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.”
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.”
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.
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.
GO! and Fritz Scholar Shangé Purnell Photo: University of Washington
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.
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.
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.
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.
Presenting at last week’s Global Honors Spring Colloquium, Noelle Gichohi started by thanking her mentors and supporters. “I stood in front of the audience and said, ‘I grew up in a village in Kenya, and it took a village to get me here’”. Her ‘colloquium village’ included UW Tacoma professors and librarians, a Highline Community College professor, fellow students and family.
Graduating seniors at the Global Honors Colloquium Photo: Cody Char UW Tacoma Creative Services
For Noelle and 12 other graduating seniors in UW Tacoma’s Global Honors program, the colloquium was a chance to share and reflect on their capstone research projects. They will now apply their learning as community leaders heading toward jobs and graduate school.
The students presented before audiences of 40 to 60 faculty, staff, community members and fellow students. Diverse in terms of discipline and geography, their projects exemplify UW Tacoma’s emphasis on student-led, use-inspired research.
Kristie Weisert Photo: Cody Char
Inspired by her work with State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Williams during a Legislative Internship, Kristie Weisert’s thesis examines sex trafficking in the U.S. and India. Human trafficking is a pressing issue locally and internationally, and Kristie pointed out Washington state’s efforts to address the problem through new legislation.
Brandon Napenias Oreiro’s research project explores the development of Filipino American identity in the context of a globalized culture. A leader in UW Tacoma’s Filipino American Student Association, Brandon paired his research findings with examples of the group’s efforts to create a sense of identity and community on campus and in the region.
Noelle Gichohi Photo: UW Tacoma
Noelle Gichohi’s research project was inspired by her study abroad to Italy. “We were studying preschools, and I saw that [Italian schools] had kitchens right next to the classrooms and served the kids three-course meals on real plates. It was totally different from the U.S., where my kids went to preschool, and Kenya, where I grew up.”
She began thinking about how place influences the food children are served at school, and how parents’ perceive the healthfulness of school meals. For her thesis, Noelle surveyed Kenyan and U.S. parents about their children’s school meals, and their perceptions of the meals.
“Carrying out a research project and presenting at the colloquium “was enriching for me personally and as a scholar,” Noelle reflects. The experience gave her new confidence about her ideas and ability to communicate. “I won’t be afraid to stand up and give my opinion in the workplace,” she says, “I’ll think, ‘I’ve done Global Honors, I can do anything.’”
Chancellor Kenyon Chan Photo: UW Tacoma
During his remarks at the colloquium, UW Tacoma Chancellor Kenyon Chan underscored the local relevance of the students’ research and the urgency of the issues addressed. Echoing Noelle Gichohi’s recognition of her village, Chancellor Chan also emphasized the students’ important roles as leaders – locally and globally.
Ceremonial drummers at the tree dedication ceremony Photo: Todd Gardiner for Team PhotogenicUW President Michael K. Young and Japanese Consul General Masahiro Omura Photo: Todd Gardiner for Team Photogenic
Japanese General Consul Masahiro Omura spoke today near Drumheiller Fountain today to celebrate a recent gift of cherry trees to the UW American Ethnic Studies department from the people of Japan.
Also speaking at the ceremony were former congressman and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and UW President Michael K. Young.
The new cherry trees, installed on central campus overlooking Drumheiller Fountain, were presented in honor of longstanding relations between the U.S. and Japan. They also honor the many Japanese and Japanese American students who have attended UW since 1894.
This Friday, undergraduate researchers, faculty mentors and community members will converge in Mary Gates Hall for the 17th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Over 1,000 undergraduates will present their research work at the event, and many of their projects address pressing global issues.
Here are four exciting examples of globally-relevant undergraduate research projects:
