The state of Washington hit an important census milestone recently when it reached the final self-response rate from 2010.  As of June 29, 67.2% of all households in the state have answered the census. This is a remarkable achievement and Washington is only the second state in the country to reach this milestone (Michigan was the first). CSDE is maintaining links to the latest updates about the census here.

In addition to our state response rate, 17 counties have also reached this important milestone – that is about 44% of the state.

A few census highlights for Washington:

• Washington has the highest response rate for any state west of the Rocky Mountains and has the sixth highest rate for the entire country.
• Washington is only about 4% behind Minnesota, the number one state for self-response.
• Of the ten largest cities in the state, Spokane has the best response rate (71.5%).
• Of the 50 largest cities in the country, Seattle is ranked number two (edged out by Louisville, Ky.)
• Brier (Snohomish County) has the highest response rate in the state (85.6%). Brier is among the top 100 best-responding municipalities out of 19,197 in the country.
• More than 87 percent of Washington households have answered the 2020 Census online.

We still need to count about 32.8% of households in the state to reach 100%. Please encourage everyone who hasn’t to self-respond now before census workers start going door-to-door in August as part of the Non-Response Follow-Up operation.

It is easy to self-respond now:

1. Online at 2020census.gov
2. Call toll-free 844.330.2020 (English) or 844.469.2020 (Spanish) from 4 .am. to 11 p.m.
3. Return paper form (if you received one)

Many UW employees face very challenging personal circumstances as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Last month, the UW started a donor-supported COVID-19 Employee Emergency Fund to help employees who have been significantly affected by the current situation.

Thank you to those of you who have already helped seed this fund. Your donations are providing emergency assistance for employees with a base annual salary of $75,000 or less who are experiencing critical, temporary and unforeseen financial hardships due to COVID-19. If you haven’t yet donated to support our community, please consider making a gift this week. Impacted employees have expressed repeatedly how grateful they are to learn that their community is working to ensure they are valued and cared for.

UW’s hardworking health-care workers, faculty and staff are the driving force behind our university’s continued success in serving the state, students, and advancing knowledge and discovery. Through their incredible dedication, hard work, talent and creativity, they don’t merely make this impact possible, they MAKE the impact. Thank you for supporting the people who serve here and make the UW a world leader that it is today.

The Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School has an outstanding opportunity for a PreDoctural Research Assistant to join our team in exploring physically distant technology access and assistance during summer/fall 2020.

The student will work closely with TASCHA researchers on implementing the audio diaries, carrying out interviews and analysis, general project management, and writing findings. The ideal candidate will have experience in qualitative research and interest working on a project with community partners.

Ph.D. students enrolled at the University of Washington during fall quarter 2020, who are interested in working for a dynamic project centered around providing job seekers with home technology and remote support to develop digital skills and prepare for new careers, are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is Thursday, July 16th. 

Applicants should apply on the UW Employment site: https://jobs.ischool.uw.edu/posting/915

Applications are open for the Population Health Initiative’s COVID-19 Population Health Equity Research Grants. The program aims at supporting University of Washington researchers to build partnerships with communities of color and develop COVID-19 research projects that address community-identified needs. Awards of a maximum of $20,000 each are available.  More information about the award can be found at this link.

The Disability Research Mentorship Program for Black Graduate Students will provide students with access to a large dataset to analyze, and will support and mentor the students as they navigate the research and peer-review publication process. By the end of this Mentorship Program, the aim is for students to have an accepted/in-press or under review peer-reviewed publication (sole or first author) which they can add to their CV. There will also be an opportunity for students to present their work publicly.

If interested in applying for this Disability Research Mentorship Program for Black Graduate Students, we ask that you complete the following application.

• Applicants will be asked about their research interests as well as what they hope to use the CQL data to analyze.
• Applications will be judged based on their proposed research project and its relevance to promoting the quality of life of people with disabilities.
• Applicants must be a Black graduate student in the United States studying disability.
• Graduate students are encouraged to apply even if they do not have a background in quantitative research or a history of peer-reviewed publications.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until this year’s mentorship student/s have been selected. We will begin reviewing applications at the end of July 2020.

Application cycle and information session details for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) in social science and STEM fields.

How Much:  3 years of funding that can be used in a 5 year time frame: includes a $34,000 annual stipend and full cost of tuition/fees.

Who can apply: US citizens and permanent residents only; current graduate students who have not previously applied while enrolled in a graduate program; rising seniors and bachelor’s alumni planning to pursue research-based master’s or PhD programs.  Get more eligibility details.

Fields of study included: a wide range fields within the Social Sciences, Psychology, STEM and STEM Education (scroll to the very end of the Program Solicitation document for the official list).

NSF GRFP info sessions hosted by UW’s graduate & undergraduate Offices of Fellowships & Awards

June 23, 5:30 p.m. Register for June 23.

July 29, 5:30 p.m. Register for July 29.

Sept. 10, 5:30 p.m. Register for Sept. 10.

Sept. 22, 3:30 p.m. Register for Sept. 22.

Information sessions will cover the application process, strategies for successful applications and more details regarding how the fellowship operates.  The application will open in late-July/early-August, with deadlines in mid-October, however, students are strongly encouraged to start early!