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News releases | Social science | UW and the community

January 30, 2018

Depression, anxiety affect more than one-fourth of state’s college students

  Nearly one-third of Washington college students have experienced depression in the last year, and more than 10 percent have had thoughts of suicide, according to a new survey of young adults attending schools around the state. The survey of more than 10,000 students at 13 of Washington’s two- and four-year institutions shows the need for mental health services on campus, advocates say, especially as the state Legislature considers two bills that would fund suicide-prevention resources in higher education and…

Education | Learning | News releases | Politics and government | Research | Social science | UW and the community

January 25, 2018

Dan Berger discusses excesses of incarceration in new book ‘Rethinking the American Prison Movement’

Dan Berger, associate professor in the UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, discusses his new book, “Rethinking the American Prison Movement.”

Arts and entertainment

January 24, 2018

Arts Roundup: Watch performances by Garrick Ohlsson, Danish String Quartet, 12 Ophelias, Jazz Innovations, and revisit memories through craft sculptures at ArtVenture

This week in the arts, revisit important memories through craft sculptures, see a re-imagined and contemporized Hamlet, hear a collection of Nordic folk music or student ensembles playing original progressive jazz compositions, and listen to a Seattle favorite return to Meany, bringing piano masterworks to life.

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science

#MemoriesInDNA Project wants to store your photos in DNA for the benefit of science – and future generations

Researchers from the Molecular Information Systems Lab at the University of Washington and Microsoft are looking to collect 10,000 original images from around the world to preserve them indefinitely in synthetic DNA manufactured by Twist Bioscience. DNA holds promise as a revolutionary storage medium that lasts much longer and is many orders of magnitude denser than current technologies.

Environment | Research | Science | UW News blog

Q&A: Forgotten fish illustrator remembered through first publication

More than three centuries ago, a French monk made thousands of drawings of plants and animals, traveling under the authority of King Louis XIV to the French Antilles to collect and document the natural history of the islands. These drawings were often the first ever recorded for each species and were completed in remarkable detail. The illustrations were nearly lost forever during the tumultuous French Revolution, and the volumes compiled by Father Charles Plumier were discovered by chance, found serving…

Environment | Research | Science | Social science | UW News blog

Civil War-era U.S. Navy ships’ logs to be explored for climate data, maritime history

A new grant will let a University of Washington-based project add a new fleet to its quest to learn more about past climate from the records of long-gone mariners. The UW is among the winners of the 2017 “Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives” awards, announced Jan. 4 by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Library and Information Resources. The new $482,018 grant to the UW, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the National Archives Foundation will support “Seas…

Arts and entertainment

January 17, 2018

Arts Roundup: Performances by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, UW Symphony, Scholarship Chamber Group and more

This week in the arts, watch dancers tell a story of resilience in their final performance of an exciting trilogy, become enchanted by the UW Symphony at Benaroya Hall, and see undergraduate students perform challenging works from the piano and strings repertoire.

Environment | News releases | Research | Science

Scale-eating fish adopt clever parasitic methods to survive

A small group of fishes — possibly the world’s cleverest carnivorous grazers — feeds on the scales of other fish in the tropics. A team led by biologists at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories is trying to understand these scale-feeding fish and how this odd diet influences their body evolution and behavior.

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science

Researchers program biomaterials with ‘logic gates’ that release therapeutics in response to environmental triggers

Drug treatments can save lives, but sometimes they also carry unintended costs. After all, the same therapeutics that target pathogens and tumors can also harm healthy cells. To reduce this collateral damage, scientists have long sought specificity in drug delivery systems: A package that can encase a therapeutic and will not disgorge its toxic cargo until it reaches the site of treatment — be it a tumor, a diseased organ or a site of infection. In a paper published Jan….

News releases | Research | Social science

A ‘touching sight’: How babies’ brains process touch builds foundations for learning

  Touch is the first of the five senses to develop, yet scientists know far less about the baby’s brain response to touch than to, say, the sight of mom’s face, or the sound of her voice. Now, through the use of safe, new brain imaging techniques, University of Washington researchers provide one of the first looks inside the infant’s brain to show where the sense of touch is processed — not just when a baby feels a touch to…

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

January 11, 2018

Can the president really do that? Two UW law professors give answers in new book

Can the president single-handedly toss out environmental rules designed to combat global warming? Force states like Washington to help enforce federal immigration laws? Fire Robert Mueller? No, no, and not directly, say Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts, professors of law at the University of Washington, in a new book. The answers, of course, are more complicated than a word or two. But every news cycle seems to raise a variation of the same question: Can he do that? Manheim and Watts,…

Arts and entertainment | Uncategorized

January 10, 2018

Arts Roundup: Trojan Women: A Love Story, Faculty Dance Concert, Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Concert: Sepideh Raissadat, and performances by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company

This week in the arts, experience a modern portrayal of a classic Greek Tragedy, see the annual Faculty Dance Concert featuring new collaborations with students and guest artists, hear an internationally renowned classical vocalist showcase her work with UW students, and watch dancers tell a story of resilience in the first performance of an exciting trilogy.

Administrative affairs | For UW employees | News releases | UW and the community

January 9, 2018

Mark Richards, former dean at UC Berkeley, named provost at the UW

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce today named Mark Richards provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. The appointment is effective July 1, 2018. Richards, a geophysicist, is a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he previously served as dean of mathematical and physical sciences from 2002 to 2014, and simultaneously as executive dean of the College of Letters and Science from 2006 to 2014. “Our University is gaining an outstanding…

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science | Technology

January 8, 2018

UW Reality Lab launches with $6M from tech companies to advance augmented and virtual reality research

The UW Reality Lab is launching with $6 million from Facebook, Google, and Huawei to accelerate innovation in augmented and virtual reality and educate the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

Research | Social science | UW News blog

January 5, 2018

UW ranks No. 5 nationally for social science research funding

    The University of Washington is ranked fifth among more than 400 U.S. colleges and universities for social science research funding, according to a new report. The Consortium of Social Science Association’s 2018 College and University Rankings for Federal Social and Behavioral Science R&D was released this week. The UW, with $38.6 million in social science funding in fiscal 2016 (the year on which the report was based), has moved up into the top five. Last year, it was…

Arts and entertainment | Uncategorized

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.

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

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 that was just the beginning for Marisol Berríos-Miranda and Shannon Dudley, both ethnomusicologists in the UW School of Music, and Michelle Habell-Pallán, a professor in…

Engineering | Learning | Science | Technology | UW and the community | UW News blog

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.

Education | News releases | Social science | UW and the community

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 age, are perceived as more aggressive and sexual – less innocent – than white girls. But what if, a University of Washington education professor reasoned,…