May 30, 2013
News Digest: Seattle Science Festival June 6-16, Honor: Alison Wylie, Charles Wolfe e-book
UW part of second Seattle Science Festival
The University of Washington will again take part in Seattle Science Festival 2013, the region’s largest annual celebration of science, June 6-16.
The 11-day event includes Science Expo Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 8 at Seattle Center that will feature more than 150 exhibitors. Those from UW include medicine, engineering, genome sciences, nursing, pharmacy, chemistry, the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, the Center for Nanotechnology, the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, as well as a variety of climate researchers. As part of festival activities, the astronomy department will have its annual open house, featuring free planetarium shows and family-friendly astronomy demonstrations, from 3 to 6 p.m. in the UW’s Physics and Astronomy Building.
An underwater robotics demonstration from 2-4:30 p.m. June 9, in Freeland on Whidbey Island includes oceanography’s remotely operated vehicle team.
The Best of UW Science Now from 6-7:30 p.m. June 10, at Pacific Science Center features three presentations by doctoral students originally given at Town Hall Seattle: Karl Lang of Earth and space sciences on How to Build a Mountain Range; Sara Bender of oceanography on Exploring the “Appetite” of Hungry Marine Microbes; and Jared Kofron of physics on A Brief History of the Tiny Neutrino.
On June 15, computer science and engineering will present a series of hands-on workshops designed to demystify computer science for middle school and high school students. The event is from 1-3 p.m. at the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering on the UW campus.
Alison Wylie honored by Society for Women in Philosophy
Alison Wylie, UW professor of philosophy and anthropology, has been named the Distinguished Woman Philosopher for 2013 by the Society for Women in Philosophy.
Formed in 1972, the society is an independent group that holds meetings in conjunction with those of the American Philosophical Association. Wylie will receive the award during the society’s December meeting in Baltimore.
Wylie notes on her faculty web page that she specializes in philosophy of the social and historical sciences, specifically archaeology and the feminist philosophy of science. She has also served as editor of Hypatia, a journal of feminist philosophy.
Sustainability studied in Wolfe’s ‘Urbanism Without Effort’
Creating urban areas with long-term sustainability involves studying spaces from both a historical perspective and that of the everyday user. That’s the argument Charles R. Wolfe, UW affiliate associate professor of urban design and planning and a Seattle attorney, makes in a new e-book titled “Urbanism Without Effort.”
Press notes state this illustrated book explores the idea that creating sustainable urban citiesinvolves understanding the interactions of urban dwellers “with each other and their surrounding urban and physical environment.” The book was published in May by Island Books. Wolfe teaches land-use law to graduate students in the College of Built Environments.
