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News and Updates

News and Updates

News Roundup: Clean Tech, Faculty Field Tour, Revenue Forecast, Sustainability Award

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Expo Showcases Wash. State Companies’ Budding Clean Tech Economy – KPLU

Among the companies … is Arlington-based Microgreen Polymers, which spun out of research at the University of Washington.

Forecast shows $395M uptick in state revenue – AP/The Columbian

“While the revenue increase is welcome news, we still face a significant budget challenge in our next budget,” David Schumacher, director of the Office of Financial Management, said in a written statement.

Read the forecast meeting materials here.

High costs of college: The truth behind the myths – Seattle Times

Eight myths (and some truths) about why college costs so much, and why you can’t work your way through school anymore.

On the road with the UW Faculty Field Tour – President’s Blog

UW Faculty Filed Tour visits Sen. Mark Schoesler's farm in Ritzville, WA.
UW Faculty Filed Tour visits Sen. Mark Schoesler’s farm in Ritzville, WA.

 

The Annual UW Faculty Field Tour is a 5-day, 1,000-mile tour of Washington state for faculty members new to Washington and the University. View more posts on Tagboard, and photos on State Relations’ Facebook page.

The Spokane Solution – Columns Magazine

Expanding medical education in Eastern Washington’s largest city will address a key problem: increasing the number of primary care physicians in rural and underserved areas. Learn more about UW’s expansion plans at uw.edu/spokanemedschool.

State not producing enough graduates in high-tech fields – King5News.com

The College Success Foundation and Washington State Opportunity Scholarship Board hosted a round table with UW leaders and student scholarship recipients on campus June 9.

International award cites UW for leadership in sustainability – UW News

News Roundup: President Young in Spokane, Dental and Medical programs recognized, Gift supercharges UW research

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President Young visited Spokane on May 29 for a series of meetings to discuss growing the region’s healthcare economy through research and expanded medical education. In the evening, he spoke at a UW alumni lecture event featuring UW researcher Dr. Charles Murry. Learn more on the President’s trip on his Facebook page.

UW President Michael K. Young in Spokane.
UW President Michael K. Young in Spokane.

 

UW-Spokane alliance has unique value, Young says – UW Health Sciences NewsBeat

Very few areas in the United States are as well positioned as Washington state to become national research centers. That was the message of University of Washington President Michael K. Young in an address to UW alumni in Spokane.

Top-Ten List: Family Medicine

The UW School of Medicine was recognized by the American Academy of Family Physicians for contributing to the pipeline of family physicians. Learn more in a recent letter to the UW community from Dean Paul Ramsey, M.D.

A reason to smile: Washington leads nation in access to dental care for low-income kids – Puget Sound Business Journal

UW team builds a hybrid with some muscle for collegiate contest – Seattle Times

How a “game-changing” gift is super-charging UW research – Crosscut

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe recognized for commitment to UW Bothell – Bothell Reporter

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, has been awarded the 2014 Legacy Award from the University of Washington in Bothell.

Technology Alliance- State of Technology

UW State Relations attended the annual State of Tech event hosted by the TechAlliance. The Innovation Showcase Company of the Year went to SNUPI, a UW spinoff. Other program highlights included a presentation on the economic impacts of technology-based industries in Washington state.

 

News Roundup: Monkey hearts, UW spinouts & innovations, Dental care for kids, and more!

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Scientists regenerate heart muscle in primates – Health Sciences NewsBeat

In a major advance, researchers at the University of Washington have successfully restored damaged heart muscle of monkeys using heart cells created from human embryonic stem cells.

$31M gift will fund early stage UW research by high-tech entrepreneurs – UW Today

The funding will be used to hire new faculty, attract competitive postdoctoral researchers and enhance facilities and infrastructure. The goal is to boost the UW’s contribution in these high-need research areas and encourage spinout companies among involved researchers. Two of the labs, the Clean Energy Institute and Institute for Protein Design, both recently received state support from the Legislature and Governor Inslee.

A reason to smile: Washington leads nation in access to dental care for low-income kids – PSBJ

Washington leads the country in the percentage of babies and preschoolers from low-income families getting dental care. UW School of Dentistry and the ABCD program in Spokane is mentioned.

UW developing pill for gluten intolerance, other innovations – KING 5 News

You could call it an adult science fair: University of Washington entrepreneurs and students displayed new ways to reboot damaged hearts, save lives in the E.R. and prevent severe reactions to gluten.

UW Libraries Receives Historical Society Award

The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections has been awarded the Washington State Historical Society’s David Douglas Award for the documentary Grays Harbor Happenings:The Newsreels of C.D. Anderson. Read more.

Latest UW medical startups and innovations featured in local media

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The University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization (C4C) recently hosted an inter-active tour for journalists at its New Ventures Facility, where the media got a first-hand look at the latest technologies moving from lab to market.

KING 5 Healthlink’s Jean Enersen reports:

You could call it an adult science fair: University of Washington entrepreneurs and students displayed new ways to reboot damaged hearts, save lives in the E.R. and prevent severe reactions to gluten.

The Puget Sound Business Journal reports:

University of Washington is home to researchers investigating the latest technologies and drug candidates for a healthier world. The challenge is getting those big ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace.

UW’s Center for Commercialization is the incubator trying to make that happen. C4C was created to help the university’s researchers get their products on the market.

Learn more about how UW is propelling ideas from the lab to the marketplace at C4C’s website.

 

News Roundup: UW news you can use and share!

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Every month we will bring you a sampling of news clips about UW projects and programs impacting our state and region. Below are a few to kick us off for the month of April. Have an article you want to see featured in the roundup? Leave a link in the comments, or email us at: staterel “at” uw “dot” edu.

UW Center Helps Turn Big Ideas Into Reality – Puget Sound Business Journal

UW Launches Effort to Prepare Region for Major Quake – KING 5 News

Medical School Task Force Convenes – Spokesman-Review

UW Students Learn Rural Medicine in Grand Coulee – The Star

Looking to Complete That Degree? UW Adds Another Option – Seattle Times

Social News:

https://twitter.com/usatodaynews/status/457892603963248641

UW ranks among top for return on college investment

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via President Young’s blog (a great source of news & info, bookmark it!):

The University of Washington ranks fifth among all public and private universities in the country in a survey that estimates the financial return on degrees.

 

“While financial return on investment isn’t the only value in a college degree, being fifth in the nation among all public and private universities certainly validates the power of a UW education and the excellence of our graduates,” President Michael K. Young said.

 

The research was done by PayScale, which surveyed college graduates to estimate the annualized return on investment.

 

View an interactive chart of the rankings on The Economist’s website.

UW School of Medicine launches “Next Generation WWAMI” in Spokane

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via UW Today:

The University of Washington School of Medicine announced plans today to establish Spokane as the center of an effort called “Next Generation WWAMI.”

The UW, in partnership with the city’s health care professionals and other higher education institutions, will work to rapidly grow and continue to implement innovative approaches to medical education intended to prepare the next generation of family physicians and other doctors needed to serve both Spokane and rural and underserved urban areas in Washington.

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The Next Generation WWAMI plan includes three elements.

First, thanks to the generous support of the Spokane community, which raised private dollars to temporarily fund the second year of medical education in Spokane, the UW School of Medicine will seek state funding in the next legislative session to guarantee that Spokane will become the first permanent four-year medical education program outside Seattle in the five-state WWAMI region. This funding request will also support previously-announced plans by the UW, in partnership with Washington State University, to quadruple the number of students in Spokane’s classrooms from 20 to 80 per year.

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Second, the UW School of Medicine will adopt a new state-of-the art medical education curriculum in Spokane and expand clinical training opportunities in underserved areas across the state, including Yakima, Tri-Cities, Wenatchee, Bellingham and Vancouver. The new curriculum is characterized by greater integration in the program of basic science with clinical training, more active learning, and an emphasis on team-based, inter-professional medical education.  New and enhanced clinical training sites will ensure that students educated in Spokane will have the desperately-needed opportunities to put their education into required practice.

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Third, the WWAMI partnerships will enable the growth of biomedical research in Spokane. This is the most exciting time in history for medical research, and success with translating the research discoveries to improvements in healthcare depends on collaboration among multiple organizations. The Spokane medical community has a strong history of clinical innovation. Next Generation WWAMI will provide the stimulus for the connection of basic medical research to clinical innovation in Spokane.

Click here to read more at UW Today.

UW launches online bachelor’s degree completion program in social sciences

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Via UW Today:

Beginning in the fall 2014 people interested in social sciences, who have already earned roughly two years of college credit or an associate degree, will be able to finish their bachelor’s degree online through a new completion program offered by the University of Washington.

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The program is intended to provide a flexible, lower-cost option for individuals who want to finish their degrees online without coming to campus.

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“This is a way of expanding UW access to students who are time- and place-bound, whose family or work commitments make it impossible for them to come to campus,” said Michael K. Young, UW president. “It is a way for them to finish their degrees and move ahead in life.”

Increasing access to UW resources is central to the university’s mission, Young said. “By adding online degree completion programs at a lower cost, we’re offering more opportunities for students to earn and benefit from a UW degree.”

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“I applaud the university for developing and launching this second online degree completion program,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. ”If we are going to meet the educational needs of our state and grow our economy, it is critical that we offer innovative approaches to educate an increasingly diverse population of students. This degree offers an affordable, high-quality bachelor’s degree option for the nearly 1 million people with some college but no bachelor’s degree. I hope those who have dreamed of completing their college education will see this as an opportunity to take the next step in reaching their goals.”

The Atlantic: UW among best for dollar-for-dollar ROI

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Return on Investment
Photo: The Atlantic

According to PayScale data, the UW is #5 in the country in dollar-for-dollar return on investment (ROI) for a bachelor’s degree. And our computer science degree specifically is in the top 10 for ROI. Read more in The Atlantic.

Of course, long-term financial reward isn’t the only measure of the value of an education. Just surf through any issue of Columns magazine and you’ll find a treasure trove of inspiring ways UW alumni are using their degrees to make the world a better place.

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