Search | Directories | Reference Tools
UW Home > Discover UW > Strategies and Initiatives > UIF (University Initiatives Fund) 

UIF-3 Projects

 

Click on the logo to go to that project's website.

Program on Climate Change
This proposal is for an interdisciplinary program in climate change and the global CO2 cycle that will integrate existing strengths in the School of Oceanography, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, JISAO, the Center for Climate Impact Studies (CIS), the QRC, the APL and NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL). With this UIF proposal key components will be added in the areas of climate dynamics, the global CO2 cycle, and paleoclimate. This new program will consolidate our existing observational strengths in climate change and carbon cycling with a process-oriented modeling analysis of past, present, and future climate to create a new program that will make UW a leader in this field.

This project proposes to establish a Program on Climate Change (PCC) within the Graduate School that would provide a well-coordinated research and teaching program in Climate Change. The PCC would have resources to develop and enhance cross-disciplinary classes and research on Climate Change and to influence new hires in areas of climate research where we are currently deficient. The PCC would provide the avenue to stimulate research and education on Climate Change that effectively crosses departments. The program would offer graduate fellowships for students and support for faculty to work on climate research that crosses disciplines but is often not fundable from traditional sources. The PCC would have funds to help support new faculty hires in areas of climate research that are interdisciplinary and thus unlikely to be funded from only departmental resources. It would actively support a seminar series and visiting professorships related to Climate Change.

  Lead: Professor James W. Murray, Oceanography
  Allocation: $500,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Arts & Sciences, Ocean & Fishery Sciences

 

 

A Center for Digital Arts
Artists working with digital technologies are redefining art, music, theater, film, and architecture, often dissolving the boundaries between these traditional forms. Digital Art goes far beyond merely affecting how artists work, and beyond simply using computers to simulate pre-digital forms of art. Artists, engineers, designers, and scientists collaborate and exchange roles to create digitally realized images, sounds, performances, and installations that were unimaginable before the digital era. We propose a program in Digital Arts at the University of Washington that will strengthen and foster these innovative collaborations, building on the UW's existing strengths. A program of international preeminence can be developed with the addition of several faculty and staff, the construction of computer-compatible studios, and the offering of collaborative opportunities to faculty and students.
  Lead: Professor Richard Karpen, Music
  Allocation: $700,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Architecture & Urban Planning, Arts & Sciences, Engineering

 

 

  Program on Values in Society
In response to both national trends and local demand, a program will be created in applied ethics that will embody a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach to questions of value. This will be a unique program in two ways. First, implementing this proposal will immediately give us the most comprehensive program in applied ethics in the country, since this will be the only program to consider ethical issues that arise not only in medicine or business but also, and at the same time, those that concern the environment and those that concern technology. Second, this program will be unique in serving both undergraduates and graduates, and in both cases serving them across all units on campus. This will become possible by hiring a small number of experts in the various areas referred to above, and by simultaneously bringing together as an advisory board current members of the UW faculty from across campus who are actively concerned about moral issues and moral education.

  Lead: Associate Professor Jean Roberts, Philosophy
  Allocation: $500,000 annually
 
Participating Units:

 

 

Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Graduate School, Information School, Medicine, Public Affairs, Undergraduate Education

 

 

Center for Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studies
We propose to establish a Center for Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studies. The goal of the proposed center is to be the leading national research and resource center for generating and disseminating knowledge on technology entrepreneurship and innovation. The proposed center consists of five major components: research programs, education programs, outreach activities, resources, and partnership with industry and other research centers. The research programs will rival that of the top research universities. We strive to be the program of choice for students interested in technology entrepreneurship and innovation education. The outreach activities will establish the University of Washington as a dominant player in technology entrepreneurship and innovation. The resource initiatives and partnership programs will bring to the University a solid connection—one that includes involvement and commitment—with the Northwest's vibrant entrepreneurial and venture community. The funding from UIF will significantly enhance our credibility and ability to generate external resources (such as gifts and grants) for establishing the proposed center.
  Lead: Professor Michael Song, Marketing and International Business
  Allocation: $215,000 annually
  Participating Units:

 

 

Business Administration, Engineering

 

 

University Web-Enabled Financial Desktop
The UW Financial Desktop will be an integrated, web-based tool set providing a single place where faculty and staff have access to "all things financial" that are necessary for them to perform their jobs. This new, user-centered functionality will be provided unde the umbrella of the MyUW portal, personalized to the needs of the individual employee through the "My Job" tab and will improve the efficiency and productivity of all of those staff who work daily with financial data and processes.

  Lead: Weldon Ihrig, Executive Vice President
  Expected Allocation: $1,000,000 annually
  Participating Units: Computing & Communications, Executive Vice President, Planning & Budgeting