University Initiatives Fund-1 Awards

(TO OUR READERS: The first round of University Initiatives Fund competition ended this summer with an award to the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, whose collaborative vision is expected to propel the UW to the forefront of information science (see related story). In closing round 1, President Richard L. McCormick praised the campus community for its response to the UIF challenge: to move the University forward in areas of strategic advantage through internal reallocation. The initiatives listed below, funded by UIF-1, are programs for the 21st century.)

Academic Proposals

Center for Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the engineering of devices and materials on the very smallest scale, at the level of molecules. This new interdisciplinary center will put the UW in the vanguard of the next revolution in technology.

Participating Units: Engineering, with Arts and Sciences, Pharmacy, and Medicine

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Graduate Education, Research

First Biennium Award: $1,000,000

Research, Teaching, and Public Programs in the Humanities

An expanded Center for the Humanities will create programs that bridge disciplines: innovations in curriculum, new connections between scholarship and teaching, and outreach efforts that reassert the vital link between the humanities and public life.

Participating Units: Arts and Sciences, with UW Libraries

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Graduate Education, Research, Community Outreach

First Biennium Award: $1,000,000

Health Sciences Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Clinical Education

A consortium of faculty, students, and health-care professionals in cross-disciplinary teams, focused on the diverse patient groups served by Harborview.

Participating Units: Nursing, with Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Social Work

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Professional Education, Community Outreach

First Biennium Award: $750,000

Undergraduate Program in Neurobiology

A new major in neurobiology will give undergraduates access to the UW’s research strength in this important field, filling a significant gap in the science curriculum and easing enrollment pressure on the Zoology, Biology, and Psychology majors.

Participating Units: Medicine, with Arts and Sciences

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education

First Biennium Award: $1,920,000

Public Health Genetics in the Context of Law, Ethics, and Policy

A multi-college, multi-level program will study scientific advances in genetics from many perspectives, including philosophy and social science, and will develop ethical, cultural, and legal frameworks to guide health-care and regulatory policies.

Participating Units: Public Health, with Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, Public Affairs, and Nursing

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Graduate Education, Community Outreach

First Biennium Award: $800,000

The Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model (PRISM): An Integrated Vision of Puget Sound into the Twenty-first Century

Creating and working with a “Virtual Puget Sound”—a multidimensional construct of computer models and databases—interdisciplinary teams of students and faculty will study the complex interaction of natural and human environments around Puget Sound.

Participating Units: Ocean and Fishery Sciences, with Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Public Affairs, Forest Resources, Education, UW Libraries, and Architecture and Urban Planning

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Community Outreach

First Biennium Award: $900,000

Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)

With the appointment of Dr. Michael Eisenberg as director of GSLIS, the UW is poised to move aggressively forward with an integrated vision for information science.

Participating Units: Graduate School of Library and Information Science in collaboration with a number of other units on campus.

UW Missions Served: Information Science, UW Libraries

First Biennium Award: $300,000

Partnerships for a Seamless Education

This project expands service-learning opportunities for undergraduates, placing them in schools and communities around the state where they can serve as tutors and mentors for minority and disadvantaged students.

Participating Units: Office of Minority Affairs, with Arts and Sciences, Ocean and Fishery Sciences, Social Work, Law, Nursing, Business Administration, Forest Resources, Education, and Architecture and Urban Planning

UW Missions Served: Undergraduate Education, Community Outreach

First Biennium Award: $138,500

Support Services Proposals

Streamlining Support Services through Web-Based Technologies

New campus-wide procedures for payroll, personnel, grants and contracts, travel, and purchasing will be developed. The use of new and emerging Web-based technologies will speed and simplify these common support services at a fraction of the cost some institutions have incurred.

Participating Units: Executive Vice President

UW Missions Served: Administrative support for all the University’s academic missions

First Biennium Award: $1,000,000

For more information see UIF website at http://www.washington.edu/uif