The Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) hosted three visitors from Howard University, on October 24 – 26, 2007, for a seminar exchange and to initiate a conversation about future research collaboration. The Howard guests were: Dr. Vernon Morris, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Everette Joseph, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Dr. Tsann-wang Yu, NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences Distinguished Scientist.
The visit included meetings with top University of Washington officials including Mary Lidstrom, Vice Provost for Research, Suzanne Ortega, Vice Provost and Dean of The Graduate School, and Juan Guerra, Associate Dean and Director of the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP) in The Graduate School. JISAO scientist Nick Bond organized a tour of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and meetings with several senior NOAA PMEL scientists.
The Howard visit represented a unique collaborative exchange between a Historically Black University and a Majority Institution and reached across several University of Washington departments and units to engage a wide community dialogue. Seminars (as listed below), meetings, and visits were held at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Applied Physics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, JISAO, Climate Impacts Group, and Program on the Environment. A reception was held at the Ocean Sciences Building where faculty from departments across campus had the opportunity to meet with the Howard guests.
Following on the success of this visit plans are underway to implement a two-stage agreement starting with a series of exchanges between JISAO and Howard University and leading to a Memorandum of Understanding between Howard and the University of Washington. Three areas of collaboration were identified for immediate action within the next year: a summer undergraduate research internship bringing one Howard student to JISAO in 2008; a graduate student research exchange that would enable one UW student to participate in a spring 08 research cruise through the AEROSE project; and a UW seminar exchange to be held at Howard University in fall 2008. |
