Thank you to everyone who attended CSDE Seminars this quarter! We had very engaging conversations and an exciting lineup of population scientists. Special shout-out to CSDE Seminar Series Chair and Affiliate Amy Bailey for coordinating the effort. There is no seminar this week, however, please keep an eye out for an equally exciting Spring 2020 Seminar Schedule! Updates regarding the format of the next seminar series, given public health safety measures, are on the way. CSDE wishes everyone stays safe and healthy for the upcoming spring break and quarter.

Well-deserved congratulations are due to several CSDE Affiliates who have received pilot research grants from the Population Health Initiative. Affiliates Rachel Berney, Stephen Mooney, and Crystal Hall with their colleagues received an award for their PATHSS Study to better understand mobility challenges and opportunities among residents of South Beacon Hill. Affiliate Paula Nurius with her colleagues received an award to study the impact of stressful life experiences on college students. Affiliate James Pfeiffer with his colleagues received an award for a pilot research project about the role of female community health workers for reducing maternal morbidity in Somalia. Pfeiffer and colleagues also received a CSDE matching award of in-kind services, along with the PHI award.

CSDE Affiliate and Director of CSDE’s Development Core Steve Goodreau reflected in a recent Crosscut article on the lessons learned from earlier plagues and infectious disease outbreaks. In this Crosscut article, Goodreau makes connections between current stigmas associated with having an Asian identity to similar identity stigmas in past outbreaks. For example, during the initial AIDS epidemic, there were stigmas against gay men and Haitians. Affiliate Elizabeth Halloran was also quoted in yesterday’s New York Times about the crucial need for nation-wide testing. In the article, Halloran states how "it’s important to develop inexpensive tests so people can get tested whenever they need to be.”

120 years ago, Rep. George Henry White’s anti-lynching bill failed to pass through Congress. Now, an anti-lynching bill just landed on the president’s desk. CSDE Affiliate Amy Bailey provides her expertise on lynching and the history of racial violence in the U.S. for a recent feature on such legislation in NPR’s All Things Considered. In the feature, Bailey explains how the U.S. has consistently underplayed racial violence in its history, even when there were close to 5,000 lynching incidents. "We still have instances...where there were people who lost their lives...based on racial dynamics and racial inequality. If we are trying to say that we are beyond this moment in our nation's history, we're fooling ourselves," Bailey states.

Calling all Center Directors, Research Scientists and Faculty! The application for the Provost Bridge Funding Program is now available and due by May 1, 2020. The Provost’s Office provides bridge funding to support faculty to span the gap in critical research programs. Bridge Funding awards are typically used to support on-going research programs that have lost funding, although these funds may also be used to support new research directions, at the discretion of the recipient. A maximum of $50,000 may be applied for through the Provost and all funding requests must be matched 1:1 by the applicant’s college/school. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Gamman at lmkelley@uw.edu or visit their web site for guidance and FAQs.

As noted in President Cauce’s recent communication to the University, the University is closely monitoring the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and associated COVID-19 disease, and extensive emergency procedures are in place. Be sure to read the UW’s coronavirus FAQ page, as it contains important information for everyone in the UW community. Researchers should be prepared, too. NIH announced flexibilities for applicants and recipients affected by COVID-19 as well as accompanying FAQs. In addition, the NSF has issued an advisory FAQ about their grants and grant policies. For information about both please click the link below.

NSF is accepting proposals to conduct non-medical, non-clinical care research that can be used immediately to explore how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19.  The call for proposals (NSF 20-052) is fairly broad. The call asks for proposals for understanding how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19, to inform and educate about the science of virus transmission and prevention, and to encourage the development of processes and actions to address this global challenge. We have many CSDE affiliates that might have a lot to offer and propose from models that address social network modeling to communication and disinformation, health disparities, public health administration, or emergency preparedness. If CSDE can be helpful, we are happy to do so.