The University of Washington in collaboration with Washington State University is developing an “academic redshirt” program that will bring dozens of low-income Washington state high school graduates to the two universities to study engineering in a five-year bachelor’s program.

The first year will help incoming freshmen acclimate to university-level courses and workload and prepare to major in an engineering discipline. The students will receive extra advising and a detailed course plan to help lay a strong foundation in engineering. At the UW, they will earn a spot in one of the school’s 10 engineering departments starting their second year.

Dawn Wiggin

Math Academy students from 2012 are shown after a workshop. The summer program at UW could be a feeder program for the new “academic redshirt” initiative.

“Engineering education needs to adapt to the tortoises, not just the hares,” said Eve Riskin, UW associate dean of engineering and program lead for the UW. “We’re talking about investing an extra year in what will hopefully be a 30-year engineering career.”

The initiative, called the Washington State Academic RedShirt in Engineering Program –STARS, for short – is funded by a National Science Foundation grant awarded May 8. Eight other colleges and universities also will receive grants to help increase retention of undergraduates in engineering and computer sciences.

Under the five-year grant, the UW and WSU will enroll 32 freshmen from Washington high schools each year for a total of 320 students after five years. Both universities will hire a person to oversee the program, and they hope to keep it running indefinitely. The first 64 students will begin this fall.

“More and more, we’re seeing students who are bright, but they’ve gone to a high school where the college preparation isn’t good,” said Bob Olsen, a WSU associate dean of engineering and lead of the redshirt program at WSU.

The program specifically targets low-income, motivated high school students in Washington state who are eligible for federal Pell Grants – financial aid based on family income and the cost of attending a university – or go to high schools where a high percentage of the students are on free or reduced-price lunches. Such students usually have a lower retention rate at the university level and are more likely to struggle in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Pell Grant students receive engineering degrees at significantly lower rates than non-Pell Grant students,” Riskin said. “This is unfortunate, because low-income students could most benefit from a lucrative engineering career.”

The Mathematics Academy, a summertime month-long intensive at the UW for high school students, could be a feeder for this new program in the state.

The UW will receive $970,000 over five years from the National Science Foundation to offer this program to incoming freshmen, and WSU will receive $700,000. Students in the UW cohort will get at least $2,000 in additional assistance from the College of Engineering as well as funding from traditional scholarship sources. These students will live in an engineering residential community.

The National Science Foundation partnered with Intel Corp. and General Electric Co. to fund the nine institutions for a total of $10 million in a grant called Graduate 10K+. Other funded schools include Cornell University, Syracuse University and California State University Monterey Bay. The Washington program is modeled after the Engineering GoldShirt Program at University of Colorado Boulder, now headed into its fifth year.

The UW will hire a full-time staff member to work with students in the five-year program. Dawn Wiggin and Scott Winter, associate directors in engineering’s student academic services, are collaborators.

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For more information, contact Riskin at riskin@uw.edu or 206-685-2313. She is traveling on Wednesday, May 8, but will be reachable by email.

Instead, 65 advisers representing 33 degree-granting departments and programs volunteered (representing about half of all undergraduate programs) and since fall quarter they have interviewed more than 1,000 graduating seniors.

Vince Stricherz

A student works on a computer while enjoying a sunny afternoon on the UW Quad.

Beyer, research scientist with the Office of Educational Assessment, conceived the UW Academic Challenge and Engagement Study as fulfilling three purposes: gathering information about how undergraduate programs are challenging students, giving students a chance to reflect on their learning and engaging advisers in the assessment process.

Beyer said the project is unique among the UW’s peer institutions.

“The fact that so many advisers volunteered to participate says a lot about how people here care about students’ learning,” she said.

Advisers received training from Beyer and Jon Peterson in educational assessment, after which they posed these questions to graduating seniors:

• What is the most challenging work you’ve done in your major?
• What made it challenging?
• What did you learn to do to meet that challenge and how did you learn it?
• What did you learn by meeting that challenge?

Results thus far seem to affirm the approaches taken in many majors.

“Our students are generally really happy with what they do in biology,” said Janet Germeraad, biology’s director of academic services.  “They are engaged in the challenges of our upper-division course work.”

“I’ve learned so much about the courses we offer,” said Elizabeth Copland, academic adviser in the School of Art. “It is clear that our students are gaining skills that will serve them in any career. Hearing about projects, papers and critiques … has made me a better adviser.”

“I was surprised at how accomplished our students are and how self-reflective and articulate they are about their educational experiences,” said Megan Styles, program coordinator and undergraduate academic adviser in Slavic languages and literatures. “We have some exceptional faculty who form strong connections with the students, and I think this feedback will help motivate them to continue putting the time and energy that they do into their teaching.”

Rick Roth, director of advising and instructional services in geography, found that his students responded strongly when confronted with an “open-ended moment, when they are forced to exercise some judgment about what ‘next step’ to take.”

For some students, challenging classes are providing a gateway to greater self-knowledge.  A psychology major, in commenting on the impact of a project, wrote: “Previously, I considered myself to be a not-scientific person – more an English major. Doing the project helps me understand [how to] read research – how it is set up and what sections to even skip when I read an article. I learned that research can actually be fun!”

Although Beyer says she was surprised and delighted by the degree of participation from advisers, for most of them this just goes with their role in the educational process. Said Roth, “I love to talk with students about their learning, partly because this is one subject in which they, not faculty, are the experts.”

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It turns out that in sultry weather condensation on the outside of a canned beverage doesn’t just make it slippery: those drops can provide more heat than the surrounding air, meaning your drink would warm more than twice as much in humid weather compared to in dry heat. In typical summer weather in New Orleans, heat released by condensation warms the drink by 6 degrees Fahrenheit in five minutes.

“Probably the most important thing a beer koozie does is not simply insulate the can, but keep condensation from forming on the outside of it,” said Dale Durran, a UW professor of atmospheric sciences.

He’s co-author of results published in the April issue of Physics Today that give the exact warming for a range of plausible summer temperatures and humidity levels. For example, on the hottest, most humid day in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, condensation alone would warm a can from near-freezing temperature to 48 degrees Fahrenheit in just five minutes.

The investigation began a couple of years ago when Durran was teaching UW Atmospheric Sciences 101 and trying to come up with a good example for the heat generated by condensation. Plenty of examples exist for evaporative cooling, but few for the reverse phenomenon. Durran thought droplets that form on a cold canned beverage might be just the example he was looking for.

A quick back-of-the-napkin calculation showed the heat released by water just four thousandths of an inch thick covering the can would heat its contents by 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I was surprised to think that such a tiny film of water could cause that much warming,” Durran said.

Though he’s normally more of a theoretician, Durran decided this result required experimental validation. He recruited co-author Dargan Frierson, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences, and they ran an initial test in Frierson’s little-used basement bathroom, using a space heater and hot shower to vary the temperature and humidity.

The findings corroborated the initial result, and they embarked on a larger-scale test.

“You can’t write an article for Physics Today where the data has come from a setup on the top of the toilet tank in one of the author’s bathrooms,” Durran said.

Univ. of Washington

A test subject being weighed to measure the amount of condensation. The cap prevents air from moving through the opening on top.

First they recruited colleagues in Frierson’s beachside hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, to duplicate the experiment and compare results with those taken on a hot, dry Seattle day. But they decided they needed to test a wider range of conditions.

Finally, last summer undergraduates Stella Choi and Steven Brey joined the project to run a proper experiment in the UW Atmospheric Sciences building. They unearthed an experimental machine with styling that looks to be from the 1950s, last used decades ago to simulate cloud formation.

With funding for educational outreach from the National Science Foundation, the students first cooled a can in a bucket of ice water then dried it and placed it in the experimental chamber dialed up to the appropriate conditions. After five minutes they removed the can, weighed it to measure the amount of condensation, and recorded the final temperature of the water inside.

The phenomenon at work – latent heat of condensation – is central to Frierson’s research on water vapor, heat transfer and global climate change.

“We expect a much moister atmosphere with global warming because warmer air can hold a lot more water vapor,” Frierson said. Because heat is transferred when water evaporates or condenses, this change affects wind circulation, weather patterns and storm formation.

Durran’s research includes studies of thunderstorms, which are powered by heat released from condensation in rising moist air.

As for his demonstration of the heat released during this process, he and Frierson are now working with the National Center for Atmospheric Research to develop an educational tool that will let students around the world try the experiment and post their results online for comparison.

The example promises to become as classic as a cold drink on a hot summer day.

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For more information, contact Durran at 206-543-7440 or durrand@atmos.washington.edu and Frierson at 206-685-7364 or dargan@atmos.washington.edu.

Police department open house April 17

It’s a chance to meet police officers and other police department employees and learn about community policing initiatives. This year the department will recognize Eric Godfrey, vice president and vice provost for Student Life, for his leadership and support at 2 p.m.

2013 Magnuson Scholars named
Six students, one from each UW health sciences school, have been named 2013 Magnuson Scholars and will receive $30,000 scholarships for the coming academic year. The award program commemorates the late Sen. Warren G. Magnuson. They are:

• Dentistry: Emily Chu, a dentistry/doctoral oral biology student, is exploring the causes, treatment and prevention of craniofacial disorders, especially cleft lip and palate.
• Medicine: Alan Kwan, a fourth-year medical student, conducts research to influence evidence-based medical practice and healthcare economics in the areas of heart and blood vessel disease, diabetes and obesity.
• Nursing: Sunniva Zaratkiewicz, a third-year doctoral student and wound program coordinator at Harborview Medical Center, studies pressure ulcers and wound healing in patients with diabetes.
• Pharmacy: William Canestaro, a doctoral student in the pharmaceutical outcomes research and policy program, performs comparative-effectiveness assessments of molecular diagnostics, genome technologies and personalized medicines
• Public Health: Cynthia Curl, a doctoral student in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, studies the health effects of dietary exposures to pesticides and the influence of organic food consumption on those exposures.
• Social Work: Charles Hoy-Ellis is a doctoral student who is addressing the health and aging needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered adults.

Medicine on the move: Bioethicists to discuss ethics of health care ‘migration’
What ethical problems does globalization bring to health care and medical education? What inequalities is it creating in medical expertise and care?

Three scholars of medicine and bioethics will discuss such questions in a daylong symposium April 19 at the UW titled “Whose Medicine, Whose Care? Troubling Inequalities in the Migration of Health Care” sponsored by the UW Department of Philosophy‘s Program on Values in Society.

“We live in a world of globalized medicine on the move,” said Sara Goering, UW associate professor of philosophy and a co-organizer of the event, adding that this has brought both advantages and daunting ethical problems. “Such ‘medicine on the move’ contains huge imbalances of power in terms of how medical labor is valued, who is doing what medical labor, and who gets to define what counts as ‘medicine.’”

Those interested may RSVP online. For more information, contact Amy Reed-Sandoval at 503-913-9201 or amyjota@uw.edu.

The partnership slate for UW Medicine Health.

UW Medicine will launch a multi-media initiative April 1 to provide consumers with health and wellness information. In partnership with Fisher Communications, UW Medicine also will increase awareness of the latest treatments and medical breakthroughs at UW Medicine.

“In support of our mission to improve the health of the public, UW Medicine recognizes the need to encourage each member of our community to take responsibility for their personal health,” said Dr. Paul G. Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine. “With this initiative, our audiences will gain valuable knowledge and tools for engaging in preventive care and establishing rewarding personal health behaviors.”

KOMO broadcast reporter Molly Shen will introduce the UW Medicine Health series.

“The new initiative is part of UW Medicine’s overall strategy to provide comprehensive care for our community,” said Johnese Spisso, UW Medicine’s chief health system officer. “It will highlight UW Medicine’s expertise in a broad range of primary care and specialty fields while helping consumers make informed decisions about their treatment options in our health system.”

Look for:

• Regular television and radio spots featuring UW Medicine experts and patients.on Fisher Communication’s KOMO News, KOMO News Radio and STAR 101.5. Topics for the first three months include heart, vascular and brain health.

• A new dedicated website, UW Medicine Health, uwmedicinehealth.com. It will have timely news items, features and columns about health and wellness, medical research advances and patient stories.

KOMO news anchor Molly Shen will introduce the program to viewers and listeners of KOMO News, KOMO News Radio and Star 101.5. The first series of TV and radio spots on heart health will begin April 8. During these segments, UW Medicine experts and patients will share stories and insights about the care they received at UW Medicine.

This month’s articles on heart health include:

• UW Medicine Regional Heart Center leads in heart care.
• How to reduce your risk of coronary artery disease.
• New defibrillator for treating heart rhythm disorders.
• Multi-specialty care saves a triathlon runner with heart disease.

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For more information, contact UW Medicine Strategic Marketing & Communications at 206-543-3620.

“This is a very exciting development in the use of technology to meet critical educational needs that otherwise might be difficult to do in a more traditional educational setting,” said UW President Michael K. Young. “The country is moving towards better education, training – and certification – for the teachers of our youngest students. This is an optimal way to ensure they have access to high quality education in a place and at a cost that makes sense for them. We will be doing more of this.”

The Early Childhood and Family Studies degree, which is the first online-only bachelor’s completion program to be offered by the UW, will prepare individuals to work in child care, preschools, social and mental health services, parent and family support, and arts organizations.

“This work will train the next generation of professionals who are closing the achievement gap,” said Tom Stritikus, dean of the UW College of Education. “There is a national crisis in early childhood education and this program will help solve that problem by being responsive through curriculum based on equity and justice.”

Traditional degree programs can be obstacles for early care and education workers who work long hours and must commute to on-campus classes.

The UW online degree costs $160 per credit – which is about equivalent to $7,000 for a year of full-time study – regardless of where students live.

“Offering the Early Childhood and Family Studies degree online addresses these barriers, and the low cost will allow the program to be affordable to early learning providers,” said Gail Joseph, an associate professor of educational psychology and early childhood and family studies in the UW College of Education.

“There’s a substantial need for affordable, flexible degree completion programs in the early education field,” said Joseph, who helped design the new online degree.

The UW program is intended to provide a convenient way for practicing professionals to fulfill federal and state requirements for bachelor’s degrees, and is expected to help fill a national growing demand for preschool teachers.

The program will be administered by UW Educational Outreach, which received a Next Generation Learning Challenges grant partially funded by the Gates Foundation, to help offset costs of developing the degree. The grant includes offering several core classes in early childhood education free to the public, as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the Coursera platform.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25 percent growth from 2010 to 2020 in the employment of preschool teachers, due to a continued focus on the importance of early childhood education and the growing population of children between the ages of 3 and 5.

Head Start requires 50 percent of its teachers to earn bachelor’s degrees, while other national and state programs use teachers’ degrees to gauge the quality of their early education services.

The program is designed for students who have completed a two-year associate’s degree, or started college and then discontinued their studies. Eligible students will have earned 70 eligible transfer credits at the UW or elsewhere.

Admission preference will be given to Washington state residents and to students with previous credits from the UW. The university will start accepting applications in early May. UW administrators expect that many of the students will be working full-time in an early childhood setting and will pursue the online program part-time.

Transfer credit will also be offered to students who have attended community college but have not earned an associate’s degree. This option may be available through special arrangements with several community colleges, including Shoreline Community College and the Seattle Community Colleges – North, South and Seattle Central.

“We applaud the university for taking this bold new step in online education,” said Seattle Community Colleges Chancellor Jill Wakefield. “It clearly is designed to meet a growing need and to offer a pathway for community college students with an interest in early childhood education to fulfill their goals through an affordable online program. It’s terrific.”

“In Washington state, there are over 900,000 adults with some college and no degree,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle.”If we’re going to meet the needs of our state’s economy and provide upward mobility for our citizens, we have to provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality educational opportunities to this critical population. This affordable, online degree option demonstrates the UW is willing to step up to this challenge. This is a great first step, and I hope they develop more.”

The program is self-sustaining and does not use state funds.

All courses will be taught by the university’s regular faculty with support from the UW’s Online Learning staff, who have been providing online courses, certificates and degrees for more than a decade. Also, mentors will help students complete the program by providing assistance with course selections, academic progress, tech support and other concerns.

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 For more information, contact Stritikus at 206-616-7854 or tstrit@uw.edu, Joseph at 206-685-7469 or gjoseph@uw.edu.

Mary Levin

Graduating medical student Anisa Ibrahim, at Match Day with her husband and baby daughter, will train as a pediatrician.

As the clock approaches 9 a.m, Friday, March 15, fourth-year University of Washington medical student Anisa Ibrahim awaits the sound of the gong with “a mixture of excitement and anxiety.” It’s the signal that will send her, along with fellow UW medical students gathered in the Health Sciences lobby, to the long tables of elegant purple-and-gold boxes containing their futures as beginning physicians.

Match Day, which takes place on the same day every year at medical schools across the nation, is when thousands of graduating medical students find out – at exactly the same time –  where they will train as residents via the National Resident Matching Program.

This year, 222 senior UW medical students learned of their 2013 residency positions at simultaneous gatherings across the UW School of Medicine’s five-state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho), including Match Day celebrations in Seattle, Billings, Missoula, Spokane, Boise and Anchorage.

Mary Levin

Seth Stratton learns he will be training in internal medicine at Northwestern.

For Ibrahim, the anticipation builds as she waits with her husband and young daughter to learn where she will begin the path to fulfilling her dream of becoming a pediatrician. Originally from Somalia, Ibrahim is the oldest of five children and the first in her family to attend college. She moved to Seattle as a young child, completed her undergraduate education at UW, and hopes to match at Seattle Children’s, her first choice for residency.

“But I think I’d be happy anywhere,” she said with a big smile.

Moments later Ibrahim, mom to two young daughters, is clearly elated when she learns she will be starting her residency at Seattle Children’s.

Mary Levin

Anisa Ibrahim is delighted with her residency match notification letter. First choice, Seattle Children’s!

“I am just thrilled,” she beamed.

UW medical student Seth Stratton said he’s quite happy with his second choice match at Northwestern University (his first choice was Vanderbilt). He’s the son of two UW faculty members: Dr. John Stratton, professor of medicine in the Division of  Cardiology, and Carolyn-Webster Stratton, a child psychologist and professor emeritus of family and child nursing. Seth said he plans to go into internal medicine with an eventual focus in cardiology and pulmonary/critical care medicine.

“It a unique opportunity to experience a different medical culture at a different place,” he said, adding with a smile, “though my parents probably would’ve been happier if I’d decided I wanted to stay here.”

Mary Levin

Medical student Ria Andrade and her husband share a toast. Ria plans to practice family medicine  in a medically underserved area.

Ria  Andrade, originally from Whittier, Calif., which she describes as “east of East L.A.,” applied only to family medicine community residency programs in southern California, because she’s eager to return to the region “where they’re doing the best at serving the populations I want to serve — the underserved and the undocumented.”

So Andrade and her husband of five years were delighted when she matched at her first choice for residency: Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Mary Levin

“I feel at peace today,” said Estell Williams, who learned she will train as a surgeon at the UW.

Estell Williams, the youngest of seven children and also the first in her family to go to college, also matched at her first choice: UW. She plans to become a surgeon and to continue her work to address the underrepresentation of minorities in medicine and healthcare disparities across populations.

Describing her emotions leading up to Match Day as “more excitement than anxiety,” Williams said she couldn’t be happier to have landed at UW.

“I feel at peace today,” she said. “I’ve worked hard for it – we all have.”

This year’s National Match is the largest in the history of the program. Read about some of the Match 2013 statistics nationwide.

MyPlan makes it easier for students to find courses, develop an academic plan, track progress, and receive adviser input. Advisers have the ability to review and comment on academic plans electronically and view easy-to-read (html-enhanced) degree audits.

Released this academic year, MyPlan was developed by UW-IT in partnership with students, advisers, and central partners in the Office of the Registrar, Graduate School, and Undergraduate Academic Affairs. It is funded in part by the Student Technology Fee and is a project of Kuali Student, the next-generation student administrative system being developed and shared by a consortium of top-tier universities including the UW, a founding member.

Key features of MyPlan include:

• Course search feature using the published Time Schedule information for current and upcoming academic quarters, and Course Catalog information for long-term academic planning
• Easy-to-read, color-coded HTML Degree Audit to explore undergraduate programs and determine requirements met or needing completion
• Ability to Bookmark courses of interest for future consideration
• Plan sharing and commenting system for student and adviser conversations

Coming next, MyPlan will address high-priority needs identified by students, including adding course section details so students can better plan for time/date availability, instructor, and enrollment restrictions; adviser-created sample plans and suggested courses for departmental majors; and the ability to audit their plan.

MyPlan is the UW’s first Kuali Student product to be released at the university. It is being contributed back to Kuali and is now being adopted by Indiana University. A benefit of being part of the Kuali community is that the UW can then adopt enhancements made by other universities to shared products like MyPlan.

Watch a video overview of MyPlan to better understand how advisers and students can use this tool during the academic planning process.

Ashley Wiggin

Doctor of Nursing Practice student Ann Pedack performs an examination on fellow student Desiree Wood. Sam Li, also a Doctor of Nursing Practice student, acts as an “advisor” in this setting. Students perform simulated examinations as part of their training in the program.

The UW School of Nursing is re-envisioning and restructuring the curriculum in its Doctor of Nursing Practice program with an initiative that builds on the school’s long history of national distinction in preparing advanced practice nurses for a variety of careers.

The program, which had its first class of students beginning in 2007, prepares nurses for independent practice and leadership in careers such as community nursing, critical-care nursing, psychiatric mental health nursing, adult, gerontology, family and pediatric nursing, and nurse-midwifery.

As the program has grown, specialty tracks developed independently, which created a complex model that was ultimately unsustainable fiscally. To address these issues, a faculty work group collaborated during the summer of 2012 to re-envision the program.

The group proposed a consolidated program that upholds the foundations of advanced practice, clinical inquiry and leadership within a delineated structure. This increased core creates consistency for students while maintaining their ability to sit for national certification in role and population tracks, allowing appropriate levels of clinical experience, and ensuring flexibility for future program changes. The consolidation reduces costs by 26 percent, better aligning with current resources and tuition affordability.

The faculty committee aligned the curriculum with the current national standards for accreditation in doctoral education and with the expectations of state boards of nursing and national task forces on advanced practice nursing, while trying to ensure that students are prepared for certification exams and for practice. Students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program have achieved nearly a 100 percent passing rate on national certification exams to date, and School of Nursing faculty want to maintain that performance and enhance students’ doctoral education and foster their success after graduation.

The new program model was approved by school faculty in fall 2012 and its implementation is planned for the class entering the fall of 2013.

At last month’s American Association of Colleges of Nursing Doctoral Forum in San Diego, three peer-reviewed papers, each co-authored by several UW faculty members, were presented. They outlined how the school  redefined the existing program, reaffirmed program goals, developed a consistent core curriculum, and made the program more financially sustainable.

Gail Kieckhefer, professor of family and child nursing; Cindy Dougherty, professor of biobehavioral nursing and health systems; and Cindy Perry, associate professor of family and child nursing, gave presentations at the conference, which was attended by national nursing leaders.

Dougherty said the work at UW will benefit others trying to incorporate program changes in a resource-challenged environment. Following their presentations, several other schools asked the UW faculty members to share information on how to “systematically change their curriculum” and integrate a program similar to the UW’s at their own schools.

“Faculty from the University of Wisconsin and Rush University spent time with us to talk about how we are merging our tracks in core coursework. They were also interested in our plans for inter-professional education,” said Kieckhefer.

“It was pretty clear, from listening to the 700 plus AACN doctoral conference attendees, that the UW School of Nursing is staying abreast of issues around doctoral education and, in many ways, leading,” said Maggie Baker, interim associate dean for academic services in the School of Nursing. “For example, our work to revise the (Doctor of Nursing Practice) curriculum and our work around doctoral-level recruitment and retention is clearly on par with that our peer institutions and, in many ways, cutting-edge.”

The UW School of Nursing is consistently a top-rated nursing school, according to U.S. News & World Report surveys and analyses, and is ranked No. 2 in research funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2011.

“The ultimate goal is to show that the computerized instruction is effective and transportable to schools to help classroom teachers,” Berninger said.

Participants will go to the UW Center for Oral and Written Language Learners for 18 sessions of reading and writing lessons administered on an iPad. If they wish, participants can give a small blood sample that will be tested for genetic variants related to language learning. Those who choose to be in the brain imaging part of the study, which uses magnetic resonance imaging, will receive copies of their own brain scans.

The project is funded by a five-year, $8.1 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Public Health co-hosts “Gun Violence: A Public-Health Crisis” tonight
The University of Washington School of Public Health and Seattle’s Town Hall are co-hosting a forum at 7:30, tonight (Feb. 4) at Town Hall to lay out a public-health approach to gun violence.

Panelists will trace the extent of the problem, explore evidence-based solutions, consider mental-health aspects and new alternatives, discuss new policies in Seattle-King County and Washington state, and consider what each of us can do.

“Gun violence is a fraught topic in our society, with much of the debate framed by ideology, fear and inflexibility,” said Dr. Howard Frumkin, dean of the School of Public Health, who will give the opening remarks. “A public health approach – as applied to challenges ranging from influenza to obesity, from polio to heart attacks, from smoking to traffic safety – offers a unique point of view, important insights and even guidelines for action.”

Among the other panelists is Dr. Frederick Rivara, UW professor of pediatrics and epidemiology, speaking on the research about guns and violence.

Cost is $5.

Timothy DeRouen

The center will be headed by Timothy A. DeRouen, professor of oral health sciences in the School of Dentistry and of biostatistics in the School of Public Health. He was interim dean of the School of Dentistry from 2011 to 2012.

“We’ll be looking for more opportunities to work with other institutions and countries, and for more opportunities for our faculty as well,” DeRouen said. “The idea is to enhance what we do, and increase the range of possibilities through research and education.”

The School of Dentistry is already an active international player in oral health, with collaborations and interactions involving more than 40 other countries. Faculty members conduct dozens of international research partnerships and lecture abroad, while dental students and professionals from around the world visit Seattle.

Many come here for the school’s Summer Institute in Clinical Dental Research Methods, which DeRouen

founded in 1992 and has directed ever since. The Summer Institute has drawn nearly 500 students from more than 40 other countries, along with 30 states in this country.

DeRouen said he anticipates establishing working ties between the new center and the Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network of the International Association for Dental Research. He also expects to be working with the Global Oral Health Interest Group of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, as well as the UW’s Department of Global Health, in which DeRouen recently received a joint faculty appointment.  Dr. King Holmes, the department’s William H. Foege Chair and Professor, has called the new center “an exciting initiative.”

DeRouen’s name is already well established in oral health research circles. Before becoming interim dean of dentistry at the UW, he was the school’s executive associate dean for research and academic affairs. He also directed the school’s Northwest PRECEDENT regional practice-based research network. This year, he will become president-elect of the American Association for Dental Research, and then president in 2014.

“Tim DeRouen has been an outstanding leader in oral health research and education,” said UW School of

Dentistry Dean  Joel Berg. “I believe that he is uniquely suited to build on our strong tradition in this field and to further enhance the UW’s standing in the international oral health community.”

The Center for Global Oral Health will oversee existing activities such as the Summer Institute, along with a clinical, behavioral and public health research training collaboration with several universities in Thailand. The latter program is funded by a training grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. The agenda also encompasses a study of orofacial clefts in Thailand, proposals for oral health disparities research in Peru, and ongoing student exchange programs in Chile, Taiwan and Thailand.

DeRouen said that the Center for Global Oral Health already has drawn interest from several leading School of Dentistry faculty researchers, who have been invited to join as affiliates. They include Berg, who is also the current president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and Peter Milgrom, who in 2012 received the American Dental Association’s Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research, the association’s highest such honor.

Dr. Mark Snowden, Harborview chief of psychiatry, discusses the implementation of an innovative depression treatment, PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives), with a group of administrators.

UW Training Xchange is on a mission to put more new therapies, tools, and process improvements into the hands of healthcare practitioners and other professionals for the benefit of millions of people. Life-saving advances continually emerge from faculty labs and clinics at the University of Washington, which is one of the nation’s largest recipients of federal research funding for biomedical science.

Most UW researchers publish journal articles about their new findings and proven methods, but many of their readers don’t know how to adopt them. Faculty and graduate students do not have time to set up and promote training programs. To address the innovation adoption gap, the UW is expanding its Training Xchange initiative to enable researchers to transmit their innovations to healthcare workers and other professionals locally and far beyond the Northwest.

Dr. Paul Ciechanowski, director of Training XChange, with Allison Waddell, program manager, in front of the Center for Commercialization sign. Photo by Brian Donohue.

“The UW is one of the nation’s leading centers for health, medical, and bioengineering research, and we’d like to see as many research advances out in the world making lives better for people, rather than sitting on a bookshelf. Training others in their use is a way to do this,” said Dr. Paul Ciechanowski, UW associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Training Xchange. Ciechanowski co-developed the initiative with Dr. Richard Veith, chair of the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Their team created a training infrastructure that helps university researchers translate evidence-based information and methods from their labs and clinics into formats designed for wider dissemination.

Offerings include a range of in-person and online training products through which trainees gain tangible skills and practical knowledge they can put to work immediately.

“Combining our faculty’s expertise with the experience and platform of Training Xchange is a great way to bridge the gap between research and practice,” Veith said.

One major initiative called TEAMcare brings a proven UW faculty intervention to medical clinics. It integrates mental health and medical services for people diagnosed with both depression and diabetes or coronary heart disease. TEAMcare results in better treatment that can save lives. A group led by Dr. Wayne Katon, UW professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, developed TEAMcare with assistance from Training Xchange. Success in promotion and early adoption of  has earned the UW a $1 million award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand the program as part of an $18 million national initiative to foster the widespread implementation of TEAMcare.

Allison Waddell and Zandra Grissom from Training XChange present a poster about the program at a Center for Commercialization’s Innovator Award Ceremony.

“Health professionals are eager to have concrete ways to help their patients, and the Training Xchange infrastructure makes it easier to transmit programs like TEAMcare,” Katon said.

Training Xchange is already at work across the country. It has been teaching health professionals at a major national health system how to reduce debilitating anxiety in patients with an approach developed jointly by UW and UCLA. Clients for Training Xchange programs now include Harborview Medical Center and The Polyclinic in Seattle, the California Institute of Mental Health, the national offices of the Epilepsy Foundation in Maryland and others.

As a program within the university’s Center for Commercialization, more commonly known as C4C, the Training Xchange has expanded from its early focus on healthcare to other training areas, such as education, computer science, and bioengineering.

“Over the coming years, we are committed to seeing more of our research outcomes in practice out in the world,” said Fiona Wills, director of Technology Licensing at C4C. “Training Xchange is a terrific option for our busy researchers to increase the visibility and impact of their innovations.”

Marcy Harrington

A child picks flowers during a walk outdoors.

Increasing evidence shows urban and rural children are regularly exposed to low levels of pesticides that can have serious long-term health effects, according to a report issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The technical report and an accompanying policy statement on pesticide exposure in children appear in the December 2012 issue of Pediatrics.

Dr. Catherine Karr, an environmental health pediatrician in the UW School of Public Health and the School of Medicine, co-authored both papers, which recommend public and professional approaches to the issue of childhood pesticide exposure.

Pediatricians don’t get this information or training in their routine medical education and are likely not aware of the wealth of studies that have been published up to now on the subject, said Karr, who served on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health from 2005-2011. She believes doctors can play a significant role in protecting children’s health by recognizing, treating, and preventing exposure to pesticides.

Alice C. Gray

A little girl at play in a garden.

The ubiquitous chemicals are as varied as their uses. For example, lawns are treated with weed killer, sprays or foggers kill fleas indoors, and pesticides control coddling moths that can destroy large-scale apple production.

Karr observed that the product label, “while providing some information on acute toxicity, doesn’t inform consumers or workers about chronic toxicity, such as whether the product contains a carcinogen or whether it is linked to reproductive or developmental toxicity.”

Epidemiological studies associate both acute and chronic pesticide exposures in children with pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. Pesticide exposure has even been implicated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and low-birth weight.

Children are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides than are adults because of their smaller size and faster metabolism. Youngsters can be exposed by breathing the chemicals in the air, getting them on their skin, or unintentionally ingesting the pesticides. Kids crawl or play on surfaces that may have chemical residues, and they often put their fingers and other objects in their month.

The dietary contribution from food residues provides cumulative, chronic exposure.

“For most kids in the United States, it’s probably the major component,” said Karr. She pointed to a study on children’s diet by alumnus Chensheng Lu, who received a Ph.D., in 1996 from the UW in industrial hygiene and safety. He is now on faculty at Harvard University.  His study was conducted with researchers in the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center at the UW.

For five days, the researchers substituted most of children’s conventional diets with organic food items. They measured the metabolites for organophosphorus pesticides in the children’s urine and compared the levels before and after changes in diet. They found the metabolites disappeared after the organic diet was introduced and remained undetectable until the conventional diet was reintroduced.

These results shouldn’t be interpreted to mean non-organic food is bad. Karr notes a recent American Academy of Pediatrics review on organic foods found no evidence that the nutritional content varies, and the health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables in children’s diet are clear.

“Given the often increased expense, some families might choose to be selective in choosing organic foods, she said. “The levels of pesticide residues tend to be lower in some conventionally grown fruits and vegetables and consumer guides are readily available on these topics.”

She also recommends thoroughly washing produce. Karr published tips for parents on reducing their child’s exposure to pesticides in food and from other common sources.

Of the numerous recommendations to doctors and policymakers in the published statement, one resonates very clearly for Karr

Pediatrician and environmental health expert Dr. Catherine Karr is helping set policies to recognize and reduce childhood exposure to pesticides.

“I think we could make a big difference if all healthcare providers who take care of children felt they had a basic knowledge base on pesticides that enabled them to include pesticide safety counseling in routine health visits and to think about pesticide exposure in relevant sick visits,” said Karr, who also put together a guide for pediatricians on how to talk with parents about pesticides. It’s available on AAP’s website.

The technical report details the major classes of pesticides, their adverse health effects, and evaluation and treatment. Symptoms of pesticide exposure might not be easily recognized, explained Karr. In one case, a child might have a rash or a headache. In another case, a child might be vomiting or have diarrhea.

“Having pesticide exposure in your mind as a possibility,” she noted, “requires an index of suspicion which you develop only when you know a little bit about pesticides and what you can do.”

Healthcare providers might also be interested in a local resource. Karr directs the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit  based at the UW.  The unit provides expertise and training for health professionals, trainees, and the public on environmentally related health effects in children, including pesticide exposure. In collaboration with the UW Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research led by Elaine M. Faustman, professor of environmental health, and with corresponding research center partners in California, the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit is creating an educational module on pesticides. It will be available in the next year.

Steve Steinberg

At the School of Dentistry’s faculty retreat Dec. 14, Dean Joel Berg (center) joins Dr. David Branch (left), chair of Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service board of directors, and Jim Dwyer, president and CEO of the insurer.

The School of Dentistry has announced a gift of $1.15 million from Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service to support the school’s vision of transforming dental education.

Under Dr. Joel Berg, who became dean on Aug. 15, the school has launched a wide-ranging plan to revamp its clinical education and curriculum. The goal is to produce the “dentist of the future” – an oral health practitioner on the leading edge of technology, research and best practices in patient care.

“At Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service, we strongly support Dean Berg and his compelling vision for the future of dental education and what dentistry can be,” said Jim Dwyer, president and chief executive officer. “We believe his plan will help ensure that the people of Washington will continue to receive the highest standard of patient care, and we fully share that goal.”

Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service is part of the nation’s largest dental insurance network, Delta Dental, which has more than 50 million members. Its gift will help Dentistry fund the initial phase of its undertaking in the current academic year.

“For years Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service has been a valued and loyal supporter of the School of Dentistry, and I’m thrilled with their new contribution, which could not come at a better time,” Berg said. “Our school has historically been a national leader in dental education. However, our continued leadership depends on implementing a new model that incorporates advances in science and technology, a greater emphasis on prevention, and the integration of oral health into overall health.

“Their investment in our vision greatly enhances our ability to deploy the people and resources we need to bring about these needed changes. Their scope demands that we implement them not in a piecemeal fashion, but with a unified strategy. With Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service’s help, we can do just that.”

The gift will facilitate the addition of several critical faculty and staff positions and also support the work of several task forces appointed by Berg shortly after he became dean. These include a curriculum renovation task force and a clinical systems task force.

While the School of Dentistry is committed to major changes, Berg said, it will continue to emphasize a high standard of excellence in restorative dental education. “Our school has always been known as a standard-bearer in restorative dentistry, and that will not change as we move forward,” he  said. “Restorative dentistry will always be at the heart of our training.

“At the same time, far-reaching changes are coming to dentistry. New accreditation standards demand that we place more emphasis on interprofessional education and evidence-based dentistry. We must also continue to continue to train dentists with the highest ethical standards and cultural sensitivity – dentists who are fully prepared to serve all parts of the community.”

In addition to its enhanced partnership with Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service, Berg noted that the School of Dentistry has already begun reaching out to other partners for expertise and support in the school’s transformation. Recently the school hosted several corporate executives for a three-day brainstorming session on updating and streamlining the school’s clinical operations. The school has also initiated a collaboration with the UW Foster School of Business to help Dentistry revamp its business operations.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about producing the best dentists and the best patient care,” Berg said.

“Dean Berg often says, ‘Good patient care is the best education,’ and that’s a big reason why we find his vision so appealing,” Dwyer said.

Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service, a UW Presidential Laureate, also supports Dentistry scholarships, and in 2007 gave a $5 million gift that provided the impetus for the school’s Center for Pediatric Dentistry, which opened in September 2010. A partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital, the $21 million facility at Magnuson Park in Seattle is a center of research and education as well as pediatric oral health care.

Dr. Sid Nelson enjoyed teaching medicinal chemistry to second-year pharmacy students.

The Washington State Pharmacy Association recently announced its 2012 award winners. Several School of Pharmacy alumni were honored for their contributions to the pharmacy profession, patients and the community. In addition, the late School of Pharmacy Dean Emeritus and Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Sid Nelson posthumously received the Washington State Pharmacy Association Distinguished Leadership Award. Nelson, an alumnus and beloved member of the UW School of Pharmacy community, died in December 2011.

The Distinguished Leadership Award goes to individuals who have been instrumental in developing and growing the pharmacy profession and who demonstrate significant influence and direction in the community.

“While Sid was known internationally during his life as an award-winning scientist and mentor to young scientists, he also helped shape pharmacy practice and pharmacy education in our state in his work as a professor and administrator,” said Nanci Murphy, associate dean of academic and student programs at the School of Pharmacy and a long-time colleague and friend of Nelson.

As dean from 1994 to 2008, Nelson helped the School convert from a Bachelor of Science to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree program. He expanded the School’s faculty by recruiting a group of educators who strengthened an already stellar program and who are building on the School’s efforts to improve the practice of pharmacy and to advocate for patients. He supported the development of new innovations in the Doctor of Pharmacy degree curriculum, and he helped expand the School’s many community partnerships and outreach efforts.

But his impact on pharmacy students is arguably his greatest legacy on the pharmacy profession in Washington state.

Nelson, who joined the School of Pharmacy faculty in 1977, taught throughout his tenure as dean and continued to teach after he stepped down. In his popular medicinal chemistry course for second-year students, he made a challenging, complex subject interesting and fun. His students consistently reported that he inspired them to work harder. When students did poorly on an exam, he would seek them out individually to ask how they were doing and offer encouragement.

He held course finals at conferences that he and pharmacy students attended so the students could participate in the conferences without sacrificing their studies. As a teacher, he twice won a UW School of Pharmacy Gibaldi Excellence in Teaching Award.

As a dean, he was devoted to helping students excel academically and grow professionally. He provided Dean’s Fund monies to help students conduct research, create outreach projects and go on international rotations. His open-door policy made him highly accessible. Nelson and his wife, Joan, also made a special point of attending and supporting student events. In 2007, he won the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists Dean of the Year Award.

Dr. Sid Nelson in his academic regalia at graduation ceremonies.

“Sid was one of those unique individuals who transcended the traditional profile of a professor,” said UW School of Pharmacy alumnus Collin Conway, ’05, a pharmacist and co-chair of the UW School of Pharmacy’s Pharmacy Practice Board. “He was always one of my favorites in the classroom, but what really struck me was a rare, unquestionable and sincere interest in my future and well-being. This inspired me not only to get involved in the profession, but also to be a better person. For this, I am forever grateful.”

Today, in hospitals, clinics, community pharmacies, nonprofit organizations, government organizations and elsewhere in this state, UW alumni like Conway are making a positive impact, in part, because Sid encouraged them and believed in them.

Nelson’s wife, Joan, accepted his award during an emotional presentation Nov. 2 at the Washington State Pharmacy Association Annual Meeting awards ceremony in Grand Mound, Wash. (Read more about Sid Nelson’s life and legacy at http://sop.washington.edu/rememberingsid.)

Also at the awards ceremony, School of Pharmacy alumna Beverly Schaefer, ’70, was named Pharmacist of the Year. Schaefer is co-owner of Katterman’s Sand Point Pharmacy and is currently working on a project to increase prescriptive authority for pharmacists.

Ryan Oftebro, ’03, received the Pharmacist Mutual Distinguished Young Pharmacist of the Year Award. Oftebro, a co-owner at Kelley-Ross Pharmacy, oversees community and clinical services at Kelley-Ross and is noted for his work mentoring student pharmacists.

Jennifer Kreidler-Moss, ’01, received the Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award. She is director of pharmacy services at  Peninsula Community Health Services, which is a Bremerton clinic providing primary care services to a predominantly underserved population.

During the annual meeting, Brian Beach, ’00, was installed as president of the Washington State Pharmacy Association Board of Directors. Beach is a co-owner of Kelley-Ross Pharmacy and has long been an active member of the Association and an advisory board member of multiple pharmacy and health care organizations.

James Banks, director of the UW Center for Multicultural Education

The Center for Multicultural Education, part of the University of Washington’s College of Education, will celebrate its 20^th year with a conference and book launch Friday, Nov. 9. The anniversary is particularly significant for the center’s director, James Banks, who experienced racism first hand growing up as an African-American in the segregated south.

He remembers not being allowed to use the public library, despite being an avid reader. He used the “colored entrance” at the movie theater and watched movies from the projection room, where he strained to hear over the rattle of the movie projector.

He was a seventh-grader in rural Marianna, Ark., when the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case declared segregated schools unconstitutional, and he recalls the decision was met with tension and silence in his community.

His experiences propelled him toward a career seeking equality in education, becoming an elementary school teacher in Chicago and then earning a doctorate in elemen­tary education and social science from Michigan State University in 1969.

“This has been a personal journey,” Banks said. “I felt that even though I escaped this segregated environment, others just as bright didn’t.”

He came to the UW in 1969, the first African-American hired as a faculty member by the College of Education. While the university hired some African-Americans with tenure, Banks was the first African-American to earn tenure at the UW.

Banks helped create the Center for Multicultural Education in 1992 to improve education practices related to diversity issues. It aims to foster better understanding of cultural differences  among ethnic groups and bolster academic achievement of all students.

Students must be educated “in an environment that reflects the reality of the nation and the world and that teaches them how to get along with each other and how to solve problems in a multicultural world,” Banks said during his UW faculty lecture in 2005.

Recently reflecting on progress in multicultural education during his lifetime, Banks said he’s seen “tremendous progress,” especially in textbooks. When he was growing up, he said, textbooks included a scant three black people – Marian Anderson, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver – and depicted slaves as “happy.”

African-Americans and other ethnic groups now have better representation in the school curriculum. But “it’s not enough,” Banks said. “A big struggle now is that blacks are in textbooks but their stories are told from the white perspective.”

He says that the future of multicultural education is global, as nations including England, France and China face new challenges involving discrimination, religious freedom and diversity. The field of multicultural education is “getting bigger, but it’s not changing the nature of what I do,” Banks said.

This global theme is evident in the center’s Nov. 9 conference. The event will take place in the HUB from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The university and surrounding educational communities are invited. Email centerme@uw.edu for more information or to RSVP for the conference. A pdf of the conference’s agenda is here.

The keynote speaker will be Linda Darling-Hammond, from Stanford University and a former education adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. She will talk about her 2010 book “The Flat World and Education: How American’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future.”

Another session will discuss diversity and educating youth in the humanities and sciences, and an afternoon panel will cover teacher education in Korea, Canada and the United States.

The event will also commemorate the publication of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education. Edited by Banks and published by Sage Publications, the work is intended to be a reference for understanding diversity issues in education around the globe. It provides statistics, case studies, best practices, programs and policies. The UW Libraries carry the print and digital versions of the book.

“This conference and book launch mark a significant achievement of work in the UW College of Education related to diversity during the last two decades,” Banks said. “The publication of the Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education indicates the extent to which studies related to diversity in education have attained a high level of legitimacy and acceptance both in the United States and in nations around the world.”

Ashley Wiggin

In a team training session, UW health sciences students receive guidance from a faculty member as they work on a patient case.

No health care professional is an island. On October 30, nearly 450 UW Health Sciences students from four schools convened as teams to apply their diverse skills in a medical scenario. Groups consisted of first-year physician assistant students, second-year pharmacy and medical students, and senior nursing students. Interprofessional education had earlier covered simulated urgent care situations and medical errors, but today’s situation forced the teams to reconsider their treatment plan for a hospitalized patient. In this case, an actress portrayed a fictionalized patient, Doris.

The student teams started by discussing diagnoses for Doris’s condition. Thirty professionals from all areas of the health sciences offered assistance when students were stuck. Teams created and submitted an initial plan of care, keeping in mind elements like medications, patient safety, comfort, follow-up, and psychosocial needs. Then, teams watched a video of Doris. She was telling them that she refused their recommendations. The student teams then brainstormed on the ethical, clinical and personal issued they were going through in figuring out what to do now in caring for Doris.

Ashley Wiggin

A scene at the health sciences interprofessional training session Oct. 30 attended by 450 UW students from various health professions.

During the second half of the training event, videos of medical professionals who had cared for patients in similar situations applied their experiences to the complex case at hand. A physician explained efforts made to educate the patient about heart medications. A nurse talked about wanting to support the patient’s autonomy, yet being frustrated with the decisions the patient was making. The social worker addressed safety issues in the community. The pharmacist talked about trying to explain prescribed medications in a difficult situation. The occupational therapist shared concerns for the patient’s well-being.

In the end, student teams developed a care plan that met Doris’s preferences and she was discharged to her home. Students were disappointed at this outcome. They recognized that it is easier when patients do what the team wants, but that occurrences like this one require teams to communicate well and coordinate their care expertly.

As the training sessions came to a close, students rolled out buzzing with energy. Amy Tung, a pharmacy student, said she felt that “events like this prepare us to work in a team and remind us that we aren’t alone in making tough decisions.”

Ashley Wiggin

A faculty member listens to students’ ideas as they reconsider a treatment plan for a patient who did not accept their initial recommendations.

Other students were overheard praising their teammates and expressing respect for the breadth of knowledge and interest. Faculty member Sarah Shannon offers her perspective on the importance of these collaborative training events: “As new health care professionals, we are educated in silos, but expected to practice in teams. During my own nursing education, I had no experiences learning with other members of the care team. An experience like this or the other IPE [interprofessional education] events that our UW students have the opportunity to engage in would have better prepared me for the real world of patient care.”

Coordinators were Karen McDonough, associate professor of medicine; Sarah Shannon and Mayumi Willgerodt, both associate professors of nursing; Jennifer Danielson, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy, and Linda Vorvick, senior lecturer in the MEDEX physician assistant program. The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation provided funding that helped to build this faculty teaching team. The UW Center for Health Science Interprofessional Education, Research, and Practice hosts and designs other events like this and is dedicated to teaching collaboration among health professionals.

For more information about the Center visit http://collaborate.uw.edu/.

Imaging deep-water, extreme environments is first in series

• Oct. 24: “Volcanoes: Supporting Life Under the Sea.”Debbie Kelley, UW professor of oceanography, will discuss how imaging seafloor hot springs reveals biological communities thriving in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, and helps us understand the underwater volcanoes that form the largest mountain chain on the planet.
• Oct. 30: “Imaging Greenland’s Ice from Earth and Space.” Using high-resolution spaceborne cameras, helicopters, and a GPS-enabled camera, UW’s Ian Joughin of the Applied Physics Laboratory and International League of Conservation photographer Chris Linder are working to reveal and document changes to the vast ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, which are shrinking as the climate warms and sea levels rise.
• Nov. 7: “Wildflowers, Climate Change, and Citizen Scientists.”Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, UW professor of biology, and doctoral candidate Elinore Theobald will discuss the power of crowd-sourcing in documenting flowers, pollinators and the entire Alpine and Montane ecosystems.
• Nov. 14: “Orcas in Puget Sound.”Senior vessel captain and field biologist Dave Ellifrit helped build and curate the photographic library of orcas in Puget Sound and will share highlights from the photo library, what it has revealed about orcas, and how it affects policy and research.

UW Libraries events mark Open Access Week
This week marks the sixth annual observation of Open Access Week. An alternative to the traditional, expensive and restrictive system of academic publication, open access to information involves the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as needed.

In support of International Open Access Week, the UW Libraries is conducting a number of events.

• “Open Data = Open Research,” Thursday, Oct. 25, 1:30-3 p.m., Room Green A, Research Commons, Allen Library – Following the philosophy of Open Access, Open Data is data that is openly available – with some exceptions – for discovery, access, and re-use.  Join us for an interdisciplinary look at examples of open data at UW, how open data can facilitate research, and which UW services are available to support making data more discoverable and accessible.
• “Sharing Ideas, Expanding Knowledge: Open Access as a Scholarly Publishing Alternative for the Future” – This exhibit will be installed later in October in the library at UW Bothell.  Selected slides from the exhibit are available online.

Ideas for Action, Evans School-sponsored project, announces grants
Cash awards from an innovation contest partly sponsored by the Evans School of Public Affairs are going to programs providing job training, financial education and mentoring and support services for women.

The competition, called Ideas for Action, offered grants to expand promising poverty-reducation. It was sponsored by the Evans School’s Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy, with the Northwest Area Foundation and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Awards of $10,000 each will go to Arkansas Career Pathways, which connects people with community college job retraining; and The Financial Clinic, which provides financial education and mentoring. Awards of $5,000 each will go to the Crittenten Women’s Union, which supports women struggling with poverty or domestic abuse; and the Iowa Credit Union Foundation, which helps families build savings.

David S. Harrison, the Evans school senior lecturer who co-chaired Ideas for Action, said its aim was “to shine a light on imaginative and concerted efforts pushing back against historically high poverty levels in America.”

Ruth Johnston on board of sustainability association
Ruth A. Johnston, associate vice president for finance and facilities, has been elected to a three-year term with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The association, with 860 campus members, helps coordinate and strengthen campus sustainability efforts and is the first North American professional association for those interested in advancing campus sustainability.

A day of Sustainability Summit events Wednesday, Oct. 24, will culminate in the evening with a conversation about energy involving a leading Northwest energy and climate expert, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist and other panelists.

The energy panel discussion will be 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Kane 210. KC Golden, policy director at Climate Solutions, is the keynote speaker, followed by Microsoft’s Rob Bernard, who is responsible for implementing the global strategy for the company’s environmental efforts, Pacific Science Center’s lead for science and education Ellen Lettvin and UW’s Ruth Johnston, who oversees the UW’s Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability Office among her responsibilities.

Lisa Graumlich, dean of the UW College of the Environment, will moderate the discussion.

Afterward, audience members are invited to a reception and poster presentations about some of the projects funded by the Campus Sustainability Fund. The student-managed fund gets a cut of student services and activities fees to fund short-term projects meant to lessen the UW’s environmental impacts. The reception will be 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Walker-Ames Room, Kane Hall.

Earlier in the day, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 50 groups interested in sustainability from on and off campus will have booths in Red Square.

Among student groups, for example, will be representatives from Husky Sustainable Storms, an initiative launched by students, faculty and staff  to mitigate stormwater runoff on-campus by designing and installing bioswales that mimic ecological processes. University units at the fair will include Mailing Services – Creative Communications, which can help students understand such things as how to reduce mail waste and mail they don’t want.

Off-campus vendors include Total Reclaim that will collect personal unwanted electronics – such as computers, TVs and cell phones – for free recycling. Be sure to bring your Husky card because only items from UW faculty, staff and students will be accepted. It should be noted that Total Reclaim will not be accepting any electronic equipment purchased with UW funds or any batteries, lamps or ballasts.

Sponsors of the summit from on and off campus will also have exhibits as part of the fair.

“The purpose of the summit is to remind the UW community that all of our disparate acts of sustainability really are part of a larger movement,” said Kyle Murphy, a senior in political science and outreach coordinator for the Campus Sustainability Fund. “The summit provides space to coalesce, collaborate and provide inspiration for all of us moving forward.”

The day before the summit there will be an open house for those interested in learning more about the Campus Sustainability Fund and meeting this year’s coordinator Jamie Rowe, a graduate student in public affairs. The event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability Office, Gerberding B40.

The organizers of the Sustainability Summit note on their website and materials some other events on campus next week that may interest environmentally-conscious members of the UW community including a movie screening and a launch event for an Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.

From 200 to 400 students are expected at the Yakama Nation Blast-Off Fest on Saturday (Sept. 8) in Toppenish, Wash. They will examine concepts involved with flight, from shooting arrows to launching water rockets and Estes Rockets, and they will use special solar telescopes to get a close-up look at the sun.

The Pacific Science Center in Seattle will bring its Space Odyssey program, which includes two portable planetariums and a hands-on exhibit that will help students make sense of the seasons or let them explore the planets and other constellations.

“It’s a chance for kids to see science in ways they don’t usually see it, but then also to interact with those behind the science to figure out if this is of interest to them,” said Robert Winglee, chairman of Earth and space sciences at UW and Space Grant director for the state.

The event is a collaboration of the Yakama Nation Land Enterprise, Yakama Power, the UW’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and Space Grant. Other participants are Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Northwest Indian College in Bellingham and the Pacific Science Center.

            The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium started in 1989, in part to enhance higher education opportunities for students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and to improve elementary and secondary education in those areas statewide. This is the first time Space Grant has taken an initiative to the Yakama Nation.

“It is part of our mandate to create a pipeline of students into higher education. This helps us to augment a pipeline in a much-needed area,” Winglee said. “Our goal is to have more kids participating and seeing that science can be important in their lives, that it can be a career path for them.”

The event will feature five UW faculty and staff members and 10 UW graduate and undergraduate students working with the Yakama students and showing them potential opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

Rocket demonstrations will be limited to low altitudes, but Winglee hopes to return later for a session just with high school students, when they can work with high-power rockets that can reach altitudes of a mile.

Polly Olsen, community relations and development director for the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and a Yakama Nation member, said the event aligns well with the institute’s Native Youth Enrichment Program.

“It’s developing opportunities for the kids, and it’s also us figuring a way to bring them to campus and show them the opportunities college can provide,” she said.

“We hope a play day like this can make a small change in the way the kids look at education, the way they look at science, that it’s important to finish school,” Olsen said.

Students from five area schools are being invited to the event, which is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Rocket building and launch will be on property at the junction of Yost and Robbins roads in Toppenish, and a science showcase will be held at Toppenish High School.

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For more information, contact Winglee at 206-685-8160, 206-683-0306 or winglee@ess.washington.edu; or Olsen at 206-616-8731 or polly@uw.edu.

When kids go back to school in a few weeks, it can be a mixed bag of challenges including adjusting to school routines and worries over academics, bullies and fitting in with other peers. Psychologists from the University of Washington offer advice to parents on how to help their elementary- through high school-aged kids get the new school year off to a good start.

Ease into school routines

Parents, especially those with younger children, can help their kids prepare for school by getting them on sleep and meal schedules that are in sync with school days.

“It’s hard to get kids back into routines. They can get really tired and emotional diving right back into school,” said Liliana Lengua, UW psychology professor. As kids adjust to the new schedule, they can come home irritable, crying and “falling apart,” she said.

Another benefit of being rested: it improves memory, mood and motivation – all key elements for learning, said Clayton Cook, UW assistant professor of educational psychology.

Academic refreshers

Short, school-like assignments can help offset the summer slide phenomenon, where kids regress in academic performance.

“Often we send kids back to school cold turkey,” Cook said. “It behooves families to do refreshers over the summer. Nothing to overwhelm kids, but something like doing a math problem or reading a bit before going out for a fun summer activity.”

Get to the root of back-to-school jitters

Most elementary school-aged children look forward to the first day back, but for those who are anxious, figuring out why can help. If children are worried about seeing friends again, arrange some get-togethers with friends before school starts. If the child fears having a new teacher or being in a new classroom, schedule a classroom visit before the school year.

“Sometimes it’s the unfamiliarity or unknown that worries kids,” said Lengua, who directs the UW Center for Child and Family Well-Being.

Look out for avoidance behaviors, like crying, clinging or complaining of feeling sick to their stomach and asking to stay home.

“It’s hard to pry a child off and walk away,” Lengua said. But often the best thing parents can do is give a quick goodbye with strong assurances to their child that he or she will be fine at school.

Bullying

Summer might have been a reprieve for children who have been bullied at school. Cook said that bullying tends to decrease in schools where adults are responsive. Parents should help their children identify trusted adults at school who can help, including teachers, administrators, janitors, counselors or other staff.

Cyberbullying usually happens when kids are at home. To counter this, James Mazza, a UW educational psychology professor, said parents should “tell their child to let them know if an email or something on Facebook is hurtful and feels mean.”

Pressure to fit in

Parents of adolescents, especially those entering high school, might see some behavior changes as children try to fit in with upperclassmates and not look lost, said Mazza, who is also a school psychologist working with middle and high school students.

Keep having conversations with adolescents about their values and who they are.  Make time for family activities like playing basketball or riding bikes.

“Adolescence is a time when kids are trying to figure out who they are without their parents. Let them explore different things. If they get too far out of their typical personality, parents should check in,” Mazza said.

Cell phones, computers

Before the school year begins is also a good time to remind kids of the lasting repercussions of sharing photos electronically. “Once they’re out there, you can’t take them back, kids need to think hard before they send impulsive photos of someone doing something silly or provocative,” Mazza said.

Similarly, remind teens that email is not private and to think twice before firing off disgruntled emails about teachers from the school library computers.

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For more information, contact Lengua at 206-543-5655 or liliana@uw.edu, Cook at 206-616-6371 or cook2142@uw.edu, or Mazza at 206-616-6373 or mazza@uw.edu.

“I doubt the historic truth about Noah’s Flood will ever be known with certainty. And I don’t think it really matters. The discoveries of science have revealed the world and our universe to be far more spectacular than could have been imagined by Mesopotamian minds. To still see the world through their eyes is to minimize the wonder of creation.”

• David Montgomery, “The Rocks Don’t Lie”

David Montgomery is a geomorphologist, a geologist who studies changes to topography over time and how geological processes shape landscapes. He has seen firsthand evidence of how the forces that have shaped Earth run counter to some significant religious beliefs.

But the idea that scientific reason and religious faith are somehow at odds with each other “is, in my view, a false dichotomy,” said the University of Washington professor of Earth and space sciences.

In a new book, “The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood” (Aug. 27, 2012, W.W. Norton), Montgomery explores the long history of religious thinking – particularly among Christians – on matters of geological discovery, from the writings of St. Augustine 1,700 years ago to the rise in the mid-20^th century of the most recent rendering of creationism.

“The purpose is not to tweak people of faith but to remind everyone about the long history in the faith community of respecting what we can learn from observing the world,” he said.

The cover of “The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood” features a photograph of Siccar Point, near Edinburgh, Scotland, the birthplace of the concept of geologic time.

Many of the earliest geologists were clergy, he said. Nicolas Steno, considered the founder of modern geology, was a 17^th century Roman Catholic priest who has achieved three of the four steps to being declared a saint in the church.

Though there are notable conflicts between religion and science – the famous case of Galileo Galilei, for example – there also is a church tradition of working to reconcile biblical stories with known scientific fact, Montgomery said.

“What we hear today as the ‘Christian’ positions are really just one slice of a really rich pie,” he said.

For nearly two centuries there has been overwhelming geological evidence that a global flood, as depicted in the story of Noah in the biblical book of Genesis, could not have happened. Not only is there not enough water in the Earth system to account for water levels above the highest mountaintop, but uniformly rising levels would not allow the water to have the erosive capabilities attributed to Noah’s Flood, Montgomery said.

Some rock formations millions of years old show no evidence of such large-scale water erosion. Montgomery is convinced any such flood must have been, at best, a regional event, perhaps a catastrophic deluge in Mesopotamia. There are, in fact, Mesopotamian stories with details very similar, but predating, the biblical story of Noah’s Flood.

“If your world is small enough, all floods are global,” he said.

David Montgomery

Perhaps the greatest influence in prompting him to write “The Rocks Don’t Lie” was a 2002 expedition to the Tsangpo River on the Tibetan Plateau. In the fertile river valley he found evidence in sediment layers that a great lake had formed in the valley many centuries ago, not once but numerous times. Downstream he found evidence that a glacier on several occasions advanced far enough to block the river, creating the huge lake.

But ice makes an unstable dam, and over time the ice thinned and finally give way, unleashing a tremendous torrent of water down the deepest gorge in the world. It was only after piecing the story together from geological evidence that Montgomery learned that local oral traditions told of exactly this kind of great flood.

“To learn that the locals knew about it and talked about it for the last thousand years really jolted my thinking. Here was evidence that a folk tale might be reality based,” he said.

He has seen evidence of huge regional floods in the scablands of Eastern Washington, carved by torrents when glacial Lake Missoula breached its ice dam in Montana and raced across the landscape, and he found Native American stories that seem to tell of this catastrophic flood.

Other flood stories dating back to the early inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest and from various islands in the Pacific Ocean, for example, likely tell of inundation by tsunamis after large earthquakes.

But he noted that in some regions of the world – in Africa, for example – there are no flood stories in the oral traditions because there the annual floods help sustain life rather than bring destruction.

Floods are not always responsible for major geological features. Hiking a trail from the floor of the Grand Canyon to its rim, Montgomery saw unmistakable evidence of the canyon being carved over millions of years by the flow of the Colorado River, not by a global flood several thousand years ago as some people still believe.

He describes that hike in detail in “The Rocks Don’t Lie.” He also explores changes in the understanding of where fossils came from, how geologists read Earth history in layers of rock, and the writings of geologists and religious authorities through the centuries.

Montgomery hopes the book might increase science literacy. He noted that a 2001 National Science Foundation survey found that more than half of American adults didn’t realize that dinosaurs were extinct long before humans came along.

But he also would like to coax readers to make sense of the world through both what they believe and through what they can see for themselves, and to keep an open mind to new ideas.

“If you think you know everything, you’ll never learn anything,” he said.

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For more information, contact Montgomery at 206-685-2560 or dave@ess.washington.edu.

The sign was part of a demonstration by students in grades five through 10 enrolled in summer sessions for advanced learners, organized by the UW Robinson Center for Young Scholars. This year’s 507 participants came from around Puget Sound.

Apart from the rocket launch, which was part of the robotics class, seventh-through-ninth graders in the “Summer Stretch” program could choose four-week sessions on math, chemistry, filmmaking, literature and more.

The “Summer Challenge” program, offered to fifth and sixth graders and lasting three weeks, taps into astronomy, math puzzles, urban design, physics of roller coasters and other topics.

The summer classes are designed to be hands-on learning experiences that challenge students to solve problems and think critically and creatively.

“Most importantly, the classes provide opportunities for students to meet other kids with similar interests,” said Nancy Hertzog, director of the Robinson Center. “When asked by a parent about what students took away from their filming of a documentary, one student said, ‘Friendships!’ and hugged her teammates.”

Check out this year’s demonstrations of rockets, model roller coasters, future cities and more in the slideshow below.

Now you can at least try, no matter what your background, with a new card game developed by University of Washington computer scientists.

“Control-Alt-Hack” gives teenage and young-adult players a taste of what it means to be a computer-security professional defending against an ever-expanding range of digital threats. The game’s creators will present it this week in Las Vegas at Black Hat 2012, an annual information-security meeting.

“Hopefully players will come away thinking differently about computer security,” said creator Yoshi Kohno, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering.

Players assume the roles of characters with their own special skills. Game play involves completing missions by rolling the dice, using skills and occasionally pulling something out of a bag of tricks.

The target audience is 15- to 30-year-olds with some knowledge of computer science, though not necessarily of computer security. The game could supplement a high school or introductory college-level computer science course, Kohno said, or it could appeal to information technology professionals who may not follow the evolution of computer security.

In the game, players work for Hackers Inc., a small company that performs security audits and consultations for a fee. Three to six players take turns choosing a card that presents a hacking challenge that ranges in difficulty and level of seriousness.

In one mission, a player on a business trip gets bored and hacks the hotel minibar to disrupt its radio-tag payment system, then tells the manager. (A real project being presented at Black Hat this year exposes a security hole in hotel keycard systems.)

“We went out of our way to incorporate humor,” said co-creator Tamara Denning, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering. “We wanted it to be based in reality, but more importantly we want it to be fun for the players.”

This is not an educational game that tries to teach something specific, Denning said, but a game that’s mainly designed to be fun and contains some real content as a side benefit. The team decided on an old-fashioned tabletop card game to make it social and encourage interaction.

Mary Levin, UW Photography

Tamara Denning and Yoshi Kohno in the UW’s Security and Privacy Research Lab, playing the game they created. Their game gives players a taste of what it’s like to be a computer security professional. Research assistant Thomas Winegarden, a UW undergraduate, is on the left.

Some scenarios incorporate research from Kohno’s Security and Privacy Research Lab, such as security threats to cars, toy robots and implanted medical devices. The missions also touch other hot topics in computer security, such as botnets that use hundreds of hijacked computers to send spam, and vulnerabilities in online medical records.

Characters have various skills they can deploy. In addition to the predictable “software wizardry,” skills include “lock picking” (for instance, breaking into a locked server room) and “social engineering” (like tricking somebody into revealing a password).

Graduate students who are current or former members of the UW lab served as loose models for many of the game’s characters. Cards depict the characters doing hobbies, such as motorcycling and rock climbing, that their real-life models enjoy.

“We wanted to dispel people’s stereotypes about what it means to be a computer scientist,” Denning said.

The UW group licensed the game’s mechanics from award-winning game designer Steve Jackson of Austin, Texas. They hired an artist to draw the characters and a Seattle firm to design the graphics. Adam Shostack, a security professional who helped develop a card game at Microsoft in 2010, is a collaborator and co-author.

Intel Corp. funded the game as a way to promote a broader awareness of computer-security issues among future computer scientists and current technology professionals. Additional funding came from the National Science Foundation and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.

Educators in the continental U.S. can apply to get a free copy of the game while supplies last. It’s scheduled to go on sale in the fall for a retail price of about $30.

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For more information about the project, contact Kohno at yoshi@cs.washington.edu and Denning at tdenning@cs.washington.edu.

For more information about the game, visit the website at www.controlalthack.com or email info@controlalthack.com.

UW is planning courses that will be made available in multiple ways, tailoring innovative options to match consumer needs. Free, non-credit versions will use the Coursera platform, providing access to high-quality education for anyone.  In addition, enhanced, instructor-led versions will result in UW credit and/or certificate credentials when successfully completed.

“Increasing access to meet a variety of educational needs is vital to building an informed community and has been a key part of the University of Washington’s mission for 150 years,” said Provost Ana Mari Cauce. “We’re pleased to align with Coursera’s online learning platform and join other institutions in using technology to reach a variety of learners in innovative ways.”

Initial UW offerings on Coursera are currently under development for the  2012-13 academic year. They will include several free classes with an option for enhanced, instructor-led versions for a fee that lead to UW credit and/or a certificate. Pricing for the credit offerings is under review and will be comparable to current UW credit courses and certificate programs.

Offerings ready for launch this year include:

• An applied mathematics program in scientific computing.
• Computer science courses, including several in programming.
• A linked sequence in computational finance.
• A three-course certificate in information security and risk management.

Each of these online programs focuses on student and employer demand using transferable resources, including video that UW has available and can be developed for use on Coursera’s platform. More courses are expected to launch once initial offerings have been developed. In each case, the course will increase access to world-class UW educational resources for a large population of online learners around the globe. Expanding access to the expertise of the university has been the mission of UW Educational Outreach since 1912.

“Going forward, we anticipate using Coursera’s platform as a gateway to offer more University of Washington courses that are free to the general public, with enhanced versions of our Coursera classes that will be overseen by an instructor and allow students to earn a UW credential with additional work,” said David Szatmary, vice provost of UW Educational Outreach. “All UW classes on Coursera and the UW credentialed options will be approved and taught by world-class departments at the University of Washington. We are very pleased to be part of this new movement that provides ever greater access to the best classes in the world.”

For more information

For a list of links for public service job searches, visit Krasna’s website. For additional information, contact Krasna at 917-743-7131 or heather@heatherkrasna.com. To obtain a review copy of “Jobs that Matter,” e-mail Selena Dehne at sdehne@jist.com.

For years and years, public service meant government work. But these days, the definition has broadened to jobs at universities, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, some parts of the private sector and practically any other work that improves the world.

A new book, “Jobs That Matter: Find a Stable, Fulfilling Career in Public Service,” (JIST Publishing, $14.95) shows how to launch a career that not only changes the world but provides steady paychecks.

The author, Heather Krasna, 37, has been a career counselor for 12 years. She’s now director of career services at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

The book appears at a time when millions of Americans are looking for public service jobs fresh out of school, seeking new careers in public service because of layoffs or changing careers to follow their dreams. The book also appears as some 270,000 baby boomers, some of whom were inspired by President John F. Kennedy, are nearing retirement from federal jobs, and as the Obama administration encourages young people to consider careers in public service. To encourage young people to consider public service, the federal Office of Personnel management has created a “coolness” task force.

Noting the need for a how-to on public service careers, Krasna wrote “Jobs that Matter” in only four months.

JIST Publishing

“I wrote at night, on the bus, on the weekends,” she said. “I was surprised I was able to pull off the writing in a short period of time.”

The book came together quickly, she said, because much information was already in her head, the result of years as a career adviser and employer relations specialist plus experience in an array of internships and volunteer jobs in public service.

Daughter of a political science professor and an English professor in Michigan, Krasna received a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City. She specializes in distilling information and making human connections — what it takes, Krasna said, to land a job in public service.

The initial chapter of “Jobs that Matter” takes readers through a series of exercises: defining career dreams, choosing career missions such as children’s issues or civil rights, targeting job functions such as urban planning, and deciding work values such as prestige, level of responsibility and tolerance of stress.

Heather Krasna — UW Photo

Thematically organized around job types, the chapters range from human services and health to protecting the environment and managing financial resources. They also include 26 profiles of public service professionals. In “Keeping People Safe,” for example, Krasna profiles Ronald S. Neubauer, executive director of the Eastern Missouri Law Enforcement Training Center, who began his career with a military police unit in Vietnam.

Krasna also offers tips for landing jobs at specific places, such as the United Nations. (The U.N. is really tough: “Because of its relatively high pay and excellent benefits,” Krasna writes, “the United Nations is extremely competitive, and hiring can sometimes be limited for U.S. citizens.”)

The last three chapters of “Jobs That Matter” focus on the job search itself: developing a resume, networking, navigating the application process, interviewing, negotiating offers and getting promoted.

Krasna takes pains with details. For bullet points of a resume, she urges job seekers to quantify their experience in a certain formula. It results in such lines as, “Effectively tutored up to 20 students per month, greatly improving their test scores.” Krasna also offers guidance about essays necessary for some federal work and tips about negotiating salaries for public service jobs.

Journey 300 miles off the Washington-Oregon coast and dive nearly a mile deep into the ocean as scientists and 20 students use underwater robots to explore, map and sample methane ice deposits, an underwater volcano and seafloor hot springs spewing water up to 570 degrees F.

Just click yourself aboard, thanks to the Internet. On the Enlighten ’10 expedition website, images are being updated each day of the four-week expedition and short documentary-style videos will be posted.

While at the site, don’t miss seeing preparations for the ship’s departure “performed” to Flight of the Bumblebee, the first dispatch from the chief scientist and, under the “Arts” heading, the poetry and octopus ballet. Yes, along with all the science topics, there is a section for the arts, celebrating such events as the Bosun’s Poetry Night.

The expedition, under way through Aug. 23 on the UW’s vessel Thomas G. Thompson, is laying the groundwork for a $126 million seafloor observatory comprised of science nodes, moorings and instruments all connected to land with a cable for power and real-time, high-speed, two-way communications.

The UW is leading development of this cabled project called the Regional Scale Nodes. It’s part of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative and represents a major investment by the foundation in new approaches to science in the ocean basins. The Ocean Observatories Initiative is managed by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, D.C., and other partners include Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Oregon State University and the University of California, San Diego.

“In time, hundreds of sensors on the seafloor and on fully instrumented water-column moorings will be deployed at sea and controlled by shore-based personnel, thanks to the electrical power and high-bandwidth telecommunications capabilities provided by this cabled network,” said Deborah Kelley, UW professor of oceanography and co-chief scientist on the cruise. The main cable carrying data and power will come ashore in Pacific City, Ore., and connect to high-speed Internet in Portland.

Work led by Oregon State University scientists also is being conducted during the Thompson expedition to define several coastal components of the Ocean Observatories Initiative.

Other participants on the current expedition come from Arizona State University, and groups from Woods Hole are providing support for the remotely operated vehicle Jason and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry, both cutting-edge platforms for conducting high-resolution mapping of the seafloor, according to Kelley.

At times, live video will be streamed from the seafloor showing exotic life forms or scientists at work on the ship. When visiting the website check the “Webcast: Streaming Live from the Sea” link to see if scientists are using the high-definition underwater video camera for mapping and surveying. The webcast allows you to watch over their shoulders and occasionally hear commentary.

“By 2014, the 800-kilometer network of fiber-optic and electrical cables and instruments will allow scientists, educators, students and the public to observe and interact with the oceans via the Internet in entirely new ways, 24/7, for decades,” said John Delaney, UW professor of oceanography and chief scientist on the cruise. “The Regional Scale Nodes is one of the first such systems — by 2020 there are likely to be many such installations across the global ocean,” says Delaney, who has recently traveled to more than 10 countries to discuss the project.