UW News

UW News blog


July 2, 2018

Q&A: What can we learn from the hidden history of technology design?

Close up of the Arduino microcontroller on the quilt

University of Washington assistant professor of human centered design and engineering Daniela Rosner explores some hidden histories in technology design in her new book “Critical Fabulations.” The book highlights the idea that design stories from the past can show today’s designers how to create more inclusive technology.


June 28, 2018

UW professor and Clean Energy Institute director Daniel Schwartz wins highest U.S. award for STEM mentors

Daniel Schwartz, a University of Washington professor of chemical engineering and director of the Clean Energy Institute, received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation this week.


June 27, 2018

Vintage editorial cartoons by Oregon’s Howard Fisher in UW Libraries exhibit ‘Captured in Ink’

UW Libraries Special Collections has a new exhibit called “Captured in Ink: Historical Cartoons and Caricatures.” The exhibit features the editorial cartoons of Howard Fisher, who worked and drew for decades for the Oregon Journal, a Portland newspaper that folded in 1982. Many other historical caricatures are included as well in the display, which stays up until October 19.


June 21, 2018

Q Center’s Jen Self a grand marshal at 2018 Seattle Pride Parade

Self with group

The University of Washington’s Jen Self will be one of three grand marshals of Sunday’s 2018 Seattle Pride Parade.


NASA, NSF expedition to study ocean carbon embarks in August from Seattle

satellite view of ocean and land

More than 100 scientists and crew from more than 20 U.S. research institutions, including the UW, will depart in August for a month-long expedition to study how the ocean absorbs carbon from the atmosphere.


June 18, 2018

Evans School faculty to study Fauntleroy ferry concerns for Washington State Ferries

The Washington State Legislature has commissioned faculty members with the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance to study ticketing and loading procedures at the West Seattle ferry dock and suggest ways to improve terminal operations. Evans School professor Alison Cullen and associate professor Stephen Page will lead the study, which begins…


June 15, 2018

Study: Undergrad research experiences make a noticeable difference

A new analysis suggests the value of structured research programs for undergraduates extends to society as a whole by encouraging participants to seek advanced degrees in scientific and technological fields.


June 12, 2018

Anthropology professor focuses book on the bonds between humans, animals

Radhika Govindrajan’s book “Animal Intimacies” started attracting attention before it was even available to readers. A University of Washington assistant professor of anthropology since 2015, Govindrajan specializes in animal studies, and in the politics and culture of the Central Himalayas, where much of the research for this book was conducted. “Animal Intimacies,” published in May…


June 6, 2018

Washington state Supreme Court takes up court-fee reform, considers UW data at sold-out Wednesday symposium

Monetary sanctions disproportionately affect the poor and people of color. A Washington State Supreme Court symposium will discuss the issue of legal financial obligations, with new data from the University of Washington.

  African-Americans in Washington state are 2.3 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to fines and fees, and carry about three times the debt in unpaid monetary sanctions. In all, said University of Washington sociology professor Alexes Harris, legal financial obligations represented nearly $2.5 billion in debt in Washington in 2014, the most…


June 4, 2018

Polar scientist Kristin Laidre documents perspectives of polar bear hunters in East Greenland

photograph of subsistence hunter

Twenty-five polar bear hunters in East Greenland were interviewed before the first formal assessment of this subpopulation, one of 19 subpopulations of polar bears in a changing Arctic.


June 1, 2018

Art, design provide eclectic mix for annual graduate show at Henry Art Gallery

Art and design can amaze, inform, entertain, challenge or even gently baffle the viewer — and the annual thesis exhibition for Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design at the Henry Art Gallery reliably offers a little of each.


May 29, 2018

Global rankings put UW at No. 4 among US public universities

Two renowned global rankings released this week place the University of Washington fourth among U.S. public institutions.


May 25, 2018

UW statement regarding ongoing negotiations with academic student employees – May 25, 2018

The University of Washington W

The academic student employees (ASEs) at the University of Washington have announced a strike to begin June 2, despite the fact that two bargaining sessions are scheduled before that date. The UW is working with deans, chancellors and department chairs to avoid disruption or delay in grades or graduation should the ASEs strike.


Class of ’68 reflects and looks ahead

Assassinations. War in Vietnam. Racial clashes. Far more than simply the generation who lived the Summer of Love, the Class of 1968, which celebrates its 50th reunion next week, recalled their college years during a turbulent time in the nation’s history.


Broccoli in space: How probiotics could help grow veggies in microgravity

broccoli going to space.

Astronauts at the International Space Station are spending more time away from Earth, but they still need their daily serving of vegetables. In the quest to find a viable way for crew to grow their own veggies while orbiting — and possibly one day on the moon or Mars — student researchers are sending broccoli…


Anthropologist explores China’s changing art scene in ‘Experimental Beijing’

Sasha Welland's book, "Experimental Beijing," was published by Duke University Press.

On a two-year stint teaching English in Beijing, Sasha Welland got her first glimpse of contemporary Chinese art. Not the antiquities so common in Western museums of Asian art, or the scroll paintings or ceramics or Buddhist sculptures, explains Welland, an associate professor in the University of Washington departments of anthropology and gender, women and…


May 24, 2018

Remaking a reef: UW landscape architecture students to present design for new artificial reef at Redondo dive site

A UW landscape architecture student's illustration of part of an artificial reef to be built at Washington's Redondo Beach dive area. UW students are working with the state, the dive community and others to design a new reef to provide a healthy habitat for marine life.

What makes a good artificial reef, for divers, and for marine life? University of Washington landscape architecture students have done designs for a state-funded project to replace the artificial reef at the Redondo Beach dive site. They will present and discuss their work in a public meeting May 30, in Des Moines. The landscape architecture…


May 21, 2018

Designed for evil: How to make bad technologies better

Through Alexis Hiniker’s Designing for Evil course, which is unique to the UW, students have identified “emerging evil” technologies and redesigned them so that they are more likely to enhance — not detract from — users’ lives.


May 18, 2018

UW Faculty Senate celebrates its 80-year history

Eight decades ago to the day, the Faculty Senate met for the first time at the University of Washington.


Memorial Day events focus on veteran mental health, suicide

    For the past three years, a striking visual statement has marked Memorial Day on the University of Washington campus: thousands of miniature flags dotting the HUB lawn. The first year, student veterans placed hundreds of flags as a solemn gesture to underscore the significance of the holiday. The next year, the office of…


May 17, 2018

Washington Research Foundation grant brings on four new biology faculty just in time for new Life Sciences Building

With the grand opening of the new $171 million Life Sciences Building just months away, it’s time to fill the building with faculty. That was the idea behind a $3 million Washington Research Foundation (WRF) grant to hire four biology professors. It’s called a cluster hire and will help maintain the University of Washington’s leading reputation in primary research and life sciences.


May 15, 2018

Chemist Karen Goldberg elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Karen Goldberg, an affiliate professor of chemistry at the University of Washington, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.


STEM for All Video Showcase features six UW projects

  Family-focused science lessons, robotics for young children and touch-based programming for the visually impaired are among the University of Washington research videos featured in the STEM for All Video Showcase, funded by the National Science Foundation. The weeklong online event, in its fourth year, highlights more than 200 projects from universities around the country…


May 14, 2018

Seattle-area universities and colleges declare Affordable Housing Week, May 14-18

The presidents of four Seattle-area universities and colleges have joined forces to declare May 14-18, 2018 as Affordable Housing Week on their campuses. Dr. Jeff Wagnitz, interim president of Highline College; Dr. Daniel J. Martin of Seattle Pacific University; Steven V. Sundborg, S.J., president of Seattle University; and Ana Mari Cauce, president of University of Washington, have signed proclamations or otherwise affirmed the importance of safe, healthy, affordable homes in communities of opportunity. The higher-education institutions join King County and 20 King County cities, including Seattle, in recognizing the benefits of affordable housing to everyone in the community.


Jackson School’s Taso Lagos pens ‘American Zeus,’ biography of theater mogul Alexander Pantages

"American Zeus: The Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul," by Taso Lagos, was published by McFarland.

It’s a challenge to write a biography of a man who was functionally illiterate and whose papers were mostly destroyed, but UW lecturer Taso Lagos has achieved it with his new book, “American Zeus: The Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul.”


May 10, 2018

New UW vessel, RV Rachel Carson, will explore regional waters

blue and white ship

The UW School of Oceanography has a new vessel, named after marine biologist, author and conservationist Rachel Carson. It will explore Puget Sound and nearby coasts.


May 8, 2018

UW researchers will survey Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier as part of major international effort

International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration logo

UW glaciologist Knut Christianson is part of a massive collaboration that will collect on-the-ground data about a key Antarctic glacier that shows signs it could be collapsing into the sea.


May 3, 2018

UW welcomes Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary

Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary is scheduled to visit the University of Washington on Friday morning.


May 1, 2018

UW statement regarding ongoing negotiations with academic student employees

The UW has proposed a three-year contract which includes annual wage increases over the next three years, a continuation of high-quality health insurance fully paid by the university and the continuation of waivers on many student-approved fees. The UW has also agreed to pay for two 50 percent ASE employees to partner with SafeCampus to develop and conduct a sexual harassment and prevention training program to address ASE-specific issues.


April 30, 2018

Q&A: Washington Sea Grant’s Penny Dalton a leader, mentor in ocean policy field

penny dalton phot

A Q&A with retiring Washington Sea Grant director Penny Dalton on her drive to serve the public, and the ways in which she has helped young marine policy experts get started in the field.


April 27, 2018

UW researcher, Fulbright Scholar, spent winter above the Arctic Circle

green bands of lights in dark sky

Oceanographer Cecilia Peralta Ferriz is spending the academic year in Tromsø, Norway, to collaborate with colleagues who study flow out of the Arctic Ocean.


UW ranks No. 5 on Forbes’ Best Value Colleges 2018

School shot

The University of Washington this week ranked No. 5 on the Forbes list of Best Value Colleges 2018. The UW rose from 23rd place in the 2016 ranking.


April 25, 2018

UW faculty selected as authors, editors of international report on climate change

About twice each decade, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, looks at what is known about the science of climate change, the extent to which human activities are changing the Earth’s climate, and what risks these changes pose to human and natural systems. Organized into three working groups, each assessment is…


World’s deepest fish named to 10 ‘remarkable new species’ list for 2017

CT scan of Mariana snailfish

The World Register of Marine Species has named the Mariana snailfish one of its 10 “remarkable new species” discovered in 2017. The team that discovered and named the small fish includes Mackenzie Gerringer, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories.


April 24, 2018

Washington Research Foundation awards fellowships to UW researchers

Seven University of Washington researchers have been selected as Washington Research Foundation fellows. This fellowship funds 10 researchers who work in STEM fields to perform mentored research projects over the next three years.


April 19, 2018

Vikram Prakash’s ‘ArchitectureTalk’ podcast explores topics ‘at the edge of the known’

Vikram Prakash, professor of architecture and creator of the ArchitectureTalk Podcast.

Vikram Prakash says his weekly “ArchitectureTalk” podcast got its start, as many things do, from a student’s idea.


April 17, 2018

Daniel Bessner’s ‘Democracy in Exile’ explores brain drain from Germany in 1930s, effect on U.S. foreign policy

Daniel Bessner's book "Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual" was published by Cornell University Press.

Daniel Bessner, assistant professor in the Jackson School, has a new book from Cornell University Press: “Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual.”


April 16, 2018

UW Jackson School researcher: Alternative energy is key to long-term health

Access to reliable electricity is critical to public health, argues UW geoscientist Scott Montgomery. And the best way to assure both is to pursue renewable energy.

  Halting the spread of disease involves a combination of health care and societal practices — from access to doctors and vaccines to clean water and adequate resources. Many of those solutions rely on electricity and transport fuels, whether for refrigeration, diagnosis and treatment, or distribution. But with two of the major energy sources the…


April 6, 2018

University of Washington professor recognized by Guggenheim Foundation

head shot

A University of Washington professor is among the 173 scholars, artists and scientists from the U.S. and Canada recognized this year by the Guggenheim Foundation. Christian Lee Novetzke, associate director, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and director, Center for Global Studies, was among the winners chosen from more than 3,000 applicants.


April 4, 2018

‘Differences can be a part of their skills’: Pilot program at UW offers on-the-job training for young adults with autism

A national program to boost the employment prospects of young adults with autism is piloting its approach at the UW this year. At 10 locations on campus over the course of the year, interns with the program have built databases, organized libraries and maintained facilities.



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