Category: Seen in DC

Elaine Faustman, UW professor and Director of the UW Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research, met with UW Federal Relations Director Christy Gullion and staff from the offices of Representatives McDermott and Reichert on May 8th. She was in DC to discuss the Center and sources of funding.  The Center was formed to learn more about children’s susceptibility to pesticides and the way pesticides affect normal development and learning.  Funding for this Center and the research comes from the EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

The Center has also recently been awarded two grants through NIH to participate in the National Children’s Study, which is a long-term research project that will examine the environmental influences on children’s health and development. The grant allows for work in Grant and King Counties, with the possibility of expanding to Thurston County and Marion County, OR (work is approved, but funds are not yet available).

Nancy Nihan, Director of UW Transportation Northwest (TransNow), was in DC May 19-20 to discuss a request the UW made in partnership with WSU, to be designated as a National University Transportation Center (UTC).  The UW is currently designated as a Regional UTC, which was awarded through a competitive process.  National UTC designation can only happen through a transportation reauthorization bill and will allow the UW and WSU to play a more national role in transportation research on safety, freight mobility, and traffic management.  Nancy met with staff in the Senate office of Pattty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as staff from the offices of Representatives McMorris Rodgers’, Larsen, Baird, and McDermott.

Dan Schwartz, professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the UW’s recently funded BioEnergy Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program, was in DC with two of his graduate students, Laurel James and Kurt Spies.  Dr. Schwartz was impeccably dressed for the meetings with representatives from the Interior Department, staff from the offices of Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representatives Inslee and Dicks.  The IGERT Program’s focus is the development of sustainable energy projects for tribal nations, and also on training a new generation of tribal PhD scientists. Our first IGERT project involves work with the Yakama Nation and the second IGERT project is with the Colville Tribes.  Dr. Schwartz, Laurel, and Kurt briefed staff on UW IGERT work, and discussed opportunities (either through the Recovery Act or annual programs) in the Department of Interior and Department of Energy that might bolster its activities.

Even though the appropriations application process is completed, and the stimulus package is being implemented, the Office of Federal Relations continues to welcome university representatives who are in Washington DC for meetings or who want to speak with Capitol Hill staff and/or agency representatives concerning the projects that their college is involved in.

Norm Arkans, Associate Vice President for Media Relations and Communications, was in DC the end of March to attend a public affairs network meeting hosted by the Association of American Universities (AAU).

Dennis Lettenmaier, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was in DC to attend a meeting, and stopped by the Federal Relations office to speak to Jonathan Nurse about NASA and NOAA funding.

Provost Phyllis Wise, Provost, was in DC on business March 30 and 31, and visited the Federal Relations Office while she was here to meet with Director Christy Gullion.

President Mark Emmert returned to DC in April to attend a workforce meeting of the Association of American Universities.  After the meeting, he met with some of the Washington State legislators, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Dick Sprott, Director of the Ellison Medical Foundation, and was interviewed by Susan Kinzie at the Washington Post regarding the effect of the economic crisis on the university.  He thanked the Members for their support during the appropriations process and discussed the university’s economic situation.

Also in April  Bruce Bare, Dean of Forest Resources, Jerry Franklin, Professor, and Ivan Easin, Professor and Director of CINTRAFOR, arrived to discuss university forest resource projects.  In particular, they discusssed the Olympic Natural Resources Center, the Wind River Experimental Forest, and CINTRAFOR.  Visits included Capitol Hill staff, USDA, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staffer, and the National Science Foundation.

Student Advocates for Graduate Education (SAGE), whose members number 10 public institutions of higher learning, was in DC April 28th and 29th.  The University of Washington was represented by Nicholas Nasrallah, Jake Faleschini, and Jean-Paul Willynck.  They spoke to staff in several Congressional offices to request support for changes in the federal loan repayment program and to request fellowship grants be treated as qualified scholarships for tax purposes.

Note:  Please contact the UW Office of Federal Relations for assistance in scheuling visits to the Washington state delegation offices (202-624-1420).

The beginning of the annual federal appropriations process is a popular time for association and university staff to visit Senators and Representatives to impress upon them the value that research and learning is adding to their particular fields.  The University of Washington is no exception.  The support of Members of Congress is necessary to ensure that adequate funding is part of the national budget. During the past several weeks, the Office of Federal Relations has been pleased to assist with the following DC visits:

Professor Ken Creager, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, attended a board of directors meeting of Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) the first week of February.  IRIS has a data management center located near the UW campus where it collects, stores, and distributes information from numerous seismic networks around the globe.  IRIS is funded by the National Science Foundation.  Professor Creager met with Washington state Members’ office to request additional funding (in the FY 09 Interior Appropriations Act) that will allow them to also manage the data generated by the US Geological Survey’s Advanced National Seismic System. 

Professor Bruce Balick, Department of Astronomy, and Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate, was in DC on February 20th to discuss with Members’ offices the goals of the UW’s Climate Action Plan (CAP).  The goal of CAP is to create an environmentally sustainable campus; UW has committed itself to this goal as part of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Professor Balick emphasized the need for long term federal strategy around climate change research and related funding opportunities.  He also offered the university’s expertise in development of this strategy.

Associate Dean Deborah McCutchen, College of Education, represented Dean Patricia Wasley, at the Advocacy Conference for Learning and Education Academic Research Network (LEARN) the end of February.  LEARN is a coalition of research colleges of education that advocates investment in multi-disciplinary research to advance the scientific understanding of learning and development.  Currently the Department of Education invests less than 1% of its overall budget to education research.  LEARN is requesting that amount be doubled.

Also at the end of February, Professor Uri Shumlak, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Associate Professor Brian Nelson, Department of Electric Engineering, were here for Fusion Day.  The focus was on educating the Washington state delegation about fusion energy in general and specifically the fusion energy research that is being done at the UW.  The concern is that the Department of Energy continue to fund domestic programs and not international ones.

UW President Mark Emmert  and Randy Hodgins, Interim Vice President of External Relations and Director of State Relations, met with Members of the Washington state delegation on March 10th and 11th to discuss the university’s federal agenda issues and what they would like to see included in the FY 10 Appropriations budget.  Christy Gullion, Director of Federal Relations, accompanied them on the meetings to Capitol Hill.  The list of projects that the UW is requesting funding for in the FY 10 budget can be found on this website.

Also on March 11th Professor Anthony Geist, Chair of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, attended the 2009 conference of the National Humanities Alliance and met with staff on the Hill to ask for increased funding to support the humanities and the work being done at schools such as the UW.  The UW Simpson Center for the Humanities has focused on how digital technologies can transform the way knowledge is researched, taught, and shared.  The Center now has a $625,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create the Digital Humanities Commons.  Each year four faculty members and four graduate students will be chosen to explore how the next generation of technology can change research and teaching in the humanities.  The goals of the Commons are to animate knowledge (add interactive features), circulate knowledge (to the larger public), and to understand digital culture. 

Note:  Please contact the UW Office of Federal Relations to assist in scheduling visits to Washington state delegation offices.  202-624-1420.