Led by principal investigator Craig Lee, an oceanographer at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, researchers from around the world are conducting the longest and most extensive effort ever to track the melting of arctic sea ice. Members of the international research team hail from the United States, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and France.
News and features
International student first Husky to golf in British Open Championship
For the first time, golf fans will watch a Husky athlete compete at the Open Championship in Holyoke, England. Representing UW at this week’s tournament is Cheng-Tsung Pan, a senior communications major from Taiwan.
Well-placed tweets can help spin news coverage
Commenting in a recent BBC News article, University of Washington professor Philip Howard explained that military forces like Hamas and the Israeli Defense Force are using social media to influence public opinion about conflicts.
Global index ranks UW startup incubator #1
The New Ventures Facility is a business incubator providing startups critical access to University of Washington facilities and researchers. This year, the New Ventures Facility was ranked #1 among university business incubators by the 2014 University Business Incubators Global Index.
Dhruv Bhatli, the global index’s co-founder, said the New Ventures Facility was selected because it provided “exceptional quality to its clients [and] produced growth companies and high economic impact for the region.”
[VIDEO] Learn more about the New Ventures Facility from UW 360…
‘Support global health workers’, urges alumna in TEDx talk
At last month’s TEDxUofW event, UW alumna Julia Robinson spoke candidly about the importance of human resources in solving global health challenges like AIDS. New technologies are getting a lot of buzz, she told the crowd, but supporting health workers is the best way to solve health challenges globally.
“I think technology is amazing, but I also believe… that technology needs people to implement it. We need to put that same level of effort into supporting health workers.”
Julia is Deputy Director of Côte d’Ivoire Programs and Director of Advocacy Programs at Health Alliance International, a center of the UW Department of Global Health. She earned Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Washington.
UW ignites international student’s passion for art
College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Medalist Jueqian Fang showed promise in the sciences during high school in China. However, she came to UW ready to explore new pathways. Drawn to the arts, Jueqian went on to double major, earning degrees in photomedia in the School of Art + Art History + Design and cinema studies in the Department of Comparative Literature.
While at UW Jueqian has displayed her artwork at exhibitions on campus as well as in a juried art show in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. She was selected as a Dean’s Medalist on the basis of academic performance and faculty recommendations.
Study abroad programs, scholarships shaped grad’s Husky Experience
English literature major Shangé Purnell was chosen for the honor of carrying the Arts & Sciences college banner at this weekend’s graduation. Study abroad played an important part her Husky Experience and helped develop her exciting future goals.
Shangé plans to earn a doctorate in English literature and teach at the college level. Through this work, she wants to help increase diversity in published literary works. She says, “the highbrow elite have set what is highbrow literature – Shakespeare and other mostly white European authors. We’re starting to get more diversity, but it’s still very narrow, it’s still a Eurocentric perspective. I realize that being a U.S. citizen I have been conditioned to have a Eurocentric view, but I’d like to give view to the people of color in this world.”
Beyond serving as an officer in the Black Student Union and as a member of the Students for Diversity Coalition, Shangé also sought new perspectives and leadership experience through international learning. Her experiences studying abroad in the United Kingdom and Ghana with UW faculty-led programs were important in developing her goals and provided new insight into diversity issues. Particularly while in Ghana, where she tutored school-aged children, Shangé tried to see world through fresh eyes. “We tried to look at it from not just a Western perspective,” she says.
Scholarships from UW Global Opportunities supported Shangé’s study abroad experiences. She received the GO! Scholarship for her trip to the United Kingdom, and the Fritz Scholarship for the next summer’s program in Ghana.
Forensic research at UW helping to end illegal ivory trade in Togo
The government of Togo, a small West African country with a dwindling population of elephants, recently sought assistance from Samuel Wasser, Research Professor and Director of the UW Center for Conservation Biology. The Togolese government sought information about ivory thought to be illegal, and Wasser provided a report demonstrating that the ivory samples provided indeed came from illegal sources.
International experts predict that new forensic technologies like the ones used by Wasser will help illuminate origins and pathways of illegal ivory and eventually end the trade altogether.
UW researchers find obesity on the rise worldwide
In a review of over 1,700 studies from 188 countries, researchers from the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation found that more than two billion people are now obese worldwide. No country has been able to curb rising obesity rates over the past 30 years.
Study leader and School of Public Health professor Christopher Murray as well as leaders from the World Health Organization and other national and international health agencies have commented on the results.
Read more from the Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation…
New Burke Museum curator an advocate for indigenous cultures
The Burke Museum of Natural History’s new Curator of Native American Anthropology is passionate about preserving indigenous culture. A native of Kodiak, Alaska, Dr. Sven Haakanson has conducted research and lived in Siberia. He received the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grant in 2007 for his work advocating for Native cultures, and plans to conduct further research in Russia.