January 14, 2010
Etc.: Campus news & notes
EAT AND RIDE: Assistant Professor of Astronomy Eric Agol had a lunch date with a car this week — specifically the new Tesla Roadster, the first all-electric vehicle approved for the highway. It was all part of a promotion the Tesla Seattle dealership is running, called lunch date with a Tesla. If you go to the Web site you can sign up by sending an e-mail. The dealership will take one person a week out to lunch, including a ride in a Tesla.
“It was my first time in a sports car, and it was really different,” Agol said. “It was kind of like being in a remote control car I used to play with as a kid.”
The car goes from zero to 60 mph in less than four seconds, Agol said, adding that he was told the company chose to make a sports car first in order to change public perceptions of electric cars, which have been seen as more like golf carts. The current model goes for $110,000, but less exotic versions with lower price tags are planned.
Agol said he has never been particularly interested in cars; he didn’t even get his driver’s license until age 20. But he buses to campus and formerly biked, so he’s interested in the environmentally friendly aspects of the car. Apparently, many of his colleagues were too; he said about 50 other occupants of the Physics-Astronomy Building showed up to take a look at the car when the Tesla representative arrived to pick him up.
ADVISING EXCELLENCE: Joyce Fagel, an adviser in Undergraduate Advising, has been named the winner of the Academic Advising Award for Pacific Northwest Region 8 of the Academic Advising Association. Fagel is being honored for her excellent work in the field. She will be recognized at the association’s regional meeting in Seattle Jan. 25-27.
Do you know someone who deserves kudos for an outstanding achievement, award, appointment or book publication? If so, send that person’s name, title and achievement to uweek@u.washington.edu.
