The University of Washington is establishing the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) supported by a $2.5 million inaugural investment from Microsoft.
Category: Innovation
Visionary gift creates neuroscience research opportunities in partnership with UCSF and UC Berkeley
Thanks to a visionary gift from the Weill Family Foundation, the UW today joins UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley to launch a new era of collaboration in the study of the human brain.
Our global alumni network lets us tackle big ideas all over the world
Thanks to our global community, we have unique opportunities to share the quest for knowledge and discovery far beyond our campuses. This weekend, I was honored to take part in one such opportunity: Converge Taipei.
Federal shut down harms American innovation, prosperity
It is deeply disappointing that a quarter of the federal government has been shut down due to an inability to reach agreement on appropriations for the current budget year. I strongly urge Congress and the administration to find a way forward quickly that enables critical agencies to resume their missions of advancing discovery — and our nation.
Marking two years of improving health and well-being together
Two years ago this month, we gathered in Spokane to announce a new partnership between Gonzaga University and the University of Washington. Its mission: improve the health and well-being of people throughout Eastern Washington and beyond.
A healthy future depends on healthy global partnerships
Today, I had the pleasure and privilege of addressing the Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit, held this year in Shenzhen, China and hosted by Southern University of Science and Technology, or SUSTech. The theme of this year’s gathering was “Connecting cities, changing the world,” which underscores how important global connections are and will be to the better future we all have a stake in. This was my second year addressing the summit and it was a powerful reminder that making connections and forming partnerships across cities, continents and cultures is what the world urgently needs. Addressing challenges — like climate change, disease, and terrorism — that transcend borders, disciplines and sectors can only be accomplished collaboratively. In my talk, I focused on the power of partnerships and the special role that universities can and must play in tackling these issues. Full text of my remarks here.
As new GIX building opens, collaboration holds the key to our future
Yesterday marked the official opening of the new Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) facility – the newly-christened Steve Ballmer Building – in Bellevue’s Spring District. The celebration was a momentous occasion, fitting for the scale of impact I believe that GIX will have in uniting universities, civic leaders, government officials, industry partners, artists and entrepreneurs around global challenges. With the launch of this building, GIX welcomes the students, faculty and industry experts from around the world whose work and education will serve to benefit our region, and the world.
Seeding a healthier world
Today I had the opportunity to once again meet with our Global Innovation Exchange partners during a visit to Tsinghua University. It’s a lush, beautiful campus, made even more vibrant by the fact that it was graduation season. There were countless graduates in caps and gowns all over the campus, posing for photos as they prepared to launch off into the world. It reminded me of our own commencement ceremonies just a couple weeks ago, and like then, I was inspired by the graduates’ optimism and how they have so much ahead of them.
The Lincoln Project and the future of public higher education
Public research universities like the UW are essential engines for social mobility and prosperity, especially for first generation students. If, as a society, we fail to make the investments needed to keep them strong, we endanger progress, prosperity and innovation not just for the individuals who attend, but for their communities, states and our nation.
Proposed budget would be huge step backward for innovation and economic security
Today, as anticipated, the President released a proposed federal budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2018. The proposal is short on details, but it contains sweeping cuts that would harm American innovation and prosperity, the education of our nation’s students, and the research and creativity that is the foundation of progress in every field from medicine to the arts.
Without question, if passed, this budget would harm the University of Washington’s ability to serve our students, state and nation. It represents a major step backward for American scientific research and innovation, and reduces opportunities for millions of deserving young people. With devastating cuts to biomedical research and student aid, and to environmental science and the arts, this shortsighted proposal attacks the very investments that have made the United States healthy and prosperous. This budget is simply unacceptable and together with my fellow higher education leaders, I plan to work actively with Washington’s federal delegation and other congressional leaders to advocate for policies that keep America the global leader in innovation and opportunity.
To take effect, these proposals would have to be approved by Congress and we will be traveling to Washington, DC in early April to meet with administration officials as well as our congressional delegation. Many of the areas proposed for cuts have received strong, bipartisan support in the past, so I am hopeful that we will instead see the federal government continue to invest in the areas that, over the decades, have contributed to America’s prosperity and vitality. To support these efforts, we all can continue to demonstrate the value that every aspect of our University provides to our students, Washington and the world.
The list of affected programs is lengthy – those supporting students, such as TRiO and GEAR UP; those advancing research such as the NIH, Department of Energy, NOAA, NASA, and the EPA; and those creating a rich, vibrant national life, such as the NEA and NEH. The proposal does not reference cuts to the NSF. You can find more information about the specific cuts proposed on the UW Federal Relations blog.
In addition, we’ll also be speaking with our delegation about proposed legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act. The House legislation being considered would have significant negative outcomes for many of the patients who receive care at UW Medicine. If the proposed American Health Care Act were to be fully implemented, UW Medicine could lose an estimated $518 million per year in Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement and charity care costs, with significant impacts to UW Medicine services at Harborview. This would have dramatic effects on our ability to serve our patients and our communities.
Budgets are values made real. And so our nation faces a choice between a future in which our global competitors surge ahead of us, reaping the benefits of their investments in education, medicine, science, the arts and humanities; or a future in which we continue to discover, to teach, to create and to cure. I am fully committed to doing everything I can to ensure that brighter, more prosperous future becomes reality.