> When these people talk about their journey and their life and their achievements, and you just feel very humble to be around it, it just energizes us, you know, it gives us a sense of what is possible.

[MUSIC] >> The value in having the Grammy Award winners come to campus is we establish connections with faculty.

But I think the major benefit is for students, because they are being able to have personal contact with people who have done very good work.

>> My favorite always is to meet with students.

There is just incredible trust that gets developed in that short time, and really deep exchanges happen.

These are the moments of shared humanity.

[MUSIC] >> Universities are the place where a lot of that scholarship is developed, so I see us as connected by sharing a site of idea generation.

[MUSIC] >> It's important to honor a new ideas.

Ideas have made tremendous impacts on how we have educated our population.

Universities are really where the ideas of the Grawemeyer Awards are going to flourish.

>> I feel like we've set a ship afloat here, and it's going on its own steam now, and it seems like the community and the university have taken it over, and I'm as interested in watching it sail as I know you are.

[MUSIC] >> Why wouldn't you honor the people who are coming up with some of the most important ideas of our generation, or of our time, or of this day?

They are inspiring us to be our best.

These are the people that we should recognize, and that's what Grawemeyer does.

>> John Ferre is the executive director of the Grawemeyer Awards at U of L. Thank you so much for being here.

So we saw there the importance of the these awards.

So tell us from your perspective the importance of this and the significance not just here locally but internationally.

>> Well, Gromeier set up five awards ultimately, and these were to recognize the most important ideas that the public ought to consider.

And that's that's his legacy, really.

So he has the first word was music composition.

And these are some of the most powerful new compositions in what we would think of as classical music.

But new music and ones that should get a boost that people should listen to.

The next award was World Order, and these are ideas for what can create peace and what can create a better world that the public ought to consider not just academics, but the public.

The same for education.

Then there's the religion award.

And finally psychology.

Same deal.

These are international awards.

They are the some of the most profound thinkers in our world.

And these are ideas, again, that the public ought to think about it.

So he gave awards.

They give them a boost.

>> Yeah.

Tell me more about Charles Grawemeyer.

Who was he?

What was his connection to U of L and and how has the university made sure that these continue for more than 40 years?

>> Grawemeyer is an interesting guy because he was a chemical engineer.

He was in the class of 1934, and he had an illustrious career in chemical engineering.

And at the towards the end of his life, when he retired, then he was a very good investor, so good, in fact, that he was able to give $9 million to the University of Louisville in 1985 in order to endow these awards.

And what he used to do at the end of the well, when he was older, was to go back to school and sit in on classes, and he wanted to sit in on classes in the humanities and social sciences.

He understood the importance of engineering.

He understood the importance of natural sciences, but he wanted to learn more and think about ideas in the humanities.

He was a big Tchaikovsky fan, and so his the first award that he gave was in music composition.

He used to sit in on political science classes and therefore started the World Order Awards.

Clearly a believer in education and lifelong learning.

So then he the third award was education.

He was a lifelong Presbyterian, and he started the religion Award.

And then finally, and this was after he died, was the award in psychology.

>> And you mentioned a little bit about this, but that it was important to him.

These are awards that honor ideas that are of importance and understandable to everyone, not just the academic community.

And like you mentioned, that's what really sets this apart.

So how do you how do you do that?

>> So there's a three step process.

The first are once we get the nominations, we'll get as many depending on the category.

We'll get as many nominations as say, music composition 200.

The faculty at the University of Louisville will then whittle that down to about a dozen.

The.

Those dozen then are sent to what we call external reviewers, and that external panel will return what they believe is.

Or the top three.

And that's where it gets really interesting because it comes back to University of Louisville, and there is a lay panel of community members who are not professionals in the field, but they're interested in the field, and they convene, and it's the lay panel that makes the final selection.

So they pass academic muster, but they also have accessibility with the public and interest.

>> Yeah.

And what speaking of the public, I mean, what an honor for the Louisville community because you bring all of these award winners in to have free lectures on their subject.

Tell us about about that and how that works.

>> So in order to win and these are $100,000 prizes.

So it's, it's, it's very significant.

But in order to collect the money, if you will, they have to come to campus.

So these they're not just honored.

And we make a direct deposit.

They come to the community, they give community lectures, they give campus lectures, they meet sometimes with students, both undergraduate and graduate students, one on one sometimes, which is, I mean, can you imagine being a student and having one of the best thinkers on earth at your disposal there for a half hour or an hour or whatever that is.

So there are public lectures, the public lectures, the we have announced them.

They're on the website, Grawemeyer Awards, and people can look up and see where the lecture is.

And these are free, open to the public, and people can come in here, the winners every single year.

>> Yeah.

Now, tell me about some of the current winners, some of the past winners that may stand out to you as ideas that have in fact changed the world.

>> Well, I'll start off with this year's winners.

The music composition is Liza Lim.

She has a cello concerto called A Sutured World, which takes different types of music, and she stitches them together, if you will.

It's a very nice piece, very interesting piece.

She's from Australia.

She'll be coming in.

The second award is Josh Busby coming from the University of Texas at Austin.

He is wrote a book called States and Nature, and he is very interested in how states or how countries are able to recover from climatic disasters.

Just, just, just fascinating.

The Religion Award winner is Candida Moss.

She wrote a book called God's Ghost Writers fascinating Book, because she argues that much of the New Testament was actually dictated to enslaved people, and that it wasn't dictation.

Like we think of dictating a message in a recording, but these were dictated to educated scribes, and the scribes probably had an influence on the content.

So there's it's a fascinating book.

She's going to be giving her lecture at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the final winner is Sir Baron Cohen.

He has written 750 scholarly articles on autism.

He is the international expert on autism and was knighted for that.

He's coming from Cambridge.

>> Amazing.

And all of these are free and open to the public to experience.

Yes.

So a lot of people may remember to there was a spirit award given to Muhammad Ali, and one of his final appearances.

>> I believe it.

>> Was his final public appearance.

Muhammad Ali, as you know, he he embodied the the spirit of these awards.

That is to say, he had he had ideas that mattered and could be world changing.

And the University wanted to honor him for that.

And so it gave him what so far has been the only unique spirit Award, and it went to Muhammad Ali to very much deservedly so.

>> Yeah, everybody remembers that.

Him on stage accepting that and and separate from the Grammy Awards, though, the University of Louisville also is as part of a scholarship program for the Grawemeyer Awards scholars.

This is the Grawemeyer family that does this, but it's awarded to students at the university.

Tell us about that.

>> Yes.

Every year there's a cohort, I believe, of ten.

Every year the university gives its top scholarship to ten students who go through a rigorous process of selection themselves.

And there they are, given the top scholarship, and they do remarkable research on campus with some of the top scholars on campus.

It's a huge honor.

It's a way of honoring and continuing to acknowledge the importance and the legacy of the Gromeier family.

>> Yeah.

And that that next generation of, of great ideas that can change the world.

Well, thank you so much for your time.

We so appreciate it.

And when we come back, you'll meet some of the Grawemeyer Scholars and hear their ideas for making the world a better place.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] The Grawemeyer Scholars carry on the legacy of Charles Grawemeyer.

These are all Kentucky students awarded scholarships to pursue their ideas that will one day maybe change the world.

So we want to say thank you so much for our students for being here today.

I want to start with you, Sarah, since you graduated last year, but because of this scholarship, you're now pursuing your PhD.

And tell us about the the passion that you have for research when it comes to health disparities in rural communities.

>> Yes.

So the incredible thing about the Grawemeyer Scholars program is that like the awards, they also value the power of ideas.

So I'm from a community in Eastern Kentucky and didn't have necessarily the traditional research experience, but the Grawemeyer Scholars awards take into account students lived experiences and what they've done with that.

And with that, they saw potential for someone to have a career in research.

And because of that, I knew that I wanted to go into medicine and be a physician.

But I also learned that I have a passion for research and using that to serve my community and other underserved communities with health disparities.

And so from that, I'm now in the MD PhD program at the University of Louisville, which is where I get both my medical degree and get to do research in it based on population health.

And so much of that is because of the opportunities afforded to me through Grawemeyer Awards.

>> Wow.

And I want to know about you too, because you're graduating early this year.

Tell us about your research and how this scholarship impacted your studies.

>> Yeah, so my research is on spinal cord injuries and understanding the role of the cell called microglia in spinal cord injury response.

And so the Grawemeyer scholarship has allowed me to carry the money that I would have gotten from my fourth year of undergrad into medical school, which will be really helpful with how expensive medical school is.

>> Yes, absolutely.

And Adnan, your research is also health focused and two different projects that you've worked on.

So tell us about those one involving vaccines and one particular to athletes.

>> Yep.

That's correct.

So my previous research was with athletes, especially when they get injured, doctors have to assess whether they're able to return to play, get back on the field, etc.

But it's kind of an objective perspective to it.

You know, we kind of look and just say, oh, I think it's okay.

I think it should be fine.

Let's let him play.

But what we do is we actually use motion capturing system to see the joint flexion, how much it's able to move.

And we compare it to the like the normal knee, foot, hip.

And we use those angles to determine whether they're actually able to play or not.

And currently, right now I'm working in a vaccine study, which is for pneumonia, which is a very common disease.

And essentially what we do is we work for Pfizer and we go to the hospitals, collect data on a new virus that they're testing for elderly above the age of 65.

And we collect that data afterwards, send it to Pfizer.

Hopefully that way we can have a new vaccine that works for the public.

>> Wow, really cool projects.

I think.

I want to know though, like your hope and your vision for how the research that you're doing right now and the projects that you're working on right now, what how do you plan to move that into the real world and really make change like you in your home area, right?

>> Yes.

So my most current research has been on cardiovascular disparities, looking at urban and rural areas.

And so with that, I've got to go to national conferences and even present in Frankfurt to legislators about the research that I've been doing to try to get some things, people looking at it for policy and just making people more aware of health disparities and how they can help in my region and others like it.

>> And so from that, you hope that to close some of that gap between urban and rural communities, I would assume.

>> Yes, definitely.

>> And Sirisha, tell me your vision for how how your your research may change the world one day.

>> Yeah.

Spinal cord injuries are like a really big problem.

And there hasn't been much advancement on like getting people to help recover from them.

So I hope like with my research, I can start to like bring a little bit of an advancement to that.

>> Yeah.

>> Adnan I think for me personally, one of the things that I hope is just to more so outside of the like specific impact, it's kind of the broad impact of letting people understand that research isn't something where it is something that has to be significant change.

It is small steps towards the advancement of humanity that make research, research.

So that's kind of like the main goal that I want to show others is obviously the work that I'm doing is great in itself, but it, it takes small changes to make that happen.

So that's the main thing I'd like to get across.

>> Yeah.

Which that kind of goes back to the legacy of Grawemeyer, right?

That one simple idea can in fact change the world.

What do you want people to know about students in your generation and how you all view what you're doing and your how how things are rapidly changing with how technology is advancing and how what you're doing now is hoping to have an impact on the world.

>> I think for me personally, with this newer generation, I just want them to know that.

We have a big disparity in terms of our like, mental health and etc.

of that sport where we lacking confidence.

I think in this generation, I want people to know that, you know, your amount of work that you do can have a significant impact, even though it is a small or minor step that's taken.

So to all, like the younger generation out there, please, please know that, you know, you can make a significant impact on the world just by putting a step forward.

So that's what I'd like to put across.

>> Yeah, great.

Great point.

>> And definitely for our scholarship as well.

This doesn't just have to be.

I know today we talked a lot about all of us are very healthcare focused.

Our scholarship is really across disciplines.

Not only are we in research, we're also in creative projects.

So we have students who they're Grawemeyer Scholars projects have been creating a musical album.

Some of them are doing business research.

It's just all across the board.

And it's these projects that students are so passionate about, and they're able to bring their experience to and really make a difference at such a young age.

>> Yeah.

And making that change happen.

>> Yeah.

Grandma has really helped us explore our passions and what we're really interested in through whatever it is, like whatever subject.

And it's been really nice being able to see our other fellow Grawemeyer Scholars, like what they're really interested in and what they're researching in because it's honestly everywhere and it's so cool to see how everyone's doing.

>> It sounds like more than just monetary scholarship, it's igniting a real passion.

>> Yeah, it's a community for sure.

I've looked up to like all the other upper Grawemeyer Scholars, and they've always given me so much really good advice, and it's been really nice having a community of people that you can go to for help.

And there's a mentorship aspect of the Grawemeyer Scholars program where you're paired with an upper year scholar to get advice on, like what to do and how to go about navigating the difficulties of college.

>> And then have you all had the chance to see or hear any of the lectures of the Grawemeyer Awards scholar, the award winners?

>> Yeah, I've gotten to see a couple, but most of my time I that I was using towards the Greenbrier like looking was like on the previous people, like some of the, like the 1900 winners, those type of things.

Early 2000.

I'm really interested in especially the religion aspect of things.

So yeah, that was like a lot of where my time was spent in the Grawemeyer stuff.

>> Oh yeah.

How about you all?

Did any stand out to you?

>> Definitely.

Actually, part of our application for the scholarship program is we need to write on H. Charles Grawemeyer award winner who's outside of our focus area.

And so with that, we're able to learn about different past award winners.

I know I was really fascinated by mine who was in psychology.

And so it's just a really great opportunity to learn more about things interdisciplinary and yeah.

>> Wow.

Very cool.

>> I think the grammar has allowed us to break out of our own cages in a sense of for me personally, I thought coming into college that the research that I would be doing was, you know, Stem labs, which is essentially, you know, working with cells, those type of things, right?

So being in the Grawemeyer Awards scholarship has allowed me to say there's more research opportunities than May that I may have thought there were.

And using that knowledge that the Grawemeyer has given me, like, I'm very grateful to have, you know, come across this scholarship and be a part of this scholarship to give me those chances to dive into research that I never knew was existing out there.

>> The 2026 Grawemeyer recipient presentations happen in Louisville.

It happens every year.

It's free and open to the public.

You can find out more when you follow us on social media.

Find us on Instagram at KET n LOU.

And you can watch and share this episode anytime.

It's online at ket.org/insidelouisville.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.