As announced in yesterday’s “Conversation on Science Communication”, the College of the Environment will be hosting a 2-day science communication training event for college faculty. Held on October 16-18, this intensive retreat will provide the opportunity to meet and work with 3-4 leading science and environmental journalists from around the country, and with nationally-recognized communication trainer Nancy Baron. Eighteen to twenty-two faculty will attend this training, a compressed version of the Leopold Leadership Program that will provide critical insights into the power of making your science accessible to wider audiences, the culture of traditional and social media, and message development and delivery in a variety of formats. 

Dan Jaffe, atmospheric science professor with UW-Bothell and adjunct professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money so that he could research whether coal dust may be harmful to our health. Seattle Times wrote a story about it, and within a day the project was funded — to the tune of over $18,000. Read more about Jaffe’s project and how it broke records for crowdfunding in this Seattle Times follow-up story . 

Cecilia Bitz, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences, was awarded the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel Award. The $10,000 award honors early- to mid-career ocean scientists who have made significant and growing impacts during the previous decade. Read more about Bitz’s work in this UW News story; congratulations professor Bitz! 

On Saturday, May 11th, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, the MATE Pacific Northwest Regional ROV Challenge will see teams of middle school, high school, and college students, compete using underwater robots known as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) they designed and built. The event will be held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way (650 SW Campus Dr) and is free to all. 

For years, UW has dedicated 30% of its new undergrad spaces to Washington community college students. Older and more ethnically diverse, transfer students make up a quarter of the College of the Environment undergraduate population. Are transfers richer in life experience and more apt to make wise choices about their career paths?  Or are transfer students coming from academic backgrounds that suffer from inferior intro-STEM course series taught by less than stellar faculty?