UW News

The latest news from the UW


January 4, 2018

New book ‘City Unsilenced’ explores protest and public space

Jeff Hou, UW professor of landscape architecture, discusses the new book he co-edited with Sabine Knierbein, “City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy.”

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January 3, 2018

Space dust, not aliens: Two UW astronomers assist in new research on ‘mysterious’ star

UW astronomers Brett Morris and James Davenport assisted in new research on “Tabby’s Star,” named for Louisiana State University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian.

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Arts Roundup: Performances by violinist Itzhak Perlman, Takács Quartet with special guest Erika Eckert, a riveting play — Trojan Women: A Love Story and more

This week in the arts, listen to a duo performance of piano professors, hear the internationally acclaimed Takács String Quartet, promising young pianist Scott Cuellar, immerse yourself in the post-apocalyptic world of Trojan Women: A Love Story, and attend a performance by Grammy and Emmy Award Winning violinist Itzhak Perlman.

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Popular exhibit on Latino music debuts as a book: A Q&A with UW faculty authors of ‘American Sabor’

  When “American Sabor” opened at what was then the Experience Music Project a decade ago, its University of Washington creators saw it as a chance to celebrate the extensive Latino contribution to popular music. It was a product of years of interviews and research, and an often challenging exercise in collaboration and presentation. But…

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Essay by UW historian Laurie Marhoefer named most memorable of 2017 by The Conversation US

An essay by Laurie Marhoefer, UW assistant professor of history, has been named the most memorable of the year 2017 by the editors and readers of The Conversation US.

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December 22, 2017

UW ranks No. 7 among public universities on Kiplinger’s 300 ‘Best College Values’ for 2018

The University of Washington is ranked No. 7 on Kiplinger’s 300 Best College Values for 2018 among public universities, released Dec. 22.

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December 21, 2017

UW a leader in supporting Washington’s STEM students

Now serving its sixth cohort of students, the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship has helped more than 8,400 students attend the state’s universities and colleges. The UW has the largest number of scholarship recipients — 1,679 across all three campuses — and has seen more than 1,300 scholars graduate.

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Promoting self-esteem among African-American girls through racial, cultural connections

    For African-American students, data, alongside societal attitudes and stereotypes, often present a negative picture: a wide academic achievement gap separating them from their white peers. Higher rates of discipline and absenteeism. Discrimination by other students, teachers and the larger community. And just last summer, a study indicated that black girls, from an early…

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December 20, 2017

UW’s 2017: A year of innovation, access and impact

In all corners of the University of Washington, staff, faculty and students are working hard to improve the lives of people around the world. This year undoubtedly embodied that passion and drive to serve the public good.

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December 19, 2017

UW-authored books and more for the Dawg on your holiday shopping list

Here’s a quick look at some gift-worthy books and music created by UW talents in the last year or so — and a reminder of some perennial favorites.

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December 18, 2017

Partnership will use robotic network to explore Antarctic ice shelves

A new partnership between the UW and Paul G. Allen Philanthropies will use a network of robots to observe conditions beneath a floating Antarctic ice shelf.

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Fish to benefit if large dams adopt new operating approach

Recognizing that many large dams are here to stay, a University of Washington team is investigating an emerging solution to help achieve freshwater conservation goals by re-envisioning the ways in which water is released by dams.

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December 14, 2017

Loose skin and slime protect hagfishes from sharks

Researchers from the University of Washington, Chapman University and University of Guelph have published new research showing how hagfishes survive an initial attack from predators before they release large volumes of slime to defend themselves.

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December 13, 2017

UW project seeks sustainable blueprint for hydropower dams

A new NSF-funded project will use findings in the Mekong River basin as an example of how three critical issues — feeding people, generating energy and maintaining functioning ecosystems — can be addressed thoughtfully and progressively in the developing world.

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University of Washington celebrates fundraising and construction milestones for second computer science building

The University of Washington celebrated two major fundraising and construction milestones on Wednesday for the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering, which will allow the UW to double its annual computer science and engineering degree production.

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December 11, 2017

Q&A: UW’s Shuyi Chen on hurricane science, forecasting and the 2017 hurricane season

New faculty member Shuyi Chen answers some questions about hurricane science, hurricane forecasting and the 2017 storm season.

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Thoughts on macroeconomics by UW’s Fabio Ghironi among Bloomberg columnist’s ‘must-reads’ of 2017

Bloomberg News columnist Noah Smith has listed a paper by UW economist Fabio Ghironi as among “must-read” papers and books on economics in the year 2017.

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December 7, 2017

UW announces ambitious public commitment to educate more high-achieving low-income students

UW is among the first schools to announce public commitments through the American Talent Initiative. The UW aims to graduate an additional 125 low- to low-middle-income students per cohort by 2025.

A literary view of the human era: ‘Anthropocene Reading’

The Anthropocene epoch — the proposed name for this time of significant human effect on the planet and its systems — represents a new context in which to study literature. A new book of essays co-edited by Jesse Oak Taylor, UW associate professor of English, argues that literary studies, in turn, also can help us better understand the Anthropocene.

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New research shows hydropower dams can be managed without an all-or-nothing choice between energy and food

The University of Washington, Arizona State University and other collaborators have proposed a method in the Dec. 8 issue of Science that allows hydroelectric dam operators to generate power in ways that protect — and possibly improve — food supplies and businesses throughout the Mekong river basin in Southeast Asia.

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December 6, 2017

Martin Luther, Steve Jobs and aspirational faith: Q & A with UW sociologist Steve Pfaff on ‘The Spiritual Virtuoso’

Alongside the political polarization that has permeated seemingly every issue in American life, there is a similar dichotomy in religion.On one side are those who suggest religion is dying, that’s it’s irrelevant, a force for ill and oppression, explains University of Washington sociology professor Steve Pfaff. On the other are those who say religion is…

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December 5, 2017

Living cell membranes can self-sort their components by ‘demixing’

Scientists at the University of Washington show for the first time that the complex distribution of molecules within a membrane of a living yeast cell arises through demixing.

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Making humanity’s challenges smaller and smaller: UW launches Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems

The University of Washington has launched a new institute aimed at accelerating research at the nanoscale: the Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems, or NanoES. The institute will pursue impactful advancements in a variety of disciplines — including energy, materials science, computation and medicine. Yet these advancements will be at a technological scale a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair.

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Rooftop wiretap aims to learn what crows gossip about at dusk

An interdisciplinary team is using a covert sound-based approach, worthy of an avian CSI, to study the link between crows’ calls and their behavior.

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In first, 3-D printed objects connect to WiFi without electronics

UW engineers have developed the first 3-D printed plastic objects that can connect to other devices via WiFi without using any electronics, including a laundry bottle that can detect when soap is running low and automatically order more.

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December 3, 2017

Kim Nasmyth — a UW postdoctoral alumnus — wins Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discoveries in cell biology, genetics

Kim Nasmyth, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Oxford and former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, is one of five recipients of the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Nasmyth and other prize recipients were honored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation at a ceremony December 3 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

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December 1, 2017

UW astrobiologists to discuss work, introduce IMAX film ‘The Search for Life in Space’ Dec. 6 at Pacific Science Center

Three University of Washington astrobiologists will discuss their research and introduce the new 3-D IMAX movie “The Search for Life in Space” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, in the PACCAR Theater of the Pacific Science Center.

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November 30, 2017

New textbook teaches Spanish language, culture through talk of food

Ana Gómez-Bravo created a class about Spanish food and culture a few years ago as a way to teach the language, but found no appropriate textbook for the material — so she wrote one herself. Her book “Comida y cultura en el mundo hispánico” — “Food and Culture in the Hispanic World” — was published in October by Equinox Publishing.

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Giant black hole pair photobombs Andromeda Galaxy

A cosmic photobomb found as a background object in images of the nearby Andromeda galaxy has revealed what could be the most tightly coupled pair of supermassive black holes ever seen.

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Explore India’s ‘informal economies’ at symposium Dec. 1-2

The labor of India’s lower castes — in areas such as agriculture, transportation, construction and the sex trade — occupies about 90 percent of the country’s workforce. Many of these urban jobs draw workers from rural villages, people who struggle to make a living not only for themselves, but also for the relatives they’ve left…

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November 29, 2017

Official notice: Determination of significance and request for comments on scope of EIS

Project Name: Husky Stadium Transportation Management Plan Proponent: University of Washington – Seattle Campus Description of Proposal: The University is updating the Husky Stadium Transportation Management Plan (TMP). The University’s goal is to prepare a TMP that accommodates a maximum crowd of 70,000 people; modifies mode goals and operational logistics for hosting smaller  events than football games…

University of Washington fall 2017 entering class sets record for diversity, resident students

The University of Washington welcomed the most diverse class of new students across all three campuses, and the largest number of Washington residents in UW history, according to the finalized Fall 2017 census of enrolled students released by all three campuses.

Arts Roundup: Monstrosity, an epic play; Opera Workshop: Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilleges — and Carolfest

This week in the arts, watch The School of Drama undergraduates perform an epic tale, see voice students in a one-act opera, sit in on a pre-concert lecture with the the Dean of Humanities Michael Shapiro, listen to six choral ensembles at Carolfest, and hear the Montrose Trio at their Meany Center debut.

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November 28, 2017

There’s a deeper fish in the sea

The ocean’s deepest fish doesn’t look like it could survive in harsh conditions thousands of feet below the surface. Instead of giant teeth and a menacing frame, the fishes that roam in the deepest parts of the ocean are small, translucent, bereft of scales — and highly adept at living where few other organisms can….

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UW students win Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize for most engaging socialbot

A team of University of Washington students and faculty has won Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize, a university competition designed to produce an artificial intelligence agent capable of coherent and sustained conversation with humans.

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Two UW professors elevated to IEEE Fellows

Two faculty members in the University of Washington College of Engineering have been elected as 2018 fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Tom Furness, professor of industrial and systems engineering, was honored for “leadership in virtual and augmented reality” and Siddhartha “Sidd” Srinivasa, professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, was recognized for “contributions to robotic manipulation and human-robot interaction.”

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November 27, 2017

Less life: Limited phosphorus recycling suppressed early Earth’s biosphere

The amount of biomass – life – in Earth’s ancient oceans may have been limited due to low recycling of the key nutrient phosphorus, according to new research by the University of Washington and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

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UW’s Doorway Project kicks off services for homeless youth

  Seattle’s homeless crisis isn’t confined to one part of town – nor does it hinge on one solution. The University District community includes as much as one-third of King County’s homeless youth over any given year. It’s a neighborhood where a food bank and youth shelter are available, and where young people on the…

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November 22, 2017

AAAS names 8 UW researchers as fellows in 2017

Eight University of Washington researchers are among the 396 new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, announced this week.

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Two UW professors named to the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Edwina Uehara, dean of the University of Washington School of Social Work, and social work professor Karen Fredriksen Goldsen have been named fellows of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. The two are among 14 new fellows to be inducted by the organization, which honors scholarship, leadership and high-impact work in the…

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