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Above, a patient measures her blood sugar level. A clinical study will test whether certain medications can prevent diabetes, or slow the progression of the disease in newly diagnosed patients.

A clinical trial at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington will address new approaches to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes or slow its progression. Participants will be treated with medications normally used for people who have had diabetes for at least one year. The study will enroll individuals who have prediabetes or have been recently diagnosed with diabetes, but who are not taking medications to treat the condition.

The Restoring Insulin Secretion, or RISE, Study will examine the effects of three such medication regimens.  Each will be administered for 12 months. The three regimens are: liraglutide plus metformin for 12 months; insulin for three months followed by metformin for nine months; and metformin alone for 12 months. The expectation is that the use of these medications before diabetes has developed will preserve or enhance the body’s ability to produce insulin, the hormone that is crucial to maintain normal blood sugar levels.

Thestudyis a nationwide program looking at the effects of various treatments to preserve insulin secretion and thereby prevent the development of diabetes or its progression early in the disease. The UW and VA diabetes research group in Seattle is one of three recruiting adult patients for the medication trial, along with the University of Chicago and Indiana University in Indianapolis.

Dr. Steven Kahn, professor of medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, at the University of Washington,  leads the Seattle clinical trial and is also chairs the national study.

“We hope to identify people who are at high risk of developing diabetes as they have mild elevations in their blood glucose as well as individuals who have had diabetes for less than a year and have not required medications,” Kahn said.

“The purpose of the study,” he explained, “is to determine whether aggressively treating such patients with medications used in diabetes can slow the disease process and prevent the loss of the ability of the pancreas to make and release insulin.”

The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is currently recruiting patients. To be eligible, patients must be between 20 and 65 years old, have prediabetes or self-reported type 2 diabetes for less than one year, and must not have taken any medications to treat diabetes in the past. Participants also must be considered overweight or obese. The investigators aim to enroll 85 patients who will participate in the trial for 21 months.

More details are available at the National Institute of Health’s clinical trials website, identifier: NCT01779362.

To participate in the study, call 206-764-2768.

Seaglider was developed in 1997 by researchers at the School of Oceanography and Applied Physics Laboratory. In UW research the device has set records for the distance traveled and time spent alone at sea, using buoyancy to glide up and down through the ocean while using minimal power.

Kongsberg will pick up where previous licensee iRobot left off, handling orders for customers external to the UW. The Norwegian-owned company plans to hire five or six new employees to build Seagliders at its Lynwood facility.  The UW Seaglider Fabrication Center, managed by Fritz Stahr, will continue to employ three full-time staff members and two students to build and service Seagliders for UW researchers, and to service units sold before there was a commercial provider for the technology.

The Boldt decision revisited
Richard R. Whitney, a UW emeritus professor of fisheries, will give a public talk about his role in the Boldt decision, a 1974 ruling that gave Washington tribes an equal share of the state’s salmon catch. The talk is at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 23, in Fishery Sciences 102, and is free and open to the public.

Richard Whitney

Whitney’s talk, “My Fisheries Management Experience with Judge George H. Boldt in his Case United States v. The State of Washington,” will provide a firsthand account of the science and politics of those years. Whitney served as technical adviser to Judge Boldt from March 1974, one month after he handed down the ruling, until 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed and affirmed the decision.

Whitney was a UW fisheries professor from 1983 to 1993. He previously held positions at the University of Maryland, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the predecessor to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He is co-author of “Inland Fishes of Washington” and was elected in 2008 to the American Fisheries Society’s Fisheries Management Hall of Excellence.

U. of Minnesota president to speak
Eric Kaler, University of Minnesota president and former UW professor of chemical engineering, will speak on campus Tuesday, May 28, about challenges and opportunities for the nation’s top research universities.

Eric Kaler

Kaler taught at UW for seven years starting in 1982 before moving on to the University of Delaware and later to Stony Brook University in New York. He has been president at Minnesota since 2011.

He will speak to a general audience on “The Future of the American Research University” at 3 p.m. May 28 in the Lyceum of the Husky Union Building for the chemical engineering department’s first Bruce A. Finlayson Lecture. The lecture, the department’s largest event of the year, honors Finlayson, a chemical engineering professor emeritus who previously taught with Kaler. In a separate talk, Kaler will have a more technical presentation on surfactant microstructures at 10:30 a.m. May 28 in the Bill & Melinda Gates Commons (CSE 691) of the Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.

Both talks are free and open to the public. A reception will follow the afternoon talk at 4 p.m. in the HUB Lyceum.

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An Ethics Feature in the May-June issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine describes the lessons learned as the Madras Medical Group transformed itself into a pharma-free clinic.  The small, private clinic of five physicians no longer has contact with detailers – representatives from the pharmaceutical industry who visit physicians to educate them about medications. The clinic also refuses drug samples, gifts and lunches from pharmaceutical companies.

Alice C. Gray

Pharma-free medical practices refuse gifts, lunches, educational programs and samples from pharmaceutical industries.

The corresponding author of the paper, David V. Evans, practiced at the clinic and is now an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Washington. He and his colleagues at the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy and at University of Oregon Health & Sciences University  examined the clinic’s successful methods to change a culture ingrained in medicine.

“Detailing – selling drugs by educating physicians –  was first reported as a problem in the late 1950’s,” Evans said.  Since then, extensive research indicates that detailing can encourage physicians to prescribe medicines that may not be appropriate, necessary or cost-effective for patients, and that may pose safety concerns.

Academic medical centers, such as medical schools and teaching hospitals,  Evans noted, have critically looked at detailing,  have advocated against it nationally, and have set institutional policies prohibiting or limiting student, resident and faculty contact with detailers .

However, he added, three-fourths of the country’s physicians practice in the community, where interactions between physicians and pharmaceutical representatives are still commonplace.  Although some states have curbed contact between drug reps and physicians, most physicians in small, independent practices have little guidance on how to become pharma-free, the authors of the paper observed.

“Changing this situation is not easy, but with a deliberate and thoughtful approach it can occur,” Evans said.  Although his clinic’s personnel were not unanimous in wanting to go pharma-free, approaching it in smaller steps helped to decrease dissent.

First, those championing a pharma-free clinic quantified the presence of detailers and their marketing strategies.  This data helped convince the physicians and staff that a problem existed.  The staff and physicians then voiced their concerns. These included doing without prescription samples for patients.

The clinic then scheduled sessions for their health professionals to keep current about medications by reviewing rigorous scientific studies. To replace the pharma-sponsored lunches, the clinic held its own regular lunches for their clinicians and staff.  Clinic staff told patients about the change, and news media in the local area informed the nearby public.  The clinic also created a chart comparing average monthly costs of many heavily marketed drugs with first-line, less-expensive or generic drugs, if such alternatives were available.

“Becoming pharma-free at our clinic was not an overnight thing,” said Evans. “Cultural change takes time.  Eventually even the initial dissenters in the clinic came to feel good about the change, and it became a point of pride.”

Now, as a UW medical school faculty member who teaches medical students and residents, Evans, along with colleague Pam Pentin, educate future physicians on effectively managing drug detailers, including how to turn all of them away.

“One of the concerns,” Evans said, “is that medical students and residents may come up through their education without ever having interacted with a drug representative.  It’s important to teach medical students and residents how detailers operate in the real world. At the UW, family medicine residents learn about detailer strategies during their third-year practice management curriculum.  This year’s graduating residents will be the first to have taken the training.”

As of 2009, there was one drug sales representative for every eight physicians.  Despite increased scrutiny and regulation, Evans and his colleagues noted that the percentage of primary care physicians with industrial relationships remains high at 84 percent.  Evans explained that most drug reps are well trained and personable. They use marketing strategies time-tested in the social sciences.

“It’s a sophisticated operation. For example, before they go in to see physicians,” he said, “detailers sit in their cars data-mining on their electronic devices. They find out the physicians’ prescribing patterns from databases in which the patients’ names and other identifying information have been removed. They know how much a doctor has prescribed of drug A, and will either thank the doctor or encourage him or her to prescribe drug B instead.”

Beginning in August 2013, as part of the Affordable Care Act of 2013, a national web site will contain information for patients on the monetary value of what individual physicians accept from pharmaceutical firms.  The Physician Payment Sunshine Act will require manufacturers of drugs, devices and biologics to report all payments to physicians and teaching hospitals to a public web database.

What else can patients do to mitigate undesirable effects of drug marketing?  Evans advises asking their physicians about the issue. He suggests refusing drug samples if they are offered. Patients can also become aware of the effects of drug advertising on their own treatment choices.

The authors of the paper, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Lessons Learned from a Pharma-Free Practice Transformation,” wrote that they hope their description of how a clinic changed its practice “contributes to the ongoing discussion of the potential clinical influences and the ethics of the relationship between practicing physicians and pharmaceutical marketing.”

The other authors were Daniel M. Hartung and Denise Beasley of the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Oregon State University College of Pharmacy in Portland. The senior author was Lyle J. Fagnan, a physician in the Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network in the Department of Family Practice, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.

###

The externally peer-reviewed analysis of the clinic transformation received no funding and the researchers declared no conflicts of interest.

Pearce, who died April 20, had been with the Book Store since 1990.

His successor, Louise Little, previously the store’s director of human resources, said, “Bryan lived this last year with an incredible amount of focus and determination, not to mention courage. He was a teacher, mentor, friend, and colleague who inspired those of us who worked with him to be the best that we could be. To say he will be missed does not come close to describing the extreme sense of loss we are feeling.”

Pearce served on the boards of the UW Alumni Association, PCC Natural Markets, and University District Parking Associates. He also served on the board of the Independent College Bookstore Association and provided industry and business education throughout the college store industry.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the UW Foundation, Box 359505, Seattle Wa 98195-9505.  Checks should be made payable to the UW Foundation, with notation indicating the Bryan D. Pearce UBS Endowment.

Please RSVP for the event by May 14 to lgroom@uw.edu.

UW underwater robot team competes Saturday

This year’s challenges involve installing, operating and maintaining a cabled ocean observing system, similar to the one being installed by the UW this summer off the Washington and Oregon coasts.

The UW team will attempt to qualify for the international contest, as will Western Washington University and Skagit Valley’s 4H club. Middle- and high-school teams from Seattle, Tacoma, the Kitsap Peninsula and the San Juan Islands will compete and see who will advance to the next round.

The weekend event is one of 22 regional contests held in the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Egypt and Scotland. Winners of the regional contests will advance to the 12^th annual international competition, which will take place June 20-22 in Federal Way.

Cecilia Bitz recognized for decade’s worth of work
Cecilia Bitz, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences, was awarded the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel Award. The $10,000 award honors early- to mid-career ocean scientists who have made significant and growing impacts during the previous decade.

Bitz’s research focuses on modeling climate change in snow- and ice-covered regions. She is an author on the last three assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and in March she briefed U.S. Congress members on Arctic sea-ice loss. Bitz, a UW graduate with a master’s in physics and doctorate in atmospheric sciences, currently chairs the advisory board of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.

Greenwald, Kuhl among 25 honored as part of 25^th anniversary

As part of Association for Psychological Science ‘s 25th anniversary celebration, the board of directors has named 25 distinguished scientists – including UW’s Anthony Greenwald and Patricia Kuhl – who have had a profound impact on the field of psychological science over the past quarter century.

Greenwald is a psychology professor and Kuhl is co-director of UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences and a UW professor of speech and hearing sciences.

In announcing the awards, the association noted that Greenwald’s work with unconscious and automatic thought processes has changed “what had once been a pariah of psychological science — subliminal perception — and turned it into a respectable area of research and even a gold mine for others to excavate.”

The association wrote that Kuhl is “widely known” for research showing how babies’ ability to discriminate speech sounds becomes increasingly specific to their native language as they age and that social skills play a critical role in language learning.

UW outcompetes PAC-12 schools

Among all the 270 colleges and universities competing in the grand champion category, UW ranked 83. In the category for food services organics, which considers the weight of food waste composted per person on campus, UW was 38^th. Considering the total weight of paper and mixed containers recycled on campus, the UW was 35^th. And considering the weight of paper and mixed containers recycle per person on campus, UW was 183^rd.

In addition to the national competition, UW Housing and Food Services sponsored a competition between UW residence halls. During the two month period, McMahon had the highest waste diversion of all residence halls (highest recycling and compost combined, lowest garbage). Poplar came in second for the highest diversion rate even though it has no dining facility.  McMahon also had the highest compost rate of all the residence halls, followed by Terry/Lander. Hansee had the highest recycling rate of all residence halls.

MIT engineering professor to speak on research, career journey
Many seasoned academics can point to circuitous paths and serendipitous events that led to a successful, perhaps unexpected career in research. One professor’s take on this journey is the topic of this year’s annual Dean Lytle Electrical Engineering Endowed Lecture Series.

Alan S. Willsky, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak twice for the UW community. His first talk at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 14, in the Electrical Engineering Building (room 105) will be a more technical lecture titled “Learning and Inference for Graphical and Hierarchical Models: A Personal Journey.”

Then on Wednesday, May 15, Willsky will address a general audience with his lecture “Building a Career on the Kindness of Others” at 3:30 p.m. in the Paul G. Allen Center‘s Microsoft Atrium.

Both talks are free and open to the public.

Willsky’s work on large-scale data fusion has been applied in areas such as object recognition, oil exploration, remote sensing in the ocean and groundwater hydrology.

The Dean Lytle lecture series is the electrical engineering department’s largest annual event, usually featuring speakers in the field of communications and signal processing. Lytle came to the UW in 1958 and served for 40 years as a professor of electrical engineering.

Pharmaceutical science association recognizes Rodney Ho
Rodney Ho, professor of pharmacy, will receive the Research Achievement Award in Biotechnology from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists at its annual May meeting. The award, among the highest the association confers, recognizes the quality of his work and its impact. Ho studies the relationship between drug localization in tissues and cells and the links to disease progression. His nanotechnology and device innovations have helped make anti-infective agents, such as anti-HIV drugs, pain medications and cancer drugs, more potent with fewer side effects.

May is bike to campus month

Math at top speed: Exploding drag racing myths
Elementary mathematical frameworks for studying old and new drag racing beliefs – validating some and debunking others – is the subject of this quarter’s MathAcrossCampus lecture, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, May 3, in 220 Kane Hall. Richard Tapia, mathematician at Rice University, will include a historical account of the development of drag racing with videos and pictures depicting his involvement in the early days of the sport. A reception follows the talk.

UW recognized for campus tree management
For the third year in a row, the UW is on the Tree Campus USA list in recognition of excellence in campus tree management by the Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit with more than a million members. The university achieved the title by maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures toward trees, an Arbor Day observance and student service-learning projects.

UW Facilities Services

Draining the fountain gives workers a chance to patch the liner.

UW Facilities Services workers began erecting fencing Thursday (May 2) around Drumheller Fountain, half of the photogenic “the fountain and the mountain” view down Rainier Vista. Work is scheduled to be completed May 31 so Drumheller should be back in operation in plenty of time for graduation picture taking.

Every two years the UW drains away the algae-laden water revealing cell phones, sunglasses, cameras and other debris at the bottom. Once the pond has been fully drained and cleaned, the pond liner will be inspected to ensure its integrity and the mechanical parts of the fountain and lights will be examined, according to information from Facilities Services.

After the pond is refilled with fresh water the pumping systems will be tested and adjusted.

“Although this temporary situation may seem unsightly, this routine maintenance will ensure the longevity of this campus feature that so many enjoy visiting,” said Howard Nakase, manager of grounds operations.

The winners will be honored 3:30-4:30 p.m., June 13, at a ceremony in Meany Hall for the campus and general public.

Being awarded for the first time this year is the Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award in recognition of community service and civic engagement by a UW alum who is a veteran. The first recipient is Rear Adm. Herbert Bridge, U.S. Navy, retired, who graduated from the UW in ’47.

The other 2013 recipients are:

Distinguished Staff Award

• Sarah Jackins, exercise training center, UW Medical Center
• Carol Kummet, social work
• Robert Lubin, housing and food services
• Genome sciences tech team: James Cobb, Dale A. Hubler, Brian McNally, Roy Obenchain, Alexander Safir, Skylar Thompson, Charles Winston, Elizabeth Young, genome sciences
• Partners PrEP study team: Mira Emmanuel-Ogier, Harald Haugen, Ting Hong, Lara Kidoguchi, Meighan Krows, Susan Morrison, Dana Panteleeff, Katherine Thomas, global health

David B. Thorud Leadership Award

• Faculty award: Nancy Alarcon, speech and hearing sciences
• Staff award: Susan Terry, UW Career Center

Distinguished Librarian Award
Glenda Pearson, microforms and newspapers collection, University Libraries

Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
Bryan Pearce (posthumous award)

Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award
Richard Simkins, undergraduate academic advising

Distinguished Teaching Award

• Ronald Tilden, business, UW Bothell
• Carolyn West, interdisciplinary arts and sciences, UW Tacoma
• Holly Barker, anthropology
• John Manchak, philosophy
• Jim Pfaendtner, chemical engineering
• André Punt, aquatic and fishery sciences
• Phillip Thurtle, comparative history of ideas

Excellence in Teaching Award

• Deepa Bhandaru, political science
• Chi Hou Lei, mechanical engineering

Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award
James DeLong, social work

S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award
Eleanor Bond, biobehavioral nursing and health systems

University Faculty Lecture Award
Stephen Gloyd, global health and health services

Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award
Fred Rieke, physiology and biophysics

Outstanding Public Service Award
Katherine Beckett, sociology, and law, societies and justice

Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus
William H. Gates, ’50

President’s Medal
To be announced in mid-May

Lidstrom is vice provost for research and a professor of chemical engineering and microbiology. Her research focuses on developing environmentally friendly and economically viable alternatives to chemical fuels. Lidstrom was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in 2011. She also is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lidstrom has been at the UW twice, from 1978 to 1985 and again since 1996. She received her bachelor’s in microbiology from Oregon State University and her master’s and doctorate in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin.

Kaplan is a professor of physics and the director of the UW’s Institute of Nuclear Theory. He did his undergraduate work at Stanford University and earned a doctorate in physics from Harvard University in 1985. He joined the UW faculty in 1994 and became director of the Institute for Nuclear Theory in 2006. Kaplan’s research focuses on the application of quantum field theory to the strong interaction, lattice field theory, cosmology and physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model is the well-tested theory of the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions that predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, which was discovered last year at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Eggers, UW professor emeritus of computer science and engineering, is co-inventor of a computer processing technology that makes more efficient use of a chip’s computing power. The technology changed industry standards and was adopted by Intel, IBM and others. Eggers is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received a number of awards since joining the UW in 1989.

Moon, a professor of pharmacology, is a leader in regenerative medicine research. He began studying the cell signals that transform tadpoles into frogs, later concentrating on how alterations in these Wnt signaling networks, as they are called, lead to cancer, bone density disorders and other human diseases.   More recently, his lab has been enhancing this signaling to accelerate tissue repair and prod stem cells to turn into progenitors for various blood cell types.   He hopes to modulate Wnt signaling to design therapies against deadly cancers, such as melanoma, and to improve recovery from brain injuries and other neurological damage.

This year 198 people were elected to the academy including winners of the Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science, Lasker Award, Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur fellowships as well as  Grammy, Emmy, Academy and Tony awards.

Wash. Labor & Industries

The brass bell in the Workers Memorial Garden on the grounds of the Washington State Labor and Industries offices.

The Workers Memorial Day ceremony is being organized by the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health, UW Environmental Health and Safety, UW students, local union leaders, and the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. The organizers are active in raising awareness and strengthening commitment to job safety and healthy work environments for Washington workers.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was signed into federal law to protect employees from workplace hazards. Yet, according to the event organizers, more effort is needed to keep American workers safe from preventable, job-related injuries, disease and death.

Workers Memorial Day recognizes fallen workers and calls attention to workplace safety issues

They note that in 2010, nationwide 4,547 workers were killed on the job, and another 5,000 lost their lives to occupation diseases.  For that same year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 3.1 million job injuries and illnesses among private-sector employees and 820,000 injuries and illnesses among public employees. The organizers added that, due to underreporting, these numbers might understate the problem.

Ten of those whose lives will be remembered April 24 were from King County, Wash. Among them were firefighters, home-care aides, laborers, longshoremen, park rangers, sales clerks, and taxi drivers. The names of the fallen workers will be read during the UW ceremony.

Nationally and internationally Workers Memorial Day is commemorated April 28, with events also held in the days leading up to the official date.  It was started by the Canadian Union of Public Employees in 1984, and recognized in the United States beginning in 1989.

The program for the April 24 UW ceremony:

Presentation of Colors
University of Washington Air Force ROTC Honor Guard
Karl Zapf, Bagpiper
Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums

Master of Ceremonies
David Freiboth, executive secretary, King County Labor Council

Keynote Address
The Importance of Workers’ Rights and Safety: A Call to Action
Michael Honey, professor of ethnic gender and labor studies, UW Tacoma

Memorial Recognition
Karen Hart, President SEIU 925
Our Fallen Workers – 2012
Names read by UW students, staff, and faculty, and community members
Our Fallen Workers Serving in the Armed Services – 2012
Names read by Cadet Justin Rees

A Message from Sen. Patty Murray

Moving Forward
Jeff Johnson, president, Washington State Labor Council
Marty Cohen, UW Field Research and Consultation Group
Megan Karalua, UAW Local 4121
Emily Garverick, UW United Students Against Sweatshops
Dow Constantine, King County Executive

Closing
Music by Michael Laslett and Mike Honey

]]> http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/23/workers-memorial-day-event-takes-place-april-24-at-hub-lyceum/feed/ 0 http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/22/news-digest-husky-green-awards-oceanbound-on-earth-day-join-trash-in-wednesday-spring-clean-your-inbox/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news-digest-husky-green-awards-oceanbound-on-earth-day-join-trash-in-wednesday-spring-clean-your-inbox http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/22/news-digest-husky-green-awards-oceanbound-on-earth-day-join-trash-in-wednesday-spring-clean-your-inbox/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:59:32 +0000 News and Information http://www.washington.edu/news/?p=24377 Husky Green Awards announced
Husky Green Awards went to seven individuals and teams, with winners announced April 19 during the kick-off event for Earth Day on the University of Washington campus.

The award, now in its fourth year, recognizes students, faculty and staff who have demonstrated leadership, initiative and dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainability. A new award this year, the Husky Green Legacy Award, went to the UPass Advisory Board.

Other winners are:

• Duncan Clauson, graduate student, Evans School
• Sunni Wissmer, undergraduate student, College of Built Environment
• Victoria Rice Bean, operating room nurse, surgical department, UW Medical Center
• Brenda Nissley, Harborview Medical Center
• Green Wall, College of Built Environment
• Facilities Construction Shop 54, Facilities Services

Oceanbound on Earth Day
Oceanographers with the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory leave on Earth Day aboard the UW’s Thomas G. Thompson to redeploy two ocean monitoring buoys in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Two teachers will join the cruise and share the experience via blogs and Skype chats with their classrooms in Lake Quinault and Bainbridge Island.

Chief scientist Matthew Alford will be collecting data on deep-ocean waves, while Jan Newton will be gathering real-time data on ocean acidification. Six UW graduate students are also onboard. Follow Alford’s blog for updates on the cruise that runs through April 26.

Annual ‘UW Trash-In’ Wednesday
April 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Red Square, volunteers will suit up and sort through one day’s worth of trash from around the UW campus. The annual UW Trash-In is a fun and insightful way to explore how much compostable and recyclable material is still being thrown away on campus.

After a brief introduction to the sorting process, volunteers are given cover-up suits, gloves and shoe covers, and sent to a sorting station. Bags of trash are emptied onto tables and volunteers sort materials by type into nearby bins for compost, mixed containers, mixed paper and garbage. There’ll be  music, sorting games and challenges.

“Even avid recyclers or composters can learn a lot at this event,” said Jennifer Perkins with the UW Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability office. “Plus, there is a lot of laughing and dancing. I never knew how fun sorting trash could be.”

 Don’t just save everything: Tips to spring-clean your inbox

We tend to keep nearly all email thinking it will be useful someday. But usually old emails are just obsolete clutter that slow our Outlook accounts and make it hard to find what we actually need.

For most UW employees, 70 to 80 percent of email messages can be deleted, according to email policies provided by UW’s Records Management.

Taking a closer look at how to comply with the university’s requirements for keeping records,  UW Human Resources staff have come up with some tips for downsizing inboxes:

• Click on “Rules/create rule” to automatically move mail into designated, organized folders.
• Create “Quick Steps” and apply them with one click to do things such as create a task with a start and end date, change a message’s status, or flag a message.
• Use the “Clean up” function to remove redundant emails whose content is included in other messages.
• Once an email has been read or acted on, file it or delete it immediately.
• On the File tab, periodically check the bar under “Mailbox Cleanup,” and if you don’t have much storage left do a more extensive purge of email folders and messages, especially those with attachments.

Read more tips on records management in an article by UWHR’s Human Resources Records Management Group.

While supplies last, there’s free coffee and doughnuts from Top Pot Doughnuts at 6 a.m., a HuskyFest T-shirt giveaway at 11:30 a.m. and free ice cream from Cupcake Royale at 12:30 p.m.

KEXP Radio will broadcast live starting at 6 a.m. and has lined up six bands from the Puget Sound area for performances throughout the day, starting at 7:30 a.m. with Jon Russell, Damien Jurado and Tomo Nakayama.

HuskyFest offers additional activities in Red Square and several venues across campus all day.

Highlights of the kick-off for Earth Day include talks by local people tackling major environmental challenges in the greater Seattle community and a “trashion show,” according to Max Sugarman, UW Earth Day coordinator and member of the UW Earth Club that collaboratin with the Office of Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability on this year’s events.

U of Washington

Participants in the 2012 trashion show parade their creations.

Anne Mosness, a fishing boat captain and adviser to the Go Wild Campaign, and James Rasmussen, a member of the Duwamish Tribe and coordinator of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, will speak in Red Square at noon following opening remarks by Julia Parrish, associate dean of the College of the Environment.

Outfits in the trashion show at 2:15 p.m. are made with materials from personal trash and commercial dumpsters, last year including such things as University Bookstore bags and aluminum cans. KING TV’s New Day Northwest previewed this year’s show.

Among other activities Friday there will be more than 35 booths from vendors and campus groups on Red Square, the awarding of the annual Husky Green Awards and a chance to volunteer to plant, weed and mulch at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture and remove invasive species from the nearby Union Bay Natural Area. Work party registration is at 12:30 p.m.

A week of Earth Day activities follow Friday’s kick-off. Sugarman said some highlights are:

• A restoration event at McCarty Hall with the Society for Ecological Restoration and the Campus Sustainability Fund on Monday, April 22, the traditional Earth Day.
• A trash-in with UW Recycling and UW Earth Club, Wednesday, April 24.
• A climate change speaker panel (Facebook RSVP) hosted by the Student Association for Green Environments, Thursday, April 25.

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.

Dean Forbes

Brain surgeon and cancer researcher Eric Holland has been recruited to UW Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. He will arrive this summer.

UW Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have recruited world renowned neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher Eric Holland to establish world-class research programs on brain and other solid-tumor cancers. He will leave Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and arrive in Seattle this summer.

At UW Medicine, Holland will be a professor of neurological surgery, hold the Chap and Eve Alvord and Elias Alvord Chair in Neuro-oncology, and direct the Nancy and Buster Alvord Brain Tumor Center, established in 2009 to promote, develop and coordinate interdisciplinary brain tumor care and research among physicians and scientists in a variety of fields.

One of Holland’s priorities will be to recruit a team of internationally recognized brain cancer investigators to implement the vision of the late Ellsworth “Buster” Alvord, former head of neuropathology in the UW Department of Pathology and a Seattle philanthropist. Alvord and his family funded five endowed chairs in five different UW Medicine departments to create a multidisciplinary brain cancer research center.

“Eric Holland is exceptionally well qualified to lead the Alvord Brain Tumor Center, and I am confident that he will recruit outstanding researchers and clinicians to establish the Alvord Center as the best in the world,” said Paul G. Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the UW School of Medicine. “Under Dr. Holland’s leadership, we will be able to fulfill the vision for brain cancer research and clinical care established by Buster Alvord when he and his family made their extraordinarily generous commitment to establish the Alvord Center. I am delighted to welcome Eric Holland to UW Medicine.”

At Fred Hutch, where Holland’s research laboratory will be based, he will be senior vice president and director of the Human Biology Division, an interdisciplinary program that encourages collaboration among faculty with a broad range of expertise – from molecular and cellular biology to genetics and clinical research. The division’s structure fosters laboratory, computational and clinical research that yields discoveries which can be rapidly translated into cancer treatments. Holland will oversee the recruitment of new scientists who are at the forefront of solid-tumor translational research in such areas as breast, prostate, gastrointestinal and other cancers.

With advances in genomics increasingly playing an important role in solid-tumor oncology, Holland’s expertise in this area will provide strong leadership to strengthen Seattle’s reputation in translational, solid-tumor research.

“I am thrilled at the prospect of working with the world’s leading experts in genome sciences, computational biology and those involved in the development of novel platforms for delivering innovative therapies to cancer patients,” Holland said. “The highly collaborative, multidisciplinary nature of cancer research at Fred Hutch and UW Medicine provides a solid foundation to build on.”

A decade ago, when the Capital Projects Office began keeping tabs on worker injuries, it was estimated that 12 of every 100 workers were injured and lost time on the job, a number deemed unacceptably high, said Ronald Fouty, safety director in capital projects.

Vince Stricherz

Construction workers make progress in building the new Lander Hall.

The first thing was to raise the safety issue with individual contractors, he said. When the contractors saw the university was interested in safety, they took a variety of steps to give it greater emphasis and that alone cut the injury rate in half.

But UW construction managers wanted to do better yet, aiming for “world class safety,” and set a goal of reducing injuries to a rate of less than two per 100 workers per year. In 2012 it happened: an injury rate of 1.41.

The efforts, Fouty estimates, prevented 370 injures in the last decade.

“That’s 370 people who went home in as good a shape or better as when they came to work,” he said.

Fouty also estimates there has been a savings of $11 million in direct costs avoided in the last decade, savings both for the contractors and for the taxpayer-supported state workers compensation system. The time lost per injury has declined as well.

“It’s scary what can happen in construction. That’s the reason we had so much emphasis on planning. The best way to eliminate hazards on the job site is to think about them ahead of time,” Fouty said.

In the last few years, a hard hat has been a far-from-unusual sight on campus. The Capital Projects Office has some 60 projects in active construction at any given time, and another 200 to 250 in other stages from planning to finishing paper work.

Vince Stricherz

Scaffolding is a routine sight on a construction project, particularly for tasks in hard-to-reach places such as this one in the new Lander Hall.

The recent decline in state funding has delayed construction on several projects that have completed the design phase. But with the Husky Union Building renovation, a UW Medical Center Tower project and various new student housing projects, the Capital Projects Office  recorded its busiest year in 2011 and second-busiest in 2012. Still, the focus on safety allowed the injury rate to continue to decline.

But there have been reminders of just how dangerous construction work can be. For example, in June 2012 the campus community held its collective breath as a seasoned demolition worker was severely hurt when a 10-by-30-foot concrete slab crushed the cab of the long-reach excavator he was operating. The man spent months in recuperation and has been able to return to work, Fouty said.

The vast majority of injuries are far less severe, and capital projects personnel have tried to “lead by example” by wearing protective gear themselves whenever they are on a job site. That includes work gloves, Fouty said, an item many construction workers were not in the habit of using but now use more routinely.

“We have seen a significant reduction in cuts and lacerations to the hands and arms in recent years,” he said.

The most common injuries now are muscle pulls and strains, but contractors are encouraged to implement a stretching-and-flexing regimen for workers before they begin their daily routine and that has helped to cut down on injuries.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity not just to get warmed up for work but to talk about the work they’re going to be doing that day and how to perform it safely,” Fouty said.

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]]> http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/03/safety-emphasis-cuts-uws-major-construction-injuries-to-less-than-2-percent/feed/ 0 http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/03/news-digest-montlake-closures-environmental-excellence-finalist-paws-on-science-april-5-7-home-fair-april-11/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news-digest-montlake-closures-environmental-excellence-finalist-paws-on-science-april-5-7-home-fair-april-11 http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/03/news-digest-montlake-closures-environmental-excellence-finalist-paws-on-science-april-5-7-home-fair-april-11/#comments Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:27:35 +0000 News and Information http://www.washington.edu/news/?p=23795 Portion of Montlake closing Saturday, Sunday
A portion of Montlake Boulevard in front of Husky Stadium – where a pedestrian/bicycle bridge is being constructed – will be closed to pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicle traffic in both directions from 3 a.m. Saturday, April 6, through 5 a.m. Monday, April 8. The closure will be between Northeast Pacific Street and Northeast Pacific Place.

Northbound traffic will be routed around the Triangle Parking Garage area. Southbound traffic will be directed to Northeast Pacific Street, loop toward the waterfront via Brooklyn Avenue and back up Fifteenth Avenue Northeast, then back on Northeast Pacific heading back to Montlake Boulevard.

Pedestrians and bicyclists will be routed onto a temporary path at the Triangle Parking Garage area.

For more information, contact Sound Transit community outreach, Andrea Burnett, 206-398-5300 or andrea.burnett@soundtransit.org.

UW finalist in environmental excellence contest
The University of Washington is among four finalists in the “Environmental March Madness Tournament,” and in the running to be named the national environmental-excellence champion April 9.

“Our track record in researching and teaching about environmentally sound and sustainable practices and incorporating them into the lives and behaviors of our students is impeccable,” said UW President Michael K. Young. “We are very mindful and self-conscious about the importance of educating the generation that will be taking over from us and – we hope and trust – doing a better job of it. The planet demands it.”

For the challenge, the UW submitted images on Facebook, short essays and YouTube videos documenting environmental and sustainability efforts.

Family-friendly Paws-on Science April 5-7
Nearly 40 UW units will have exhibits and hands-on activities for Huskies of all ages at this year’s Paws-on Science: Husky Weekend at Pacific Science Center, April 5-7. Bring your Husky Card or UW Alumni Association member card to receive a 20 percent discount on general exhibit admission for you and your guests.

Home Improvement Fair April 11
The 16^th annual Home Improvement Fair will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in the HUB Lyceum, Room 106.

This year’s theme focuses on appreciating and adapting your home at any stage. Experts will discuss renovating, remodeling, refinancing and buying a home. Exhibitors include LastingNest, Rivalee Design, GreenHomes America and WSU Master Gardeners. There will be refreshments and door prizes.

The event is sponsored by HomeStreet Bank, a partner of the UW Benefits Hometown Home Loan Program. For more information contact Kathleen Dwyer, 206-543-2812, kdwyer@uw.edu or Mary Parker-Hale at 206-616-4932 or mphale@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.

Elizabeth Hunter

UW Medicine lung disease specialist Dr. Ganesh Raghu and pulmonary fibrosis patient support group leader Dave Sherry celebrate the establishment of the Center for Interstitial Lung Disease this week.

For 25 years, folks have traveled from all over the Pacific Northwest to meet for their pulmonary fibrosis support group at University of Washington Medical Center. This week, as they celebrated the support group’s quarter-century anniversary, the room buzzed with laughter, greetings, and smiles. Some members wore oxygen tanks, necessary after the disease began hardening and scarring their lung tissue and made breathing difficult.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a life-threatening disease in which excess fibrous tissue develops in the lungs. People with pulmonary fibrosis experience a hacking cough and shortness of breath that causes fatigue, weight loss, and weakness. No single cause of pulmonary fibrosis has been identified; it is often classified as a secondary effect of other interstitial lung diseases. The term “interstitial lung disease” refers to a large group of disorders involving both lungs, most of which cause progressive scarring of lung tissue (pulmonary fibrosis). There is no cure for pulmonary fibrosis, and almost no treatment. One can only hope to be a good candidate for a successful lung transplant.

A number support group members had already received lung transplants from UW Medical Center’s transplant services. One gentleman received news one month ago to the day, as he was walking out of the support group, that he was to have his transplant.

Dave Sherry, the group leader, beamed as he described the bond between fellow members. Each month, he and the team organize a speaker from UW Medical Center or an outside medical organization to give a talk about the disease. Members also spend time voicing their fears and successes with each other.

“We have a shared destiny that ties us together,” said Sherry. In fact, this support group has been so strong throughout the years that it became a model for other support groups. One prominent Italian surgeon was so impressed that he implemented a similar system of support groups in Europe.

Representatives from the Chicago-based Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, including CEO Dr. Daniel M. Rose, traveled to Seattle for the support group’s 25^th anniversary. Rose presented a short and fascinating lecture that compared the history of cystic fibrosis with pulmonary fibrosis. He emphasized the need for research and clinical trials, and showed how the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s aggressive approach to finding treatment for the disease ultimately improved the estimated lifespan of patients by more than 25 years. His goal is to approach pulmonary fibrosis with the same commitment to finding treatment and finding a cure.

Elizabeth Hunter

Some of the members of UW Medical Center’s pulmonary fibrosis support group gather for the 25th anniversary of the group this week.

Indeed, this month’s support group was particularly celebratory. In addition to the 25-year anniversary, this past week UW Medicine announced the formation of the Center for Interstitial Lung Disease. The Center’s founding director is Dr. Ganesh Raghu, UW professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and co-director of UW Medical Center’s scleroderma clinic. Raghu is also the prescient doctor who had the foresight to start the long-running support group—the first of its kind in the world.

Said Raghu, ”The establishment of the Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases is an essential expansion of a long standing interstitial lung disease /sarcoidosis/pulmonary fibrosis program at UW Medical Center. The initiative will result in more accurate diagnoses and better outcomes for patients confronted with the challenges of interstitial lung diseases. This is the beginning of a new and exciting era of substantial progress for our patients, who will now receive care tailored to the individual patient’s preference and choice based on current and new evidence. It is my most sincere privilege and honor to serve our patients and to work with everyone at UW Medical Center. It is a superb clinical and research environment, committed to maintaining and restoring health for those in need.”

For UW Medicine, establishing the Center for Interstitial Lung Disease means more opportunities for research, collaboration, training, and technology. For these incredible patients, who have supported each other for so long, the Center could mean a new lease on life.

Linda Hanlon

This image taken March 27 shows trees at 75 percent of full bloom.

Follow the progress
Photos are being posted every few days by Linda Hanlon, manager of the UW Information and Visitors Center, on the center’s Facebook page. You can “like” the Facebook page to follow the progress.  Those images and others are also being compiled into a gallery at the top of the center’s website.

Enter a photo contest
The deadline is March 31 for entering your photos in the “You-W in Bloom,” a Facebook-only contest. Popular vote will determine winners in five categories: Landscape, Husky Spirit, Instagram, Abstract/Artistic and Vintage (photos take prior to 1999). The University Marketing team, which is sponsoring the contest, will also choose a grand prize winner. Cherry blossom-themed prizes will be awarded, according to Elise Daniel, who is spearheading the contest.

UW seeking links to YouTube videos
Harry Hayward with UW media relations and communications is seeking links to YouTube videos featuring the cherry trees in bloom. He’s building a special playlist on the “uwhuskies” YouTube channel. For example there’s “Spring in the Quad,” complete with cute kid and a dog. And a dizzying view of wedding photos being taken and a musician in the video “A dude playing the Harp at the UW in the QUAD.”

Quad not only location for blossoms
The UW’s online Brockman Memorial Tree Tour shows Kwansan cherry trees along Rainier Vista near Stevens Way and Hisakura cherry Trees just off Red Square among the 480-some varieties of trees on campus.

Washington Sea Grant sponsors four-day symposium on waterfront challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s being presented in cooperation with the UW Tower Art Committee, which on the same day will open its new show of art made with recycled and found objects.

The fair will include demos of crafts made with recycled objects, Total Reclaim will be on hand collecting personal e-waste and Bike Works will be accepting donations of bikes and bike parts for its Earn-a-Bike program.  Other first time exhibitors include The Sierra Club, Cedar Grove Composting, Cascade Bicycle Club and the King County Native Plant Salvage Program. Sustainability films will be shown in the UW Tower auditorium.

Society recognizes UW Restoration Ecology Network
The Society for Ecological Restoration Northwest Chapter has awarded its 2013 Special Award to the UW Restoration Ecology Network. Through the network UW students conduct capstone projects in cooperation with community partners to restore degraded sites. The program was founded in 1999 by Warren Gold, associate professor at UW Bothell, and Kern Ewing, professor of environmental and forest sciences, who received the award March 1 from the society. In the past 13 years, more than 475 students from 31 academic majors have conducted restoration projects with community partners ranging from local and regional governments, to nonprofits, public utilities, schools and private landowners.

UW Science Now kicks off at Town Hall tonight

Sonia Singhal, a doctoral student in UW’s Department of Biology, says evolution is a prominent force in the present as well as the past. As the website about her talk says: We don’t even need to wait centuries to see its results. With bacteria and viruses, we have the powerful ability to watch evolution happen before our eyes in a matter of days. It can help advance technology against the flu, the common cold and even computer viruses. Singhal speaks at 5:30 p.m. at The Pub at Town Hall, enter on Eighth Avenue.

At 5:30 p.m., Wednesday (March 6) Juliana Houghton, a master’s student at UW’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, addresses the impact of San Juan whale-watching on the whales themselves. The website about her talk says: As researchers consider steps to help killer whales recover, they study the effects of vessel presence and a noisy environment yet still don’t know what whales actually hear as they travel through the water. Recently, a suction-cup-attached tag with an underwater microphone has been used to measure the noise whales actually receive.

A total of 19 UW Science Now talks have been scheduled, often before or after other science talks by local and national speakers at Town Hall.

The students are in the course “Communicating Science to the Public Effectively,” that grew out of efforts in 2010 by UW graduate students who felt students needed better opportunities for training in science communication, says the instructor for the course, Jessica Rohde, a graduate student in aquatic and fishery sciences.

“They started teaching each other, which eventually turned into a course and speaker series at Town Hall. The College of the Environment has fully supported their efforts, and now funds a TA -ship for the course,” Rohde said.

Tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888-377-4510, and at the door beginning at 5:30 pm.

Celebrating UW Women nominations due March 11
Members of the campus community can submit nominations for female UW students, staff and faculty deserving of recognition. All women nominated will be recognized at a reception in late March at the Hub Lyceum. The award was created to honor women from across campus as part of Women’s History Month.

Nominations require an essay of 250 words or less describing the contribution of the nominee. Deadline is Monday (March 11).

Nominations sought for fourth annual Husky Green Awards
Nominations are due March 30 the fourth annual Husky Green Awards meant to recognize individuals or teams from the UW community who demonstrate leadership, initiative and dedication to campus sustainability.

Last year’s winners are featured in a video produced by a student volunteer with the UW Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability Office.

Nominations should include a description of how an individual or team from the UW community demonstrated environmental stewardship or campus sustainability at the Seattle, Tacoma or Bothell campuses. Submissions are encouraged to include descriptions of measurable outcomes resulting from the nominee’s actions as well as descriptions of collaborations and efforts to engage the broader community in sustainability efforts. Two references are required for a nomination submission.

Grade-school students take on philosophy in panel discussion
The UW Department of Philosophy will celebrate its Philosophers in the Schools program and the new book “The Philosophical Child” by Jana Mohr Lone with a panel discussion from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in the HUB Lyceum. The event will feature fourth- and fifth-grade students from Seattle’s Whittier Elementary School. Lone is an affiliate UW faculty member and director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children. RSVP if possible to kgoldyn@uw.edu.

Hall Health Center expands tobacco cessation program
Hall Health Primary Care Center is increasing its free services for those in the UW community who want to quit using tobacco through a new program called “Tobacco Talk.”

The campus medical center now has a part-time tobacco cessation specialist who can meet with students and employees on a one-to-one basis. After the first session, subsequent meetings can be done by phone. Tobacco Talk also provides nicotine replacement products such as patches and gum. All services are free to both students and UW employees.

For more information, contact Colin Maloney, Tobacco Cessation Program coordinator, at 206-685-QUIT (7848) or quittalk@uw.edu.

Tracy Mehlin

Riz Reyes said he took inspiration from movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark for his garden featuring rare, wild and little-seen plant species.

Part-time UW gardener designs winning display
Riz Reyes, who works part time as a gardener with the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, claimed the top prize at the Pacific Northwest Flower & Garden Show this week. Reyes, who earned his bachelor’s in environmental horticulture and urban forestry from the UW, owns RHR Horticulture in Shoreline.

The flower and garden show proposed movies as the theme for gardens and Reyes said he took inspiration from Jurassic Park, King Kong and Raiders of the Lost Ark for his garden titled “The Lost Gardener – A Journey from the Wild to the Cultivated.”

Seattle garden writer Valerie Easton blogged, “The cool plant garden that took the Founder’s Cup – “The Lost Gardener” – is by Riz Reyes, a F&G Show first-timer. . . How many years has it been since there’s been a real plant collector’s garden? This one is all about unusual and rare plants, used extravagantly to create a jungle of a garden. How good Riz was rewarded with the big prize for being daring with his plant choices.”

Included in the display are more than 75 different kinds of plants.

At the UW, Reyes works at the Center for Urban Horticulture and is responsible for maintaining the Soest Herbaceous Display Garden.

The flower and garden show continues this weekend.

RecycleMania a chance to increase recycling, composting on campus
You can help the UW’s standings in this year’s RecycleMania by increasing your efforts to recycle and compost between now and March 30.

The RecycleMania competition pits the UW against universities nationwide – including the Pac-12 rivals such as ASU, Stanford and WSU – to determine the top recycler.

Since Feb. 3, UW Recycling has been tracking the amount of recycling, food waste and garbage collected on campus each week. UW is competing in four categories: the highest waste diversion rate (recycling compared to what is thrown away); the highest recycling rate per person on campus; the highest gross tonnage of recycling generated on campus; and the highest percentage of food waste composted per person.

UW Recycling is sharing weekly results on its website, where you can also see results of a competition between UW residence halls sponsored by Housing and Food Services.

The competitions provides incentives to take waste diversion at the UW further, according Jessica Lisiewski, UW Recycling & Solid Waste program coordinator. The more participation across campus, the closer the UW can get to reaching its waste diversion goal of 70 percent by 2020, she said.

Newborn screening test brings chemical society honor to Gelb, Tureček
Michael Gelb and František Tureček, UW chemistry professors, will be presented the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest for their work in devising methods to detect rare genetic diseases in newborns.

The diseases – which include Tay-Sachs, Gaucher, Krabbe, Pompe, Nieman-Pick, Fabry, and Hurler syndromes – affect about one in every 5,000 people and cause serious abnormalities in children, often resulting in premature death. Early detection is important for the best chances of effective treatment.

The procedures for newborn screening developed by Gelb and Tureček have proven so reliable and inexpensive that several states now require that every newborn be tested.

The award will be presented by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society April 4 at Harvard University.

The University of Washington Botanic Gardens started work last August on a two-year project to  digitize those records and create an interactive geographic information systems map for the entire park. Eventually planners and visitors will be able to go online and pinpoint specific plants and collections within the arboretum, and access all sorts of historical details.

UW Botanic Gardens/U of Washington

Handwritten notes and updates for one of the 100-foot by 100-foot parcels in the 230-acre Washington Park Arboretum.

“People will be able to find an area in the arboretum, then zoom down and see which plants are there,” says Tracy Mehlin, project manager and information technology librarian at the UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture. “It will be really fascinating and educational to have all of that history linked to the plant records, and accessible online to everyone.”

One of the first tasks of the project was to begin surveying and verifying the geospatial coordinates of the 230-acre park, which decades ago was divided into 595 grid squares, each 100 feet by 100 feet. When those grid markers and coordinates are confirmed, they will be used to create a map that supports the geo-referenced database. Two- and three-person teams of students and staff have already been out surveying for the past couple months.

It’s a multitiered project, and Mehlin has been working closely with other partners at the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

Sarah Reichard, director of UW Botanic Gardens, is the principal investigator on the grant along with Soo-Hyung Kim, a UW professor of environmental and forest sciences. Jim Lutz, a research scientist and engineer with the College of the Environment, has been helping coordinate the student survey crews and GIS mapping. UW information systems engineer David Campbell is working on the searchable database and Web interface.

UW Botanic Gardens/U of Washington

The same grid with digitized information and incorporating GIS mapping.

Others involved are helping with various projects, including digitizing the existing maps, as well as handwritten notes and histories attached to each of the park’s 10,000 “accessions,” plants that are part of the formal collection.  The UW Botanic Gardens owns and manages the collection in the arboretum which is a City of Seattle park.

When completed, the searchable database will be a boon for environmental research, park management and visitors, Reichard said.

“The idea is that eventually you’d be able to get the coordinates of a particular collection, like our magnolias, and locate them on your cell phone or GPS unit,” she said. “We can start putting together virtual tours, and visitors can go from plant to plant.”

Awarded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the grant is expected to run through August 2014.

Transportation services “hearts” ridesharing this week

To receive a care package just stop by any staffed campus gatehouse between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in either an existing vanpool or carpool with a valid permit, or by purchasing a daily carpool permit on the spot.

Each care package is chock-full of things to help you and your rideshare partners enjoy your trip and encourage those around you to share their ride as well, according to information from transportation services. There’s a Facebook page to learn more about the event.

Registration opens for UW Summer Youth Programs
New classes offered through UW Summer Youth Programs this year include an introduction to engineering design, Lego animation and a class in partnership with the Pacific Northwest Girls Collaborative called Girls Inventing Robots, according to Leslie Rome-Nagata, who manages the program for UW Educational Outreach.

There also will be two middle school academies focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics, as well as daylong programs for elementary students.

For more information call 206-543-2310.

Lizabeth Wilson wins national award
Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, dean of UW libraries, is the 2013 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award from the American Libraries Association. Wilson will receive a cash award and citation during the association’s annual conference.

Named in honor of a pioneer in library automation, the award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management, and has made notable improvements in library services or research.

Wilson has fostered innovation to strengthen the ability of the libraries she has personally led as well as libraries across the world to serve better users of libraries, according to information from the association.

Nominations due March 1 for university faculty lecturer
Nominations are now open for next year’s university faculty lecturer. The position is open to current and emeriti faculty whose research, scholarship or art has been widely recognized by their peers and whose achievements have had a substantial impact on their profession, on the research or performance of others and perhaps on society as a whole.

The honoree delivers a lecture that is open to the public. For example, this year’s recipient, Batya Friedman, professor in the UW Information School, delivered her lecture last week.

Nomination materials should be submitted to the Secretary of the Faculty at secfac@uw.edu. Those with questions can call 206-543-2637

Meet dozens of suppliers at annual fair Feb. 20
The seventh annual UW Supplier Fair, hosted by Procurement Services and the Business Diversity Program, will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 20 in the HUB Ballroom. The fair is a showcase for suppliers in eProcurement, suppliers with a UW contract and for small, local minority- and women-owned businesses.  Light refreshments will be served. Registration is open now for this free event.

What Is a “phishing?”

Federal Trade Commission

This Federal Trade Commission graphic deals with the issue of “phishing” scams.

Phishing is a form of email or Internet fraud in which cybercriminals entice  victims to provide personal information, including login credentials, that can be used to gain access to UW or personal systems, bank accounts and other financial assets, as well as other sensitive information. Phishing messages often include distressing or enticing statements to provoke an immediate reaction, or they may threaten consequences if you fail to respond.

What does the scam look like?

Recent phishing messages have asked recipients to click on links to phony Web pages designed to look like official UW websites, where they are then asked to “update” or “confirm” information such as UW NetIDs and passwords.

How do criminals use the information?

Cybercriminals may use the information obtained to send spam via email or social media accounts, or to gain access to UW or other systems or assets. They may also sell the information to other criminals who then infect computers with malware or misuse the information in other ways.

How can I protect myself?

Your best protection is to:

• Be skeptical about these urgent emails; do not take their recommended action.
• Do not provide any sensitive or personal information by email without verifying with the institution that it is the “sender.”
• Verify the legitimacy of an embedded link before automatically following it (hover over the link to see whether the revealed Web address is a legitimate UW Web site or if you are being redirected to another site).

Where can I get more information and help?

These Web resources are available from the UW Office of the Chief Information Officer:

• Phishing Risk Advisory: http://ciso.washington.edu/resources/risk-advisories/phishing/
• “Phishing at UW” video training: http://ciso.washington.edu/resources/online-training/

The IT Connect Web site published by UW Information Technology also has additional information and tips:

• Safe and Secure Computing: http://uw.edu/itconnect/security/

Earlier in his career, Dr. Tao Kwan-Gett spent his summers volunteering as a physician for children on the Thai-Burma border.

“The Center connects the University of Washington School of Public Health to the public health practice community, and it also connects different facets of public health to each other,” Dr. Kwan-Gett said. “I’m excited about finding and making new connections to support our public health partners.”

Kwan-Gett earned a master of public health degree at the UW after completing a pediatric residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He brings a wide range of experience in public health, clinical care and global health to his new position. For the past six years, he has worked at Public Health – Seattle & King County, where he has overseen the day-to-day work of the communicable disease investigation team.

Before that, he practiced eight years as a primary-care pediatrician with Virginia Mason Hospital. He spent his vacations volunteering in a clinic on the Thai/Myanmar border serving refugees and migrant workers. He is co-author of Infectious and Tropical Diseases: A Handbook for Primary Care.

Dr. Kwan-Gett in a recent photograph.

Kwan-Gett succeeds Dr. Susan Allan, a physician and attorney who has served as director since 2008 and will continue as an associate professor of health Services.

“The field of public health is in a challenging but also exciting period—moving away from direct services, broadening involvement in policy, and figuring out opportunities to work more closely with health care providers and systems as the Affordable Care Act is implemented,” Dr. Allan said. “Tao brings very valuable skills and experience that will further strengthen NWCPHP. I think NWCPHP could be even more helpful for the practice community as we move ahead.”

Read an interview with Kwan-Gett on his appointment.

Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, writes about call and response, “the kind of call that allows us to acknowledge misfortune, ruination, or loss, followed by a response proclaiming that freedom and justice are close at hand.”

Financial, research and learning highlights part of Report to Stakeholders now online
Financial Management has just published the 2012 Report to Stakeholders online.

The report contains this year’s financial highlights and financial statements, including the independent auditor’s report, as well as metrics, stories, and videos related to students, research, community impact and sustainability efforts.