News Stories

UW Programs Find New Approaches

Thanks to generous private support, researchers Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff were able to obtain a sophisticated infant brain-imaging machine.

Research led by Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff, co-directors of the UW's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS), is yielding stunning insights into the incredible developing brains of babies — and answering some of humanity's most vexing questions about life-long learning capacity.

World leaders in this field, Kuhl and Meltzoff have received offers to join other universities, but thanks to an amazing outpouring of support from Campaign UW donors Nick ('81) and Leslie ('92) Hanauer and John Sabol, among others, and a Life Sciences Discovery Fund grant, they have chosen to stay at the UW. The researchers now have an unrivaled tool to advance their research.

Magneto-encephalography (MEG) uses a safe, non-invasive method to accurately measure brain waves. MEG is brand new to Washington state, and I-LABS' MEG is the only one in the world devoted to studying children. "It's impossible to overestimate the role that donor support provided for the work that I-LABS does," Kuhl says.

UW friend John Sabol, an I-LABS advisory board member, says learning about the brain is a retirement hobby he picked up after his granddaughter was born seven years ago. "It was quite clear she was going to be smarter than me before very soon, so I decided to learn something about how the brain works," Sabol says. His interest in UW research led to involvement in I-LABS and a gift to support MEG. "It was natural to want to help support that, and it's a great privilege to be able to watch the foremost researchers in an area of keen interest to me use the latest technology essentially right down the street from me."

This type of donor engagement during Campaign UW is responsible for the success of dozens of leading-edge programs that serve the local community and the world through innovative research, education and public outreach.

At UW Bothell, the Center for Student Entrepreneurship has helped launch more than 35 new Pacific Northwest businesses. The center's annual business plan competition awards a $10,000 first place grant — and philanthropic support has been critical for the program's success.

This year's winning team, led by Cisco Zapata ('04, '08), pitched "Eco Cycles" — bikes produced from recycled aluminum alloy. "The award was a real honor," Zapata says, "But we have also benefited from many supporters who provide us with mentoring and guidance."

Creating Spaces for People to Excel

Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering fosters innovation.

Imagine the headline: "Computer Game Cures HIV." This might sound farfetched, but it's not. UW researchers at the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, led by Associate Professor Zoran Popović, collaborated with UW biochemist David Baker to develop an online science puzzle , "Foldit," that lets anyone with Internet access help solve a daunting science problem — protein folding. A better understanding of protein folding could lead to medical breakthroughs, such as designing a new protein to deactivate HIV.

"The Allen Center is one of the most effective computer science buildings anywhere," Popović says. "Its state-of-the-art labs and equipment have helped us attract the best young faculty and graduate students, like graduate students Seth Cooper ('07) and Adrien Treuille ('04, '08), who developed 'Foldit.'" Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who made the lead gift for the building, envisioned the center fostering these kinds of technological breakthroughs. "I really can't wait to see what the future holds — what amazing inventions and discoveries are on the horizon," Allen said when the building opened. Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering fosters innovation.

The 85,000-square-foot Allen Center is one notable example of the highly visible physical transformation of the UW's three campuses during Campaign UW, thanks to an outpouring of support. Other new buildings, such as the William H. Foege Building, housing the Departments of Bioengineering and Genome Sciences, and the School of Law's William H. Gates Hall, are providing spaces for collaboration and research breakthroughs. Looking ahead, the Michael G. Foster School of Business's 135,000-square-foot PACCAR Hall will offer space for students and faculty to excel.

The completely renovated 47,000-square-foot Conibear Shellhouse, one of the country's largest on-campus collegiate rowing facilities, now also provides academic and dining services to all UW student-athletes.

According to Brooke Anderson, a senior business major on the cross country and track teams and president of the Washington Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Conibear Shellhouse attracts student-athletes to the UW. "The crewhouse gives us the resources to manage our rigorous academic and athletic schedules," Anderson says. Professor Ed Lazowska, who holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering, co-chaired the campaign for the Allen Center along with Tom Alberg and Jeremy Jaech ('77, '80), says, "When individuals contribute to these buildings, they aren't buying bricks — they're buying a capability for people to excel."

Faculty Endowments Help Recruit and Retain Top Academic Leaders

Incoming School of Nursing Dean Marla Salmon was recruited to the UW with help from an endowed deanship

Marla E. Salmon, considered the "nation's Head Nurse" when she directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Nursing Division, will become the Robert G. and Jean A. Reid Endowed Dean of the No. 1-ranked UW School of Nursing next month. Her recruitment was made possible by the type of private giving during Campaign UW that is strengthening the University's outstanding faculty.

"A faculty endowment signals that the school is held in high regard by the larger community and is supported in important ways by key members of that community," Salmon says. "I am convinced that the UW has the capacity to find answers to some of society's greatest problems and challenges both here and abroad — and there is a commitment to doing just that."

According to School of Nursing Campaign Advisory Board Co-Chair Eli Almo, "The school is in such a stellar position because of the unprecedented support for Campaign UW. Marla can come in and really leverage that and take the school to the next level, which is global health. Then the UW will distinguish itself in the community, nationally and internationally. We have all the tools in place to accomplish this." Almo and his wife, Rebecca, who also co-chairs the advisory board, have supported the School of Nursing for nearly 18 years.

Community support for Campaign UW has created two additional new endowed deanships at the UW: the Gary E. and James A. Milgard Endowed Deanship in UW Tacoma's Milgard School of Business, and the Frank and Julie Jungers Endowed Deanship in Engineering. Overall, the number of endowment funds for chairs and professorships has more than doubled since 2000. Faculty endowments provide valuable resources that support the work of the UW's outstanding faculty members, providing flexibility that allows them to advance their work as teachers, researchers and academic leaders.

At the School of Law, a generous endowment created the Bobbe and Jon Bridge Professorship in Child and Youth Advocacy, which helped recruit Bridge Professor and Associate Dean Lisa Kelly, an expert in family law. The Bridges also provided another gift that allows third-year law students to advocate for children and youth in the state welfare system.

According to Kelly, "This amazing support by the Bridges — along with the Gates Scholars program, which brings in students interested in public service law — places the UW School of Law in a powerful leadership role statewide, nationally and internationally in the field of child advocacy and public service."

UW Better Equipped to Tackle Big Health Challenges

Private support enables UW graduate student Dr. Caroline Mitchell (second from left) to help develop a new medical training center in Ethiopia.

From Africa to the Pacific Northwest, UW researchers and students are engaged in health initiatives that would not have been possible without support provided during Campaign UW.

In Gondar, Ethiopia, Dr. Caroline Mitchell, a graduate student in the UW School of Public Health and junior faculty member in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine, is preparing for the construction of a new center run by the UW and the University of Gondar to train medical workers who care for pregnant women and other people with HIV. "Without donor support, the training center never would have gotten out of the idea stage," Mitchell says. "It was critical."

Brooks Simpson is supporting the UW's global health efforts in Ethiopia with a contribution from a family foundation created in memory of his late son, R. Hunter Simpson, who spent much of his time outside of school helping others in the United States and abroad. "My son was always very concerned about the plight of people," Simpson says.

Simpson chose to support the UW's global health efforts because the department has expertise and people on the ground. The UW's Department of Global Health was launched in 2007 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The R. Hunter Simpson Foundation's gift helped pay for Mitchell to conduct a needs assessment in Ethiopia, and it will pay for initial construction of the training center. "It seemed like a remarkable way to reach a lot of people and make a huge change in their lives," Simpson says. "We're delighted to be a partner in this with the UW and the Department of Global Health."

Eileen and Larry Tietze also feel strongly about supporting health-related efforts. That's why they established the Tietze Young Scientist Award for Stem Cell Research with a gift from the John H. Tietze Foundation, created by Larry's father.

Inside his Seattle laboratory, UW researcher and Tietze Award recipient Scott Hansen ('77, '86), is researching important elements of stem cells, including markers of normal development. "The award was critical in terms of keeping our research studies going," Hansen says. His research efforts will help other scientists with the UW's Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine to tap into the potential of stem cells to transform into different cell types, possibly leading to solutions for a host of medical problems, from glaucoma to heart disease.

Return to Fall 2008 Campaign Newsletter