Editor's note: Federal stimulus money is starting to be distributed. University Week will keep readers up to date with periodic reports on where such funding is being received at the UW.

The money is starting to show up, and researchers such as Greg Hakim are happy.

Initial awards from the federal stimulus package began arriving in April and as of June 28 total about $16.7 million.

According to estimates from the UW Office of Research, the University could receive $250 million to $300 million as the result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Barack Obama signed in February.

As of June 15, UW researchers had submitted 1,052 proposals, totaling almost $807 million, to federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Hakim, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences, received $395,000. He and his research group plan to assimilate observations in hurricane cores and determine target locations where new observations would have the biggest impact on intensity forecasts. He said forecasts of hurricanes tracks have improved substantially in the past decade but that intensity forecasts have improved little.

Other UW projects that have received stimulus funding include early-stage development of sensors for environmental monitoring and the effect of nitrous oxide on air quality and climate change.