Rick Mohler receives Architect magazine 2020 R+D award for housing access prototype ‘ADUniverse’

, 91̽��associate professor of architecture, has won a from Architect magazine for a project designed with Seattle city planner Nick Welch to give local homeowners the information they need to plan and build on their property.

The two led a team at the in creating a prototype app called , that uses neighborhood-level demographics and GIS data to help homeowners determine the physical and financial feasibility, on a parcel by parcel basis, of building a self-contained cottage or apartment.

Mohler and Welch’s project was one of seven honored in the magazine’s , chosen from 90 submissions that, the magazine said, “are scalable, thought-provoking, and promising in achieving a more equitable and healthy built environment.”

Mohler is also a licensed architect with Mohler + Ghillino Architects and serves on the . Welch is senior planner with the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development.

“The short-term goal is simply increasing the number of available housing units, but the longer-term goal is increasing equity,” Mohler said.

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91̽��Libraries 2017 video exhibit ‘The Age of the Kampuchea Picture’ wins Center for Research Libraries research award

A 91̽��Libraries video installation based on the work of New York Times journalist Elizabeth Becker has won a 2020 in research from the , an international consortium of academic and independent research libraries.

“” was an interactive video installation created in 2017 by filmmaker — who has since earned a Master’s degree in Southeast Asia Studies from the Jackson School — in collaboration with the Southeast Asia Section of 91̽��Libraries, and , 91̽��assistant professor of anthropology. It was among events in conjunction with a visit to campus by and French Cambodian filmmaker .

The research award is for innovation in expanding research in the social sciences or humanities. The installation was based on notes, audio and photographs from Becker’s December 1978 visit to Democratic Kampuchea just before the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime. Becker started donating her materials to 91̽��Special Collections in 2007.

“The installation speaks to the question of what is allowed to be seen, what is hidden, and how we might seek the truth in that absence of seeing,” wrote Judith Henchy, 91̽��Southeast Asia Section librarian, on the Southeast Asia Center website. . .

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College of Environment’s Chelsea Wood named runner-up for 2020 APEC ASPIRE prize

, assistant professor in the 91̽��College of the Environment’s School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, has been named one of two runners-up for the national prize.

APEC, or , is a 21-country forum for governments in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The annual APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education — called ASPIRE — is awarded by the state departments of APEC-member countries. It recognizes young scientists committed to excellence in scientific research, based on scholarly publication and cooperation with scientists from other member economies.

As one of two runners-up for the prize, Wood will receive $1,200 from scholarly publishing firms Wiley and Elsevier, co-sponsors of the prize, and will be invited to a roundtable with senior government officials and to give a virtual public lecture along with the ASPIRE winner and fellow runner-up, probably in August. The United States, an APEC member, selects one grand prize winner and two runners-up each year from across the sciences.

Wood’s research studies the ecology of parasites and pathogens in a changing world. Watch .

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91̽��Medicine’s Dr. Gail Jarvik begins as president-elect of American Society of Human Genetics

91̽��Medicine’s in January began a three-year term as of the . She was elected to the position in June of 2019.

Jarvik, the Arno G. Motulsky Endowed Chair in Medicine, is a professor of medicine and genome sciences and adjunct professor of epidemiology who is also affiliated with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The American Society of Human Genetics, or ASHG, was founded in 1948; its nearly 8,000 members include researchers, academicians, clinicians, laboratory practice professionals, genetic counselors and nurses. Jarvik has served on several of its committees and was on its board of directors from 2015 to 2018.

This wasn’t how LaShawnDa Pittman expected to give her final exam review: At her kitchen table, laptop open, coffee cup at the ready, her 12-year-old Chihuahua named Espresso by her side.

But as the first week of the 91̽��’s shift to online classes drew to a close, , an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies, was talking with her students over the conferencing platform Zoom, first to answer logistical questions about the upcoming exam, then to provide a refresher of some of the themes of the course. For this class, African American Families, that meant revisiting some key historical developments and public policies from the Civil War to the post-civil rights era.

Navigating the technology effectively has been a learning opportunity for everyone, Pittman said afterward, but the university’s decision to cancel in-person classes for the remainder of winter quarter was the right thing to do “for the health and well-being of everyone on campus.”

“I’m trying to be as flexible as I can with all of this,” Pittman explained. “There’s a lot of anxiety among students. I’m trying to end the quarter in a powerful way for students, to try to be as compassionate and make this is as easy as possible for them.”

Around the UW, faculty in every department, school and college made a change in plans. School of Music instructors conducted lessons over FaceTime. In the Jackson School of International Studies, guest speakers visited over Zoom. A doctoral defense in the School of Oceanography was livestreamed, with audience members occupying every second seat. And School of Public Health Dean Hilary Godwin has been holding “town hall” webinars on all things COVID-19.

, an associate professor of architecture, wrapped up his winter-quarter Research Design Studio from an empty classroom in Gould Hall. On the wall-mounted monitor, his students presented, group by group, their proposals to revamp six Seattle neighborhoods. At quarter’s end, there was to be a celebratory event — a panel discussion with local officials and planning professionals — but that has been postponed indefinitely.

It’s been a challenge, Mohler said, to translate what is normally a hands-on class, in a room filled with posters of housing prototypes, scale models of city blocks, and the chatter of student groups. Viewing their digital models on a large-screen monitor — rather than a student laptop in class — is a definite plus, he said. But the shift to an all-online environment means continual adjustments.

“A potential silver lining in this crisis,” Mohler said, “is that we are being required to adopt remote conferencing tools we might otherwise ignore.”

Students have been adapting, too — concentrating on lectures via Zoom and Panopto, “visiting” instructors in online office hours and submitting questions to discussion boards. None of the technology is completely unfamiliar, students say, but the totality of it — every lecture, every assignment, every question, every test — has taken some getting used to.

“It’s been a big learning curve,” said freshman Hannah Lee as she studied in Odegaard Undergraduate Library last week. “There’s definitely been some limitation in not being able to work with other people on whiteboards, or to have them write things out. But Zoom meetings are nice, because we can share screens. My TA was able to pull up her screen and write out what she would have written out on paper for us.”

Freshman Zage Phillips likened the shift to online classes to a public health experiment.

“I’m glad that they’re doing this for people who are high-risk, but I think that it’s a good test to see if we can keep it contained,” Phillips said. “But I think that the results will only show us if it actually worked in the future. I think only time will kind of tell.”

After the 91̽�� announced that it would cancel in-person classes due to coronavirus concerns, faculty and students on Monday took the learning online for the remainder of the quarter. From lectures to group projects to final exams, the university community is adapting to the remote approach.

Here, associate professor of architecture, meets with his Research Design Studio students group by group, as they discuss how they have re-imagined six Seattle neighborhoods. Normally a hands-on class with poster-size drawings and tabletop scale models, Mohler’s design studio has shifted to the small screen.

UW campuses remain open to serve all those who rely on services, including hospitals and clinics, dining services, residence halls, and recreation and athletics facilities.

Beginning March 9, 91̽�� instructors have been asked to conduct classes and exams remotely when feasible until the quarter concludes on March 20.

, associate professor of architecture in the is now teaching his classes using Zoom. His architecture classes usually meet in person, but were conducted entirely online Monday.

These actions are being taken in response to recommendations from public health agencies to avoid bringing large groups of people together in close proximity for events and gatherings, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak in this region. If events and gatherings are held, best practices such as social distancing are encouraged.

UW campuses will remain open to serve all those who rely on services, including hospitals and clinics, dining services, residence halls, and recreation and athletics facilities. Husky athletics events will proceed as scheduled.

Read more here.