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UIF-2 Interdisciplinary Projects

Included on this page:
The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences
The Graduate Program in Biomedical and Health Informatics
The Grant and Contract Initiative
The Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology (PETTT)

Click on the logo to go to the website for that program.

The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences
The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences will merge world-class statistical research with outstanding social science, drawing on the expertise of 36 investigators from 16 units in 7 schools. This powerful combination will allow researchers to tackle complex, multi-faceted problems in social sciences that increasingly require a highly sophisticated approach to data gathering and novel statistical methodology. These social and research problems lie in areas as diverse as business, child development, economics, education, government, health, international affairs, journalism, law, and politics. The Center will foster research collaborations through joint appointments, seminar series, and grants. A new generation of social statisticians will be educated through this initiative. It will offer six new core courses for graduate students in social science departments and will develop a new Ph.D. track in Social Statistics. At the undergraduate level, faculty will offer a new course in statistical reasoning for social science majors as well as a new track in social science in the Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences Program. Research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students are an integral component of the Center's educational programs. Together, faculty and students will devise new answers to pressing social problems.
  Lead: Adrian Raftery
  Allocation: $828,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, Public Affairs, Public Health & Community Medicine, Social Work

 

 

The Graduate Program in Biomedical and Health Informatics
The Graduate Program in Biomedical and Health Informatics will address the fundamental transformation of medical and health care research and clinical decision-making. Biomedical and health care research is fast becoming an information-oriented science, in which computational models, the structuring of information, and algorithmic interpretation of data are prominent, essential, and build on laboratory biology and clinical trials. The program will serve as a testbed and showcase of solutions to difficult problems in health care information management. It will train students for research and teaching careers in information management for health care, health care computing, and public health. Its interdisciplinary curriculum will focus on biomedicine, computing and information science, and biomedical informatics. Graduate and undergraduate students will have significant research opportunities. Drawing on 11 faculty from 9 units in 5 colleges, this program promises to advance the understanding of human biology and health through the application of computational modeling and information science.
  Lead: Ira Kalet
  Allocation: $691,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Dentistry, Engineering, Library & Information Science, Medicine (Medical Education and Radiation Oncology), Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health & Community Medicine

 

 

The Grant and Contract Initiative
The Grant and Contract Initiative is designed to transform the UW's grant and contract system for better support of faculty and staff. A centerpiece of this transformation is the design and implementation of a system for electronic submission of grant applications in order to meet Federal requirements. The growing complexity of the sponsored research environment, together with the increased rate of grant and contract submissions and funding, all lead to the need for improved business practices and advanced electronic technologies This initiative is a partnership of the Office of Research, the Executive Vice President, and Computing and Communications. It will draw on the infrastructure developed by the USER Project (funded in the UIF competition of 1997).
  Lead: Alvin Kwiram
  Allocation: $287,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Executive Vice President, Computing and Communications, Office of Research

 

 

The Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology (PETTT)
The Program for Educational Transformation Through Technology (PETTT) will seek to discover ways in which educational technology can transform teaching and learning. Through aggressive experimentation and model projects, the team will create a toolbox of software solutions and teaching strategies that will advance new pedagogies. Projects underway include tutored video instruction in computer science, an arthritis website, and an interactive encyclopedia in forest resources. These models span the missions of teaching, research, and service. The PETTT team is composed of experts from 6 academic and academic support units, and includes experts in design, the science of learning, evaluation and meta-analysis, and technology.
  Lead: Frederick Mattsen III
  Allocation: $630,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Computer Science & Engineering, Engineering, Education, Educational Partnerships, Forest Resources Medicine