UW News

June 11, 2012

News Digest: Panel considers extreme-weather events, ideas to curb poverty sought, Honor: Nancy Rottle, Fellowship: Thaisa Way, Honor: healthcare recognized

Panel discussion: What do recent extreme-weather events mean?
Last year was a record-breaker for extreme weather events around the world and this year is already following suit. The first quarter of 2012 was the warmest ever recorded in the lower 48 States, setting over 15,000 warm-temperature records.

Experts in climatology and the environment will discuss what this extreme weather means during a panel presentation 7:30-9:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 13, on the UW campus, Kane 120. Theyll explore what extreme weather could mean over the short and long terms and look at potential impacts to the region, nation and the world.

Each panelist will give a short presentation then Lisa Graumlich, dean of the College of the Environment, will moderate a discussion. Panelists are Kathryn Sullivan, assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction and the deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Anthony Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, University of Maryland and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Nicholas Bond, Washington state climatologist and atmospheric scientist with UW and NOAA.

Evans School, partners launch Ideas for Action Award to reduce poverty
A competition this summer called the Ideas for Action Award, cosponsored by the UW Evans School of Public Affairs, seeks to give innovation a helping hand – and $5,000 – in the name of reducing poverty in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide.

The competition is designed to promote practical ideas, whether they involve a new policy, public-private partnership, research initiative or the expansion of an already successful initiative. Up to 10 ideas will be selected and shared with prominent policy makers and practitioners across the nation. Winners will receive support for travel to make presentations at specific conferences and partnership opportunities. Each will also will recent a monetary award of at least $5,000.

The Evans School’s Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy is collaborating with the Northwest Area Foundation and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Letters of inquiry are due by June 29; the guidelines are online.

Evans School Dean Sandra O. Archibald said the award shows the school’s commitment to fostering new leaders in regional and public policy, adding, “We hope that new and existing poverty-battling initiatives will benefit immensely from new energy and a fresh look.”

David Harrison, UW senior lecturer in policy analysis and new program design, who is helping organize the competition, said, “To us, it is all about the role of a university in boosting inventiveness. Dreams get kindled and opportunities get expanded when people work intensively on ideas.”

State landscape architects recognize Nancy Rottle
Nancy Rottle
, an associate professor of landscape architecture and director of the UW’s Green Futures Research and Design Lab has received an award for research, planning and analysis from the Washington chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The award recognizes the labs waterfront stormwater solutions project that is developing and testing shoreline design to improve water quality in Puget Sound, while providing attractive public spaces.

Thaisa Way named inaugural A.E. Bye fellow
Thaisa Way
, an associate professor of landscape architecture, has been named the inaugural A.E. Bye/Landscape Architecture Research Fellow at Penn State University.

As a landscape historian, Way will spend two weeks researching the drawings, papers, photographs and videos of 20th-century American landscape architect A. E. Bye, as well as the work of his contemporaries, John Bracken and Stuart Mertz.

Hall Health, Harborview programs recognized for healthcare quality
UW health-care programs collected three of the five Awards of Excellence in Healthcare Quality for Washington state from Qualis Health, a national healthcare consulting organization. The three UW winners are:

Hall Health Primary Care Center for Modifying Opioid Prescribing Patterns by Use of Electronic Health Record Tools”

Harborview Medical Center for Improving Access, Outcomes and Efficiency of Mental Health Care: Moving from Consultation to Integration in Primary Care” and Serial Patient Screening for Infectious Source (SePSIS): An Early Warning System for Sepsis.”

The awards recognize programs for improving healthcare quality and outcomes.