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Population Health | Public Health | UW News blog

November 11, 2021

Deforestation, climate change linked to more worker deaths and unsafe conditions

Outdoor workers in the world’s lower-latitude tropical forests may face a greater risk of heat-related deaths and unsafe working conditions because of deforestation and climate warming, according to a study led by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and Indonesia’s Mulawarman University. In the study, researchers found that increased temperatures of 0.95 C (1.7 F) in the deforested areas of Berau Regency, Indonesia, between 2002 and 2018 were linked to roughly 118 additional deaths in 2018, and 20 additional…

Arts and entertainment

November 10, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Political Science Faculty Panel: Is Democracy Dead?, Benaroya Lecture, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend lectures, exhibitions, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Sharing Indigenous Knowledge Across Boundaries: Fishing Sovereignty in Alaska and British Columbia November 16, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Online Pacific herring are foundational to the lifeways of First Nations and Indigenous communities up and down the coast of British…

UW News blog

November 8, 2021

US Department of Education renews five-year, $1.9M grant for University of Washington Educational Talent Search program

As students resume in-person classroom education, University of Washington staff with the Educational Talent Search (ETS) program also move back into 14 partner middle and high schools in six Washington school districts, helping them gain the skills and confidence to pursue a college degree.

News releases

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.

Arts and entertainment

ArtSci Roundup: DXARTS Fall Concert: Real & Imagined Soundworlds, The Importance of Being Earnest, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend lectures, concerts, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  DXARTS Fall Concert: Real & Imagined Soundworlds November 9, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall–Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater The Department of Digital Art and Experimental Media (DXARTS) is pleased to present a program of the very latest holographic sound works from DXARTS composers…

Arts and entertainment

ArtSci Roundup: Global Month

November is UW Global Month!  UW Global Month celebrates our University’s global impact and community. During the month of November, we highlight the connections and relationships the UW has all over the world and the impact of our University’s global engagement. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Converge: Virtual Series Ongoing Without borders, registration fees or the challenges of travel, last year’s “Convirtual” created a historic gathering…

Soundbites | UW and the community | Video

Video: Great ShakeOut drill tests new earthquake early warning system

At 10:21 a.m. on Oct. 21, teacher Wade Johnson’s science class at Port Susan Middle School scrambled under their desks as part of the annual Great American ShakeOut. It was Stanwood Camano School District’s first live test of its earthquake early warning system with all 13 of its schools participating in a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drill.

Health and medicine | Interactive | News releases | Population Health | Public Health

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 out to assess the effect of culturally tailored countermarketing messages on drink choices, similar to stark anti-smoking campaigns, and involved more than 1,600 Latinx parents…

Environment | Interactive | News releases | Research | Science

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.

News releases | Research | Science

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.

Expert quotes | Population Health | Public Health

October 25, 2021

‘Self-care and resilience’ — UW’s Elaine Walsh discusses burnout among nurses

The pandemic has left nurses around the country feeling burned out. Their top four feelings, according to a recent survey? Exhausted, overwhelmed, irritable and anxious or unable to relax. UW News spoke with Elaine Walsh, a UW School of Nursing associate professor and a Nurse Scientist in Resiliency at Seattle Children’s Hospital, to learn more about the conditions that lead to burnout and solutions. Walsh explains burnout is characterized by physical, mental and emotional exhaustion and can involve a feeling of disconnection…

Arts and entertainment

October 21, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Maysoon Zayid – Survival of the Unfittest, BOOK TALK: Automation and Autonomy, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend lectures, book talks, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Maysoon Zayid – Survival of the Unfittest October 26, 6:30 PM | Meany Performing Arts Center Join comedian, disability advocate, and author Maysoon Zayid for “Survival of the Unfittest.” This one-hour talk will tackle everything from diversity to cats named…

UW and the community | UW Notebook

The Jackson School’s Taso Lagos reflects on becoming American at his family’s restaurant, the Continental

In 2013, Seattle’s U District neighborhood lost one of its most cherished businesses. The Continental Greek Restaurant and Pastry Shop, owned by the family of the Jackson School’s Taso Lagos, sat on University Way for nearly 40 years before closing its doors that June. Lagos looks back on the restaurant and what it meant to his family in a memoir due to be released this fall.

Arts and entertainment

October 15, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Frontiers of Physics Lecture, Chamber Dance Company: 30th Anniversary Season, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend performances, lectures, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Frontiers of Physics Lecture: Gravity: The Biggest Open Question in Fundamental Physics October 20, 7:30 – 9:00 PM | Online The Frontiers of Physics Lecture Series brings renowned scientists to the UW to offer free lectures on exciting advances in physics with the…

News releases | Video

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.

Education | Research | UW News blog

October 5, 2021

Education should focus on ‘heads and hearts,’ UW researcher says

In a Policy Forum piece published Oct. 1 in Science, a group led by Nesra Yannier at Carnegie Mellon University is advocating for a fresh look at active learning and its potential as classrooms and lecture halls again fill with students. Two co-authors from the University of Washington’s Department of Biology — assistant teaching professor Elli Theobald and lecturer emeritus Scott Freeman — highlight the role that active learning methods have in promoting equity STEM education.

Health and medicine | News releases | Population Health | Public Health | Research

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 by Washington State University. The effort will build scientific capacity in partner countries to safely detect and characterize viruses which have the potential to spill…

Arts and entertainment

October 4, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Math Bass: a picture stuck in the mirror, The World of Noh Drama with Takeda Munenori, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend gallery exhibitions, lectures, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Math Bass: a picture stuck in the mirror October 16 – March 6 | Henry Art Gallery Los Angeles-based artist Math Bass (b. 1981, New York, NY) will create a site-specific installation at the Henry Art Gallery featuring a series of recent oil paintings…

Honors and awards | Profiles | Science | UW Notebook

UW’s Shyam Gollakota named 2021 Moore Inventor Fellow

Shyam Gollakota, a UW professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, has taken inspiration from nature’s tiniest creatures, creating inventions that allow humans to use technology to go where they haven’t gone before. He is being celebrated for those inventions as a 2021 Moore Inventor Fellow.