Category: Higher Education

The Seattle Times recently reported on UW researcher Zoran Popovic‘s work to make computer games more effective at teaching math.

One of the most successful examples, for adults and students alike, is the UW Center for Game Science’s Foldit, which challenges users to help uncover the structures of biologically important proteins.

Players around the world have made a number of important discoveries about the structures of proteins just by playing the game.

The UW lab has recently turned to K-12 education, and is “using the same mechanisms to reach high levels of mastery for kids,” said Popovic, the center’s director.

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“We were able to show that even kindergartners and first-graders can master solving equations,” Popovic said. “This is shockingly good,” he said — especially for elementary school, where algebra concepts usually are not taught.

Read the whole story.

The Puget Sound Business Journal reports:

University of Washington School of Medicine was ranked No. 1 in a national survey of current medical students.

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One Class of 2015 student at UW wrote: “The first thing every faculty and staff member in my program has said is, ‘We are here to help you; this is going to be a lot of hard work, but we are here for you,’ and that makes all the difference in the world to me. Graduate school is never going to be easy and it shouldn’t be, but having that support structure is what makes this a great program.”

Read the article here.

Last week, yours truly joined the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Puget Sound Regional Council for a study mission to Southwest Washington.

The study mission started bright and early on Thursday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and wrapped up Friday afternoon at the Port of Vancouver. Along the way, the delegation of business and government leaders gained insights into the breadth and depth of the regional economy. The delegation was also joined by a number of state legislators, representing the Puget Sound area, and Southwest Washington.

From workforce needs at Weyerhauser’s Longview production facility, to innovations in composite materials at Christensen Shipyards, to the economic development strategies employed at the region’s ports, the agenda was jam-packed with information and a chance to build relationships with leaders in the local communities we visited.

For a snapshot of the agenda, read The Columbian’s write up on a panel of high-tech leaders we heard from on Friday morning in Vancouver.

Below the jump are some photos and additional highlights.

Continue reading “On the road: Southwest Washington study mission”

The University of Washington was ranked eighth among public universities in the country (excluding federally-funded military academies) in the quality of undergraduate education, according to Forbes.

Read UW Today to learn more.

This summer, University of Washington senior lecturer Matt McGarrity is teaching a MOOC (massively open online course) titled “Introduction to Public Speaking” through a partnership with Coursera.

Seattle Times reporter Katherine Long is taking the course, and blogging about her experience at a blog titled, “The Massive Classroom.” Follow the blog to get a close up look.

via UW Today:

The University of Washington launched a record 17 startup companies this fiscal year.

That makes fiscal 2013 the UW’s single most productive year for startup formation.  It places the UW among the top five schools in the nation.

Last year, President Michael K. Young challenged the university to increase its number of fundable technology startups.

“University startups give the American public a valuable return on their investment in academic research.  UW start-ups deliver impact to the public from our life-changing discoveries,” Young said.

Read more at GeekWire.

Photos from the event, featuring remarks by Vice Provost Linden Rhoads, President Michael K. Young, and Washington State Department of Commerce Director Brian Bonlender, are below the fold.

PIC: #C4C Dir. Linden Rhoads kicking off celebration of new start-up companies launched from @UW research & tech pic.twitter.com/2mhlrvTaB0

— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) July 18, 2013

PIC: @UW President Michael K. Young congratulates leaders and founders of 17 #UW start-ups at New Ventures Facility pic.twitter.com/KhUxZbsQT8

— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) July 18, 2013

PIC: @WAStateCommerce Dir. Brian Bonlender speaking about importance of #UW research and start-ups to state economy pic.twitter.com/gLYbGlxuu5

— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) July 18, 2013

Continue reading “UW launches record 17 startups in 2013”

Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large writes in a recent article about the efforts of UW’s Foster School and other business schools around the country to improve their local communities:

Business schools teach people how to run businesses and make money, and their focus has usually been high on big business and finance. But partly in response to changing values among their students, and striking economic disparities, more schools are working in low-income communities to improve and grow existing businesses and to encourage more people to start their own.

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Last year the center helped 230 businesses around the state, either by having teams of students work with them, or by having the owners attend business short courses taught by UW professors.

Lewis Rudd, one of the founders of Ezell’s Famous Chicken, said he’d been wanting to grow his business about 10 years ago, when a friend suggested he contact Verchot.

Over the next several years, several student teams worked with him. “We had students in the kitchen taking pictures of bread being baked,” he said. They ran time studies and efficiency studies. He held up a thick operating manual the students helped write. The UW also connected Rudd with alumni who had expertise he needed. “We had close to a 50 percent increase in sales over the next year as a result of some minor changes,” Rudd said. The business moved from a family operation to a more corporate structure, and there is more expansion on the horizon.

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Universities can help make those connections between the financial world and small businesses and teach business owners the skills they need to grow.

Read the entire column.

The UW on Monday (July 15) welcomed Michael B. Bragg as dean of the College of Engineering.

Bragg most recently was professor and interim dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

An aeronautical engineer by training, Bragg has held numerous leadership positions at Illinois, including head of the aerospace engineering department, associate dean for research and administrative affairs, executive associate dean for academic affairs, and interim dean in the College of Engineering.

Read more at UW Today.