UW and the community

July 6, 2011

Chamber of Commerce ‘study mission’ brings visitors to UW campus

Some top business executives and senior government officials in the region came to the University of Washington  campus recently as part of the Seattle Study Mission sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

Interim President Phyllis Wise welcomed the group to campus, pointing out that the UW trains 40 percent of undergraduate students, as well as 70 percent of all graduate and professional students, in the state. “Its partnerships that make this possible – with legislators, donors and business,” she said. “Thanks to the tuition-setting flexibility that has been granted to us, we plan to increase training in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math). But, as a multifaceted institution, we are also training humanists, including artists and philosophers.”

Keynote speaker was Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Murray explained why the institute is unique: “Were a group of ‘quants who provide the world with objective, science-based information on what is happening in health and how society is addressing these issues.”

Murray provided three examples of recent work by the institute. One, involving maternal mortality, cut against the conventional wisdom and messages of other organizations — namely that there had been no progress anywhere on reducing maternal mortality. Murrays group found that real progress had been made in some countries; the research has caused a shift in thinking about future investments for addressing this major global health problem.

Another major piece of research was to learn, globally, “who dies from what?” Many deaths occur without a cause of death being recorded in any way. The institute studied the accuracy of what are called verbal autopsies – interviews with members of the house of the deceased. The study showed that computer programs which search for patterns in symptoms and observations are in fact more accurate than doctors in determining cause of death. This could be a major advance in providing global information on mortality, which has been retarded by reliance on overworked physicians to complete death certificates.

Finally, Murray reported on the initial results of a nationwide study on life expectancy changes over the past 20 years. One of the findings is that in about one-fourth of U.S. counties, life expectancy for women has actually dropped, a highly unusual change for developed countries, he said. The analysis suggests that factors such as tobacco usage, obesity and high blood pressure can explain much of the change, but more in-depth analysis is needed.

In answer to a question, Murray noted that Seattle has several distinct advantages in being the countrys center for global health research, but that key for him was the ability of faculty from different departments to share information and arrive at collective solutions that no one of them on their own could develop. He said that at Harvard, where he worked before coming to the UW, there were many academic “stars” but very little incentive for interdisciplinary collaboration.

The study team then split up and attended one of three laboratories – the Lamborghini Lab, the Neurobotics Lab, and the Integrated Design Lab.

At the Integrated Design Lab, Joel Loveland, the labs director, talked about the groups work as a self-supporting entity serving the building industry. The goal is to produce “more value for less” by reducing energy consumption within schools, retail establishments and hospitals.

The lab doesnt rely on exotic technology. The simple tools include designs that use more daylighting and raising energy efficiency standards throughout a building. Loveland pointed out that more than half of Americas energy usage is consumed by its buildings, and lighting alone is responsible for about a quarter of a buildings energy usage. In order to hone their expertise, laboratory members travel widely to find the best models for energy-efficient buildings. For example, they have learned that hospitals in Sweden and Norway being built now are already meeting 2030 goals for reducing consumption by 60 percent. These concepts are being applied by the group in advising hospitals throughout the region. They also are working on innovative ways of reducing energy consumption within existing buildings.

The laboratory has consulted on design with 600 buildings in the Northwest over the past decade. This real-world exposure is giving students in the College of Built Environments a special “project-based education” that helps prepare them better for the future, Loveland said.