Current Research Projects
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Assessing the Potential for a Regional Ocean Governance Pilot Project in the Pacific Northwest
NOAA/NOS/CSC
$176,000; August 2004-August 2006
(PI:  M. Hershman)

Auditing Communities for Walkability and Bikability
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; UW TRAC and TransNow
October 2001--September 2004
(PI:  A. Vernez-Moudon)
This project is to develop retrospective environmental audit instruments for local jurisdictions, professionals, and neighborhood groups to support and encourage leisure- and transport-related physical activity. Walking and biking are well-accepted activities that can help enhance personal health and reduce the use of personal motorized transport. The project's audit instruments is based on a 630-respondent survey of walking and biking in neighborhoods, with respondents randomly selected from medium-density, mixed-used communities in King County, with different levels of maturity in their non-motorized transportation infrastructure and by the presence of bicycle/pedestrian trails. Objective (GIS-based) and subjective measures are taken for more than 200 variables used to capture environmental factors. The variables are tested empirically to establish their predictive power in estimating levels of walking and biking. Multinomial logit models are used to use estimate the likelihood of walking sufficiently (for health purposes) and moderately, relative to not walking at all, and to estimate the likelihood of walking sufficiently relative to moderately. Binary logit models are used for predicting the odds of biking relative to not biking at al. The modeling process includes (a) the estimation of a Base Model, consisting of survey variables (mostly socio-demographic confounders for this study); and (b) the development of Final Models, which add environmental variables to the Base Model. Models results are being interpreted for both their theoretical implications and their application to auditing environments.

Biocomplexity: Modeling the Interactions Among Urban Development, Land Cover Change, and Bird Diversity
National Science Foundation, Biocomplexity
$1,128,818, September 2001-February 2005
(PIs: M. Alberti, P. Waddell, J. Marzluff, M. Handcock)
This project will apply Bayesian networks and a multi-agent microsimulation to develop an integrated model of urban development and land cover change that can interface with a large set of ecosystem processes in the Central Puget Sound Region. In this project the focus is on linking urban development and land cover change to bird diversity as a test case for our modeling approach. The project aims to understand how best to model complexity and uncertainty of coupled socioeconomic and biophysical processes in metropolitan regions and their interactions with the policy domain.

Compliance Motivations:  Marine Facilities and Water Quality
Environmental Protection Agency
$227,000; 2001-2004
(PI:  P. May)
This research is addressing factors that affect compliance of marine facilities in California and Washington with regulations and best practice guidelines concerning both point and nonpoint sources of water pollution. Data are being collected from separate mail-out surveys to boatyard and marina operators in selected areas of California and Washington and interviews and document collection are being undertaken for enforcement personnel and related interest groups. The research will contribute to understanding of the motivations of firms to comply with environmental regulations and to adopt best practices for averting environmental harms.

Computationally Enhanced Construction Kits: Integrating Tangible and Computational Media for Construction and Design
NSF-Information Technology Research
$1,803,930; September 2003 - September 2008
(PIs:  M. Gross  M. Eisenberg)
Construction kits-such as geometric design sets, erector sets, architectural blocks, anatomical models, chemical modeling kits-are toys designed for the building or assembly of physical models-have historically played a powerful educational role in children's lives. This project is developing a wide variety of computationally-enhanced construction kits, focusing on scientific, mathematical, and engineering domains (such as solid geometry, molecular chemistry, architectural design, and anatomy). Through the use of embedded computation, pieces within a construction kit may communicate with each other, with desktop machines, and with their users; and overall, by integrating construction kits with computation, the educational power and expressiveness of these kits can be greatly increased.
The work addresses a range of foundational questions, prominently including:
[a] How to improve the technical design of such kits
[b] How to expand the scientific content of these kits; and
[c] How to characterize the cognitive and educational benefits (if any) of such kits.

In addressing these questions, the PIs are using a strategy of comparative design: that is, they are systematically exploring a variety of design alternatives, characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of each, and attempting to "map out" the overall design space for construction kits.  The goals and subject matter of this project are capable of profound and widespread impact in the promotion of American science and mathematics education. Construction kits often have a central affective role in developing students' interests in science and mathematics. The advent of affordable materials for embedded computation-in combination with both powerful software applications and the World Wide Web-enables these kits to have a vastly more democratized and educationally potent role. New social structures can develop around physical constructional media; and these new structures could prove especially powerful in attracting traditionally underserved populations into scientific and technological careers.

Course and Courseware Development for Internet-based Graduate Level Programs Leading to a Master's Degree, Phase I 
USGSA
$467,805 for Phase I; $361,515 for Phase II; 2002-2004
(PIs:  H. Blanco, D. Szatmary)
This contract is for the development of  a series of 17 online graduate-level courses that will deal with strategic planning and critical infrastructure issues.  The set of courses is the curriculum for a proposed distance learning Masters degree program in Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructures.  The academic content of the courses will be developed by faculty from the Department of Urban Design and Planning, at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning and from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine.  Cognitive Arts, an instructional development firm based in Chicago will work with faculty to develop the internet courseware.  UW Educational Outreach will provide project management and quality assurance assistance for the project.  Phase I includes the development of 10 courses; Phase II to begin in June, 2003 includes the development of the remaining 7 courses.

Development of an Integrated Urban Ecological Simulation Model for the Puget Sound: Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model (PRISM)
University Initiative Fund (UW)
$214,909 
(PIs: M. Alberti, P. Waddell)
This project develops an integrated strategy to model the urban development and ecological dynamics in the Central Puget Sound Region. This modeling effort is part of the Human Dimension of PRISM, the Puget Sound Regional Integrated Synthesis Model. PRISM is an interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Washington that inks models of urban processes with hydrologic and atmospheric models to form an integrated model design to address the kinds of questions raised by the Salmon ESA listing.
(Posting Date:  1/4/00)

An Exploratory Center for Obesity Research
NIH/RR
$1,723,410, 10/2004-10/2007
(PI: A. Drewnowski)
To devise a transdisciplinary approach to obesity research, with a focus on the environment, economics, and public health policy.

The Exposure of Minority and Poor Populations to Mobile Source Air Pollution
UW Royalty Research Fund
$31,569, 2/2004
(PI:  C. Bae)

Extending Lessons from the Steller Sea Lion Controversy: Getting Ahead of the Northern Fur Seal Curve
North Pacific Research Board
$35,000, May 2006-April 2007
(PI: M. Hershman)

Geographies of Occupational Attainment
National Science Foundation
$130,000, 9/1/01 - 8/31/03 (and continuing)
(PI:  J.W. Harrington)
This research takes an institutional approach to the individual's gaining and using occupation-specific skills, and to the local availability of occupation-specific labor (through training and through migration). The preparatory and geographic paths toward a given occupation should vary across institutional contexts and personal and employer characteristics; and the mix of employer characteristics and institutional contexts vary systematically across places (metropolitan areas, in this research project). The objective of the research project is to compare the sources (by type andlocation) of computer programmers' training across regions, industrial sectors, and personal characteristics. (1) Research questions will first be investigated using secondary data (primarily from the U.S. Census) for all Metropolitan Statistical Areas of the U.S. (the "case" or unit of analysis will be the metropolitan area): local rates of occupational attainment will be related to relevant economic, educational, and social variables; the proportion of self-identified programmers who made an inter-county move in the previous five years will be related to relevant variables. (2) A second component of the project entails primary research in five mid-sized metropolitan areas with a high proportion of programmers. Two data-collection strategies will be used in the second component. (2.a.) First, secondary statistical sources and archival sources will provide background information on issues of programmer labor supply, demand, and training. In addition to creating local-context data, this process will be the source of contacts for interviews. (2.b.) Second, interviews will be conducted. The first round will be with key employers of programmers and leaders of local professional organizations and workers' organizing groups. The second round will interview employees who are identified and self-identify as programmers, whether or not they are currently employed as such. The key questions (for observation and inquiry) are: sex and race; current employment arrangement and tenure; approximate age and location at which the individual gained original training as a programmer; motivations for occupational and locational choices; earlier careers and parents' occupations; and incidence and sponsorship of further training. The information from both types of interviews will be used to relate local characteristics of labor-force size, employer size, employment practices, and growth rates to the locations and ways in which programmers gained and maintained their skills.

Geology of the Greater Seattle Region/Pacific Northwest Center for Geologic Mapping Studies
USGS, King County, City of Seattle
$2,400,000, August 1999-December 2006
(PI:  D. Booth, K. Troost)
The Seattle-Area Geologic Mapping Project (SGMP) is a collaborative effort to develop new data and greater understanding of the geology of the central Puget Lowland. The Project was initiated in 1998 through collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Washington, and the City of Seattle to provide state-of-the-art geologic data to support geologic hazard mitigation in the City. Since that beginning, it has grown to include other geographic areas and a broadened range of research topics. The project goals are to acquire existing geologic data and create new geologic information; to conduct geologic research and produce new geologic maps; and to support the wide variety of additional research, hazard assessments, and land-use applications of others throughout the region.

GIS Land Use Analysis Tool
Washington Department of Transportation, Policy Planning Office,
January 2004--March 2005
(PI:  A. Vernez-Moudon)
The goal of this research is to develop tools to help local jurisdictions and WSDOT more closely tie together the relationship between land use and transportation during the investment decision-making process. This project relates to the last of a three-phase program "Integrating Land Use and Transportation Investment Decision Making."  The products of this work will take the form of maps depicting different zones within the region, which correspond to different existing and targeted travel behaviors.  The maps will be derived from parcel-level GIS databases currently available for all urbanized counties in the State of Washington. The fine resolution of these databases allows for precise measurement of micro-scaled land use conditions known to be associated with levels of transit use and non-motorized travel. Land use characteristics will be captured by a series of variables known to be associated with different travel behaviors, such as density of people and activities, presence and spatial aggregation of destination uses, and transportation infrastructure attributes. Maps will depict zones of development associated with different values of the variables, classifying, for example, areas of the region by range of density, by spatial grouping of destination land uses, etc. It will also be possible to develop maps with zones that are defined by a combination of variables, such as zones that have a specified range of development density, of block sizes, and that are within a specified distance to regional trails.

High Point Flow and Water Quality Monitoring (Phase 1)
City of Seattle
$125,279, September 2002-August 2004
(PI:  D. Booth, R. Horner)
Seattle Housing Authority's plan to rebuild the High Point housing in West Seattle has opened an opportunity to install up-to-date stormwater management techniques in a large area contributing drainage to Longfellow Creek, a stream with existing and potential salmon habitat. Under this project, we will assess the performance of the selected techniques through flow and water quality monitoring of High Point's stormwater runoff. The work will include developing the monitoring plan, helping in equipment installation, operating monitoring stations, collecting flow data and water samples, performing certain analyses, delivering samples to the city's contract laboratory for other analyses, archiving and analyzing all data, and interpreting and reporting results. Phase 1 will emphasize collecting baseline data (representing the existing condition) and the first set of post-construction data at the point where collected stormwater runoff from the entire neighborhood discharges to the creek. Future phases, under anticipated follow-up contracts, will continue monitoring at this point and will add monitoring of discharges from selected stormwater management facilities installed to treat runoff from drainage subbasins. Beyond this contract, the city will contribute equipment, technician assistance, and the cost of laboratory analyses.  

High Point HOPE VI Evaluation
Seattle Housing Authority
$167,951, March 21, 2001- June 30, 2007
(PI: Rachel Garshick Kleit)
This research answers two questions about the HOPE VI redevelopment of the High Point public housing community: What happens to families as a result of HOPE VI and how does the neighborhood change as a result of the redevelopment. For families, the research will track change over time in family well being for the original residents of High Point, regardless of whether they stay on-site or move as a result of the redevelopment. The evaluation answers four questions:(1) how does neighborhood quality change for families as a result of the redevelopment, (2) how do families make decisions about the move they will make, (3) how does job attachment and job searching change over time, (4) how does involvement in their neighborhood change over time?

Impervious Surfaces Classification NOAA, Department of Ecology, Space Imaging Integrated Framework: Urbanization, Human Health and Nearshore Interactions
US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10
$59,000, 2003-2004
(PIs:  M. Alberti, E. Faustman)
This project builds upon Urban Ecology Research Laboratory's research on the impacts of urban development on ecological systems and develops an integrated conceptual framework to quantify the relationship between human and biophysical stressors, processes, exposure and effects in the Puget Sound region. Our study focuses on how to conceptualized reciprocal urbanization affects the health of marine and nearshore areas, and how those impacts in turn affect human health. We developed an integrated framework as a tool to aid in using science and research to inform shoreline management and planning processes. We explored case examples to illustrate the complex relationships linking environmental variables, human development patterns, algal blooms, bacterial contamination, and human health concerns. This framework will serve as a tool for understanding the relationships between human actions, vectors, effects, biophysical processes, management, and social, cultural and economic processes.

A secondary phase of the research is to provide an evaluation of our project using the case examples of application of the integrated framework information linking human and ecosystem processes across disciplinary boundaries. Together with Elaine Faustman, director of the University of Washington's Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, we invite planners to evaluate the applicability and transferability of such a framework in their shoreline plans and programs to inform decision making processes on the interactions between nearshore areas, urbanization and human health.

Innovation and Entrenchment among Public Housing Authorities: Housing the Poorest of the Poor in the Pacific Northwest
West Coast Poverty Center Emerging Scholars Small Grant Program
$14,996, June 2006 – August 2007.
(PIs: S. Page and R. Kleit)

Interaction and Participation in Integrated Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Modeling
National Science Foundation, Information Technology Research
$3,500,000, September 2001-August 2006. 
(PIs:  A. Borning, P. Waddell, B. Friedman, M. Gross, D. Notkin, Z. Popovic)
Principal research topics: in human computer interaction, providing more effective ways of understanding the results from and interacting with complex simulations, and ways of linking stakeholder values with design choices in simulations and their interfaces; in computer graphics, capabilities for producing simulated street-level animations of urban environments from a policy-driven simulation; and in software engineering, new software structures that allow us to design, integrate, and evolve complex and diverse urban submodels. 

An Internet Platform to Support Public Participation in Transportation Decision Making
National Science Foundation, Information Technology Research
$2,632,883, September 2003--August 2007
(PIs:  T. Nyerges, T. Brooks, C. Drew, P. Jankowski, S. Rutherford, R. Young)

Land Cover Change Model for Central Puget Sound
King County, Department of Natural Resources
$183,657, 2004
(PI:  M. Alberti)


Landscape Benchmarks Project
Washington State Dept. of Community, Trade, and Economic Development
$56,620 & $27,819, Phases IIA & IIB, 2003--2005
(PI:  M. Alberti)
This study develops and applies a set of landscape metrics as benchmarks for monitoring landscape changes associated with urban growth in central Puget Sound over the period 1991-1999. Selected metrics are examined and proposed as benchmarks for monitoring the effectiveness of the Washington State Growth Management Act and the progress towards its goals. Landscape metrics were selected among a large set of metrics developed in the field of Landscape Ecology to quantify and monitor landscape patterns. The study is based on a multi-year land cover classification and analysis of USGS Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) at a three time-steps (1991, 1995, and 1999) at the regional and county level within and outside the urban growth boundary. A finer resolution analysis is also conducted using a 150 meter moving window across the region and to evaluate the spatial distribution of landscape change. Analysis of US Census data from 1990 and 2000 are used to infer relationships between population growth and impervious area.

Landscape Self-organization by Ice Sheets
National Science Foundation
$597,410, January 2004-December 2006
(PI's: B. Hallet and D. Booth)
The terrain shaped by former ice sheets provides precious clues about poorly understood conditions and processes at the base of ice masses that are important because they control how fast ice sheets build up, move and store water, and how they respond to, and participate in, global climate change, present and past. Areas that were formerly under ice sheets tend to be strikingly scoured in the direction of ice flow and often feature highly streamlined hills (drumlins).  We will develop a detailed mathematical model as a tool to better understand the spontaneous production of drumlins and other characteristic landforms by ice sheets. Our study of the spontaneous emergence of distinct landforms from the dynamic interaction of moving ice, water and sediment over vast spatial and temporal scales is an outstanding example of mathematical modeling of large, complex geosystems.

Modeling Uncertainty in Land Use and Transportation Policy Impacts: Statistical Methods, Computational Algorithms, and Stakeholder interaction
National Science Foundation
$749,978, January 2006--December 2008
(PI's: A. Borning, P. Waddell, A. Raftery)
Patterns of land use and available transportation systems play a critical role in determining the economic vitality, livability, and sustainability of urban areas. As part of our ongoing research, we have designed and implemented a computer system, named UrbanSim, that simulates the development of urban areas. Our goal is to provide a tool for urban planners, government staff, business groups, citizens' groups, and others to help predict future patterns of urban land use, transportation, and emissions under different possible scenarios over periods of twenty or more years. In the work proposed here, we concentrate on two principal issues in extending the simulation. The first is assessing and representing uncertainty in our simulations, using statistical techniques (Bayesian melding). The second is presenting the results and supporting interaction with the simulation in an appropriate way for a wide range of stakeholders via a web-based interface.


National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Compliance Project
NOAA Fisheries
$376,981, 2002-2006
(PI:  M. Hershman)
Examines the history, rationale and future of NEPA and related regulatory compliance issues by NOAA Fisheries in the management of living marine resources of the North Pacific. Special attention is given to the law-science interface. The project includes research, teaching and student supervision.

NEPA EIS research and writing
North Pacific Fisheries Management Council
$100,000, 2003-2006
(PI:  M. Hershman)
Student research assistants work with staff of the NOAA Fisheries North Pacific regional office and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center to provide research and writing support in meeting new regulatory and analytical requirements.

NSF IGERT in Urban Ecology
National Science Foundation IGERT
$2,700,000, September 2001-August 2006
(PIs: G. Bradley, M. Alberti, J. Marzluff, C. Ryan, and C. Zumbrunnen)
IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds. The program aims to develop innovative models for graduate education and training for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. This IGERT centers on five broad research themes: (i) What socioeconomic factors drive urban development, (ii) How landscape ecology can be used to quantify urban development patterns, (iii) How urban development patterns affect biodiversity and ecosystem function, (iv) How changes in ecosystems affect human preferences and decisions, and (v) How policies influence human settlement and its effects.

NW Center for Livable Communities
US HUD
$225,000, 2004--2006
(PIs:  F. Wagner, H. Blanco)
Seed funding to start a center to provide assistance for communities in managing growth, in economic revitalization, and in efforts to become more sustainable and livable.

Pacific Northwest Center for Ocean and Human Health
NSF and NIEHS
$7,543,020, 2003-2008
(Project Leader 2, GIS & Urban Ecology:  M. Alberti)

Park Lake Homes HOPE VI Evaluation
US Housing and Urban Development, King County Housing Authority
$133,000, 2003--2005
(PI:  L. Manzo)
This project will evaluate the redevelopment of Park Lake Homes, a 569-unit public housing site in White Center operated by the King County Housing Authority. Park Lake Homes is being redeveloped through HUD's HOPE VI program, which will replace the current housing with a new, mixed income community. This evaluation is designed to examine residents' housing needs and concerns to better inform the resident relocation process and provide the appropriate services to displaced residents. This will include a Needs Assessment Survey of all households on site, focus groups with particular ethnic groups, including Cambodian, Vietnamese and Somali, and in-depth individual interviews.

Peer Earthquake Performance Standards
National Science Foundation & Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER)
$75,000/year, 3 years
(PI:  R. Zerbe, S. Chang)
Apply Benefit-cost techniques to the evaluation of performance standards for earthquakes.

Performance-Based Regulation: Implications for Regulatory Regimes
National Science Foundation/Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center
$110,000; 2002-2004
(PI:  P. May)
Regulatory reformers have widely endorsed the premise that regulations should be defined in terms of desired outcomes and have advocated greater use of this performance-based approach in a variety of regulatory arenas. This project, funded by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center and the National Science Foundation, considers variations in forms of performance-based regulation as undertaken for building and fire safety, food safety, and nuclear power plant accident prevention. Expectations for performance-based regulatory regimes are being considered in comparison to complaints about overly prescriptive and rigid regulatory regimes.

Poverty and Obesity: The role of energy density and cost of diets
USDA/NRI
$700,000, 6/2004--5/2007
(PI: A. Drewnowski)
To develop new measures of estimated diet cost and to link diet quality and diet cost.


Project Re Regulatory Risk with UW School of Public Health & Carnegie Mellon University
Exxon-Mobile
$1,000,000, 3 years
(PI:  Faustman, R. Zerbe)
A variety of topics all centered around standardizing the risk-benefit approach to regulations.

Puget Sound In-Vehicle Traffic Map Demonstration
USDOT and WSDOT
$675,000, 4/2006 -10/2007
(PI: S. Rutherford, M. Hallenbeck, Y. Wang)
Traveler information has long been one of the ITS technologies expected to have significant benefit to both travelers and public transportation agencies. In-vehicle traveler information is one of the most visible aspects of the federal Vehicle Infrastructure Integration and Intelligent Vehicle Initiatives (VII and IVI respectively.) Connected vehicles along with new roadside infrastructure allow roadway performance information to be collected and transmitted to centralized monitoring systems which integrate multiple data inputs, summarize traffic conditions, and transmit roadway condition information to travelers, who can then make informed travel decisions. This project evaluates at least two devices that provide in-vehicle traveler information. The project will attempt to measure the impact on driving behavior by collecting traffic information and users comments.

Seattle's Chinatown/International District: Transnational communities, local identities, and the making of place
UW Royalty Research Fund Grant
$33,327, 2002 - current
(PI:  D. Abramson, L. Manzo, J. Hou)

Southern California Beach Valuation Project
Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation, California Dept. of Fish & Game, Southern CA Coastal Water Research Program, CA State Water Resources Control Board, Minerals Management Service, and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
$800,000+, (6/98--on going)
(PIs:  M. Hanemann, L. Pendelton, M. Ward)

Transportation Impervious Surfaces WSDOT, 2005
(PI:  M. Alberti)

University of Washington Yakima Valley Community Partnership
US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, HUD COPC Grant
$397,000, 2004--2006
(PIs:  S. Palleroni, M. Pyatok, L. Manzo)
This project will forge a community partnership with towns in the Yakima Valley in order to understand and address the housing needs of low-income and migrant farm workers. Through research, design and the construction of prototypes, we will engage faculty and students to work on a program of developing affordable housing for the recently settled Hispanic communities of Toppenish, Granger and Yakima. This work will take place through seminars, studios and design build projects through the next three years.

Urban Community Gardens: Place Making for Healthy, Active and Sustainable Living Landscape Architecture Foundation, Land and Community Design Case Study Series
$6,650, 7/2005 to 7/2006
(PIs: Jeffrey Hou, Julie Johnson and Laura Lawson (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign))
While generally acknowledged as a resource for multiple benefits, community gardens remain an ambiguous land use not completely accepted as a permanent open space resource. Only a few cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle, include community gardens as open space in their city planning process. To make urban community gardens a legitimate and essential land use and open space type, this study examines the design and development of urban community gardens as place making for healthy, active and sustainable communities.