The latest news from the UW

September 27, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: Lecture with Art History professors, dance performance, South Asian film symposium, and more

Start Fall Quarter artfully by attending a welcome back dance party, purchasing your tickets for Burke Opening Weekend, attending a concert, and more. Concert: Garrick Ohlsson October 1, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall – Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater Seattle favorite Garrick Ohlsson returns to Meany Center with a program of Brahms and Chopin. Regarded as a leading exponent of the music of Frédéric Chopin, he commands an enormous repertoire ranging over the entire piano literature. Ohlsson’s program highlights his well-earned reputation…

News releases | Research

September 26, 2019

Pay, flexibility, advancement: They all matter for workers’ health and safety, study shows

The terms and conditions of your employment — including your pay, hours, schedule flexibility and job security — influence your overall health as well as your risk of being injured on the job, according to new research from the University of Washington. The analysis takes a comprehensive approach to show that the overall pattern of employment conditions is important for health, beyond any single measure of employment, such as wages or contract type. “This research is part of a growing…

News releases | Research | Science

Galaxy found to float in a tranquil sea of halo gas

An international team of astronomers has analyzed the signal from a fast radio burst — an enigmatic blast of cosmic radio waves lasting less than a millisecond — to characterize the diffuse gas in the halo of a massive galaxy.

News releases | Politics and government | Social science | UW and the community | UW News blog

Joel Migdal, founder of International Studies Program, to mark UW retirement with public lecture, workshop, Oct. 3

Joel S. Migdal, professor in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, will celebrate retirement after 39 years at the UW on Oct. 3 with a daylong workshop featuring current and former students, followed by a lecture on “State and Society: Then and Now.”

Expert quotes | Soundbites

September 23, 2019

Soundbites: UW convocation 2019

Convocation welcomes the entering class and officially marks the beginning of the academic year, with classes starting Sept. 25. More than 6,000 people were expected to attend this year’s event.

UW and the community | Video

Video: New UW students welcomed at 2019 convocation

Convocation welcomes the entering class and officially marks the beginning of the academic year. UW classes begin Sept. 25. More than 6,000 people were expected to attend this year’s event.

Buildings and grounds | Video

September 20, 2019

Video: 2019 move-in days for campus Huskies

The University of Washington welcomed nearly 10,000 students during Husky move-in days Sept. 18-20.

Environment | Research | Science | UW News blog

Two UW ice researchers to participate in year-long drift across Arctic Ocean

Two UW researchers — Bonnie Light, a principal physicist at the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory and an affiliate associate professor of atmospheric sciences, and Madison Smith, a recent UW graduate who is now doing her postdoctoral research at the UW — will join for the fifth of the six two-month legs, in summer 2020.

Expert quotes | Soundbites

Soundbites: 2019 move-in days for Huskies

The University of Washington is welcoming nearly 10,000 students who will live on campus this fall during Husky move-in days Sept. 18-20.

Arts and entertainment

ArtsUW Roundup: Visit Arts Buzz at Dawg Daze, buy tickets to the Burke Opening Weekend, and more

In the arts, attend an opening reception at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, hear from School of Art + Art History + Design faculty, visit the Allen Library for a concert, and more! School of Art + Art History + Design Faculty Lectures Six faculty members will each give presentations during autumn quarter as part of the promotion process. They are listed below in order of date. All lectures take place in the Art Building. Free | More info Navigating Uncertainty Jason Germany, Assistant Professor, Industrial…

News releases

September 19, 2019

New student convocation Sept. 22 opens UW’s 2019-2020 school year

University of Washington communication professor Matt McGarrity, founder of the UW Speaking Center, will be the featured speaker at the university’s 36th annual Convocation. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Honors and awards | UW and the community | UW News blog

Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies receives $1.8M grant

The UW Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies has received a $1.8 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which will fund four years of work at the UW around Native student support, academics, research and cultural programs.

News releases | Research | Science | Technology

Introducing VPLanet: A virtual planet simulator for modeling distant worlds across time

UW astrobiologist Rory Barnes and co-authors have created software that simulates multiple aspects of planetary evolution across billions of years, with an eye toward finding and studying potentially habitable worlds.

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science

Plasma flow near sun’s surface explains sunspots, other solar phenomena

A new model for plasma flow within the sun provides novel explanations for sunspots, the 11-year sunspot cycle, solar magnetic reversals and other previously unexplained solar phenomena.

Honors and awards | News releases

September 16, 2019

UW is a ‘Great College to Work For’

The University of Washington has been recognized as a “Great College to Work For” for the sixth consecutive year, according to a new survey from The Great Colleges to Work For program.

Engineering | News releases | Research

Americans would rather drive themselves to work than have an autonomous vehicle drive them, study says

Are you willing to ride in a driverless car? Researchers at the University of Washington studied how Americans’ perceived cost of commute time changes depending on who’s driving.

News releases | Research | Science

KATRIN cuts the mass estimate for the elusive neutrino in half

An international team of scientists has announced a breakthrough in its quest to measure the mass of the neutrino, one of the most abundant, yet elusive, elementary particles in our universe. At the 2019 Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics conference in Toyama, Japan, leaders from the KATRIN experiment reported Sept. 13 that the estimated range for the rest mass of the neutrino is no larger than 1 electron volt, or eV.

Arts and entertainment

September 12, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: Hugo House documentary, exhibition opening at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, concert in the library, and more!

In the arts, attend a film screening about Hugo House produced by Frances McCue and directed by Ryan K. Adams, go to an exhibition opening at Jacob Lawrence Gallery, buy tickets for the New Burke Opening, and more! Hugo House documentary “Where the House Was” September 21, 7:30 pm | Northwest Film Form For almost two decades, Hugo House has been a place for writers in Seattle. Now, a new documentary about the literary venue’s history — and the demolition of its…

News releases

Enhancing the way epilepsy is managed by engaging community pharmacists

The University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy announced on Thursday, Sept. 12, a collaboration with global biopharmaceutical company UCB to improve access to care for people living with epilepsy.This interdisciplinary project will explore ways in which community pharmacists can better support people living with this neurological disorder. The roughly 3.4 million people nationally and 75,000 people in Washington state who live with epilepsy often get fragmented and uncoordinated healthcare and community services. “For the growing population of people living with…

Honors and awards | News releases

September 11, 2019

UW at No. 26 in the world, fourth among U.S. public institutions, on Times Higher Education ranking list

The University of Washington has been ranked No. 26 on the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2020, released Wednesday. The UW moved up two places from 2019.

Arts and entertainment | News releases | UW and the community | UW News blog

September 10, 2019

Hugo House documentary ‘Where the House Was’ to debut Sept. 21 at Northwest Film Forum

“Where the House Was,” a new, 58-minute documentary produced by France McCue, UW senior lecturer in English, tells of the old location for Hugo House, the place for writer, and its subsequent demolition.

Education | News releases | UW and the community

New coalition to address lack of access, resources for youth physical activity in King County

A report released Sept. 10 — the product of research led by the University of Washington — gives Seattle and King County a “D” in getting youth active through sport, play and outdoor recreation.

Environment | News releases | Research | Science

Tides don’t always flush water out to sea, study shows

Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Strathclyde report that, in Willapa Bay in Washington state, the water washing over the tidal flats during high tides is largely the same water that washed over the flats during the previous high tide. This “old” water has not been mixed in with “new” water from deeper parts of the bay or the open Pacific Ocean, and has different chemical and biological properties, such as lower levels of food for creatures within the tide flats.

Administrative affairs | Buildings and grounds | Health and medicine | News releases | UW and the community

September 9, 2019

UW-GU Regional Health Partnership announces new center in Spokane

McKinstry to design and construct $60 million ‘leap forward’ for medical education, health sciences research and innovation.

Research | Science | UW News blog

Breakthrough Foundation honors UW researcher studying ‘exotic’ states of matter

Lukasz Fidkowski, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Washington, is one of the winners of a 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize from the Breakthrough Foundation. The prize to early-career scientists, announced Sept. 5, recognizes Fidkowski and his three co-recipients “for incisive contributions to the understanding of topological states of matter and the relationships between them.”

Environment | Interactive | News releases | Research | Science

Lightning ‘superbolts’ form over oceans from November to February

A study of superbolts, which release a thousand times more electrical energy in the low-frequency range than regular lightning bolts, finds they occur at very different times and places than regular lightning. Superbolts tend to strike over particular parts of the oceans, while regular lightning strikes over land.

Education | Research | Social science | UW News blog

September 5, 2019

Study shows exposure to multiple languages may make it easier to learn one

A new study from the University of Washington finds that, based on brain activity, people who live in communities where multiple languages are spoken can identify words in yet another language better than those who live in a monolingual environment.

News releases

University of Washington Magazine takes the UW’s anchor publication to a broader audience

One of the Pacific Northwest’s largest-circulation magazines is changing its name and look.

University of Washington Magazine – the new quarterly publication from the University of Washington Alumni Association – is out for home delivery next week replacing what since 1989 has been known as Columns.

Environment | Research | Science | UW News blog

September 4, 2019

New study tracks sulfur-based metabolism in the open ocean

UW oceanographers used lab experiments and seawater samples to learn how photosynthetic microbes and ocean bacteria use sulfur, a plentiful marine nutrient.

Buildings and grounds | Honors and awards | News releases | Technology

September 3, 2019

UW colleges, offices share three-year NSF grant to make ‘internet of things’ more secure

Several UW schools and offices will team up to research how organizational practices can affect the interagency collaboration needed to keep the “internet of things” — and institutional systems — safe and secure.

Health and medicine | News releases | Research | Science

August 27, 2019

Pregnant women of color experience disempowerment by health care providers

A new study finds that women of color perceive their interactions with doctors, nurses and midwives as being misleading, with information being “packaged” in such a way as to disempower them by limiting maternity health care choices for themselves and their children.

Arts and entertainment | UW and the community

ArtsUW Roundup; William Morris and the Kelmscott Press Exhibition, Closing soon – Cecilia Vicuña’s About to Happen, and more

In the arts, purchase tickets for the New Burke Opening Weekend, attend a rare duet setting performance by two School of Music faculty members, view a selection of gowns from the Henry’s collection of clothing and textiles, and more! New Burke Opening October 12th Ticket sales open on September 3rd for the New Burke Museum Grand Opening Weekend. Celebrate with multicultural music and dance performances, family-friendly activities, and food trucks. Off The Rez food truck will open it’s first brick-and-mortar location in…

Honors and awards | UW News blog

Rankings: UW is No. 14 in the world, third among U.S. public universities; makes Money and Washington Monthly lists

The University of Washington held its position at No. 14 in the world — No. 3 among U.S. public universities — on the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month.

Environment | Video

August 23, 2019

Video: Wildfires west of the Cascades: Rare, but large and severe

More than 99 percent of wildfires in the last 40 years have been east of the Cascade Crest. But evidence that suggests Western Washington also has a history of large wildfires, each burning hundreds of thousands of acres. We might not be familiar with them, because most happened centuries ago.

August 22, 2019

UW books in brief: Tribal sovereignty and the courts, mentoring through fan fiction, UW Press paperback editions

Recent notable books by UW faculty members explore the legal history of Indigenous nations and the mentoring benefits of fan fiction. Plus, a UW anthropologist’s book is honored, a former English faculty member is remembered in a biography, and UW Press brings out paperback editions of three popular titles.

August 21, 2019

3 UW graduate students earn NASA fellowships, continue legacy of success

Three University of Washington graduate students are among this year’s recipients of a prestigious NASA fellowship that funds student research projects in the fields of Earth and planetary sciences and astrophysics.

Engineering | News releases | Research | Technology

August 20, 2019

New tools to minimize risks in shared, augmented-reality environments

UW security researchers have created ShareAR, a toolkit that lets developers build collaborative and interactive features into AR apps without sacrificing their users’ privacy and security.