UW News

News releases


October 30, 2023

A Google Slides extension can make presentation software more accessible for blind users

A user demonstrates creating a presentation slide with A11yBoard on a touchscreen tablet and computer screen.

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created A11yBoard for Google Slides, a browser extension and phone or tablet app that allows blind users to navigate through complex slide layouts, objects, images and text.


October 19, 2023

UW’s 2023 historic incoming class: one of the most diverse and at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma, the largest

campus overhead shot

The University of Washington’s newest freshman class is one of the most diverse in the school’s 162-year history, and UW Bothell and UW Tacoma are welcoming their largest incoming classes.


October 17, 2023

UW announces four non-compliant items in recent USDA inspection of animal facilities in Seattle

text reads "Statement"

The University of Washington’s animal facilities on the Seattle campus underwent a routine, unannounced inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) between Sept. 12 and 14. The inspection identified four non-compliant items, all of which had previously been self-reported by the UW and rectified before the inspection took place.


Q&A: Researchers aim to improve accessibility with augmented reality

A drawing of a phone labeling accessibility problems in a kitchen.

This month, University of Washington researchers will introduce multiple projects that deploy augmented reality — through headsets and phone apps — with the aim of making the world more accessible for people with disabilities.


October 10, 2023

Fostering a more diverse faculty: How the new Vice Provost for Academic Personnel aims to build an office of ‘Faculty Success’

man wearing business suit

In 1996, two Kenyan scholars were awarded Fulbright Scholarships — honors the U.S. Department of State grants to promising young academics worldwide. Fred Muyia Nafukho, who joined the University of Washington earlier this year as the vice provost for academic personnel, vividly remembers the day he was called to the U.S. embassy in Nairobi.


October 9, 2023

Three UW faculty members elected to National Academy of Medicine

A large block W on a grass lawn. In the background is the University of Washington campus.

Among the most prestigious scientific organizations in the country, the Academy recognizes excellence in the fields of health and medicine, along with a commitment to volunteer service. 


October 7, 2023

University of Washington appoints Troy Dannen as Director of Athletics

Troy Dannen

The University of Washington has appointed Troy Dannen to serve as its 16th Director of Athletics, UW President Ana Mari Cauce announced today. Dannen most recently served as the Director of Athletics at Tulane University, where during his eight-year tenure the Green Wave had 49 All-Americans and 21 conference champions, and made 41 postseason appearances,…


October 3, 2023

Group seeks to understand how a new type of satellite will impact Earth-based astronomy

Astronomers with the International Astronomical Union are trying to understand how the brightness and transmissions of the BlueWalker3 satellite will interfere with Earth-based observations of the universe — and what can be done to minimize these effects as more of these satellites are launched.


September 27, 2023

MilliMobile is a tiny, self-driving robot powered only by light and radio waves

Two fingers are about to pick up a tiny robot

The robot, equipped with a solar panel–like energy harvester and four wheels, is about the size of a penny, weighs as much as a raisin and can move about the length of a bus in an hour on a cloudy day.


September 24, 2023

‘From this day forward, you are a Husky’: Incoming class welcomed at New Student Convocation

Students hold up lights at New Student Convocation

The University of Washington welcomed its incoming class and families on Sunday at the University’s 40th annual New Student Convocation.


September 22, 2023

Q&A: How new software is changing our understanding of human brain development

An MRI image of a baby's brain

A team including researchers at the University of Washington recently used new software to compare MRIs from 300 babies and discovered that myelin, a part of the brain’s so-called white matter, develops much slower after birth.


September 21, 2023

NSF funds internet-connected ocean observatory through 2028

map of Juan de Fuca plate

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Washington $52.4 million over five years to continue operating the Regional Cabled Array, a cabled deep-ocean observatory about 300 miles offshore from Newport, Oregon. The grant is part of a $220 million total investment that will fund the internet-connected ocean observatory, known as the Ocean Observatories Initiative, through 2028.


UW team’s shape-changing smart speaker lets users mute different areas of a room

The seven robotic microphones sit in their charging station

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed system of robotic self-deploying microphones, which lets users control sound in a room, muting certain areas and creating “active zones” in others.


September 13, 2023

Battery-free robots use origami to change shape in mid-air

A hand holding tweezers that are holding a yellow square with circuits on it

UW researchers developed small robotic devices that can change how they move through the air by “snapping” into a folded position during their descent.


September 12, 2023

Fall snow levels can predict a season’s total snowpack in some western states

The sun shines through trees in a forest and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground

Research led by the UW found that, in some western states, the amount of snow already on the ground by the end of December is a good predictor of how much total snow that area will get.


September 7, 2023

UW assessment finds fentanyl and methamphetamine smoke linger on public transit vehicles

Two years ago, as life regained its rhythm and public transit once again filled with people, train and bus operators spotted a troubling trend. Some operators reported instances of people smoking drugs on their vehicles, and worried that the haze it created could linger, potentially affecting workers’ physical and mental health.  Spurred by operators’ concerns,…


September 5, 2023

UW, Stanford launch resource to help health care professionals respond to climate concerns 

The case studies in Medicine for a Changing Planet, collated from clinical encounters around the world, support health professionals in recognizing and treating a variety of health-related conditions that can be traced to environmental stressors.


August 31, 2023

Study connects greenhouse gas emissions to polar bear population declines, enabling greater protections under Endangered Species Act

polar bear torso looking at camera

A new paper from the UW and Polar Bears International quantifies the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the survival of polar bear populations. The paper combines past research and new analysis to provide a quantitative link between greenhouse gas emissions and polar bear survival rates.


August 29, 2023

The University of Washington’s Presidential Scholars — investing in tomorrow’s leaders

student entrepreneur

Each year, the University of Washington reviews thousands of applications from students who want to pursue their undergraduate studies at the state’s flagship university.


August 21, 2023

REBURN: A new tool to model wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and beyond

Researchers with the University of Washington and the U.S. Forest Service have developed a new tool, REBURN, that can simulate large forest landscapes and wildfire dynamics over decades or centuries under different wildfire management strategies. The model can simulate the consequences of extinguishing all wildfires regardless of size, which was done for much of the 20th century and has contributed to a rise in large and severe wildfires, or of allowing certain fires to return to uninhabited areas to help create a more “patchwork” forest structure that can help lessen fire severity. REBURN can also simulate conditions where more benign forest landscape dynamics have fully recovered in an area.


August 14, 2023

UW bioengineering researchers help create a roadmap to diversify faculty hiring

A biochemistry lab bench with pipettes and bottles of liquid. A microcentrifuge and a Bunsen burner sit to the right

A team of biomedical researchers has developed a new method for hiring engineering professors. The primary goal is to actively recruit a more diverse group of applicants and improve the rate that doctoral students from historically excluded groups go on to become faculty members.


August 10, 2023

Muon g-2 doubles down with latest measurement, explores uncharted territory in search of new physics

A particle physics experiment decades in the making — the Muon g-2 experiment — looks increasingly like it might set up a showdown over whether there are fundamental particles or forces in the universe that are unaccounted for in the current Standard Model. On Aug. 10, the international team of scientists behind Muon g-2 — pronounced “g minus 2” — released the world’s most precise measurement yet of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Calculating the muon’s magnetic moment at a high precision will indicate whether it is interacting solely with the particles and forces known today, or if unknown particles or forces are out there.


August 4, 2023

University of Washington will join the Big Ten Conference in 2024

The University of Washington will join the Big Ten Conference, leaving the Pac-12 Conference, effective in August 2024, UW President Ana Mari Cauce announced Friday.


July 31, 2023

New algorithm ensnares its first ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid

An asteroid discovery algorithm — designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky — has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Finding 2022 SF289, which poses no risk to Earth for the foreseeable future, confirms that the next-generation algorithm, known as HelioLinc3D, can identify near-Earth asteroids with fewer and more dispersed observations than required by today’s methods. That is important because, though scientists know of more than 2,000 near-Earth asteroids, they estimate that another 3,000 await discovery!


July 24, 2023

With a new app, smart devices can have GPS underwater

A scuba diver swims in dark water.

A team at the University of Washington has developed the first underwater 3D-positioning app for smart devices. When at least three divers are within about 98 feet of each other, the app tracks each user’s location relative to the leader.


July 19, 2023

Researchers put a new twist on graphite

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington reports that it is possible to imbue graphite — the bulk, 3D material found in No. 2 pencils – with physical properties similar to graphite’s 2D counterpart, graphene. Not only was this breakthrough unexpected, the team also believes its approach could be used to test whether similar types of bulk materials can also take on 2D-like properties. If so, 2D sheets won’t be the only source for scientists to fuel technological revolutions. Bulk, 3D materials could be just as useful.


July 18, 2023

Learning from superheroes and AI: UW researchers study how a chatbot can teach kids supportive self-talk

a smart speaker sits beside school supplies

Researchers at the University of Washington created a new audio chatbot, Self-Talk with Superhero Zip, aimed to help children speak positively to themselves. This chatbot is “a ‘Sesame Street’ experience for a smart speaker.”


July 10, 2023

New biodegradable plastics are compostable in your backyard

A person is holding up a cube and looking at it

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed new bioplastics that degrade on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin.


UW-developed dental lozenge could provide permanent treatment for tooth sensitivity 

The solution builds new mineral microlayers that penetrate deep into the tooth to create effective, long-lasting natural protection. It could provide easily accessible relief for the millions of adults worldwide who suffer from tooth sensitivity. 


July 6, 2023

Marine heat waves caused mass seabird die-offs, beach surveys show

dead seabirds lined up on a beach for measurements

New research led by the University of Washington uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to understand how seabirds have fared in recent decades. The paper, published July 6 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, shows that persistent marine heat waves lead to massive seabird die-offs months later.


July 5, 2023

Research led by UW undergrad shows ultrafine air pollution reflects Seattle’s redlining history

The most comprehensive study yet of long-term ultrafine particle exposure found that concentrations of this tiny pollutant reflect the city’s decades-old racial and economic divides.  


June 27, 2023

Researchers make a quantum computing leap with a magnetic twist

This artistic depiction shows electron fractionalization — in which strongly interacting charges can “fractionalize” into three parts — in the fractional quantum anomalous Hall phase.

A team led by scientists and engineers at the University of Washington has announced a significant advancement in developing fault-tolerant qubits for quantum computing. In a pair of papers published June 14 in Nature and June 22 in Science, they report that, in experiments with flakes of semiconductor materials — each only a single layer of atoms thick — they detected signatures of “fractional quantum anomalous Hall” (FQAH) states. The team’s discoveries mark a first and promising step in constructing a type of fault-tolerant qubit because FQAH states can host anyons — strange “quasiparticles” that have only a fraction of an electron’s charge. Some types of anyons can be used to make what are called “topologically protected” qubits, which are stable against any small, local disturbances.


June 21, 2023

An app can transform smartphones into thermometers that accurately detect fevers

A researcher holds a phone to a patient's forehead.

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created an app called FeverPhone, which transforms smartphones into thermometers without adding new hardware.


June 14, 2023

Phosphate, a key building block of life, found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus

gray planet in cross-section with white plumes escaping from surface

An international team including a UW scientist found that the water on one of Saturn’s moons harbors phosphates, a key building block of life. The team used data from NASA’s Cassini space mission to detect evidence of phosphates in particles ejected from the ice-covered global ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.


June 13, 2023

UW welcomes PepsiCo as official partner beginning July 1

Campus photo

The University of Washington today announced that PepsiCo will become its official beverage partner beginning July 1.


June 10, 2023

Thousands cheer on UW graduates as more than 7,000 degrees conferred at Husky Stadium

2023 graduates in their hats and gowns at husky stadium

More than 7,000 degrees were conferred to University of Washington graduates Saturday at the 148th Commencement at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium.


June 6, 2023

UW celebrates Class of 2023 as thousands expected to march in events in Husky Stadium, the Tacoma Dome and T-Mobile Park

graduates celebrating

Months after the Class of 2023 began their college careers, the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, upending their lives. Now, on the eve of their graduation, they emerge into a world much changed by the global health crisis. 


May 25, 2023

UW’s Clean Energy Testbeds integral to Washington’s clean energy future

scientists working in a lab

A clean energy revolution is under way in Washington state, and the University of Washington is well positioned to be its epicenter.


May 18, 2023

Out of the frying pan: Coyotes, bobcats move into human-inhabited areas to avoid apex predators — only to be killed by people

New research shows that in Washington state, the presence of two apex predators — wolves and cougars — does indeed help keep populations of two smaller predators in check. But by and large the apex predators were not killing and eating the smaller predators, known as mesopredators. Instead, they drove the two mesopredator species — bobcats and coyotes — into areas with higher levels of human activity. And people were finishing the job.


May 17, 2023

DO-IT Center celebrates 30 years of championing students with disabilities, building community

students working at a computer

A decade ago, Dustine Bowker went to a pizza party at the Husky Union Building.

Then a junior at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Bowker, who identifies as being on the autism spectrum, came to the University of Washington to learn about a program designed to help people like him. He had to learn to recognize social cues, he said, and adapt to fit into many situations.



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