UW News
The latest news from the UW
September 27, 2018
Lunar library to include photos, books stored in DNA
People who have submitted photos to the #MemoriesInDNA project have selected images of family members, favorite places and tasty food that will be preserved for years in the form of synthetic DNA. Now this collection will be headed to the final frontier: space.
Tag(s): books • College of Engineering • genetics & DNA • Luis Ceze • Molecular Information Systems Lab • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringSeptember 26, 2018
UW at No. 28 in the world, fourth among U.S. public institutions, on Times Higher Education ranking list
The University of Washington has been ranked No. 28 on the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2019, released Wednesday.
Tag(s): Rankings
Significant gift from Lynn and Howard Behar funds new UW School of Social Work Center for Integrative Oncology and Palliative Care Social Work
A substantial gift from Lynn and Howard Behar will expand the University of Washington School of Social Work’s support for the next generation of oncology social work scholars by providing funds to launch a new Center for Integrative Oncology and Palliative Care Social Work.
The Center will take a social justice approach to oncology and palliative care services, with a commitment to addressing documented health disparities in cancer and end-of-life care based on race and ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual identity, geographic location, income or education.
Tag(s): School of Social WorkSeptember 25, 2018
ArtsUW Roundup: Last Week of Muse, Classical Indian Dance Workshop, and more
This week in the arts, celebrate Dawg Daze with the Meany Center and ArtsUW, visit the Henry Art Gallery to see Muse, and more. LAST WEEK | Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs tête-à-tête Last day is September 30 | Henry Art Gallery “As the exhibition title suggests, MUSE is a visual love letter to the people…
Tag(s): ArtsUW • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Dance • exhibits & exhibitions • Henry Art Gallery • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • Meany Hall for the Performing Arts • School of Art + Art History + Design
Practicing mindfulness benefits parents and children, UW study says
A UW study found that mindfulness lessons, offered to parents at two early childhood centers, helped adults learn how to manage their emotions and behaviors while supporting their child’s development.
Tag(s): Center for Child and Family Well-Being • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Liliana LenguaSeptember 24, 2018
David Shields deconstructs the mind of President Donald Trump in latest book
David Shields, UW professor of English, discusses his latest book, “Nobody Hates Trump More than Trump: An Intervention.”
Tag(s): books • College of Arts & Sciences • David Shields • Department of English
Burst of morning gene activity tells plants when to flower
For angiosperms — or flowering plants — one of the most important decisions facing them each year is when to flower. It is no trivial undertaking. To flower, they must cease vegetative growth and commit to making those energetically expensive reproductive structures that will bring about the next generation. Knowledge of this process at the…
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • plant science • Takato ImaizumiSeptember 20, 2018
UW Convocation welcomes largest-ever class of new students
The University of Washington in Seattle is welcoming its largest-ever incoming class — about 7,050 freshmen —in ceremonies this Sunday. The university’s 35th annual New Student Convocation, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Tag(s): UW convocation
Even toddlers weigh risks, rewards when making choices
A University of Washington study finds that 18-month-old toddlers conduct a form of cost-benefit analysis, making choices based on how much effort they want to expend, or on whether they like the people involved.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Early Childhood Cognition Lab • Elizabeth Enright • Jessica Sommerville • Kelsey Lucca • Rachel HortonSeptember 19, 2018
DNA testing of illegal ivory seized by law enforcement links multiple ivory shipments to same dealers
The international trade in elephant ivory has been illegal since 1989, yet African elephant numbers continue to decline. In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature cited ivory poaching as a primary reason for a staggering loss of about 111,000 elephants between 2005 and 2015 — leaving their total numbers at an estimated 415,000….
Tag(s): Center for Environmental Forensic Science • College of Arts & Sciences • conservation • Department of Biology • Samuel Wasser
NSF awards contract to carry OOI into the next decade and beyond
The National Science Foundation will support a state-of-the-art marine facility that continues delivering data and new insight to the ocean science community, policymakers and the public worldwide.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Deborah Kelley • Ocean Observatories Initiative • oceanography • School of Oceanography
UW offers new concurrent graduate degree program for nurses with focus on population, global health
Nurses and nurse-scientists interested in advanced multi-disciplinary training for population and global health practice can now apply for a new University of Washington degree program.
Tag(s): Azita Emami • Department of Global Health • Pamela Kohler • School of Medicine • School of Nursing • School of Public HealthSeptember 18, 2018
UW historian Margaret O’Mara discusses famous 1968 computer mouse ‘demo’ — and the start of Silicon Valley — for new podcast by The Conversation
Margaret O’Mara, UW professor of history, explores the impact of a December 1968 computer presentation that came to be called “the mother of all demos” in an essay and podcast from the news website The Conversation.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of History • Margaret O'Mara
Evans School’s Patrick Dobel pens book on ethics in public leadership
Patrick Dobel, professor emeritus of the UW Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, discusses his new book, “Public Leadership Ethics: A Management Approach.”
Tag(s): books • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Patrick DobelSeptember 17, 2018
Shift in large-scale Atlantic circulation causes lower-oxygen water to invade Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence
Rapid deoxygenation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is caused by shifts in two of the ocean’s most powerful currents: the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current. A detailed model shows that large-scale climate change is causing oxygen to drop in the deeper parts of this biologically rich waterway.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • oceanographySeptember 15, 2018
Video: Dry and warm — summer 2018 conditions in Washington state
The assistant state climatologist, Karin Bumbaco, looks back on an unusually hot and dry summer — the third-hottest summer that Washington state has experienced since 1895.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • Karin Bumbaco • Office of the Washington State Climatologist • weatherSeptember 13, 2018
Poverty rates hold steady, average incomes continue to increase in Seattle area and Washington state
The share of Washingtonians living below the federal poverty threshold declined slightly from 11.3 percent to 11 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to new Census data released Thursday. While this change was not statistically significant, the 2017 poverty rate remains below the post-recession high of 14.1 percent in 2013. Washington was one of 28…
Tag(s): Jennifer Romich • School of Social Work • West Coast Poverty Center
UW psychology professor honored for founding research on implicit bias
When Tony Greenwald and his colleagues developed the online Implicit Association Test two decades ago, it enjoyed quick success in the pre-laptop, pre-smartphone, nascent Internet world, with some 45,000 participants in the first month. The test, which requires classifying words and images rapidly according to their meanings, captures unconscious biases toward — depending on the…
Tag(s): Anthony Greenwald • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of PsychologySeptember 12, 2018
Three UW teams receive TRIPODS+X grants for research in data science
The National Science Foundation announced on Sept. 11 that it is awarding grants totaling $8.5 million to 19 collaborative projects at 23 universities for the study of complex and entrenched problems in data science. Three of these projects will be based at the University of Washington and led by researchers in the College of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • data science • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Department of Statistics • Maryam Fazel • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Yin Tat Lee • Zaid HarchaouiSeptember 10, 2018
Evans School professor Justin Marlowe appointed to Washington Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors
Justin Marlowe, a professor in the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, has been named a member of Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s Council of Economic Advisors. He will be among those advising the governor on local and state economic conditions and national developments that affect state policies.
Tag(s): Council of Economic Advisors • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Justin Marlowe • Neil Bruce
Visionary gift from Hawaii businessman and philanthropist transforming education at University of Washington and University of Hawaii
An innovative gift from Honolulu-based real estate investor Jay H. Shilder to the Universities of Washington and Hawaii is being celebrated this week in Seattle. The gift includes cash, potential future leasing income and a transformational real estate gift to be realized a century from now.
Tag(s): Jay Shidler • School of Law • UW Medicine
UW polar scientists advised NASA on upcoming ICESat-2 satellite
Two UW polar scientists were among a dozen experts who advised NASA on its upcoming ICESat-2 mission to monitor the 3D surface of the Earth. The mission is scheduled to launch Sept. 15 from California.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • Benjamin Smith • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • Jamie Morison • polar science • Polar Science Center • School of OceanographySeptember 7, 2018
New Life Sciences Building is a nexus for modern-age teaching and research at the University of Washington
The University of Washington today opened the doors to a new Life Sciences Building that will transform learning, teaching and research for generations.
The $171 million Life Sciences complex includes seven floors and 207,000 square feet that encourages and makes possible team-oriented science. Designed by Perkins+Will and built by Skanska, the building encompasses a 187,000-square-foot research and teaching facility and a 20,000-square-foot research greenhouse with UW plant collections.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Life Sciences BuildingSeptember 6, 2018
WSJ: UW No. 3 in the country for best value
The University of Washington is among the top schools on The Wall Street Journal’s newest college ranking: value for the money. The UW was ranked third in the nation by the newspaper.
Tag(s): Rankings • University of Washington
Volcano under ice sheet suggests thickening of West Antarctic ice is short-term
Evidence left by a volcano under the ice sheet suggests that the observed bulging of ice in West Antarctica is a short-term feature that may not affect the glacier’s motion over the long term.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • glaciers • polar scienceSeptember 4, 2018
NSF to fund new $25M software institute to enable discoveries in high-energy physics
On Sept. 4 the National Science Foundation announced the creation of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Software for High Energy Physics, or IRIS-HEP. The institute is a coalition of 17 research institutions, including the University of Washington, and will receive $25 million from the NSF over five years.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Physics • Gordon Watts
UW-based center updates name to highlight role of ‘neurotechnologies’ in healing the brain and spinal cord
The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering is updating its name to the Center for Neurotechnology (CNT) to highlight the key role that neurotechnologies play in its mission.
Tag(s): Center for Neurotechnology • Chet Moritz • Rajesh RaoAugust 30, 2018
Climate change projected to boost insect activity and crop loss, researchers say
In a paper published Aug. 31 in the journal Science, a team led by scientists at the University of Washington reports that insect activity in today’s temperate, crop-growing regions will rise along with temperatures. Researchers project that this activity, in turn, will boost worldwide losses of rice, corn and wheat by 10-25 percent for each degree Celsius that global mean surface temperatures rise.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Curtis Deutsch • food production • School of OceanographyAugust 28, 2018
New study finds police-related fatalities may occur twice as often as reported
A study by the University of Washington and Cornell University shows that the risk of being killed by police, relative to white men, is 3.2 to 3.5 times higher for black men, and between 1.4 and 1.7 times higher for Latino men.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Sociology
Working class heroes: A look inside the Labor Archives of Washington
An exploration of UW Libraries’ Labor Archives of Washington with labor archivist Conor Casey.
Tag(s): Andrew Hedden • Conor Casey • James Gregory • Labor Archives of Washington • Michael McCann • UW LibrariesAugust 27, 2018
Rankings: UW is No. 14 in the world, third among U.S. public universities, plus on Money and Washington Monthly best-of lists
The University of Washington is ranked No. 14 in the world — No. 3 among public universities — on the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month.
Tag(s): RankingsAugust 23, 2018
Hack week: Study supports collaborative, participant-driven approach for researchers to learn data science from their peers
A team from the University of Washington, New York University and the University of California, Berkeley has developed an interactive workshop in data science for researchers at multiple stages of their careers. The course format, called “hack week,” blends elements from both traditional lecture-style pedagogy with participant-driven projects.
Tag(s): Anthony Arendt • Applied Physics Laboratory • Ariel Rokem • Daniela Huppenkothen • data science • DIRAC Institute • eScience InstituteAugust 21, 2018
Bus battle: Do private shuttles affect the reliability of public transit?
Last year, King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation started a pilot program that allowed Microsoft’s and Seattle Children’s Hospital’s private shuttles to pick up employees at a few public bus stops throughout Seattle. Now a recent study from researchers at the University of Washington suggests that public buses are unaffected by private shuttles most of the time.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering • Don MacKenzie • Sustainable Transportation Lab
Do persistent babies make for successful adults?
University of Washington researchers argue that further study of why infants persist, and to what end, may shed new light on how they learn and what the future yields.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Jessica Sommerville • Kelsey Lucca
Policy pivot: A new emphasis on restoration to protect Puget Sound
University of Washington researchers have found policies are shifting toward restoration projects that include input from more groups and offer a range of benefits to Puget Sound, including flood control, salmon recovery, recreation and habitat protection.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • David Fluharty • Patrick Christie • School of Marine and Environmental AffairsAugust 20, 2018
California plain shows surprising winners and losers from prolonged drought
Meticulously tracking of 423 species before, during and after the worst droughts to hit California in more than a thousand years shows surprising patterns. Key prey species plummeted in the third year of the drought, and carnivores were hardest hit in later years.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • ecology • Laura Prugh • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Student volunteers help expand UW’s outreach to homeless youth
The University of Washington’s Doorway Project has offered a cafe for homeless young adults each quarter, while students have helped add services, from preventive health care, to establishing a fundraising organization to designing a permanent café home. Its summer pop-up cafe event is Aug. 24.
Tag(s): Josephine Ensign • School of Nursing • School of Social Work • The Doorway Project • Urban@UWAugust 16, 2018
Men and women show surprising differences in seeing motion
A new UW-led study shows that males and female process visual motion differently, a variation that may be attributable to a neural regulatory process that is different in the male brain.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences • Department of Psychology • Raphael Bernier • School of Medicine • Scott MurrayAugust 15, 2018
UW professor Cecilia Bitz elected American Geophysical Union fellow
Cecilia M. Bitz, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist, has been elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Tag(s): Cecilia Bitz
Flying blind: How a drone can soar without using GPS
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new method that gives aircraft a backup system in case GPS fails: An antenna on the ground that can tell a drone where it is. The team successfully tested their system in June.
Tag(s): Christopher Lum • College of Engineering • Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics« Previous Page Next Page »
