News releases
April 15, 2015
UW School of Law’s Gregoire Fellows Program to advance diversity in the legal profession
The University of Washington School of Law, supported by a number of leading Puget Sound-area businesses and law firms, has announced the creation of the Gregoire Fellows Program to help bring greater diversity to the school and the legal profession.
Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops
California man Mike May made international headlines in 2000 when his sight was restored by a pioneering stem cell procedure after 40 years of blindness. But a study published three years after the operation found that the then-49-year-old could see colors, motion and some simple two-dimensional shapes, but was incapable of more complex visual processing….
April 14, 2015
UW among select universities to use investigational Medtronic device, advance research into brain activity
Researchers from the University of Washington have teamed up with medical device manufacturer Medtronic to use the Activa® PC+S Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) system with people who have essential tremor.
April 13, 2015
UW Bothell, Tacoma campuses honored in Olympia for 25 years of educational excellence
The University of Washington Bothell and Tacoma campuses were recognized April 13 by both Gov. Jay Inslee and the State Senate with a proclamation and senate resolution acknowledging the 25th anniversary of the state’s newest public university campuses.
Violent methane storms on Titan may solve dune direction mystery
Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a hazy atmosphere and surface rivers, mountains, lakes and sand dunes. But the dunes and prevailing surface winds don’t point in the same direction. New research from UW astronomer Benjamin Charnay may have solved this mystery.
April 10, 2015
UW raises minimum wage to $11 per hour for all student workers
The University of Washington announced today it is increasing the minimum pay for its student workers to $11 an hour, effective April 1, 2015, consistent with its announcement March 31 that it was moving 70 non-student staff earning below $11 to the new level. Approximately 2,600 student workers are affected. On March 31, the University…
April 9, 2015
‘Warm blob’ in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the U.S.
A patch of warm water off the West Coast, nicknamed “the blob” by a UW scientist, is part of a larger shift in the Pacific Ocean that may be responsible for widespread weather changes.
Who’s a CEO? Google image results can shift gender biases
A University of Washington study assesses how accurately gender representations in online image search results for 45 different occupations — from CEO to telemarketer to engineer — match reality. Exposure to skewed image results shifted people’s perceptions about how many women actually hold those jobs.
April 8, 2015
Game played in sync increases children’s perceived similarity, closeness
What helps children who have just met form a connection? A new study shows that a simple game played together in sync on a computer led 8-year-olds to report a greater sense of similarity and closeness immediately after the activity. Children who played the same game but not in a synchronous way did not report…
April 7, 2015
Common birds bring economic vitality to cities, new study finds
A new study finds the economic value of enjoying urban birds to be $120 million each year for Seattle residents and $70 million for people living in Berlin. Residents in both cities spend more than the average U.S. adult on bird-supporting activities, which then benefit the local economies as residents invest in bird food and conservation.
April 6, 2015
Fishing amplifies forage fish collapses
A new study implicates fishing in the collapse of forage fish stocks and recommends risk-based management tools that would track a fishery’s numbers and suspend fishing when necessary.
April 3, 2015
Tourist to traveler: 2015 Kelly Lecture to highlight impact of study abroad
University of Washington English professor Shawn Wong, who has designed and led numerous study abroad classes over the last 18 years, will address the importance of academic travel when he presents the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s (OMA&D) 11th annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture on Thursday, April 16. His lecture titled…
April 2, 2015
Sally Clark named UW director of regional and community relations
Sally J. Clark, who has served on the Seattle City Council since February 2006, has been appointed director of regional and community relations at the University of Washington, effective May 18, 2015. “I am thrilled to welcome Sally to the University,” said Randy Hodgins, UW vice president for external affairs. “She brings a wealth of…
UW, NASA prepare for effort to measure rain, snow on Olympic Peninsula
The University of Washington and NASA are preparing for an effort next winter to measure rain in America’s rainiest place: Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. As part of the current gear-up phase, they are looking for volunteers to help track rain.
April 1, 2015
Three UW students chosen as 2015 Goldwater Scholars
Three University of Washington undergraduates are among 260 students nationwide named as 2015 Goldwater Scholars. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation scholarships are awarded to students who have “outstanding potential” and plan to pursue research careers in mathematics, natural sciences or engineering. The awards cover tuition, room and board, fees and books…
March 31, 2015
UW Interim President Ana Mari Cauce statement on proposed Senate budget
The following statement is from University of Washington Interim President Ana Mari Cauce: “While I am very pleased to see that the Senate budget not only provides most of the state funding needed to pay for its tuition reduction bill, and makes additional investments for the next biennium, there are some troubling aspects to the…
UW raises minimum-wage workers to $11 per hour
The University of Washington announced today that it is bringing a small group of employees who currently earn below $11 an hour to that level, effective April 1, in keeping with the spirit of Seattle’s new minimum wage law. Of the approximately 39,000 non-student employees at the UW, 70 currently earn below $11 per hour….
March 30, 2015
UW faculty team for five-year study of Seattle’s minimum wage increase
What will be the effects of the city of Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance? Faculty from the UW’s schools of public affairs, public health and social work are teaming up for The Seattle Minimum Wage Study, a five-year research project to learn that and more.
March 27, 2015
UW Interim President Ana Mari Cauce statement on proposed House budget
University of Washington Interim President Ana Mari Cauce comments on the proposed House budget.
March 23, 2015
UW scientists build a nanolaser using a single atomic sheet
University of Washington scientists have built a new nanometer-sized laser using a semiconductor that’s only three atoms thick. It could help open the door to next-generation computing that uses light, rather than electrons, to transfer information.
Mia Tuan named dean of the UW’s College of Education
Mia Tuan has been named dean of the College of Education at the University of Washington, interim President Ana Mari Cauce and interim Provost Jerry Baldasty announced today. Tuan comes to the UW from the University of Oregon, where she has held a number of academic and leadership positions over the past 18 years. The…
March 19, 2015
UW geologist, engineer reflect back one year later on nation’s deadliest landslide
A UW geologist and geotechnical engineer look back at what the past year has meant, personally and professionally, as they helped recovery efforts from the nation’s deadliest landslide in our own backyard.
Suspension leads to more pot use among teens, study finds
Suspending kids from school for using marijuana is likely to lead to more — not less — pot use among their classmates, a new study finds. Counseling was found to be a much more effective means of combating marijuana use. And while enforcement of anti-drug policies is a key factor in whether teens use marijuana,…
March 18, 2015
New research suggests insect wings might serve gyroscopic function
Gyroscopes measure rotation in everyday technologies, from unmanned aerial vehicles to cell phone screen stabilizers. Though many animals can move with more precision and accuracy than our best-engineered aircraft and technologies, gyroscopes are rarely found in nature. Scientists know of just one group of insects, the group including flies, that has something that behaves like…
New Air Force center at UW learns from animals for better flight
A new center at the University of Washington funded by the U.S. Air Force will focus on how elements in nature can help solve challenging engineering and technological problems related to building small, remotely operated aircraft.
March 17, 2015
First global review on the status, future of Arctic marine mammals
A University of Washington scientist is lead author on the first census of all Arctic marine mammals, including whales, walruses, seals and polar bears. The multinational report assesses the current status of these populations and makes recommendations for conservation of these species under climate change.
March 13, 2015
UW expert part of international research project on female genital cutting
Decades of efforts to end female genital cutting have resulted in some progress, but the ancient tradition stubbornly persists in many places. The latest initiative to tackle the issue is a $12 million research project launched this month by a consortium comprising several African organizations and two U.S. researchers: Bettina Shell-Duncan, a University of Washington…
March 12, 2015
Naturally acidic waters of Puget Sound surround UW’s Friday Harbor Labs
For more than 100 years, marine biologists at Friday Harbor Laboratories have studied the ecology of everything from tiny marine plants to giant sea stars. Now, as the oceans are undergoing a historic shift in chemistry, the lab is establishing itself as a place to study what that will mean for marine life. And the…
March 11, 2015
‘Chaotic Earths’: Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates
New research by UW astronomer Rory Barnes and co-authors describes possible planetary systems where a gravitational nudge from one planet with just the right orbital configuration and tilt could have a mild to devastating effect on the orbit and climate of another, possibly habitable world.
March 10, 2015
An injectable UW polymer could keep soldiers, trauma patients from bleeding to death
University of Washington researchers have developed a new injectable polymer that strengthens blood clots, called PolySTAT. Administered in a simple shot, the polymer finds any unseen injuries and has the potential to keep trauma patients from bleeding to death before reaching medical care.
As home for Native learning opens, a dream is realized
Though it doesn’t officially open until March 12, the modern, longhouse-style building on the University of Washington campus is already steeped in significance. wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House represents a dream four decades in the making. It will be an anchor for indigenous students, a hub for Native learning and a means of acknowledging the Duwamish people whose…
March 9, 2015
UW leads nation in primary care, rural medicine and family medicine; top 10 in dozens of graduate programs
The University of Washington has 42 graduate schools and specialty programs among the nation’s top 10 in each area, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Graduate School Rankings released Tuesday. The UW again ranked as the No. 1 primary care medical school, while the rural medicine and family medicine specialties continue to lead the…
Study shows teens and adults hazy on Washington marijuana law
More than two years after Washington legalized marijuana, parents and teens may be hazy on the specifics of the law, if the findings of a new study are any indication. University of Washington research, published recently in Substance Use & Misuse, found that only 57 percent of Washington parents surveyed knew the legal age for…
March 3, 2015
On thin ice: Combined Arctic ice observations show decades of loss
Historic submarine and modern satellite records show that ice thickness in the central Arctic Ocean dropped by 65 percent from 1975 to 2012. September ice thickness, when the ice cover is at a minimum, dropped by 85 percent.
February 26, 2015
Colleen Fukui-Sketchley to receive UW’s 2015 Odegaard Award
Colleen Fukui-Sketchley, diversity affairs director for Nordstrom, has been named the 2015 recipient of the University of Washington Charles E. Odegaard Award. Established in 1973, the Odegaard award honors individuals whose leadership in the community exemplifies the former UW president’s work on behalf of diversity. It is the only university- and community-selected award, and is…
Embrace unknowns, opt for flexibility in environmental policies
Two University of Washington professors argue in a Science perspectives article that ecosystem managers must learn to make decisions based on an uncertain future.
February 24, 2015
Jerry Baldasty named interim provost of the University of Washington
University of Washington Provost and Executive Vice President Ana Mari Cauce has selected Jerry Baldasty to serve as interim provost, effective March 3, when Cauce assumes the role of interim president. Baldasty has served as senior vice provost for academic and student affairs since 2012. “Jerry is a candid communicator who exemplifies transparency, mutual respect…
February 18, 2015
University of Washington leads the nation in Peace Corps volunteers
The University of Washington produced the most Peace Corps volunteers for 2015, reclaiming the top spot with 72 alumni currently in service.
Fearless birds and shrinking salmon: Is urbanization pushing Earth’s evolution to a tipping point?
We’ve long known that humans and our cities affect the ecosystem and even drive some evolutionary change. What’s new is that these evolutionary changes are happening more quickly than previously thought, and have potential impacts not in the distant future — but now.
February 16, 2015
Ancient rocks show life could have flourished on Earth 3.2 billion years ago
Some of the oldest rocks on the planet push back scientific estimates of when life could have covered the Earth by 1 billion years.
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