UW News

March 15, 2013

News Digest: Sea Grant symposium focuses on waterfronts, lecture March 22 on tissue engineering, reception honors staff nominees

Waterfront with tugs, Mount Rainer in backgroundWashington Sea Grant sponsors four-day symposium on waterfront challenges
U.S. waterfronts account for over 6.75 million jobs, $284 billion in wages, and $645 billion in income. Yet across the United States, this real estate is getting squeezed.

UW’s Washington Sea Grant is sponsoring a national event March 25-28 in Tacoma for citizens and maritime leaders to discuss waterfront challenges and creative solutions.

The National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium will include representatives of maritime industries such as shipyards, commercial fisheries and aquaculture; government officials from ports, state and federal government; elected officials;  as well as planners, engineers and researchers, said Peter Granger, program leader for marine advisory services with Washington Sea Grant.

The symposium will feature panels of experts covering the spectrum of maritime interests, from large West Coast ports, such as Geraldine Knatz from the Port of Los Angeles, to to small community fishermen such as Guy Hoppen from Gig Harbor.

The symposium,  being coordinated with Oregon Sea Grant,  begins March 25 with a full day of field trips around the Tacoma waterfront and the region. For more information, visit the symposium website or contact Nicole Faghin, symposium coordinator, at wwaters2013@uw.edu or 206-685-8286.

Gordana Vunjak-NovakovicLecture March 22 discusses advances, challenges of tissue engineering
Growing human tissues to help repair failing or damaged organs is developing as a new branch of medicine. These engineered tissues give scientists a platform to study stem cells as they grow or regenerate, which could prove useful as the young field develops.

Functional Tissue Engineering for Regenerative Medicine, Human Stem Cell Research, and Study of Disease” is the topic of the UW Department of Bioengineering’s annual Robert F. Rushmer Lecture, Friday, March 22, 4:30 p.m. in the William H. Foege Auditorium, (Room S060).

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, professor of biomedical engineering and medical sciences at Columbia University, will talk about recent findings and the future of tissue engineering, including challenges the field faces. Her research focuses on engineering human tissues for regenerative medicine, stem-cell research and disease study. Vunjak-Novakovic directs the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia.

This is the 25th year of the annual Rushmer Lecture, which is UW Bioengineering’s largest lecture event of the year. A reception will follow the presentation at 5:30 p.m. in the north lobby of Foege.

Reception March 26 for Distinguished Staff Award nominees
The 70 individuals and 17 teams nominated this year for Distinguished Staff Awards will be honored at a reception, 2:30 to 4 p.m., Tuesday, March 26  in the HUB Ballroom. The event is open to members of the UW community and guests of the nominees. President Michael Young and Vice President of Human Resources Mindy Kornberg will speak at the reception.

The awards will be presented at the university’s annual Awards of Excellence ceremony in June.