Anthony Geist, professor and former chair of the University of Washington’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, has been awarded one of Spain’s highest civil honors.
News and features
Myanmar goes mobile, with UW’s help
A reformist government speeded Myanmar’s transition to democracy three years ago, dramatically increasing access to information. In 2011, just four percent of the population had mobile phones. Now the figure is closer to eighty percent, with many people owning smartphones. But navigating the flood of online information can be problematic for new users with no experience assessing the trustworthiness of sites and sources. An initiative launched by UW faculty aims to change that.
The initiative, Information Strategies for Societies in Transition (ISST), is designed to build digital literacy, information literacy, and data literacy across Myanmar. Professors Mary Callahan and Sara Curran in the Jackson School of International Studies, Chris Coward, director of the Technology & Social Change Group in the Information School, and Michael Crandall, a principal research scientist in the Information School, lead the project in collaboration with USAID, Microsoft, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Board of Regents approves first UW master’s program through Global Innovation Exchange
The UW Board of Regents has approved the Master of Science in Technology Innovation (MSTI) degree, a 60-credit interdisciplinary program developed by the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), in collaboration with the UW departments of Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Human Centered Design & Engineering, the Foster School of Business, the Information School and the School of Law.
The MSTI degree will be the first U.S.-based program offered through the Global Innovation Exchange, a partnership between the University of Washington and Tsinghua University, with foundational support from Microsoft.
UW experts hail Paris climate agreement
Professors and students comment on the signing of the Paris climate agreement as countries move toward implementing its contents.
Boosting global health partnerships for Chinese universities
Supported by the Global Innovation Fund, a landmark symposium hosted by the UW last week brought together leaders and faculty from five Chinese universities, across the UW campus and the Seattle community. “Collaborating with Chinese colleagues is a tremendously high priority, both personally for faculty and institutionally here at UW,” said Judy Wasserheit, chair of the Department of Global Health and symposium co-chair.
Belgian Ambassador to the U.S. speaks on campus
The United States and Belgium have worked together across the globe to promote security, human rights, and bilateral trade. They share a mutual interest in creating safe communities in the United States, Belgium, and elsewhere by cooperating on counterterrorism and countering violent extremism. The two nations also have longstanding economic and commercial ties with more than 13 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic already supported by US-EU trade.
The UW community is invited a talk with the Belgian Ambassador to the United States, Johan Verbeke, April 18th in the Smith Room, Allen Library at 3:00pm.
Scientists crack the code of butterflies’ international journey
Each fall, monarch butterflies across Canada and the United States turn their orange, black and white-mottled wings toward the Rio Grande and migrate over 2,000 miles to the relative warmth of central Mexico.
This journey, repeated instinctively by generations of monarchs, continues even as monarch numbers haveplummeted due to loss of their sole larval food source — milkweed. But amid this sad news, a research team believes they have cracked the secretof the internal, genetically encoded compass that the monarchs use to determine the direction — southwest — they should fly each fall.
For leading nonprofits, global change starts in Seattle
By investing in global health, Seattle foundations and non-profits are also changing the Puget Sound region. They are infusing the region’s innovation ecosystem with a wealth of global health care companies and research institutes, and they have helped build capacity and expertise at the University of Washington.
UW-led field project watching clouds from Antarctica
A UW atmospheric scientist is leading a project to study the clouds above the Southern Ocean. Seeing how the cloud droplets, small bits of dust, sea spray, and other materials on which cloud droplets form, and the ocean and sun interact will help improve global climate models.
Guggenheim Foundation honors three globally-engaged professors
Three UW professors are among the 178 scholars, artists, and scientists recognized this year by the Guggenheim Foundation. Katharyne Mitchell, Helen O’Toole and Rajesh Rao were among the winners chosen from more than 3,100 applicants and will receive grants that allow them to pursue creative projects in the fields of science, academic scholarship and the arts.