UW News
The latest news from the UW
February 6, 2025
Whale poop contains iron that may have helped fertilize past oceans
A recent theory proposes that whales weren’t just predators in the ocean environment: Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems. Research led by University of Washington oceanographers finds that whale excrement contains significant amounts of iron, a vital element that is often scarce in ocean ecosystems, and nontoxic forms of copper, another essential nutrient that in some forms can harm life.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • oceanography • Randie Bundy • School of OceanographyFebruary 3, 2025
Robert J. Jones named 34th president of the University of Washington
The University of Washington Board of Regents on Monday announced that Robert J. Jones, who is currently concluding a nine-year tenure as Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as the 34th President of the UW. The Board had previously authorized Chair Blaine Tamaki to enter into contract negotiations with Jones and an agreement has been reached. Jones’ five-year contract will begin on August 1.
Grasshopper size changes suggest how to predict winners and losers under climate change
Thousands of grasshopper specimens from mountains in Colorado show trends in how the insects changed in size over 65 years. With earlier emergence of spring greenery and earlier summer drought, grasshopper species that emerged early in the year grew larger, while grasshopper species that emerge later in the year grew smaller in size. The study, led by UW biologist Lauren Buckley, shows that changes in insect size can be predicted based on lifecycles and environmental conditions.
Tag(s): climate change • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Lauren Buckley
Q&A: UW researchers are designing cancer therapeutics that can kill cancer cells and restore healthy tissue
Two University of Washington researchers are developing treatments that aim to simultaneously treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. For World Cancer Day, UW News asked them to discuss their novel materials and how these materials can treat both the cancer and the patient.
Tag(s): Avik Som • College of Engineering • Department of Materials Science & Engineering • Department of Neurological Surgery • Department of Radiology • Miqin Zhang • UW Medicine
Q&A: UW-led research identifies migration, housing quality as risk factors in earthquake deaths
Workers from small, rural communities often move into the outer edges of cities, which offer greater economic opportunities but often have low-quality housing that is likely to suffer greater damage during an earthquake. The risk grows even more when migrants come from low-income or tribal villages.
Tag(s): College of Built Environments • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Department of Urban Design and Planning • Diana Ceballos • earthquakes • Karen Chen • School of Public HealthJanuary 31, 2025
Report: UW No. 7 in the world powering global innovation
The University of Washington is No. 7 in the world on a list of the top universities in the world powering global innovation, according to the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.
Tag(s): RankingsJanuary 27, 2025
Q&A: How rate of CO2 rise can affect a global ocean current
How fast the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide — and with it, the temperature — goes up matters for the ability of humans and ecosystems to adjust. A slower increase gives humans time to move away from low-lying coasts and animals time to move to new habitats. It turns out the rate of that increase matters for non-living systems, too. Camille Hankel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies, talks about her research on the Atlantic Ocean circulation.
Tag(s): Camille Hankel • College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate • Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • oceanography • Q&AJanuary 23, 2025
ArtSci Roundup: February 2025
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this February. Featured Events: Topics in Social Change February 4 | A Shattered Country: Burma/Myanmar…
Tag(s): Center for Child and Family Well-Being • Center for Southeast Asia and Its Diasporas • Department of American Ethnic Studies • Department of Asian Languages and Literature • Department of Chemistry • Department of Classics • Department of Communication • Department of Dance • Department of German Studies • Department of History • Department of Linguistics • Department of Political Science • Department of Slavic Languages and Literature • DXARTS • East Asia Center • Jackson School of International Studies • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • School of Art + Art History + Design • School of Drama • School of Music • Simpson Center for the Humanities • South Asia Center • Stroum Center for Jewish Studies • UW Alumni Association • Women & Sexuality Studies Department of GenderJanuary 21, 2025
Study finds strong negative associations with teenagers in AI models
A UW team studied how AI systems portray teens in English and Nepali, and found that in English language systems around 30% of the responses referenced societal problems such as violence, drug use and mental illness. The Nepali system produced fewer negative associations in responses, closer to 10% of all answers.
Tag(s): Aayushi Dangol • Alexis Hiniker • College of Engineering • Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering • Information School • Robert WolfeJanuary 16, 2025
Panorama of our nearest galactic neighbor unveils hundreds of millions of stars
The Hubble Space Telescope has generated the most comprehensive survey yet of the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way. The new mosaic of about 2.5 billion pixels yields new clues to the galaxy’s history. UW astronomers presented the findings Jan. 16 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • Benjamin Williams • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Astronomy • Hubble Space Telescope • space scienceJanuary 15, 2025
Office of Civil Rights concludes UW investigation with resolution agreement, no finding of liability or wrongdoing
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights announced the conclusion of its investigation into complaints alleging that the University of Washington discriminated against students on the basis of shared ancestry by failing to respond to incidents of harassment consistent with the requirements of Title VI. The resolution agreement “does not constitute an admission of liability, non-compliance or wrongdoing by the University,” and the UW has agreed to five actions that will strengthen its commitment to timely and effective responses to complaints filed by students, faculty and staff.
January 8, 2025
A smart ring with a tiny camera lets users point and click to control home devices
UW researchers have developed IRIS, a smart ring that allows users to point and click to control smart devices. The prototype Bluetooth ring contains a small camera which sends an image of the selected device to the user’s phone. The user can control the device by clicking a small button or — for devices with gradient controls, such as a speaker’s volume — rotating the ring.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Maruchi Kim • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shyam GollakotaJanuary 6, 2025
Q&A: How a UW teaching professor adds the context behind the science in her chemical engineering courses
Alex Prybutok, UW assistant teaching professor of chemical engineering, studies anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in engineering education.
Tag(s): Alex Prybutok • College of Engineering • Department of Chemical EngineeringJanuary 3, 2025
The carbon in our bodies probably left the galaxy and came back on cosmic ‘conveyor belt’
University of Washington scientists recently discovered that the giant ‘conveyor belt’ currents that push star-forged material out of our galaxy and pull it back in can also transport carbon atoms. That means that a good deal of the carbon here on Earth, including the carbon in our bodies, likely left the galaxy at some point!
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Astronomy • Jessica WerkDecember 19, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: January 2025
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this January. Featured: Global Connections Through January | Teamsters, Turtles, and Beyond: The Legacy of…
Tag(s): Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Dance • Department of History • Department of Political Science • Department of Psychology • Henry Art Gallery • Jackson School of International Studies • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • School of Music • Select Department of Gender • Simpson Center for the Humanities • UW Public Lectures • Women & Sexuality Studies • Women & Sexuality Studies Department of Gender
By looking at individual atoms in tooth enamel, UW and PNNL researchers are learning what happens to our teeth as we age
A research team at UW and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory examined the atomic composition of enamel samples from two human teeth.
Tag(s): Cameron Renteria • College of Engineering • Department of Materials Science & Engineering • Department of Oral Health Sciences • Dwayne Arola • Jack Grimm • Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryDecember 18, 2024
Video highlights: From sea stars to sound waves, a look back at an eventful 2024 at the UW
Magical moments and memorable events — from a baby sea stars to a cherry trees blooming — happen all year round at the University of Washington, and our videos help people understand what it looked like, what happened and who was involved. Here’s a glimpse at 2024 from around the University of Washington and beyond.
Tag(s): 2024
UW welcomes Tent City 3 back to campus
The organized tent-city community will return to the UW’s Seattle campus for 90 days during winter quarter 2025.
Q&A: New AI training method lets systems better adjust to users’ values
University of Washington researchers created a method for training AI systems — both for large language models like ChatGPT and for robots — that can better reflect users’ diverse values. It predicts users’ preferences as they interact with it, then tailors its outputs accordingly.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Natasha Jaques • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringDecember 17, 2024
Q&A: Will the next generation of AI be agents that can shop autonomously?
Chirag Shah, a UW professor in the Information School, discusses what AI agents are and what might impede a near future where people can simply get AI bots to shop for them.
Tag(s): Chirag Shah • Information SchoolDecember 16, 2024
Ahmad Ezzeddine named UW Vice Provost for Global Affairs
Ezzeddine comes from Wayne State University in Detroit, his alma mater, where he is the senior vice provost for partnerships, workforce and international initiatives. He fills the position vacated when Jeffrey Riedinger retired and became professor emeritus at the UW School of Law.
December 13, 2024
In the Field: UW oceanographers and undergrads pursue tiny viral prize in Puget Sound waters
UW oceanographer Robert Morris and a collaborator at UCLA are going out with students to collect the most abundant bacteria in the oceans to understand how its relationship with marine viruses changes depending on the place or the season. They leave Dec. 16 aboard UW School of Oceanography’s small research vessel, the RV Rachel Carson.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • In the Field • oceanography • Robert Morris • RV Rachel Carson • School of OceanographyDecember 12, 2024
Surveys show full scale of massive die-off of common murres following the ‘warm blob’ in the Pacific Ocean
Colony surveys of common murres, an Alaskan seabird, show the full effects of the 2014-16 marine heat wave known as “the blob.” Analysis of 13 colonies surveyed between 2008 and 2022 finds that colony size in the Gulf of Alaska dropped by half after the marine heat wave. In colonies along the eastern Bering Sea, west of the peninsula, the decline was even steeper, at 75% loss. No recovery has yet been seen.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Julia Parrish • School of Aquatic and Fishery SciencesDecember 10, 2024
Social media highlights: UW News 2024
This year, the UW News social media team shared the inspiring stories of work being done by the University of Washington community with reporters, news outlets and our social media followers. We also shared special events happening around campus with our community. National Championship Game 2024 started off with the NCAA National Championship game between…
December 6, 2024
More than 10,000 supernovae counted in stellar census
Since 2018 the Zwicky Transient Facility, an international astronomical collaboration based at the Palomar Observatory in California, has scanned the entire sky every two to three nights. As part of this mission, the ZTF’s Bright Transient Survey has been counting and cataloguing supernovae — flashes of light in the sky that are the telltale signs of stars dying in spectacular explosions. On Dec. 4, ZTF researchers — including astronomers at the University of Washington — announced that that they have identified more than 10,000 of these stellar events, the largest number ever identified by an astronomical survey.
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Astronomy • DIRAC Institute • Eric Bellm • Melissa Graham
Record-low Antarctic sea ice can be explained and forecast months out by patterns in winds
University of Washington researchers show that the all-time record low in winter sea ice extent in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the winds that circled Antarctica months earlier, allowing forecasts for sea ice coverage around the South Pole to be generated six or more months in advance. This could support regional and global weather and climate models.
Tag(s): Cecilia Bitz • climate change • College of the Environment • Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science • Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth • polar scienceDecember 5, 2024
That’s no straw: Hummingbirds evolved surprisingly flexible bills to help them drink nectar
Hummingbird bills — their long, thin beaks — look a little like drinking straws. But new research shows just how little water, or nectar, that comparison holds. University of Washington scientists have discovered that the hummingbird bill is surprisingly flexible. While drinking, a hummingbird rapidly opens and shuts different parts of its bill simultaneously, engaging in an intricate and highly coordinated dance with its tongue to draw up nectar at lightning speeds.
Tag(s): Alejandro Rico-Guevara • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of BiologyDecember 4, 2024
Video: Talking about climate and weather with the Office of the Washington State Climatologist
From a base at the southwest corner of the UW’s Seattle campus, the Office of the Washington State Climatologist’s Guillaume Mauger and Karin Bumbaco provide expertise, tools and resources on “all things climate” to partners and communities across the state.
Tag(s): climate change • Climate Impacts Group • College of the Environment • EarthLab • Guillaume Mauger • Karin BumbacoNovember 26, 2024
From classrooms to KEXP, UW lecturer shares love of Indigenous music
When he isn’t lecturing at the University of Washington or pursuing his doctoral studies at the University of California, Davis, Tory Johnston (Quinault) co-hosts a global Indigenous radio show, Sounds of Survivance.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of American Indian Studies • Jessica Bissett Perea • Tory JohnstonNovember 25, 2024
Video: UW-led research links wildfire smoke exposure with increased dementia risk
An analysis of the health care records of 1.2 million Southern California residents found that higher long-term smoke exposure was associated with a significant increase in the odds that a person would be diagnosed with dementia. Exposure to non-wildfire PM2.5 also increased a person’s risk of dementia, but to a much lesser degree.
Tag(s): Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Joan Casey • School of Public Health • wildfiresNovember 21, 2024
UW among best universities in the world for interdisciplinary science
The University of Washington was ranked No. 15 in the world for interdisciplinary scientific research, according to a new list published earlier this month by the U.K.-based Times Higher Education. The UW placed in the top 10 among U.S. institutions. Among U.S. public institutions, the UW placed fifth.
Tag(s): Rankings
ArtSci Roundup: December 2024
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this December. Open Exhibits Henry Art Gallery Through March 2025 | Overexposures: Photographs from the…
Tag(s): Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • Department of Anthropology • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • School of Music • Simpson Center for the Humanities • Stroum Center for Jewish Studies • UW Honors Program
Fewer than 7% of global hotspots for whale-ship collisions have protection measures in place
A new study led by the University of Washington has for the first time quantified the risk for whale-ship collisions worldwide for four geographically widespread ocean giants that are threatened by shipping: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales. In a paper published online Nov. 21 in Science, researchers report that global shipping traffic overlaps with about 92% of these whale species’ ranges. Only about 7% of areas at highest risk for whale-ship collisions have any measures in place to protect whales from this threat. These measures include speed reductions, both mandatory and voluntary, for ships crossing waters that overlap with whale migration or feeding areas.
Tag(s): Anna Nisi • Briana Abrahms • Center for Ecosystem Sentinels • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • whales
Q&A: Promises and perils of AI in medicine, according to UW experts in public health and AI
UW News sat down with experts in public health and AI to discuss AI could enhance health care, what’s standing in the way, and whether there’s a downside to democratizing medical research.
Tag(s): artificial intelligence • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Department of Neurology • Gary Franklin • Information School • Lucy Lu Wang • School of Medicine • School of Public HealthNovember 20, 2024
UW addresses USDA inspection report findings at WaNPRC
A routine inspection of the University of Washington’s animal care and use program conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Oct. 8 identified issues that the UW had self-reported and corrected before the inspection took place.
Tag(s): Washington National Primate Research Center
In the ‘Wild West’ of AI chatbots, subtle biases related to race and caste often go unchecked
University of Washington researchers developed a system for detecting subtle biases in AI models. They found seven of the eight popular AI models they tested in conversations around race and caste generated significant amounts of biased text in interactions — particularly when discussing caste. Open-source models fared far worse than two proprietary ChatGPT models.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Hayoung Jung • Information School • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Preetam Dammu • Tanu MitraNovember 18, 2024
Q&A: UW professor discusses how academia can help battery manufacturing in the US
Jie Xiao, University of Washington professor of mechanical engineering, talks about batteries and how academia can help support the growing domestic battery manufacturing industry.
Tag(s): batteries • College of Engineering • Department of Mechanical Engineering • Jie Xiao
Q&A: A new medical AI model can help spot systemic disease by looking at a range of image types
UW assistant professor Sheng Wang discusses BiomedParse, an AI medical image analysis model that works across nine types of medical images to better predict systemic diseases. Medical professionals can load images into the system and ask the AI tool questions about them in plain English.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Sheng WangNovember 14, 2024
Deborah H. Fuller tapped to lead WaNPRC
The University of Washington named Deborah H. Fuller, a professor of Microbiology at the UW School of Medicine, the next director of the Washington National Primate Research Center. Fuller started in the new role on Nov. 1, said Vice Provost of Research Mari Ostendorf.
Tag(s): Deborah H. Fuller • Mari Ostendorf • Washington National Primate Research Center
AI headphones create a ‘sound bubble,’ quieting all sounds more than a few feet away
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created a headphone prototype that allows listeners to hear people speaking within a bubble with a programmable radius of 3 to 6 feet. Voices and sounds outside the bubble are quieted an average of 49 decibels, even if they’re louder than those in the bubble.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shyam GollakotaNext Page »
