September 28, 2006
Etc: Campus News & Notes
ROWING FOR CURE: When Sharon Smith Elsayed’s sister-in-law Judy Smith began battling breast and kidney cancer, Elsayed decided to “row for the cure.” Elsayed and some of her colleagues at the UW’s Union Bay Rowing Club entered a regatta this month hosted by the Pocock Rowing Center, with proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. And their boat won its heat of “mixed fours,” meaning it had four rowers, both men and women, plus a coxswain and safety boat operator. On the team were Elsayed, training and education coordinator in human subjects, stroke; Sara Selgrade, graduate student in genome sciences, coxswain; Rachel Mackelprang, graduate student in genetics, bow; Gregory Finney, graduate student in genome sciences, 3-seat; Heidi Gildersleeve, research scientist in genome sciences, launch driver; and Robert Livingston, research scientist/engineer in genome sciences, 2-seat. The event raised $40,000 for the Komen Foundation.
WALKING FOR CURE: And while we’re talking of fundraising, About 60 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends joined Team UWT at the annual Pierce County AIDS Walk Sept. 9. The walk, which started on the UW Tacoma campus, raised more than $117,000 for the Pierce County AIDS Foundation. The UWT team raised nearly $4,700, ranking in the top five fundraising teams.
WOW: The UW is one of five institutions to receive a “WOW” award for outstanding use of technology in higher education. The award, given by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET), goes to UW Catalyst. “Bucking the trend of using off-the-shelf software, Catalyst’s Learning Spaces, Web Tools and Knowledge Services were developed by tapping the expertise of faculty, students and staff to meet campuswide needs,” WCET said in announcing the award. Tom Lewis is Catalyst’s director of research and development.
COOLEST SITE: Farecast, the Web site that helps people decide when would be the best time to buy their airline tickets, was named by Time Magazine as one of the “50 coolest Web sites for 2006.” Farecast (at http://www.farecast.com) is the brainchild of Oren Etzioni, associate professor of Computer Science & Engineering.
COMMERCIAL STAR: Intrigued by the urban renewal theme of Tacoma’s university and museum district, where UW Tacoma is located, the manufacturers of Lincoln automobiles brought two crews there Sept. 16 to film TV commercials. Nine cars were lined up along the main campus walkway and other locations. UW Tacoma facilities and security staff said the crew was one of the nicest and most organized groups they’d ever worked with on campus. The footage will appear on television in four to six weeks.
CLASSIC NEUROSCIENCE: A collection of information, learning activities and Web links about the nervous system called “Neuroscience for Kids” has been honored by the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) as a “classic” in its field. The program was created by Eric Chudler, director of education and outreach for UWEB, a part of the Bioengineering Department. Award winners are selected by MERLOT editorial boards.
POPULARIZING SCIENCE: Peter Ward, professor of Earth & Space Sciences and Biology, has been awarded a Stafford Little Lectureship at Princeton University because of his work supporting evolution and disputing intelligent design as science, and for popularizing science through his books. He will deliver a three-part lecture called The Undesigned Universe Nov. 28–30 focusing on basic precepts of evolution, designing a habitable planetary system, and development of habitable zones within galaxies. The lectureship includes a $25,000 honorarium.
NATIONAL LEADER: UW Police Chief Vicky Stormo was among 15 law enforcement executives around the country chosen to attend the National Law Enforcement Leadership Institute on Violence against Women, held in August. The institute, sponsored by the international Association of Chiefs of Police, focused on exploring innovative approaches for investigating crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking.
SCIENCE HONORS: UW graduate student Tammara Combs-Turner is among 35 young scientists to be honored with Science Spectrum magazine’s Emerald Honors awards. The awards recognize exceptionally talented minorities for their achievements in many science fields. Combs-Turner, who is an African American, is working on a doctorate at the Information School while serving as a program manager for the Community Technologies Group at Microsoft Research and the vice president of professional development for Blacks at Microsoft, a Microsoft Diversity Advisory Council group. She was recognized with a President’s Award.
STARRING ROLE: Columns Editor Tom Griffin was named a “Faculty Star” by CASE for his presentations on alumni magazines at the 2006 Summer Institute in Communications and Marketing held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in July. The honor is based on student evaluations, which rated Griffin at the highest levels in three categories: knowledge of subject matter, presentation skills and ability to respond to questions.
PSYCHED UP: Psychology Professor Michael Beecher has been chosen to receive the Exemplar Award by the Animal Behavior Society for his “long-term and significant contributions” to the field of animal behavior . . . Research Associate Professor of Psychology Randy Kyes was named president-elect of the American Society of Primatologists. His term as president will begin in 2008 following his two-year term as president-elect . . . Jeanette Norris, Tina Zawacki, and Tatiana Masters are the inaugural recipients of the Ira and Harriet Reiss Theory Award from the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for their 2004 article, “Cognitive Mediation of Women’s Sexual Decision Making: The Influence of Alcohol, Contextual Factors, and Background Variables,” published in the Annual Review of Sex Research. Norris is an affiliate assistant professor in psychology and senior research scientist at The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. Zawacki is a former post-doc who is now at the University of Texas, and Masters is a doctoral student in social work.
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