March 8, 2007
Etc: Campus news and notes
SPACE STAMP: A Hubble Space Telescope image captured by an international team led by UW astronomy Professor Bruce Balick is included in a new series of stamps from Royal Mail in the United Kingdom, issued Feb. 13. The team was gathering data to understand how and why very old stars eject their outer layers, a process that is the primary way carbon is produced in the universe. Their work resulted in the image of the Saturn Nebula, which will adorn the new first-class stamp costing 32 pence, equivalent to about 60 cents.
SPACE & SCULPTURES: And speaking of space, volunteers from the UW Astronomy Department and the Jacobsen Observatory will be giving a “tour” of the solar system as they set up an accurately scaled model in the Olympic Sculpture Park from 1 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 10. Admission to the Park is free, but there is a 40-person limit for the program; those interested can sign up around 12:30. For more information go to http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/OSP/default.asp.
TC IS TOPS: People in the Department of Technical Communication have been picking up quite a few awards lately. In fact, Professor Jan Spyridakis will pick up two this spring. The Society for Technical Communication will recognize her career contributions by giving her the first Ken Rainey Award for Excellence in Research. The society also chose one of Spyridakis’ papers for the 2006 Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article Award. Her winning article, co-written with graduate students Sandy Bartell and Laura Schultz, looked at how the spacing between headings affects the readability of Web text.
More kudos are due to TC Associate Professor Mark Zachry, the editor of Technical Communication Quarterly. Two papers published in the journal in 2006 will be honored by the National Council of Teachers of English as the year’s Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical and Scientific Communication and Best Article on Methods of Teaching Technical and Scientific Communication. The journal has been based at the UW since Zachry arrived in September.
And finally, UW’s Laboratory for Usability Testing and Evaluation, housed in Loew Hall, has won the Diana Award from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on the Design of Communication. The lab uses cameras and eye-tracking equipment to study how people understand information on a computer screen. The facilities are used by students and researchers in the College of Engineering as well as by companies such as Microsoft and Amazon.com that want to study their Web sites’ navigation. The Diana Award recognizes an organization, institution or business for its long-term contribution to the field of communication design. TC Chair Judy Ramey will accept the award.
WHIRLWIND TOURS: Two of the UW School of Music’s top student ensembles will be on farflung tours during spring break. The UW Wind Ensemble, conducted by Timothy Salzman, will do its second tour of Japan March 14–25 at the invitation of the Kansai Band Association. Three School of Music faculty members — director and pianist Robin McCabe, clarinetist Sean Osborn and saxophonist Michael Brockman — will perform as guest soloists in the concerts. The tour will include a performance at the Izumo Taisha shrine; it’s the first time that Western music will be allowed in the shrine.
The UW Chamber Singers and conductor Geoffrey Boers are heading to Hungary for a nine-day concert tour, sponsored in part by the city of Pecs, (pronounced “paytch”), as well as by the University of Pecs, Hungary’s largest university. Boers will lead master classes and concerts at Budapest’s renowned Liszt Academy and the University of Pecs. The choir will also perform concerts in the famed St. Matthew Church in Budapest, Pecs Cathedral, and elsewhere.
Do you know someone who deserves kudos for an outstanding achievement, award, appointment or book publication? If so, send that person’s name, title and achievement to uweek@u.washington.edu.
