News releases
November 17, 2021
UW’s Interrupting Privilege expands with new website, celebration
Not long after the 2016 general election, faculty at the University of Washington’s Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity (CCDE) recognized a need for students, especially BIPOC students, to talk about their experience of race.
November 8, 2021
Creating a supportive environment for veterans, UW pauses to recognize those with military service
Arriving at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus, Brandon Green had a familiar feeling of disorientation.
Green, 33, who transferred to the UW from Everett Community College after spending seven years as a U.S. Army medic, had travelled the U.S. and the globe, including two tours in Afghanistan. He’d undergone rigorous training and knew what it was like to deploy to foreign, often dangerous places.
Even with all that experience, college life was different.
Political ads during the 2020 presidential election cycle collected personal information and spread misleading information
University of Washington researchers looked at almost 56,000 political ads from almost 750 news sites between September 2020 and January 2021.
October 28, 2021
Countermarketing based on anti-smoking campaigns reduces buying of sugary ‘fruit’ drinks for children
Public health messages such as in the image below — designed to reduce parents’ purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages marketed as fruit drinks for children — convinced a significant percentage of parents to avoid those drinks, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania. The UW-led study set…
How Dungeness crabs’ complex lifecycle will be affected by climate change
Results show that by the end of this century, lower-oxygen water on the Pacific Northwest coast will pose the biggest threat to Dungeness crabs. And while these crabs start as tiny, free-floating larvae, it’s the sharp-clawed adults that will be most vulnerable.
After California’s 3rd-largest wildfire, deer returned home while trees were ‘still smoldering’
In a rare stroke of luck, researchers from the University of Washington, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, were able to track a group of black-tailed deer during and after California’s third-largest wildfire, the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire. The megafire, which torched more than 450,000 acres in northern California, burned across half of an established study site, making it possible to record the movements and feeding patterns of deer before, during and after the fire.
October 27, 2021
Fossil dental exams reveal how tusks first evolved
Many animals have tusks, from elephants to walruses to hyraxes. But one thing tusked animals have in common is that they’re all mammals — no known fish, reptiles or birds have them. But that was not always the case. In a study published Oct. 27 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of paleontologists at Harvard University, the Field Museum, the University of Washington and Idaho State University traced the first tusks back to dicynodonts — ancient mammal relatives that lived before the dinosaurs.
October 26, 2021
UW rises to No. 7 in US News’ Best Global Universities ranking
The University of Washington climbed one spot to No. 7 on the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings, released on Oct. 26. The UW maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.
October 21, 2021
UW welcomes robust and diverse 2021 entering class
The University of Washington’s newest class of undergraduate students is robust and diverse, according to the finalized fall 2021 census of enrolled students.
October 11, 2021
UW Resilience Lab aims to change campus culture toward compassion and mindfulness
Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Ed Taylor chats with Director of the UW Resilience Lab Megan Kennedy about how students, faculty and staff can create a more supportive, compassionate environment in which to learn and discover as the University of Washington community comes back to the campuses and recovers from the traumas of the last two years.
October 6, 2021
How ‘ice needles’ weave patterns of stones in frozen landscapes
A University of Washington researcher is part of an international team that has used modern tools to explain repeating patterns of stones that form in frost-prone landscapes.
October 5, 2021
UW joins USAID’s $125M project to detect emerging viruses with pandemic potential
To better identify and prevent future pandemics, the University of Washington has become a partner in a five-year global, collaborative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The newly launched Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses, or DEEP VZN project, has approximately $125 million in anticipated funding and will be led…
October 1, 2021
UW study provides rare window into work life of app-based drivers during pandemic
When you get into the car of the app-based driver you just tapped up on your phone, you expect and hope the driver and the car are safe and capable of getting you where you need to go. Apps rate drivers, which you can see. But what if the driver is sick? What if the…
Politics, health data held almost equal sway in states’ COVID-19 restrictions
New research by the University of Washington shows that states eased pandemic restrictions, such as gathering limits and business closures, based on politics as much as COVID-19 death rates or case counts.
September 30, 2021
Bigleaf maple decline tied to hotter, drier summers in Washington
A new study has found that recent bigleaf maple die-off in Washington is linked to hotter, drier summers that predispose this species to decline. These conditions essentially weaken the tree’s immune system, making it easier to succumb to other stressors and diseases.
September 28, 2021
Alzheimer’s data center at UW awarded $35 million to continue mission of free, global access
For researchers around the world working to understand and treat Alzheimer’s and eventually find a cure, data from clinical exams of patients suffering from this complex neurodegenerative disease needs to be standardized and accessible. Since 1999, that’s what the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), housed in the UW School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology,…
New NSF-funded institute to harness AI for accelerated discoveries in physics, astronomy and neuroscience
On Sept. 28, the National Science Foundation announced $15 million, five-year grant to integrate AI tools into the scientific research and discovery process. The award will fund the Accelerated AI Algorithms for Data-Driven Discovery Institute — or A3D3 Institute — a partnership of nine universities, led by the University of Washington.
September 27, 2021
New Student Convocation on Tuesday afternoon opens UW’s 2021-22 academic year
University of Washington Associate Professor Wendy Barrington will be the featured speaker at the university’s 38th annual New Student Convocation. Barrington has joint appointments in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing in the School of Nursing and the departments of Epidemiology and of Health Systems and Population Health in the School of Public Health.
September 23, 2021
Video: Arsenic makes these south Puget Sound fish unsafe to eat
Researchers at the University of Washington and UW Tacoma have been studying arsenic levels in the mud, water and in creatures from lakes in the south Puget Sound area. Eating contaminated fish or snails from these lakes could lead to health risks.
September 22, 2021
UW and UC San Diego researchers honored for their work discovering that someone could hack a car
A team from the University of Washington and University of California San Diego has received the Golden Goose Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
September 21, 2021
UW, Burke researchers discover four dinosaurs in Montana: Fieldwork pieces together life at the end of ‘Dinosaur Era’
A team of paleontologists from the University of Washington and its Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture excavated four dinosaurs in northeastern Montana this summer. The four dinosaur fossils are: the ilium — or hip bones — of an ostrich-sized theropod, the group of meat-eating, two-legged dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and raptors; the hips and legs of a duck-billed dinosaur; a pelvis, toe claw and limbs from another theropod that could be a rare ostrich-mimic Anzu, or possibly a new species; and a Triceratops specimen consisting of its skull and other fossilized bones.
September 16, 2021
Rankings: UW among best in world for health and life sciences
The University of Washington is among the best universities in the world for the studies of health and life sciences, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2022.
September 15, 2021
Rankings: UW School of Nursing undergrad program tied for No. 2 in nation
The University of Washington School of Nursing tied for second-best in the nation for its undergraduate programs, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report.
September 14, 2021
Sean Carr named Executive Director and CEO of Global Innovation Exchange
Sean Carr has been named Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX). Carr will assume the role in January 2022 and will be based at the Steve Ballmer Building, GIX’s home in Bellevue, Washington.
Study examines teens’ thoughts, plans around suicide
New research by the University of Washington and New York University explored gender, racial and ethnic differences among teens who think about and/or attempt suicide, as well as associated behavioral and environmental factors.
September 13, 2021
Do Alexa and Siri make kids bossier? New research suggests you might not need to worry
A team led by UW studied whether hanging out with conversational agents, such as Alexa or Siri, could affect the way children communicate with their fellow humans.
September 10, 2021
UW campus prepares for return to in-person classes, activities
It’s been about 18 months since the University of Washington led the nation in pivoting to largely online learning and working as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
September 9, 2021
NSF to fund revolutionary center for optoelectronic, quantum technologies
The National Science Foundation has announced it will fund a new endeavor to bring atomic-level precision to the devices and technologies that underpin much of modern life, and will transform fields like information technology in the decades to come. The five-year, $25 million Science and Technology Center grant will found the Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand — or IMOD — a collaboration of scientists and engineers at 11 universities led by the University of Washington.
September 7, 2021
Research, education hub on ‘coastal resiliency’ will focus on earthquakes, coastal erosion and climate change
The new Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub, led by Oregon State University and the University of Washington, will study coastal hazards and community resilience. The National Science Foundation awarded $18.9 million for the hub over five years.
September 1, 2021
Mary Gresch named UW’s Senior Vice President for University Advancement
Mary Gresch has been named senior vice president for advancement at the University of Washington, UW President Ana Mari Cauce announced this week. Gresch’s appointment is effective Sept. 1.
August 25, 2021
Volcanic eruptions may have spurred first ‘whiffs’ of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere
A new analysis of 2.5-billion-year-old rocks from Australia finds that volcanic eruptions may have stimulated population surges of marine microorganisms, creating the first puffs of oxygen into the atmosphere. This would change existing stories of Earth’s early atmosphere, which assumed that most changes in the early atmosphere were controlled by geologic or chemical processes.
August 16, 2021
New analysis of landmark scurvy study leads to update on vitamin C needs
It was wartime and food was scarce. Leaders of England’s effort to wage war and help the public survive during World War II needed to know: Were the rations in lifeboats adequate for survival at sea? And, among several experiments important for public as well as military heath, how much vitamin C did a person…
August 11, 2021
‘More pepper, please’: New study analyzes role of scent compounds in the coevolution of bats and pepper plants
A study published Aug. 11 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by researchers at the University of Washington and Stony Brook University reports on how bats and pepper plants in Central America have coevolved to help each other survive.
August 5, 2021
Now how did that get up there? New study sheds light on development and evolution of dolphin, whale blowholes
New research by scientists at the University of Washington and Duke University is shedding light on how the nasal passage of dolphins and whales shifts during embryonic development from emerging at the tip of the snout to emerging at the top of the head as a blowhole. The findings, published July 19 in the Journal of Anatomy, are an integrative model for this developmental transition for cetaceans.
Drier, warmer night air is making some Western wildfires more active at night
Firefighters have reported that Western wildfires are starting earlier in the morning and dying down later at night, hampering their ability to recover and regroup before the next day’s flareup. A study by University of Washington and U.S. Forest Service scientists shows why: The drying power of nighttime air over much of the Western U.S. has increased dramatically in the past 40 years.
Superflares may be less harmful to exoplanets than previously thought, study shows
Astronomers have long suspected that superflares, extreme radiation bursts from stars, can cause lasting damage to the atmospheres — and thus habitability — of exoplanets. A new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reports that they pose only a limited danger to planetary systems.
August 4, 2021
Fine particulate air pollution associated with higher risk of dementia
Using data from two large, long-running study projects in the Puget Sound region — one that began in the late 1970s measuring air pollution and another on risk factors for dementia that began in 1994 — University of Washington researchers identified a link between air pollution and dementia. In the UW-led study, a small increase…
August 2, 2021
New report: State of the science on western wildfires, forests and climate change
Seeing the urgent need for change, a team of scientists from leading research universities, conservation organizations and government laboratories across the West has produced a synthesis of the scientific literature that clearly lays out the established science and strength of evidence on climate change, wildfire and forest management for seasonally dry forests. The goal is to give land managers and others across the West access to a unified resource that summarizes the best-available science so they can make decisions about how to manage their landscapes.
New DNA study provides critical information on conserving rainforest lizards
A study published June 16 in Biotropica by a team of researchers at the University of Washington, the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, WWF Hong Kong and the University of Colombo has provided an important road map to conserving rough-nosed horned lizards in Sri Lanka.
July 29, 2021
Climate change to fuel increase in human-wildlife conflict, UW biologist says
Climate change is further exacerbating human-wildlife conflicts by straining ecosystems and altering behaviors, both of which can deepen the contacts — and potential competition — between people and animals. In an article published July 30 in the journal Science, Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Washington and its Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, calls for expanding research into the many ways that climate change will impact the complex interplay between human activities and wildlife populations.
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