Xiaodong Xu garners Department of Energy early-career grant
Xiaodong Xu, a UW assistant professor in the departments of materials science and engineering and physics, has been awarded an Early Career Research Program grant by the Department of Energy. The program, now in its third year, supports outstanding scientists early in their careers working in areas of interest to the energy department. Xu's was among 68 grants selected from nearly 850 applicants. The award covers up to $150,000 in research expenses annually for five years.

Xu's proposal concerning photon-electron interactions in Dirac quantum materials will investigate new materials at the quantum level. These materials display unusual interactions between incoming light, electrical charge transport and electron spin. His research seeks to better understand these interactions, potentially leading to new high‐speed electronics, memory devices and solar cells.

Ethnic Cultural Center's 'Raise the Roof' party Thursday
The Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center will host a "Raise the Roof" party Thursday, May 24, at 3 p.m., at the building’s renovation site on the corner of Brooklyn Ave Northeast and Northeast 40^th Street. Students, staff, faculty and community members are invited to sign a beam and watch as a crane lifts this beam to the top of the roof.

Food will be available courtesy Seattle’s first Native American food truck, Off the Rez. For more information, visit the ECC web site.

The new Samuel E. Kelly ECC is undergoing an extensive renovation and is scheduled to open in late fall of 2012. Check out photos of the building progress: April 5, 2012, Jan. 31, 2012, Dec. 2, 2011 and Oct. 12, 2011 - Groundbreaking.

New financial conflict of interest regulations
The UW’s policy on financial conflicts of interest is being revised so that it complies with new public health service regulations which go into effect Aug. 24.  Implementation processes to ensure compliance with the new regulations are still under development. Email communications will occur throughout the summer, and the new financial conflict of interest website will be updated frequently.

For all investigators, the monetary threshold for disclosing a significant financial interest will be lowered from $10,000 to $5,000, with no threshold for disclosure of equity in a non-publicly traded company. All investigators disclosing a significant financial interest will use a new electronic reporting tool currently under development.

Investigators engaged in public health service-funded research must complete online financial conflict-of-interest training prior to the expenditure of funds on any newly-funded projects; all significant conflicts of interest related to institutional responsibilities must be disclosed; the institution must make conflict-of-interest information publicly available prior to the expenditure of any funds; and investigators must disclose all travel reimbursement sponsored by (i.e., paid by an outside entity) or reimbursed by an outside entity for travel after Aug. 24, 2012.  Travel reimbursement from the following outside entities does not need to be reported:  an institution of higher education, a federal/state/local government, an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute affiliated with an institution of higher education.

The staff in the Office of Research is available to assist and answer any questions.

'Cirque,' an activism traveling carnival, launches June 2 at UW Tacoma
UW’s Q Center is celebrating National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride with "Cirque," Washington state's first student LGBT arts and activism traveling carnival, with Tacoma, Spokane and Seattle events.

Cirque features live music, performances, slam poetry, speakers, carnival games, food and refreshments at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 2, in UW Tacoma’s Philip Hall. The event is free. Register at http://depts.washington.edu/cirque

Preceding the UW Tacoma program, at 2 p.m., Cirque presents a talk by David C. Ward, the curator of the Smithsonian-curated Tacoma Art Museum Hide/Seek queer art exhibit in its final week. Tacoma Art Museum offers a discounted rate and exclusive tour through Cirque that afternoon. The UW Tacoma events are sponsored by Office for Equity & Diversity, the Diversity Resource Center, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and the Arts and Lectures Fund.

Cirque will have an event later in June in Spokane at which it will honor individuals statewide who have advanced the Q Center’s mission of building and facilitating queer academic and social community though education, advocacy, and support services.

Details about the Seattle events are still in the works. For more information, contact: leoule@uw.edu or cirque@uw.edu

Buddy Ratner recognized for contributions to field of biomaterials
The European Society for Biomaterials has chosen Buddy Ratner, a UW professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering, for the 2012 George Winter Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of biomaterials. The committee cited Ratner's excellence in research, his vision and his leading role in the promotion of biomaterials science worldwide. He will be honored at next year's society conference in Madrid, where he will present the award lecture.

Glaciology graduate student to discuss science behind SIFF film 'Chasing Ice'
Kristin Poinar, a UW graduate student in glaciology, will join director Jeff Orlowski following two screenings of the movie “Chasing Ice” to talk about the science behind melting glaciers. The documentary features stark video of vanishing glaciers, shot over years using time lapse cameras deployed in the Arctic. Inspired by National Geographic photographer James Balog, the film aims to shine a spotlight on the effects of climate change.

Poinar anticipates answering questions about moulins – kilometer-deep holes through the ice sheet bored by meltwater each summer – which figure prominently in the film. She may also share expertise on subjects including glacier acceleration and the use of satellite images to study glacier change.

The film, featured as part of the Seattle International Film Festival, screens on June 9 at 6:30 at Harvard Exit and June 10 at 1 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

Jeff Hou named community builder
Jeff Hou, chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture, has been presented a Community Builder Award by the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority. Hou brought stakeholders together for improvements in the International District, including the recently re-opened International Children’s Park. Hou has also been a leader in the King Street Visioning Project, which aims to revitalize the core of the International District.

Batya Friedman

The award, which comes with $5,000, honors current or emeritus faculty whose achievements have had substantial impacts on their profession and perhaps society as a whole. In the fall, Friedman will deliver an all-university lecture about her work.

The range of Friedman’s research is huge, iSchool Dean Harry Bruce said in his nominating letter: online privacy, technologically mediated relationships with nature, technology and homeless youth, and most recently, healing from genocide.

“In my many years in academia, I have known no one I find more deserving of such a stellar research, teaching, service award,”  iSchool Professor Eliza Dresang said in Bruce’s nominating letter.

Friedman could not be reached for comment, as she was on her way to Rwanda where she will conduct more research and outreach related to Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal, the collection of interviews with judges, interpreters, defense counsel and others who have served the tribunal.

The court has considered cases of Rwandans accused of participating in the 1994 genocide, which resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people in less than 100 days.

Conducted by a team that included legal experts and a videographer, the interviews are believed to be the first with people serving on a war crimes tribunal. In designing Voices research, Friedman used multi-lifespan information system design, the research she pioneered to address problems that cannot be resolved in a single lifespan.

As part of her work in Rwanda, Friedman culled about a dozen of the 49 interviews, showing them to groups in the country as a way to help with healing.

A UW faculty member since 1999, Friedman holds appointments in the iSchool as well as the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering. She also directs the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab.

“Our program has come a long way since its early beginnings,” said Micheal Meyering, manager of Housing & Food Services.

“We started our first front-of-the-house compost pilot at the Eleven 01 Café in February 2007. The 70,000-plus members of our campus community are the real winners. They make it happen every day by participating as environmental stewards.”

In addition to waste management, the association also recognized sustainable dining practices in four other operational categories: procurement practices, energy and water conservation, materials and resources, and outreach and education.

New book explores creating, supporting livable communities
What is a livable community? How do you design and develop one? How can government support and nurture the cause of livable communities? A new book co-edited by Fritz Wagner, UW research professor in urban design and planning, studies such questions using case studies from North America, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

"Community Livability: Issues and Approaches to Sustaining the Well-Being of People and Communities," co-edited by Wagner and Roger Caves of San Diego State University, is published by Routledge Press. Wagner, who also has an adjunct appointment in landscape architecture, manages the UW's Northwest Center for Livable Communities.

Using a blend of theory and practice, experts in the field look at evidence from international, state and local perspectives to explore what is meant by the term "livable communities."

Chapters examine the effect and importance of transportation alternatives to the elderly, the significance of walkability as a factor in developing a livable and healthy community, the importance of good open space providing for human activity and health, the importance of coordinated land use and transportation planning, and the relationship between livability and quality of life.

'New Directions' award to UW anthropologist
Danny Hoffman, a UW associate professor of anthropology, is one of 15 faculty members around the country to receive a New Directions Fellowship from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation this year.

An expert on African warzones and militarization, Hoffman will use the fellowship to study architecture and urban planning through the UW College of Built Environments and in South Africa with scholars of postcolonial cities.

"The U.S. and allied militaries always came at the idea that fighting in cities was the last resort," Hoffman said. "There was little specific thinking of how one would do security in urban environments or what it would mean to fight in an urban environment. That has changed in the last few years."

How cities are put together and how people move through them are now being considered by military thinkers. It has implications for urban military operations, including how a military could isolate parts of a city if a mass pandemic broke out.

In addition to supporting advanced interdisciplinary training for individual scholars, the Mellon Foundation hopes the New Directions program will contribute to the development of interdisciplinary courses and cross-disciplinary teaching collaborations.

Disability, Law, Policy and the Community poster session May 24
Students from the class Disability Law, Policy and the Community will present their research on the effects of various policies on individuals with disabilities in a poster session from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 24, in the Allen Library Research Commons.

Students from this class in the Law, Societies and Justice Program will present on topics such as the Involuntary Treatment Act, the Community First Choice Act, Shaynan's Law, the Seattle Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team Program, elimination of the death penalty, acquiring accommodations in postsecondary education, standards for Washington state educational interpreters and more. The event is free and open to the public.

Minority Affairs and Diversity hosts undergraduate research conference
More than 70 undergraduate McNair scholars and colleagues representing 14 universities will converge at the UW for a research conference, May 17-19.

Students will present year-long collaborative research in the social science, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and humanities fields at the 20^thannual Pacific Northwest McNair/EIP/GO-MAP Research Conference, held in conjunction with UW's Undergraduate Research Symposium.

The event will feature the work of 32 UW students who are affiliated with the McNair Scholars Program, the Presidential Scholars Program and the Early Identification Program.

MathAcrossCampus showcases applications of mathematics, with a special emphasis on the growing role of discrete methods in math applications.

Geography "legend" announces last doctoral committee defense
A bittersweet moment transpired in the geography department May 1. At the end of a dissertation exam, Emeritus Professor Dick Morrill announced that it would be his very last doctoral committee.

He has overseen 28 dissertations since 1966. His last dissertation defense, which occurred May 1 for geography graduate student Elise Bowditch, took place in Room 409 – the same room where Morrill defended his own dissertation in 1959.

In a tribute that describes his contributions and lists the dissertations he's supervised, Morrill's colleagues in the UW geography department thank him for "inspiring so many aspiring geographers" and call him a "legend" and "one of a kind."

Education and research timeline stretches back 150 years
In honor of the UW's 150^th anniversary, the Office of Research has created a timeline of education and research at the UW. Take a tour of UW's beginnings from a small university of 30 students in the territory of Washington to the university it is today.

The timeline is a research-focused look at UW history with facts and photos about such things as the first open-heart surgery in the Pacific Northwest to the development of the first ultrasound instrument sold in the U.S.

Clay Schwenn, adviser in Undergraduate Academic Affairs, wins national award
Clay Schwenn, lead academic counselor for undergraduates, has won an Outstanding Advising Award from the National Academic Advising Association.

According to the nominating letter from Undergraduate Academic Affairs Advising, Schwenn is best known for innovative use of technology in academic advising. In 2007, he won an award from the association for his advising podcasts.

Schwenn also spends significant time supervising peer advisors, 10 undergraduates who help fellow students with quick questions on matters such as registration and course scheduling.

The National Academic Advising Association has approximately 10,000 members in the U.S.

Tower Green Fair May 15 with campus, off-campus groups
The second annual Tower Green Fair, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 15, will bring UW people and units involved in green initiatives – such as Professional and Continuing Education, Commuter Services and Recycling & Solid Waste – together with local nonprofit groups and businesses that also think green.

The fair, conducted at the UW Tower, is open to the entire campus. Visitors should be sure to bring their UW Husky cards for entrance to the tower.

UW Housing and Food Services and four private vendors will be providing treats to sample. Nonprofit groups that will be represented at the fair are Washington Trails Association, EarthCorps, Seattle Tilth and the Washington Toxics Coalition.

Visitors to the fair can have a Sustainability Passport stamped as they move from table to table to enter a drawing for  green gift baskets and other prizes to be given away.

Visitors? Relatives here for commencement? Check Campus Tours Central
The UW Information and Visitors Center recently launched a new online resource called Campus Tours Central that offers downloadable self-guided tour publications, online tours and tour-guide tips.

"Campus Tours Central provides tools and information so that everyone will have a better campus experience whether they are visiting us online or in-person.  Since groups sometimes need a tour leader, and you may know your area of campus best, we’re providing tips so that you can be better trained to lead a group. We encourage everyone to be a tour leader," said Linda Hanlon, Information and Visitors Center manager.

The UW Office of Admissions Visit Program offers guided campus tours twice a day on weekdays and once on most Saturdays, but throughout the year many campus departments and units may need to lead their own tours, and groups coming to campus are sometimes not able to be matched with a guide through the Admissions Visit Program, Hanlon said.

"With these tools, anyone can be a well-prepared guide. You – yes you – might make an excellent campus tour guide," says Linda Hanlon.

Seth Cooper, chief architect of Foldit, wins national doctoral dissertation award
The Association for Computing Machinery has given recent UW doctoral graduate Seth Cooper its Doctoral Dissertation Award, recognizing the best thesis published in 2011 in the field of computer science.

Cooper's thesis, "A Framework for Scientific Discovery through Video Games," explored how computer games could be used to solve difficult scientific problems. He was advised by Zoran Popović, professor of computer science and engineering. Cooper was chief architect of Foldit, a computer game in which players help to solve the structure of proteins that play a role in HIV and other diseases. He is now creative director at the UW's Center for Game Science.

The association will honor Cooper on June 16 in San Francisco.

Evans School Faculty roundtable on education May 2
Some urban school districts use a portfolio strategy as they seek to improve education. This means developing a diverse mix of schools and granting them autonomy over budgets and hiring, while holding them accountable to performance standards.

But what are the effects of such reforms on student achievement? What counterarguments are made, and what are the challenges facing these pioneering districts?

Join the Evans School of Public Affairs for "Strife and Progress: Transforming Public Education in Big Cities," its third and final faculty roundtable in celebration of the school's 50^th anniversary. The roundtable will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, in Kane Hall's Walker-Ames Room. RSVP to esevents@uw.edu or call 206-221-7779.

The opening lecture by Paul Hill, founder of UW Bothell's Center on Reinventing Public Education, will present results of a three-year study of six cities using the portfolio strategy. The lecture will be followed by a discussion with Evans School faculty Mark Long, William Zumeta, alumna Edie Harding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Evans School doctoral candidate Katharine Destler.

Political cartoonist Aislin to speak May 10
For Terry Mosher and cartoonists like him, the joke’s the thing that tells the truth.

Mosher, best known as Aislin, the political cartoonist whose work is published in The Montreal Gazette, will speak at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 10 in 210 Kane Hall on “The Arctic and Inuit in the Hearts and Minds of Editorial Cartoonists.”

An exhibit of Canadian political cartoons about the Arctic and the Inuit people, including several by Mosher, will be exhibited in  the Allen Library North Lobby May 5 to 30.

In a late-April interview, Mosher said the Inuit and the Arctic are featured in lots of Canadian editorial cartoons because of tremendous national concern for precious land and the 50,000 members of the tribe. “The Inuit have survived phenomenal hardships, and the north is really our last frontier,” Mosher said.

Mosher, who’s president of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists, said he didn’t so much choose his profession “as back into it.”

“I like to draw. I pass comment on the public parade, things that concern us,” Mosher said. The reward, he said, is to cause reaction. “The society that can laugh at itself is a healthy society indeed – and the Inuit are very, very good at laughing at themselves,” Mosher said.

His visit and the exhibit are sponsored by the Canadian Studies Center, the Jackson School of International Studies, the UW, the Consulate General of Canada Seattle, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (the national Inuit association in Canada) and the UW Libraries.

Bob Morgan receives leadership award
R.L. “Bob” Morgan, senior technology architect for UW Information Technology, has received the Internet2 President’s Leadership Award. The award recognizes individuals from the Internet2 membership for their exemplary service to the national and global research and education community. Internet2 is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions.

Entrepreneurs share insights with UW researchers
The University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization has added four additional industry experts to its Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program. Through the program, entrepreneurs with specific subject expertise and industry experience become acquainted with UW faculty who are translating fundamental research results into practical applications.

The entrepreneurs help identify UW technologies with commercial promise and consult with researchers, providing expertise about target markets, product development and fundraising.

Students An, Woelfer garner awards
Jonathan An, a first-year student at the School of Dentistry, has won a Hatton Award from the American Association for Dental Research. An will represent the U.S. in the International Hatton Awards competition in Brazil in June, said Dr. Linda LeResche, the school’s interim associate dean for research.  His winning presentation was titled “Modulating Alcohol Effects on the Midface by Vitamin A Derivatives,” and his preceptor was Dr. Timothy Cox, pediatrics and oral health sciences.

Jill Palzkill Woelfer, a doctoral student in the Information School, has been awarded the 2012 Graduate School Medal. The award, which is given to one UW student each year, recognizes Woelfer’s commitment to homeless young people and dissertation research about ways such people use technology. Read the iSchool story about Woelfer:http://ischool.uw.edu/feature/jill-woelfer-awarded-graduate-school-medal

In 2011 they were the underdogs. This year, an article on the results referred to a UW "dynasty."

In a contest that has roots and top teams from the military, the eight students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering stand out. Several have bushy hair, one member wears five-toed shoes, all have a sense of humor.

"We do our best to entertain ourselves during the competition, and I think that gives us a leg up," said senior Ian Finder, one of three students from last year's team. "We don't appear to take it as seriously as we do."

Ian Finder and Lars Zornes during the competition.

"They're a lot of fun, and they're funny," said Kadenko, who traveled with the team and acted as team manager and morale builder. "I am so proud of them."

The national contest, hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio, brought together winners of 10 regional events. It took place over two nine-hour days on April 20 and 21.

"There's plenty of stressful moments. As a team, we shout a lot. But at the end of the day we're cracking jokes, we're all happy," Finder said.

"We're there to have fun," Baba-Weiss said of the exhausting schedule. "As corny as it sounds, that's why we all do it."

Teams acted as a web hosting company, Go Mommy (a play on the popular Go Daddy web host) that had to keep their company running despite a constant barrage of attacks.

Landon Meernik (background), Cullen Walsh and Karl Koscher at this year's competition.

Contest organizers try to throw students off guard. This year's equipment included firewall routers built by Juniper, rather than the Cisco routers that most students were familiar with.

"Right away one person from every team, which on our team was Lars, bolted out of the conference room, went up to their hotel room and started doing a crash course on Juniper routers," Kadenko recalled.

While some teams have intense training regimens, Team Hillarious kept its laid-back style. Twice-a-week practice sessions started in January. Recruiting happened informally, as did the choice of final team members. Kadenko was responsible for securing the room in Sieg Hall, scavenging decommissioned equipment, and stocking the snack fridge.

At one point during the contest the attacking team said they would give students a short break if students sent a photo of themselves looking sad. The UW sent a photo of someone making a sad face beside a screen showing that all its systems were running smoothly.

At another point, the UW team noticed that the red team was in its system and used the opportunity to send the attackers a note with a message not fit for publication, Finder said.

In March the team took first place in the 5th Pacific Rim Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Contest, held at Highline Community College and hosted by the UW's Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity.

"The first year [they won nationals] might have been a fluke," said regional contest founder and organizer Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, research associate professor in the UW's Information School. "To have it happen two years in a row sends a serious message about the Pacific Northwest, and I think it's about creative problem-solving."

She described the winning team as representing "iconoclastic Northwest geek grunge," something she said the computer-security world could use more of.

Companies and government agencies attend a recruiting session just after the competition. But all the UW team members already have jobs at Microsoft, Boeing, Facebook and Seattle-area startups.

"I don't think there's a single person [on our team] that's there for networking or job offers; that's a bonus," said Sackler, the team captain.

This year for the first time the winning team will also have a spot in the Capture the Flag competition at DefCon, the premier hacking conference held in Las Vegas. In three months they will try to fend off the world's top security experts and hackers.

"We are terrified," Sackler said. "Our goal is to keep a single machine with a working operating system at the end of that competition."

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For more information or to reach team members, contact Kadenko at melody@cs.washington.edu or 206-616-1068.

New child care resources available
Bright Horizons, a private provider of child care services, in partnership with WorkLife in the UW’s office of Human Resources, now offers priority enrollment access and emergency back-up care to UW faculty, staff and students.

• Priority enrollment access: Upon approval from WorkLife, UW faculty, staff and students are eligible for enrollment priority at designated centers on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact Bright Horizons directly to locate centers in your area and receive information on their tuition rates and potential waitlists. All registration and tuition fees are the responsibility of the family. Once you have decided on a Bright Horizons location, email WorkLife for priority access approval before registering at Bright Horizons.
• Emergency back-up care: Back-up care may be needed, for example, when a child’s school is closed or a caregiver is sick. To locate a facility, contact Bright Horizons and let them know your UW affiliation and need. Most Bright Horizons facilities accept children 6 weeks to 5 years of age; the Bright Horizons in downtown Seattle accommodates children up to age 12. Be prepared to show your UW Husky card at time of drop-off. Cost is $100 per day, paid by the family.

For more information check WorkLife’s child care services website, call  206-543-6963 or send email.

UW police open house set Wednesday
Guided public tours, bomb dog demonstrations with K9 Kali and a beer goggle obstacle course are among the activities planned during the 2012 UW Police Department Open House 1 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 18, at the Bryants Building on Boat Street.

The annual open house is an opportunity to meet police officers and share community policing initiatives, according to the invitation issued by Chief John Vinson. Other organizations with information booths at the event include Sound Transit, UW Housing & Food Services and Seattle Police.

UW has highest participation in state's workplace giving program
Secretary of State Sam Reed visited the UW on April 5 to give the UW Combined Fund Drive an award for having the highest percentage of participation of any university in the state. Fully 15 percent of UW employees contributed to the workplace giving campaign in 2011 and raised more than $2 million for nonprofit agencies. He praised UW for its generosity and said the UW Combined Fund Drive campaign is not only number one in the state, but in the entire country.

Six health sciences students named 2012 Magnuson Scholars
Six students, one from each UW health sciences school, have been named this year's Magnuson Scholars. The awards commemorate the late Sen. Warren G. Magnuson, remembered for supporting health research.  Selection is made on academic performance and potential scientific contributions. They are:

• Juliet Dang, School of Dentistry, an oral biology doctoral student characterizing the human papillomavirus in oral cancer.
• Amelia Seraphia Derr, School of Social Work, a doctoral candidate studying disparities in healthcare access among immigrants.
• Astrid Suchy-Dicey, School of Public Health, an epidemiology doctoral candidate investigating population genetics and heart disease, as well as diabetes, medication use and gene expression.
• James Stewart Lang, School of Medicine, an Underserved and Hispanic Pathway medical student planning a career in diabetes treatment and prevention.
• I Chun Liu, School of Nursing, a doctoral candidate researching dietary acculturation in Chinese Americans.
• Eri Nakatani, School of Pharmacy, a medicinal chemistry doctoral student exploring nanoparticle therapeutics in HIV vaccine development.

They include Ellis Goldberg, professor of political science; Huck Hodge, assistant professor of music; and Richard Olmstead, professor of biology and curator at the Burke Museum.

Goldberg is in the process of completing two books. One is on the role of moral emotions and the construction of community before and after the revolutionary uprisings of the Arab Spring in 2011, and the other on how Egyptian jurists and intellectuals participated in global debates about the rule of law and the role of judges throughout the 20th century.

Hodge writes music that explores the embodied poetics of organized sound, perceptual illusion and the threshold between design and intuition. His output is varied and comprises a wide range of symphonic, chamber, and multimedia works. His music has been the subject of numerous international radio broadcasts and is regularly performed at major new music festivals throughout the world. His work “Pools of shadow from an older sky” is available online.

Olmstead’s research focuses on the reconstruction of flowering plants by molecular methods as a way of gaining insight into fundamental questions of evolution and natural history. In addition, the lab is actively involved with research on the overall phylogeny of green plants, from their roots in the green algae to the tips of flowering plants. His lab has been instrumental in implementing new approaches from molecular biology in plant systematics, and in developing approaches for dealing with the problems associated with analyzing large molecular datasets.

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Guggenheim Foundation: http://www.gf.org/news-events/2012-Fellows-in-the-United-States-and-Canada/

The award winners will be honored during the annual Awards of Excellence event, scheduled for 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 7, in Meany Hall, with a reception to follow in the foyer. The ceremony is free and open to the public. UW Today will publish a special wrap-up of the awards ceremony shortly after the event.

Seven faculty will receive the Distinguished Teaching Award, given to individuals who show "a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching." This year's winners are Dr. Hugh Foy, surgery; Sarah Elwood-Faustino, geography; Maria Elena Garcia, comparative history of ideas; Jeff Berman, civil and environmental engineering; Andrew Loveless, mathematics; Leslie Ashbaugh, interdisciplinary arts and sciences (Bothell); and Christine Stevens, nursing (Tacoma).

Two graduate teaching assistants – Michael Bowman, educational leadership and policy studies, and, Jeffry Klika, social work -- will receive the Excellence in Teaching Award for demonstrating outstanding skills in the classroom.

Peter May, political science, will receive the Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, recognizing faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to the education and guidance of graduate students.

Four individual staff members and one team of five will receive Distinguished Staff Awards. The winners are Deborah Harper, Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology; Julie Valley, radiation oncology; Billy Colburn, psychiatry; Freddie Tapuro, campus engineering and operations; and the team of Karin Huster, Patricia McElveny, Jodie Prescott, Jo Ann Rodgers and Holly Broadbent-Horvat, trauma surgical intensive care unit. These awards are given to staff who "contribute to the mission of their unit or the University, respond creatively to challenges, maintain the highest standards in their work, establish productive working relationships and promote a respectful and supportive workplace."

Jacqueline McMurtrie, law, is the winner of the Outstanding Public Service Award, which is presented to a faculty or staff member to honor extensive local and/or national and international service. Also being honored for service is Gillian Harkins, English, who will receive the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award. The award is given to a faculty member demonstrating exemplary leadership in community-based instruction, including service learning, public service internships and community partnership projects.

Mamidala Ramulu, engineering, is the winner of the Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award, which is given to faculty who have taught for at least two years in non-degree programs sponsored by the UW and aimed at adults for professional development, personal interest or career redirection.

Tim Jewell, University Libraries, is this year’s Distinguished Librarian. The award recognizes excellence in librarianship, especially as it benefits the academic community through teaching, research, learning and innovative approaches to practice.

Dr. Alex Cahana, anesthesiology and pain medicine, is the recipient of the David B. Thorud Leadership Award for faculty. Joyce Yen, engineering, is the recipient of the Thorud Leadership Award for staff. The awards recognize individuals who have demonstrated exceptional abilities to lead, serve, inspire and collaborate with broad impact.

This year, for the first time, the university and the UW Retirement Association are presenting the Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award. The first recipient is Nancy Amidei, who retired from her appointment in social work in 2008.

Steven Holl, architect and watercolorist, is the winner of this year's Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, an award given for a lifetime record of achievement. It is the highest honor that the UW can bestow on a graduate. Holl holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the UW. He has taught at Columbia University since 1981.

Frazer Cook, a volunteer for the UW Alumni Association, is being honored with the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award. The award is given to individuals who make outstanding efforts on behalf of the association.

The university faculty lecturer and president’s medalists will be announced later this spring.

Transportation Services also started a trivia contest on its Facebook page, with eight U-PASS related questions in all. Answer correctly (all answers can be found within the U-PASS timeline) and you could win a massage or a haircut, Pike Place Chowder or even a $50 Zipcar certificate. The questions kicked off April 2 – with the first winner being Lucas Dressel – and continue through April 20.

According to Transportation Services, about 55,000 people — almost 81 percent of the UW campus population — use the U-PASS or other transportation that's greener than driving alone. Here in the 20th year of the U-PASS program, they say only 19 percent of UW commuters drive to campus alone.

KUOW trio wins national broadcast award
KUOW editor Phyllis Fletcher, senior editor Jim Gates and news director Guy Nelson received a first place in broadcast reporting from the Education Writers Association, a national organization, for Fletcher's ongoing coverage of local and regional education issues.

15th annual home improvement fair April 11
This year’s home fair focuses on how to integrate technology and green resources to transform your home. The event, which is free, will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, Mary Gates Hall Commons.

Exhibitors include non-profits like Habitat for Humanity as well as companies such as Metropolitan Appliances, See3D digital design, Garden Hotline and Salmon Bay Woodworks. There will be demonstrations, refreshments, and a chance to win door prizes.

The event is sponsored by HomeStreet Bank, a partner of the UW Benefits Hometown Home Loan Program. All expenses are paid by HomeStreet Bank and participating exhibitors.

For more information: Kathleen Dwyer, 206-543-2812, kdwyer@uw.edu or Mary Parker-Hale, 206-616-4932, mphale@uw.edu.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Guntis Smidchens.

Baltic Studies co-founder honored by Estonia
Guntis Smidchens, assistant professor of Baltic studies and co-founder of the UW Baltic Studies Program, has been awarded the Order of the Cross of Terra Tariana, 4th class, by the Republic of Estonia.

The honor is for non-Estonians who have provided special services to the country. Smidchens received the award from Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in Tartu, Estonia, Feb. 23, which is Estonia’s independence day.

"Estonia fascinates our students," said Smidchens. "The country has a very rich cultural heritage, and it's at the cutting edge of high tech — Skype, for example, was created by Estonian programmers."

He said the School of Engineering began the first regular student exchanges with Estonia in the 1990s, when the UW expanded its Scandinavian exchanges program to the Baltic. UW students have since gone to Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania on Fulbright grants or undergraduate exchanges, studying biorobotics and computer science as well as history, society and culture.

For the past 18 years, the UW has been one of two American universities to teach Estonian language, teaching about half of the American students learning Estonian.

“Fighting Cancer with Nanoparticle Medicines: The Nanoscale Matters!” is the topic of UW Department of Bioengineering’s annual Rushmer Lecture, Friday, March 23, 4:15 p.m. in the Physics/Astronomy Auditorium.

Mark Davis, professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, will present the current understanding of why these engineered, nanosized medicines – highly multifunctional chemical systems – may hold the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.

Davis’ lab has taken two nanoparticle cancer therapies from mere laboratory curiosities to experimental therapeutics in human clinical trials. His presentation is the 24th annual Robert F. Rushmer Lecture. A reception will follow at 5:30 p.m. in the north lobby of the Foege Building.

UW business-diversity efforts  recognzied
The UW was named “Public Agency of the Year” by the Northwest Minority Supplier Development Council, an organization dedicated to expanding business opportunities for minority business enterprises. The UW also received this award in 2008. It was based upon the university’s successful efforts to ensure diversity among those with whom the university does business locally, the organization says.  The UW Business Diversity Program leads a campus-wide effort that encourages interaction between minority businesses in the community and potential UW clients.

The UW Autism Center plans public events in April.

UW plans Autism Awareness Month events for public
The UW Autism Center will host a series of community events sharing the latest findings in autism’s causes and treatments as well as coping strategies for kids with autism spectrum disorders and their caregivers.

Parents, teachers, therapists and researchers are invited to the free lectures to be held in Seattle and Tacoma throughout April, which is Autism Awareness Month. Free childcare, with advance registration, is available at the Seattle events.

The full schedule is available on the UW Autism Center’s website.  To register, call 1-877-408-UWAC or email uwautism@uw.edu.

Papers study political, human sides of school closure
Education is a people business. A new working paper series from the UW’s Center on Reinventing Public Education takes a close look at the political forces and the human side of policies designed to improve public schools.

The series, “Better Schools through Better Politics: The Human Side of Portfolio School District Reform,” examines initiatives in New York City, Chicago, Denver and Oakland. It’s about the politics of closing high schools, but the focus is on the people who carry out reforms and those who are affected by them: students, parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders and politicians.

These papers

• Examine the advantages and disadvantages of initiatives that close some schools in order to create new opportunities for students
• Discuss the value of community involvement and how Denver – after a disastrous start – and Oakland turned it to advantage
• Look at how the students, parents and teachers cope with school changes that, however well intended, often cause major disruptions and do not always work to their benefit

For the paper, the center retained Sam Sperry, whose 30-year career in journalism included serving as associate editor of the editorial page for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and who was policy director for Washington state Gov. Gary Locke. Sperry created a cross-district comparison of the school closure experiences in New York, Chicago and Denver, with an emphasis on high schools.

Husky Green Award nominations due March 26
Submit nominations online by March 26 for the Husky Green Award program that recognizes individuals and teams demonstrating outstanding leadership, initiative and dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainability at the UW.

Students, faculty and staff at the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses are eligible.

The third annual Husky Green Award ceremony will be conducted during HuskyFest at the Earth Day celebration April 20 in Red Square.

The UW ranked first among primary-care medical schools in the country for the 19th consecutive year.

The School of Medicine also tied for 10th among research medical schools. It ranked second in the nation (behind Harvard), and first among public medical schools, in the U.S. News calculations of National Institutes of Health federal research grants.

U.S. News reports the UW medical school as receiving $611.4 million in National Institutes of Health funding in fiscal year 2011. Academic specialties ranked in the top 10 for the quality of teaching medical students were: family medicine (first for 21st year in a row), rural medicine (first for 21st year in a row), AIDS (fourth), geriatrics (tied at seventh), pediatrics (seventh) and internal medicine (eighth).

The College of Arts & Sciences graduate program in clinical psychology tied for second with Yale University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Wisconsin- Madison.

The School of Social Work’s master’s program tied for No. 3 with the University of Chicago.

Speech and Hearing Sciences’ audiology doctorate program tied at No. 3 with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Texas-Dallas and Washington University in St. Louis. Its speech language pathology master’s program tied for No. 3 with Vanderbilt University.

The Evans School of Public Affairs broke into the top 10, at ninth, and its graduate non-profit management specialty training program ranked No. 3. The school rose five spots over its 2008 ranking and 17 spots from the prior ranking of 26th in 2004.

The College of Engineering and School of Medicine's biomedical/bioengineering graduate program tied for seventh.

The College of Education's graduate specialty programs ranked in the top 10 were: elementary education (seventh), special education (seventh), curriculum/instruction (eighth), secondary education (ninth) and administration/supervision (10th).

The School of Pharmacy’s doctorate program tied for 10^th with the University of Arizona, the University of Southern California and the University of Utah.

The UW School of Law rocketed from 30th to 20th in the rankings. Two years ago it was 34th. It is now 7th among public law schools.

The latest rankings are available at http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2012/03/13/us-news-releases-2013-best-graduate-schools-rankings.

“We talk about working for social and economic justice in class and this is going to give students a practical understanding of what advocacy, activism and practice really look like,” said Virginia Eader, UW graduate student who is on the event’s organizing committee. “I am excited about the opportunity to be able to learn from such a dynamic cross-section of Seattle’s active community.”

The teach-in will include multi-media, art and panels on topics such as economic inequalities, historical roots of radical social work, legislative advocacy and the occupy movement.

In Romania in 1942, Nazi ally Marshall Ion Antonescu ordered the mass deportations of Roma people to Transnistria.

‘Roma Tears,’ about treatment during Holocaust, runs Thursday
The documentary film “Roma Tears,” about the treatment of Roma – or Gypsies – during the Holocaust, will be shown at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Room 120 of the Communications Building. The film is free and open to the public.

In the documentary, Luminita Mihai Cioaba, Roma cultural leader in Transylvania, Romania, interviews some of the last remaining Roma Holocaust survivors about the historical events of 1942. In that year in Romania, military dictator and Nazi ally Marshall Ion Antonescu ordered the mass deportations of Roma people and Jews to Transnistria.

Cioaba will be on hand for the screening and a question and answer session afterward.

“I think the value of the film lies in the fact that the Roma are very reluctant to speak to outsiders. Very little is known about the Roma Holocaust for this reason,” said Mihaela Giurca, a UW lecturer in International and English Programs who organized the screening. “The film consists of interviews with Roma Holocaust survivors. It is very unlikely that they would tell these stories to anyone other than another Roma.”

The event is sponsored by the departments of Spanish & Portuguese and comparative literature, the Cinema and Media Studies Program, the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, Educational Outreach and the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities.

Nominations close Feb. 28 for “Celebrating UW Women” program
Nominations will be accepted through the end of February for this year’s Celebrating UW Women program sponsored by Housing and Food Services.

The program honors women from across all three UW campuses as part of Women’s History Month. The program is not a competition and every woman nominated will be recognized at a reception at 4 p.m. March 15, at the Burke Museum. All members of the campus community are invited to attend,  no RSVP is necessary.

Nominees can be students, staff or faculty members. Contributions can be global or personal, according to the program’s website.

For more information or to be involved in the organization of the program, contact Erica Barton at ericab4@uw.edu.

Offices collect gold and silver by going green
Ten offices have been certified under the UW’s Green Office program since its launch in September.

Offices certified as gold, by scoring at least 85 percent overall based on criteria such as energy use, conserving paper and recycling, are:

• Emergency Management, UW Tower, office of 3.5 members
• Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability office, Gerberding Hall, office of 8 members
• Libraries Purchasing and Supply, Suzzallo Library, office of 2 members
• Recycling & Solid Waste, Bryants Building, office of 5 members
• Transportation Services, University Transportation Center, office of 48 members

Offices certified as silver, which scored at least 70 percent overall, are:

• UW Botanic Gardens - Merrill Hall, office of 36 members
• Center for Urban Waters -  Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, office of 10 members
• Evans School of Public Affairs - Parrington Hall, office of 58 members
• Southwest Maintenance Zone office, Southwest Maintenance Building, office of 10 members
• Student Fiscal Services office - Schmitz Hall, office of 21 members

The Green Office certification program encourages staff and faculty to help make their office or workplace sustainable, according to the UW Green Office website. Certification involves an informal audit process about office practices. A short online survey allows the office to see what steps they are already taking to be green, and areas where they can improve, the website says.

The new UW fellows are:

Munira Khalil

Munira Khalil, an assistant professor of chemistry, earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. She was a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2004 to 2007, when she came to the UW. Her research group studies how coupled electron and vibrational motions and their interactions with the surrounding solvent dictate the course of ultrafast charge transfer reactions in chemical and biological systems.

Shwetak Patel

Shwetak Patel, an assistant professor in the departments of computer science & engineering and electrical engineering, earned his doctorate at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008, when he came to the UW. While in graduate school he co-founded Zensi, a home energy-monitoring company that was acquired in 2010 by Belkin. Last year he received fellowships from Microsoft Research and the MacArthur Foundation. Patel’s research focuses on sensors, user interface and human-computer interaction. Recent projects include monitoring home energy and water use, and using a home’s utility infrastructure to enable whole-house sensing.

Bo Zhang

Bo Zhang, an assistant professor of chemistry, earned a doctorate at the University of Utah in 2006. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Pennsylvania State University before coming to the UW in 2008. His research focuses mainly on fundamental and applied aspects of electrochemistry and bioanalytical chemistry using nanoelectrodes. His group is interested in developing new electrochemical methods to study electrocatalysis in single molecules and single nanoparticles, and to image neuronal communication at nanoscale resolution.

The Sloan Research Fellowships have been awarded since 1955, initially in only three areas: physics, chemistry and mathematics. Since then, 38 Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in their fields, and 16 have received the Fields Medal, the top honor in mathematics. The program now also recognizes researchers in economics, computer science, economics, evolutionary and computational molecular biology and neuroscience; this year it expanded to include ocean sciences.

The fellowships include a grant of $50,000 over a two-year period. Once chosen, Sloan Research Fellows are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of most interest to them, and they are permitted to employ Fellowship funds in a wide variety of ways to further their research aims.

“Today’s Sloan Research Fellows are tomorrow’s Nobel Prize winners,” said foundation president Paul Joskow. “These outstanding men and women are responsible for some of the most exciting science being done today. The Foundation is proud to support them during this pivotal stage of their careers.”