A Visit by the Brazilian Delegation

This has been a busy month and today is no different. The SST Conference is on Friday and we already have enough registrations to make me think we could be pushing 200 attendees this year. Nice.

But even before this Friday we are pleased to be hosting a delegation of educational leaders from Brazil who are visiting the Institute. Their objective is to stimulate the scientific and technical cooperation between the University of Washington and Brazilian institutions.

They spent some time is Seattle yesterday and today they will be joining our Director and Associate Director, Dr. Orlando Baiocchi and Dr. Larry Wear, along with myself on a trip out to Intel Dupont. Thanks to Rick Meeder and Tomm Aldridge of Intel for arranging it. I have been on the Intel tour before and the work they are doing in the Dupont facility is fascinating.

We will also be giving them a tour of the campus here and show them around our research labs.

Brazilian Delegation

* Dr. Jorge de Almeida Guimarães
- President, CAPES, Ministry of Education

* Dr. Sandoval Carneiro
- Director of International Cooperation, CAPES

* Dr. João Fernando Gomes de Oliveira
- President, Institute of Research Technology (IPT) São Paulo

* Dr. Amaro Lins
- President. Federal University of Pernambuco

* Dr. Alvaro Prata
- President, Federal University of Santa Catarina

* Mr. Pedro Costa
- The Information Company, with business in Brazil and State of Washington

Junie B. Jones and the Tacoma Childrens Musical Theater

In 2006 The Tacoma Musical Playhouse launched the Tacoma Children's Musical Theater. I was very lucky to be in one of the first productions when it launched, "The Wind and the Willows" directed by Nancy Wilkinson. One of my fellow actors in that show, Chris Serface, is now the Director of Education for the TMP and directs June B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, the children's show currently running at the theater. Adapted from the book by Barbara Park with book, music and lyrics by Joan Cushing the story follows Junie B's difficulty in accepting a new member to the family while at the same time deciding what to bring for show and tell.

She won't have anything to do with her new baby brother until she hears Grandma refer to him as the "cutest little monkey." Junie B. can't wait to bring the best show-and-tell to class: a real live monkey! With lessons of identity, change and the inevitable trials of childhood woven with a little mischief ("monkey business"), this show is not to be missed!

The Tacoma Children's Musical Theater was an opportunity to bring more fully produced musical shows to the South Sound, specifically aimed at young audiences and families. Junie B. Jones is not only a fun show full of great actors, (everyone does a great job, but the Show and Tell scene is not to be missed) ((Taylor Niemeyer who was "Dorothy" from TMP's The Wizard of OZ is a PERFECT Junie B) but it is a testament to the work done to bring children in to see musical theater. We had a sold out show last Sunday, a full house on Tuesday and had to add an additional performance on Thursday to accommodate all the elementary school classes that wanted to come see the show. This weekend is close to selling out and it is a shame to have to turn people away at the door, especially with a 300 plus seat theater.

What has also been fun is the atmosphere in the lobby after the show. Whereas in the mainstage shows it is a tradition for the actors to great folks after the performance in the lobby, in the kids shows it is a bit like a character greeting at Disneyland. The actors who play Junie B, Lucille, Grace, Meanie Jim and Crybaby Williams are all big draws, and get to sign autographs and take pictures.

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Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business
Directed by Chris Serface

Junie B. Jones : Taylor Niemeyer
That Grace : LaNita Hudson
Lucille : Jessilyn Carver
Meanie Jim : Taylor Richmond
Crybaby William : Jon Huntsman
Mrs. : Kae Blum
Boss of the School : Charlie Long
Mother : Carol Richmond
Father : Andrew Fry
Grandma Miller : Susan C. Smith
Grampa Miller : Dan Engelhard


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Here is a bonus Rat and Toad picture from 2006

Paris, Madrid, New York to Tacoma

More about the world traveling Richard Purcell, keynoter at the SST Conference on the 20th. He has just finished up a globe hopping set of conference presentations from Paris, Madrid and other major cities, so it is no surprise that Tacoma is next on his agenda.

Richard Purcell has been a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection challenges since the late ‘90’s. He leads Corporate Privacy Group (CPG), focusing on sustainable and effective information security and privacy programs. He advises multi-national corporations, Internet start-ups and government agencies. CPG specializes in Web-based courses for security and privacy awareness and practices. As Microsoft’s original privacy officer, he designed, developed, implemented and managed one of the world’s largest and most advanced privacy programs.

Recently, Richard was named to the Executive Director position of the Privacy Projects, an information management think tank and research organization. In 2009, he was appointed Chairman of the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee for the Department of Homeland Security, a committee on which he has served since 2005.

Register Now SST 2009

South Sound Technology Conference 2009:
Entrepreneurship and the South Sound Technology Cluster

Come to the 10th annual South Sound Technology Conference, the technology showcase for the Tacoma and the South Puget Sound region. On Friday November 20th in William W. Phillip Hall on the University of Washington Tacoma campus civic and industry leaders, government representatives, university faculty and students will come together at a free conference to hear panels speak on building technology companies in the South Sound and leveraging the commonalities of the companies that are here. A lunch keynote from the CEO of Corporate Privacy Group, Richard Purcell, former Chief Privacy Officer of Microsoft and chairman of the board of TRUSTe will highlight the middle of the day. Breakout sessions that include discussions on sustainability and poster presentations from Institute of Technology students will occur once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

The South Sound Technology Conference, www.sstconference.org provides a forum that increases the awareness of technology as it impacts our daily personal and professional lives, and even more importantly, the role it can play in the development of our regional economy. The conference charter is to further the continuous growth of technology in the South Sound region and provide information about global technology issues.

Bruce Kendall, CEO of the Economic Development Board of Pierce County will kicks things off with a discussion of entrepreneurship and the economic development of the South Sound Region. The morning panel that follows will pick up the topic with Tacoma entrepreneurs such as Derek Young, Mark Briggs and Brian Forth. Graham Evans of the Washington Technology Center and John Dimmer of the Tacoma Angel Network will talk about funding and innovation.

The afternoon panel will feature companies from the area that represent the data integrity, information assurance and Cybersecurity cluster that is growing in Pierce County. Breakouts will include discussion of how to support that infrastructure and will also give attendees the opportunity to view student research projects at the Institute of Technology.

The yearly event is made possible by the hard work of many volunteers, the generosity of corporate and community sponsorship such as the City of Tacoma, the Institute of Technology, University of Washington Tacoma and GRIDWORK as well as the support of honorary co-chairs Congressman Norm Dicks and Congressman Adam Smith.

For more information, contact conference chair
Andrew Fry - andfry@u.washington.edu - 253-692-4583
To register, go to www.sstconference.org and sign up under the “attending” menu.

Sponsor links
www.gridworkdesign.com
www.cityoftacoma.org
www.tacoma.washington.edu
www.tacoma.washington.edu/tech