SkySong, ASUs icon of innovation February 25, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Arizona State University, Collaboration, Design.Tags: Arizona, SkySong
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There are many ways to describe SkySong at ASU: a high-tech innovation center, a hub for global technology-focused businesses, the entrepreneurship arm of a research university…
As they add the finishing touches to the iconic sail-like shade structure, you’ll probably hear people describe it structurally, before going into a functional description. Tenants at SkySong get direct access to ongoing research.
When some of us from the Decision Theater met at SkySong recently, what stood out was the open spaces inside the building –intentionally designed to foster collaboration.
Check out Mike Padgett’s article in Arizona Notebook which has more of these great photographs
Could you plan for ‘social distancing’ if a pandemic ‘flu hits? February 24, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Collaboration, Emergency Preparedness, pandemic, Public Health.Tags: ADHS, Arizona, CDC, Pandemic flu
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Planning and predicting are two different animals.
Many people visit the Decision Theater imagining that this is where we predict the future. It’s easy to walk away from here thinking that way, since we use data to anticipate events, growth patterns, climate change etc. But that’s the difference between looking out for something, and thinking we have some crystal ball.
So the pandemic ‘flu exercise that just concluded last week –a two-part exercise– taught us and the participants that (a) it is important to revisit and update your emergency preparedness plans and (b) having a plan does not provide all the answers, but gives you the mindset to go find the answers fast.
As Andrew Lawless observes, social distancing is one of the powerful ways to address a pandemic in its early stages. Lawless is from the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and it is his job to conduct these types of exercises. Why the attention to this? These forms of non-pharmaceutical inventions (known as NPI’s to planners) is a good first step since it often takes weeks for an antiviral that can target the fast-mutating virus to reach those affected.
In the exercise we conducted, the school districts and health officials looked at details of how this could be carried out: What global or local event triggers a school shut down? Who makes that decision? For how long could this form of social distancing –basically keeping teachers away from students, school support staff away from each other etc– be possible before other social and economic pressures show up?
The big takeaways from attendees I met, was:
- It made them open their minds to factor in these unknowns.
- It quickly taught them how thinking outside their silo (collaborating with other school districts) could save lives
- Logistics apart, emotional factors need to be taken into consideration
Amazing coincidence, or great minds think alike? February 23, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Media, Watchlist.add a comment
I just noticed that one of our posts was being linked to from the New York Times — not unusual as far as blogs go.
However, floating at the top of the blog for the NYT was a light bulb icon. It’s called the Green Inc. blog. It focuses on a wide range of sustainability topics too, seen through the wide-angled lenses of great journalists such as Tom Zeller, Kate Galbraith and James Canter. Like us, providing insight into university-led and Arizona-based topics such as energy from algae, sustainable cities and climate, they cover bio fuels and smart buildings, too. Honestly, we’re flattered!
Second pandemic flu exercise today February 19, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Emergency Preparedness, Events, pandemic.Tags: ADHS, Stimulus package
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Could the timing have been more appropriate?
Yesterday’s visit to Arizona by president Barack Obama –who made the state a symbolic podium for the stimulus package announcement –was bookended by two pandemic influenza preparedness exercises.
Following last Thursday’s exercise, today’s session for senior administrators in the state’s education and health systems will let them look at several complex factors that come into play if the bird flu virus spread to Arizona.
It is no accident that Arizona ranks high in pandemic flu preparedness. The Arizona Department of Health Services has a comprehensive plan in place.
The Participants: Pinal County and Maricopa County
The Exercise: Pandemic Influenza School Closure Exercise
Collaborators: W. P. Carey School of Healh Policy and Management, Arizona Department of Health Services, Decision Theater
Sidebar: check out Lessons Learned from last week’s exercise
From climate decisions to …college decisions February 18, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Visitors & Attendees.add a comment
We are sometimes referred to as the lens through which the outside world sees the university. (We are known as a few other things as well –the front door to ASU, the bridge between scientific research and the community etc…)
So when the Flinn Scholars visit the Decision Theater every year, we begin to see how that lens works.
At a very basic level, visualization is a great way to frame a variety of challenges and outcomes that a student could relate to.
But beyond that, the work we focus on–hot-button climate issues, smart growth projects so relevant to our part of the country, the pandemic flu exercises –gives a student something more tangible than a one-pager about the academic program, or a testimonial from a graduate.
If you’re one of students as a guest of the Barrett Honors program, you’ll be glad to hear that some of the work you will this evening see had input from students like you. In fact, we have three Barrett Honors students working with us this year.
Enjoy your visit!
Decision Theater on lowering energy costs February 18, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Collaboration, Energy & Climate, Media.1 comment so far
Listen to George Basile, Executive Director of the Decision Theater speaking to ABC15 News on the energy conservation.
Portions of the extended interview given by Basile, have been used in this investigative report by Joe Ducey.
Worth noting that we agreed to this interview on the condition that we were not going to comment on the investigation, but provide viewers with a broader context of energy conservation, and new interests in smart buildings.
The other aspect of energy efficiency that Basile spoke of was Energy Intelligence –something that did not get into this report. I is about using building science to inform how we design systems and physical structures.
What the pandemic flu exercise revealed February 16, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Emergency Preparedness, Events, pandemic.Tags: ADHS, Pandemic flu
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At last Thursday’s Pandemic Influenza exercise, 12 senior administrators from three school districts in Arizona pried open a few interesting questions.
As we have noted before, when participants are faced with multiple sources of vital information in an immersive environment, they begin to draw a lot more insight from the data than they would from, say a handbook or spreadsheet. It would be easy for me to get blasé about interactive sessions since most of what we do has an interactive component. But I could see an interesting dynamic at work.
If the light bulbs went off, these were the ones that were flashing:
- Saying you have a response plan is not a matter of checking a few boxes but more about connecting the dots. You walk away feeling more empowered because of that.
- In crisis, even in a simulated one, there seem to be as many questions as there are answers.
- As Dr. Megan Jehn (of ASU’s School of Health Policy and Management) emphasized, it was not about having the plan, but about having a coordinated response plan.
- The need to pay attention to grief and counseling was a blind spot in existing plans, said one participant.
This Thursday, three school districts from three different counties will take part in the exercise. Watch this space for more updates.
If you want to go back to the first pandemic influenza planning exercise at Arizona State University, check out these links. Microsite and story.
Decision Theater featured in Phoenix Business Journal February 13, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Collaboration, Media, sustainability.add a comment
We’re happy to be featured in the Phoenix Business Journal today.
The story, tells of how the Decision Theater, that came into being in 2005, now has the technological and intellectual muscle to take on some of the big challenges faced by businesses and government agencies today.
The processes for addressing big systemic issues are not ‘trapped’ in the building. Meaning, these could be applied anywhere.
We’re not just helping solve the problems of a desert state, or challenges that are specific to the South West, but the bigger issues of growth, energy and resilience that every city is now facing.
Pandemic flu school closure exercise today February 12, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Collaboration, Education, Emergency Preparedness, pandemic, Public Health.Tags: AZDHS
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This morning, we just began another pandemic flu exercise, specifically targeted at schools.
Three Arizona school districts are participating. The exercise focuses on the events leading up to a school closure should the World Health Organization declare a ‘WHO Level 6‘ pandemic.
Key decision-makers in these school districts will see what an event like this will entail, following ‘news’ via simulated news bulletins, and data they have access to at each stage of the outbreak.
Opening the session, Dr. Peter Kelly (shown here) a physician who works with the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) put the event into context, reminding the attendees of the waves of infection that come with a pandemic, and the mutation that takes place in the quiet periods between those waves.
“School districts have been urged to have a plan in the event of a pandemic,” said Kelly. “The goal of this exercise today is to encourage them to continue to develop their influenza plans and effectively communicate with public health authorities at the county and state level.”
ASU president gets ‘smart grid’ February 12, 2009
Posted by Angelo Fernando in Arizona State University, Energy & Climate, People, Watchlist.Tags: Michael Crow
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Despite the downturn, Arizona State University president Michael Crow realizes that bigger economic agenda items cannot wait. ASU, and certainly Arizona cannot stop pushing the sustainability envelope.
The plan that Crow is advancing -a network of research centers focused on Clean Technology — is the ‘recipe’ for the US economic revival that Thomas Friedman recommends. It involves creating the intellectual muscle for the so-called Energy Internet.
