UW News
The latest news from the UW
June 24, 2020
Study asks Washington state residents to describe food security and access during pandemic, economic downturn
A new online survey for Washington state residents has launched to gather data on how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn have affected food access and economic security. The Washington State Food Security Survey, which went live June 18 and runs through July 31, is open to all Washington state residents aged 18 or over.
Tag(s): Adam Drewnowski • COVID-19 • COVID-19 studies • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Department of Epidemiology • Jennifer Otten • population health • School of Public Health
Videos: If you fish the Duwamish in Seattle, better eat the salmon — Comer el salmón, Ăn cá hồi, បរិភោគត្រីសាម៉ុង — and here’s how
It could take another generation before resident fish in the heavily polluted Lower Duwamish Waterway in Seattle will be safe to eat. Yet many fishers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds continue to fish the 5-mile stretch of river for fun, cultural connections and food even as cleanup of this designated Superfund site continues….
Tag(s): Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • population health • School of Public Health • Superfund Research Program • Thomas Burbacher
UW podcasts: EarthLab, Canadian Studies, Nancy Bell Evans Center, UW Bothell — and a book featured in Times Literary Supplement
A quick look at several UW-produced podcasts, from benevolent marketing to Arctic geopolitics — and a classics professor’s work being featured in a podcast produced by the Times Literary Supplement.
Tag(s): Canadian Studies Center • Christopher Schell • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Classics • EarthLab • Ellen Ahlness • Erica Mills Barnhart • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Jackson School of International Studies • Jennifer Atkinson • Julie Masura • Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy • Robin Evans-Agnew • Sarah Levin-Richardson • UW Bothell • UW TacomaJune 23, 2020
UW’s K-8 reading program saw record numbers during COVID-19
When schools closed because of the coronavirus, Real Dawgs Read, a UW program that asks kids to read 30 minutes a day over 30 separate days, was there to fill the gap. During a special session between March 25 and June 5, it experienced its highest level of participation — with 3,240 readers taking part.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • Trademarks and Licensing
Video: Students create videos, capping new UW class on music as a form of protest
With the nation debating its response to COVID-19 and witnessing protests against racial injustice and police violence, undergraduate students enrolled in “Visual Anthropology of Protest Music” examined how communities use music to share their lived experiences and confront oppression.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Anthropology • Graham Pruss
Laser allows solid-state refrigeration of a semiconductor material
A team from the University of Washington used an infrared laser to cool a solid semiconductor by at least 20 degrees C, or 36 F, below room temperature, as they report in a paper published June 23 in Nature Communications.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Materials Science & Engineering • Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems • Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute • Peter Pauzauskie
75% of US workers can’t work exclusively from home, face greater risks during pandemic
About three-quarters of U.S. workers, or 108 million people, are in jobs that cannot be done from home during a pandemic, putting these workers at increased risk of exposure to disease. This majority of workers are also at higher risk for other job disruptions such as layoffs, furloughs or hours reductions, a University of Washington…
Tag(s): COVID-19 studies • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Marissa Baker • population health • School of Public HealthJune 22, 2020
Amid pandemic, UW School of Social Work’s Project Connect provides opportunities for students to learn, serve community
The UW School of Social Work’s Project Connect supports 15 different research and outreach endeavors, all oriented specifically around community needs during COVID-19.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • Eddie Uehara • Emiko Tajima • Indigenous Wellness Research Institute • Karina Walters • Margaret Spearmon • population health • Rachel Wrenn • School of Social WorkJune 18, 2020
University of Washington issues COVID-19 face covering policy
The University of Washington has issued a face covering policy for all university personnel, students, staff, contractors and visitors who are on campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As a reminder, only employees designated as critical can be working in-person and only at the direction of their supervisor.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • UW Medicine
ArtSci Roundup: Meany Center sets the stage, Henry Art Gallery’s Viewpoints closes soon, and more
During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online. Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Drop-in…
Tag(s): ArtsUW • Baltic Studies Program • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • Comparative History of Ideas Program • Department of Anthropology • Department of Dance • Department of History • Department of Political Science • Henry Art Gallery • Jackson School of International Studies • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • paleontology • School of Drama • Select Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies • UW Alumni AssociationJune 17, 2020
UW book notes: Physician Morhaf Al Achkar publishes memoir ‘Being Authentic’; Lambda Literary award for UW Tacoma’s Emily Thuma
UW family physician Morhaf Al Achkar publishes memoir “Being Authentic,” and a Lambda Literary award goes to UW Tacoma’s Emily Thuma.
Tag(s): Emily Thuma • Morhaf Al Achkar • UW Medicine • UW Tacoma
Video: Virtual classes offer fitness and mindfulness at home
Fitness, dance and mindfulness instructors are teaching virtual classes in light of COVID-19 closures, part of UW Recreation’s effort to make its activities accessible while people are physically distancing during the pandemic.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • Danny Arguetty • Jeff Palmer • Karen Cornelio • The Whole U • UW Recreation
Is the air getting cleaner during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Using air quality data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitors across the U.S., a UW-led team looked for changes in two common pollutants over the course of 2020.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • COVID-19 • COVID-19 studies • Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering • Julian Marshall • population health • preprintJune 16, 2020
UW reinvents summer research, internships during COVID-19
The COVID-19 Clearinghouse at UW Law is just one of the ways that faculty and staff across the university have revamped summer research internships and worked with outside partners and employers to involve students in a remote working environment, even for jobs that would normally be out in the field.
Tag(s): Anne Lund • Christine Cimini • College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • COVID-19 • Elana Matt • Julie Keister • P. Sean McDonald • Randie Bundy • School of Law • School of Oceanography • School of Public Health • Washington Sea Grant
Mathematics professor Tatiana Toro honored by Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute
The Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute has named UW mathematics professor Tatiana Toro the recipient of its 2020 Blackwell-Tapia Prize.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Mathematics • Tatiana ToroJune 13, 2020
Video: UW’s 145th commencement is held virtually
More than 18,000 new University of Washington graduates were recognized in a first-ever online ceremony Saturday, June 13. All three UW campuses held a joint event that was broadcast around the globe and watched by thousands of graduates and their families in more than 40 countries.
Tag(s): Ana Mari Cauce • Commencement
Soundbites & B-roll: UW’s 2020 virtual commencement
More than 18,000 new University of Washington graduates were recognized in a first-ever online ceremony Saturday. All three UW campuses held a joint event that was broadcast around the globe and watched by thousands of graduates and their families in more than 40 countries.
Tag(s): Ana Mari Cauce • CommencementJune 11, 2020
UW Regents approve 2020-21 budget as University faces financial challenges from COVID-19
The University of Washington Board of Regents on Thursday approved the University’s 2020-21 budget, which seeks to continue prioritizing its academic mission while also responding to the financial pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UW’s 145th commencement to be held virtually on Saturday
For the first time in the University of Washington’s 159-year history, two commencement ceremonies are planned for this year’s graduates. The first ceremony, broadcast worldwide on the internet, is scheduled for Saturday at noon. The second ceremony is planned for spring 2021 at Husky Stadium.
Tag(s): Commencement
ArtSci Roundup: Re/Frame with Henry Art Gallery, Mindfulness practices, and more
During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online. Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Re/frame:…
Tag(s): ArtsUW • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Scandinavian Studies • Henry Art Gallery • School of Art + Art History + Design • UW Alumni Association • UW Daily
UW removes standardized testing requirement for incoming students beyond fall 2021
The University of Washington has removed the requirement of standardized test scores, such as the SAT and ACT, for incoming students beyond the fall of 2021. The requirement had already been temporarily removed for the fall 2021 incoming class due to the lack of available testing sites in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Scientists close in on 12 billion-year-old signal from the end of the universe’s ‘dark age’
When the universe was in its infancy, it contained no stars at all. And an international team of scientists is closer than ever to detecting, measuring and studying a signal from this era that has been traveling through the cosmos ever since that starless era ended some 13 billion years ago.
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Physics • Miguel MoralesJune 10, 2020
Passing crucial, challenging introductory chemistry course gives biggest boost to underrepresented students
Researchers examined 15 years of records of student performance, education and demographics for chemistry courses at the University of Washington. They found that underrepresented students received lower grades in the general chemistry series compared to their peers and, if the grade was sufficiently low, were less likely to continue in the series and more likely to leave STEM. But if underrepresented students completed the first general chemistry course with at least the minimum grade needed to continue in the series, they were more likely than their peers to continue the general chemistry series and complete this major step toward a STEM degree.
Tag(s): Biology Education Research Group • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Department of Chemistry • education • Scott FreemanJune 9, 2020
Video: Health care workers march to protest racism as a public health risk
Thousands of doctors, nurses, health care workers and public health experts from the University of Washington and other medical institutions turned out in downtown Seattle on June 6 to demand an end to systemic racism and calling for police reform.
Tag(s): COVID-19
Volcanic activity and changes in Earth’s mantle were key to rise of atmospheric oxygen
Evidence from rocks billions of years old suggest that volcanoes played a key role in the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere of the early Earth.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • David Catling • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • geologyJune 8, 2020
Early childhood intervention programs may reap benefits across generations
New research from a decades-long study by the University of Washington and the University of Colorado shows long-term benefits from a program to prevent problem behaviors in children.
Tag(s): College of Education • David Hawkins • Marina Epstein • population health • Richard Catalano • Rick Kosterman • Robert Abbott • School of Social Work • Social Development Research GroupJune 5, 2020
ArtSci Roundup: School of Art + Art History + Design graduation exhibitions, [Here/Now] interview series, and more
During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online.
Tag(s): ArtsUW • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • Center for Child and Family Well-Being • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Dance • Henry Art Gallery • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • Meany Hall for the Performing Arts • School of Art + Art History + Design • School of Drama • School of MusicJune 4, 2020
UW guidelines helping to ramp up research safely during COVID-19
Mary Lidstrom, vice provost for research at the University of Washington, talks about the evolving picture of research at the UW in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • Mary Lidstrom • Office of Research • population health • workplace safety
22 UW students receive Fulbright awards
Twenty-two UW students and alumni were awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships for the 2020-21 academic year, joining about 1,900 students and recent graduates from around the country to study and teach abroad, once and if international travel resumes.
Tag(s): Fulbright ProgramJune 2, 2020
Faculty/staff honors: East Asia Resource Center grant; career awards in robotics, information processing
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff have come from the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group, the Freeman Foundation and the IEEE.
Tag(s): Chirag Shah • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • East Asia Resource Center • Information School • Jackson School of International Studies • Jaime Teevan • Kristi Roundtree • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringMay 29, 2020
Researchers use brain imaging to demonstrate weaker neural suppression in individuals with autism
In a paper published May 29 in Nature Communications, a team of scientists at the University of Washington, the University of Minnesota and the Johns Hopkins University reports that differences in visual motion perception in autism spectrum disorder are accompanied by weaker neural “suppression” in the visual cortex of the brain, which may help scientists understand sensory hypersensitivity in people with ASD.
Tag(s): autism • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • population health • Scott Murray
UW launches online training for contact tracing to help fight COVID-19
As businesses and public spaces reopen across the nation, the old-school public health detective work known as contact tracing is becoming a major component of the battle to contain the novel coronavirus that causes the deadly COVID-19 disease. It’s an investigative strategy long used for finding and informing people exposed to contagious diseases, such as…
Tag(s): Betty Bekemeier • COVID-19 • Janet Baseman • Northwest Center for Public Health Practice • population health • Sarah Manchanda • School of Nursing • School of Public HealthMay 28, 2020
The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA
A new study in Nature Microbiology shows that the most common organism in the world’s oceans — and possibly the whole planet — harbors a virus in its DNA. This virus may have helped it survive and outcompete other organisms. The study began as a UW School of Oceanography senior thesis.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • genetics & DNA • marine microbiology • microbes and viruses • oceanography • Robert Morris • School of Oceanography
Charles Johnson muses on ‘the art of living’ in new book ‘GRAND: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Life’
Charles Johnson has written novels and short stories, screenplays and philosophical meditations, but his latest book is something different, and very personal. “GRAND: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Life” was published May 5.
Tag(s): Charles Johnson • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of English
UW launches new Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences with $2.5 million investment from Microsoft
The University of Washington today announced the establishment of the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE). Fueled by a $2.5 million inaugural investment from Microsoft, UW CREATE is led by an interdisciplinary team whose mission is to make technology accessible and to make the world accessible through technology.
Tag(s): Ana Mari Cauce • Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences • College of Engineering • Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering • Department of Mechanical Engineering • Information School • Jacob Wobbrock • Jennifer Mankoff • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • School of MedicineMay 27, 2020
UW experts on challenges to worker safety in meat processing industry
Meat processing plants face challenges in keeping workers safe during the pandemic. Carrie Freshour, a UW assistant professor of geography, and Marissa Baker, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and an expert on worker safety related to infectious diseases, provides comments on what the industry can do to protect workers.
Tag(s): Carrie Freshour • College of Arts & Sciences • COVID-19 • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Department of Geography • Marissa Baker • population health • School of Public Health
ArtSci Roundup: Pandemic Then (and Now), UW Bothell 2020 MFA Spring Festival, and more
During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online. Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. …
Tag(s): ArtsUW • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • Center for Child and Family Well-Being • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Dance • Department of History • Department of Political Science • Henry Art Gallery • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • Meany Hall for the Performing Arts • School of Art + Art History + Design • School of Drama • School of Music
Cosmic bursts unveil universe’s missing matter
An international team of astronomers has used mysterious fast radio bursts to solve a decades-old mystery of “missing matter,” material long predicted to exist in the universe but never detected — until now. The researchers have now found all of the missing “normal” matter in the vast space between stars and galaxies. The team, which includes scientists based in Australia, the United States and Chile, announced its findings in a paper published May 27 in the journal Nature.
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Astronomy • Matthew McQuinnMay 26, 2020
Gift promotes added diversity at UW School of Law
The University of Washington today announced a $250,000 gift from UW Regent Blaine Tamaki and his wife, Preciosa Tamaki, to the School of Law to support efforts to increase diversity, provide students with greater access to mental health resources, and support the work of UW Law faculty and students in the Tribal Court Clinic, part of the Native American Law Center.
Tag(s): Blaine Tamaki • School of LawMay 22, 2020
Video: How cloth face masks protect people during the pandemic
The dean of the UW School of Public Health shares information about using face coverings, including what kinds of masks are appropriate to wear and how they protect people.
Tag(s): COVID-19 • Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences • Hilary Godwin • School of Public Health« Previous Page Next Page »
