Author: Deborah Bach

Two University of Washington faculty members have been appointed to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs Science Advisory Board. Sociology professor Robert Crutchfield was named chair of the board’s justice system transparency and accountability subcommittee, and Alexes Harris, an associate professor of sociology, was named a new board member. The 25-member board, which advises the Office of Justice Programs on research, statistics and grant programs, is made up of leading scholars and experts in sociology, criminology, statistics,…

One of the best ways children learn is by copying what they see others do. Now new research shows that this learning strategy can be used even with things that cannot be seen, including invisible scientific concepts. Weight, for example, is a concept that cannot be seen directly, and it puzzles most preschool-aged children. While they can figure out other more obvious properties about objects, such as their shape, color, or the sound they make, weight trips them up. Researchers…

As a graduate student and food justice activist in Santa Barbara, California, Megan Carney became aware that many migrant women in the area struggled to feed their families. Her recently published book “The Unending Hunger: Tracing Women and Food Insecurity Across Borders,” examines the personal and political aspects of hunger and tells the stories of the women she met through her research. Carney, now a lecturer in the University of Washington’s anthropology department and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies…

Mention Santa Barbara, California, and many people might envision beaches, celebrities and ritzy homes in the so-called “American Riviera.” But Megan Carney saw a much different side of the area while attending graduate school at the University of California’s campus there. Through her work on food justice advocacy initiatives, Carney learned that the Santa Barbara region had one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation and some of the highest levels of food insecurity in California. “It’s a…

From the popularity of farmers markets to greater awareness about obesity, Americans are more interested than ever in what they eat and where it comes from. Once simply a question of what’s for dinner, food has become a focal point for concerns about health, sustainability and the environment. Recognizing food’s increased importance in popular culture and academia, the University of Washington Press is launching a new book series called “Food, People, Planet” that aims to explore food from various social…

Bill Clinton and Prince have embraced it, as have Moby, Ellen DeGeneres and Alec Baldwin. Veganism has moved from the foodie fringes into the mainstream in recent years, as celebrities and others are adopting a plant-based diet over concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Vegan celebrity chefs, meat-free products in grocery stores and a proliferation of innovative new restaurants boasting cruelty-free cuisine have helped broaden veganism’s appeal. UW lecturer Katie Gillespie will join Farm Sanctuary co-founder Gene Baur…

Two University of Washington faculty members are among the leaders from academia, business, philanthropy, humanities and the arts elected as 2015 fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Stanley Fields, a professor of genome sciences and medicine, and David B. Kaplan, a professor of physics and director of the UW-based Institute for Nuclear Theory, join 197 new academy members announced today. “We are honored to elect a new…

Some people think Jonathan Bricker is a geek, and they mean it in the best way possible. Bricker, an affiliate professor of psychology at the UW and a psychologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is among five finalists for the annual “Geek of the Year Award” from Seattle technology news site GeekWire. The award honors “someone who created a technological breakthrough that made the world a better place, or strengthened the community through their work or good deeds.” Bricker,…

A UW postdoctoral scientist is among six nationwide recipients of the 2015 Carl Sagan Exoplanet Postdoctoral Fellowships. The Sagan Fellowships support recent postdoctoral students in research related to the scientific goals of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program — specifically, to discover and characterize planetary systems and Earth-like planets around stars. Daniel Foreman-Mackey , an incoming postdoctoral researcher in the UW Department of Astronomy, will focus on using statistical methods to research exoplanet discoveries, with the goal of developing a framework for…

The United States imprisons a larger percentage of African Americans than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., three out of every four young black men are likely to serve time in prison, according to projections. Those stark facts are found in Michelle Alexander’s 2012 book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” In a searing indictment of the U.S. criminal justice system, Alexander argues that mass incarceration is a system of…

No one would argue that exposing children to secondhand smoke is bad, but should it be considered child abuse? Taryn Lindhorst, a UW associate professor of social work, says no. In an opinion piece published online in the Annals of Family Medicine earlier this month, Lindhorst argues that treating children’s exposure to secondhand smoke as child abuse and reporting parents to authorities takes a punitive approach to addiction and harms both children and families. “Removing kids from their families, their…

Years ago, a fellow educator made a comment that stuck in Christine Stickler’s head. University students don’t need to travel to a foreign country for spring break to immerse themselves in another culture, she said — they can do that right here in Washington state. That observation led Stickler to launch the UW’s Alternative Spring Break program, which sends out teams of undergraduates to small rural and tribal communities throughout Washington to work with elementary and middle school students on…

The power of social media in fueling movements such as Black Lives Matter, the racial justice campaign sprung from last year’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri, has become increasingly evident in recent years. Recognition of those grassroots efforts is the focus of the fifth annual Women Who Rock “unconference” event, to be held Saturday, March 7, at Rainier Valley Cultural Center in South Seattle. The event’s theme, Rocking Media Justice, celebrates the use of social media to document the realities of…

The possibility of longtime prisoners being released from prison and leading happy, productive lives may seem unlikely. But a new radio documentary project aims to dispel that perception. The Rethinking Punishment Radio Project is a collaboration between UW professor Katherine Beckett and two radio journalists from the University of British Columbia. The first episode, which aired Feb. 25 on the Cited podcast, tells the story of Jeff Coats, who served 17 years in adult prison for charges including robbery and…

Factors affecting the quality of life for marginalized populations are the focus of a three-part UW lecture series that starts tomorrow. The 10th Annual Allen L. Edwards Psychology Lectures presents, “The Psychological Science of Inequity and Inequality,” bringing together faculty from the UW Department of Psychology with national experts for the free public talks. The first, at 7 p.m. Feb. 18, is titled “Implicit Bias: How Should Psychological Science Inform the Law?” and features UW psychology professor Anthony Greenwald and…

Are you a UW alum or other local educator who’s passionate about your work and willing to talk publicly about it? The UW College of Education and the Seattle Times are hosting a storytelling event at the university on Feb. 25 and are looking for a handful of teachers to share five-minute personal stories onstage. To be considered, call the Seattle Times at 206-464-2057 and leave a two-minute, condensed version of your story and your full name, phone number and…

A recent study found that graduates of the University of Washington’s two early-entrance university programs excelled in their academic and subsequent professional lives. The study was published in January in Roeper Review, a publication focused on education for gifted students. It looked at the academic, professional and personal outcomes for 192 students in the UW Early Entrance Program, which started in 1977 and enrolls students as young as age 13, and UW Academy, an early admission program started in 2001….

Half a century ago, UW graduate Bill Holm published what would become a seminal work on the distinctive art of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Northwest. “Northwest Coast Indian Art” was the result of Holm’s 15-year analysis of hundreds of artworks while studying at UW under Erna Gunther, former director of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. The book introduced new terminology that soon became part of the accepted vocabulary to describe works that conveyed Indian…