Please join us Friday September 26, 2008 3:30-5:00pm Pacific
Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall
University of Washington

3:30-3:45 Slide show with KEXP’s John Richards’ Sept. 5, 2008 Memorial

3:45-3:50 Welcome

Dave Robertson, Video Network Engineer, Streaming Media, Video & TV Technologies

3:50-4:10 Formal Remembrances

• Jim DeRoest, Director, Technology Initiatives, Streaming Media, Video & TV Technologies
• Tom Mara, Executive Director KEXP
  Remembrance given also on behalf of Amy Philipson Associate Vice President, Streaming Media, Video & TV Technologies and the management of UW Technology

4:10-4:40 “Open Mike” introduced by Jamie Alls, Engineering Manager, UWTV Engineering.

All are welcome to share stories and remembrances.

4:40-4:55 Slide show with live music by Heav’n & Earth

4:55-5:00 Closing

An informal gathering at The Big Time on the Ave will follow the tribute.

For those who are not able to attend or would prefer to offer stories or remembrances in writing, please post your contributions in the guestbook.

Michael C. Wellings, a pioneer in interactive and streaming media for the Internet, died Thursday, Aug. 28. He was 57.

Mr. Wellings was director of broadcast and Internet media engineering at the University of Washington, where he worked since 1996. He also was director of engineering for the ResearchChannel consortium, which provides programming via the Internet and supports a round-the-clock broadcast channel available nationwide.

In addition, Mr. Wellings was director of engineering for UWTV, the University of Washington’s award-winning television channel, as well as KEXP-FM, a radio station licensed to the UW and operated in partnership with the Experience Music Project.

“His contributions to pioneering progress in interactive and streaming media for the entire Internet are incalculable,” says Amy Philipson, UW associate vice president for UWTV.

Mr. Wellings held a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Alaska. He also was certified in broadcast engineering by the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Mr. Wellings led the team that first broadcast uncompressed high-definition video over the Internet. He also pioneered efforts to distribute high-quality MPEG-2 live and on-demand video. “Mike integrated Internet streaming video with traditional broadcast operations long before others in the industry even imagined it,” Philipson says.

Mr. Wellings also led a team of engineers that push advances at the intersection of technologies that combine Internet, satellite and cable distribution.  For example, the team was the first to transmit real-time, high-definition video from the sea floor.

Mr. Wellings oversaw engineering at KEXP-FM, where he launched the world’s first uncompressed audio stream over the Internet. He also created the station’s real-time playlist, the first online technology to enable listeners to discover new artists as their music was being played. This led to several national awards for the station, including the Webby, an international award honoring excellence on the Internet.

Mr. Wellings was a frequent featured speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters, TERENA, Super Computing, Internet2, AHECTA, Asia-Pacific Advanced Network and iGRID conferences.

Mr. Wellings is survived by his partner, Jan Eveleth; mother Martha Wellings; two daughters, Mary and Amie, and son David.

Funeral services will be at 11:30 a.m., Friday, Sept. 5, at Sacred Heart Church in Bellevue, Wash. There will be a short reception following the service. An informal gathering to honor Mr. Wellings will be held at The Big Time Brewery & Alehouse in the University District following the burial.

Another gathering in Mr. Wellings’s honor on the UW campus is tentatively set for 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 26th. More information will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Mr. Wellings’s memory to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Checks with notation that the donation is in honor of Michael C. Wellings should be sent to:  Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, P.O. Box 19023,  Seattle, WA 98109. Credit card donations can be made over the phone by calling Diana Benson at 206 667 6121 during normal business hours.

If you would like to share your memories of Mike, please add a comment.  We also encourage you to share your photos of Mike by joining this Flickr group.

Tom Snook
CTO, New World Symphony
“He was a great help and inspiration to NWS as we began working with higher definition video and with the experiments that we undertook.  He will be missed.”

Artur Serra
Director of the i2cat media technology center in Barcelona
“For i2cat, Mike was the key person that open up our understanding about the media role in the Internet of the future.”

Bob Franza
Executive Scientific Director, Seattle Science Foundation
“Our entire Seattle Science Foundation team is deeply saddened by the loss of Michael.  He and his group transformed a concept into the exceptional HD, broadband integrated platform that SSF uses every day to educate, invent, research and contribute to humanity.”

Chris Hancock
CEO, AARNet
“… this is incredibly sad news for us here in Australia. On behalf of everyone in AARNet, we extend our thoughts to all of you and Mike’s family.”

Hisao Uose
Tech Director, NTT Labs, Tokyo
“The news of Michael’s passing saddened me very much and honestly I can’t find words to say to his family. I’m sure my colleagues who know him in Japan are feeling the same. I can vividly remember his visit to Nagasaki in 2006 to attend our GEMnet2 conference and had a one-day trip to a hot-spring in Unzen.”

Dr Tereza Cristina Carvalho
University of San Paulo Brazil
“He was a very special friend for me and for other Brazilians that have been trying to ingress in this arena of HDTV and video of high-resolution. We will miss him tremendously at all forums - I2, NAB, …”

Gates Rhodes
University of Pennsylvania
“Mike’s world class engineering prowess was only eclipsed by the deep warmth and caring nature of his larger than life personality. He had the magical ability to stretch both expert technical consultation and abiding friendship across thousands of miles with ease.  Mike was universally trusted and admired by all who met him and will be missed my many across the planet.”

Randy Winchester
MIT Cable Television
“I’ve known Michael for many years, ever since some of the early Research Channel meetings at MIT.  It is especially sad when I think of how much I enjoyed getting together with him at Internet2, VIDE and AHECTA conferences, and the great time we had shooting HD video out in Colorado a few years ago.  Michael was a brilliant and dedicated engineer with a equally brilliant sense of humor to match.  He was a friend and inspiration to many.”

Jongwon Kim
Chair APAN HD working group, Korea
“We have missed a good friend, Mike Wellings. He was the co-chair of APAN HDTV WG and it is really a big loss to our community!”

Cees de Latt
University of Amsterdam
“We always enjoyed his high quality media outreach from science to the public, ever since the first time I met him here in Amsterdam at iGrid 2002. We will surely miss him.”

Mike LaHaye
Director, Tech Services, Internet2
“Like many others, I’m saddened by the news about Mike. I knew he was ill and was becoming increasingly concerned. What a loss! I can’t say as well as others what a contribution Mike made to the community as an engineer and friend, so I won’t try, but he will be greatly missed by me, other Internet2 staff, and the entire community.”

Chris Hodge
University of Tennessee
“I was shocked to hear the news about Michael. Not only did he seem to be everywhere doing everything, but he was always available for any request, great or small. You don’t always see such generosity of time and spirit alongside the scope and depth of Michael’s expertise, but this ethos seems to come easily at ResearchChannel. The contributions Michael(and the entire RC team) made to the ViDe Conferences were critical to their success, and every opportunity I had to work with him was a blessing.”

Ron Johnson
Vice President for UW Technology, University of Washington
“it is a terrible loss not just for us, but for progress in a number of important areas he truly pioneered and was about to pioneer more in. Mike was not only sensationally expert and smart, as well as possessed of remarkably prescient and creative vision (about which he was wonderfully low key and far too self effacing), he was, as we all know, a really great person and the gentlest and easiest to work with but still remarkably effective collaborator who always ‘got it done’ and well.”

Elaine Lauerman
Program Manager, Internet2 Events and The Commons
“I am so sorry to hear of Michael’s passing.  I couldn’t stop thinking about him this past weekend.  I have had the pleasure of knowing Michael for about 10 years.  He was one of my first demonstrators, and helped Internet2 showcase the very first demonstrations on the Abilene Network.  I could always rely on Michael to come up with a flashy demo!  He was always so excited to show off his latest developments. He was truly a pioneer in his field and the community will miss him very much.  I will miss our conversations at our member meetings and SC conferences, and the usual sharing a beer. Again, my sincere condolences.”