A UW geologist and geotechnical engineer look back at what the past year has meant, personally and professionally, as they helped recovery efforts from the nation’s deadliest landslide in our own backyard.
March 19, 2015
The latest news from the UW
Suspension leads to more pot use among teens, study finds
Suspending kids from school for using marijuana is likely to lead to more — not less — pot use among their classmates, a new study finds. Counseling was found to be a much more effective means of combating marijuana use. And while enforcement of anti-drug policies is a key factor in whether teens use marijuana, the way schools respond to policy violators matters greatly. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and in Australia, compared drug policies…
UW releases strategy for reaching transportation carbon neutrality
The University of Washington’s latest step toward its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 came last week, with the release of its Climate Action Strategy for Transportation, or CAST. The CAST follows the UW Climate Action Plan, a set of broad strategies to guide the UW to the goal of carbon neutrality that was released in 2009. The CAST suggests specific actions for reducing emissions in the transportation sector. “This represents an important step toward strategically reducing a significant portion…
March 18, 2015
Remembering architect, author, critic Norman Johnston, 1918 – 2015
Norman J. Johnston will be remembered as a dedicated and community-minded architect, city planner, teacher and critic. He died Monday, March 16, 2015, in his Seattle home. He was 96. Memorial for Norman J. Johnston 2 p.m. Sunday, May 31, University of Washington Club. Johnston earned a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Washington in 1942. He returned to the campus in 1960 as a faculty member in architecture and urban planning, and taught until his retirement in…
UW TechConnect conference Tuesday: The Future of IT
Members of the UW community are invited to a free daylong conference for technology professionals at the 2015 UW TechConnect Conference on March 24. Explore, learn and connect with other IT colleagues and choose from a dozen presentations about the future of information technology at the UW – from human resources and payroll modernization to accessibility and the latest in computer networking. Keynote speakers start the day with a presentation at 8:30 a.m. by UW Vice Provost for Innovation Vikram…
New research suggests insect wings might serve gyroscopic function
Gyroscopes measure rotation in everyday technologies, from unmanned aerial vehicles to cell phone screen stabilizers. Though many animals can move with more precision and accuracy than our best-engineered aircraft and technologies, gyroscopes are rarely found in nature. Scientists know of just one group of insects, the group including flies, that has something that behaves like a gyroscope — sensors called halteres, clublike structures that evolved from wings. Halteres provide information about the rotation of the body during flight, which helps…
Arts Roundup: Exhibitions, music — and Native Art Weekend
As we approach spring break, sit back, relax and take in an event or two. This week, the Henry Art Gallery hosts a slew of collaborative events including a performance by the Seattle Chamber Players and Juan Pampin, director of Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS).
New Air Force center at UW learns from animals for better flight
A new center at the University of Washington funded by the U.S. Air Force will focus on how elements in nature can help solve challenging engineering and technological problems related to building small, remotely operated aircraft.
March 17, 2015
AG Ferguson appoints senior attorney to top UW Division post
Attorney General Bob Ferguson has appointed Senior Counsel Karin Nyrop as the new chief of his office’s University of Washington Division. The division provides legal services to the university, including UW Bothell, UW Tacoma and the UW Medical Center. “The University of Washington will be well served by Karin’s impressive combination of legal expertise, leadership experience, personal achievements and demonstrated commitment to public service,” said Ferguson in a statement. Nyrop brings 30 years of legal experience to this position. She…
First global review on the status, future of Arctic marine mammals
A University of Washington scientist is lead author on the first census of all Arctic marine mammals, including whales, walruses, seals and polar bears. The multinational report assesses the current status of these populations and makes recommendations for conservation of these species under climate change.
March 16, 2015
New ‘mediArcade’ in Allen Library supports multimedia work, play
UW Libraries has opened up a new multimedia space on the third floor of Allen library for the use of students, faculty and staff. It’s called the mediArcade, and is open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to those with a Husky card. With iMacs, large televisions and DVDs, video game consoles, several media editing programs and even VHS playback, UW community members can use the room to watch videos and listen to music, or to create and edit their…
March 13, 2015
Public symposium features UW experts on ‘Reverse-engineering the brain’
One of modern science’s grand challenges is understanding how the human brain actually works — from cataloging millions of individual cells to figuring out how the circuitry that underlies our thoughts and actions decodes information. By deconstructing these intricate processes, engineers can use the human brain to build everything from smarter computers to better speech recognition programs to artificial limbs that can “recognize” thoughts. Some of the University of Washington’s leading experts on this process — called “Reverse- Engineering the…
2015 UW cherry tree watch: Full bloom by March 14
Blossom update: 100 percent in bloom as of March 14. Follow @uwcherryblossom for more info. The cherry trees in the Quad at the UW reached full bloom March 14. Exact timing always depends on the weather — if we have sunny, warm days, the trees reach full bloom faster, but colder weather stretches out the timing. Still, full bloom by mid-March is about a week earlier than most years, according to Sara Shores, the UW arborist. Depending on the weather, the blossoms will likely…
iSchool’s Technology & Social Change Group to study online education in developing countries
Online education has great potential to improve lives, but few people in developing countries have access to such classes. The UW Information School’s Technology & Social Change Group will conduct research as part of a $1.55 million multiagency initiative to study and address this need. The project will include research on online course enrollment in Colombia, the Philippines and South Africa, and is being conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development together with Coursetalk.com, the largest source of online…
UW expert part of international research project on female genital cutting
Decades of efforts to end female genital cutting have resulted in some progress, but the ancient tradition stubbornly persists in many places. The latest initiative to tackle the issue is a $12 million research project launched this month by a consortium comprising several African organizations and two U.S. researchers: Bettina Shell-Duncan, a University of Washington anthropology professor, and Gerry Mackie of the University of California, San Diego. The five-year project, funded by the U.K. Department for International Development and led…
March 12, 2015
Naturally acidic waters of Puget Sound surround UW’s Friday Harbor Labs
For more than 100 years, marine biologists at Friday Harbor Laboratories have studied the ecology of everything from tiny marine plants to giant sea stars. Now, as the oceans are undergoing a historic shift in chemistry, the lab is establishing itself as a place to study what that will mean for marine life. And the University of Washington laboratory is uniquely placed in naturally acidic waters that may be some of the first pushed over the edge by human-generated carbon…
March 11, 2015
‘Chaotic Earths’: Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates
New research by UW astronomer Rory Barnes and co-authors describes possible planetary systems where a gravitational nudge from one planet with just the right orbital configuration and tilt could have a mild to devastating effect on the orbit and climate of another, possibly habitable world.
Arts Roundup: Lectures, exhibitions — and pianist Olga Kern
This week, the UW World Series presents Russian pianist Olga Kern and the School of Art concludes its Critical Issues in Contemporary Art public lecture series. Other events include a free UW Campus Philharmonia concert in Kane Hall and the final weekend of the School of Drama’s “The Hostage.”
Sephardic Studies document appears in PBS documentary ‘The Jewish Journey: America’
A document from the UW Sephardic Studies Program‘s Digital Library and Museum appears in a new PBS documentary called “The Jewish Journey: America.” The documentary will be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 16, on KBTC, Tacoma’s public broadcasting station, and is now available for viewing online as well. The hour-long film, directed by Emmy-winner Andrew Goldberg, traces Jewish immigration to America over five centuries, using the perspectives of immigrants, historians and Jewish-American writers. The film’s producers contacted Devin Naar,…
March 10, 2015
Efficiency on display at first Organizational Excellence Showcase
Representatives from more than 50 University of Washington departments crowded into the HUB Lyceum on Tuesday afternoon to share recent workplace improvements at the first Organizational Excellence Showcase. “What’s most exciting to see is that there is a real appetite for continuous improvement and change on campus,” said Ruth Johnston, leader of Organizational Excellence and associate vice president and chief of staff in Planning and Budgeting. “There are more people now here at the UW with the interest, training and…
DRIVE/conference offers a deep dive into data mining
No matter what your business — from a nonprofit museum that wants to deepen visitor engagement to a chain store looking for new markets — it’s essential to be able to extract meaningful patterns and results from often massive reservoirs of data. Improving this “art and science” of data analysis, reporting and visualization is the focus of the DRIVE/conference developed by the University of Washington, which will draw more than 700 IT and data professionals to Seattle and Bellevue on…
An injectable UW polymer could keep soldiers, trauma patients from bleeding to death
University of Washington researchers have developed a new injectable polymer that strengthens blood clots, called PolySTAT. Administered in a simple shot, the polymer finds any unseen injuries and has the potential to keep trauma patients from bleeding to death before reaching medical care.
As home for Native learning opens, a dream is realized
Though it doesn’t officially open until March 12, the modern, longhouse-style building on the University of Washington campus is already steeped in significance. wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House represents a dream four decades in the making. It will be an anchor for indigenous students, a hub for Native learning and a means of acknowledging the Duwamish people whose village and longhouses were once on the university grounds. “It means that we still exist. We still matter,” said Intellectual House Director Ross Braine, who…
March 9, 2015
UW leads nation in primary care, rural medicine and family medicine; top 10 in dozens of graduate programs
The University of Washington has 42 graduate schools and specialty programs among the nation’s top 10 in each area, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Graduate School Rankings released Tuesday. The UW again ranked as the No. 1 primary care medical school, while the rural medicine and family medicine specialties continue to lead the nation. Seven other health and medicine schools and programs rank in the top five. “Top graduate programs around the country are incredibly competitive with one…
Study shows teens and adults hazy on Washington marijuana law
More than two years after Washington legalized marijuana, parents and teens may be hazy on the specifics of the law, if the findings of a new study are any indication. University of Washington research, published recently in Substance Use & Misuse, found that only 57 percent of Washington parents surveyed knew the legal age for recreational marijuana use and just 63 percent knew that homegrown marijuana is illegal under the law. And while 71 percent of 10th-graders correctly identified the…
March 6, 2015
Official Notices: Regents meeting March 12
The Meeting of the Board of Regents on Thursday, March 12, at UW Bothell in the Rose Room, Founders Hall, UW1-280. The first committee meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. The Regular Board meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Meeting information is now available online.
Study: Lower property values match high body-weight index in King County
New research from the UW College of Built Environments on the “spatial clustering of obesity” in urban areas has helped clarify and build upon work a 2007 study began. The takeaway, in brief: In King County, Washington, at least, low property values match with high body-mass indexes, or BMIs in less diverse, lower-income South King County, and higher property values match with low BMIs in more populous, prosperous North King County. Body-mass indexes are a measure of a person’s relative…
March 4, 2015
Women Who Rock host fifth annual (un)conference on Saturday
The power of social media in fueling movements such as Black Lives Matter, the racial justice campaign sprung from last year’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri, has become increasingly evident in recent years. Recognition of those grassroots efforts is the focus of the fifth annual Women Who Rock “unconference” event, to be held Saturday, March 7, at Rainier Valley Cultural Center in South Seattle. The event’s theme, Rocking Media Justice, celebrates the use of social media to document the realities of…
Arts Roundup: Music, drama — and the Dance Majors Concerts
From drama to dance to dinosaurs, it’s an exciting week in the arts. The School of Drama’s production of “The Hostage” continues, the Burke Museum presents Dino Day and the School of Music offers a plethora of performances including Music from the Great War and Studio Jazz and Modern Bands.
March 3, 2015
On thin ice: Combined Arctic ice observations show decades of loss
Historic submarine and modern satellite records show that ice thickness in the central Arctic Ocean dropped by 65 percent from 1975 to 2012. September ice thickness, when the ice cover is at a minimum, dropped by 85 percent.
February 27, 2015
Watch UW team test a new asteroid-sampling rocket
Take five minutes and experience the life of a rocket scientist building a prototype to bring back samples of objects in space. In these tests, success is nose-diving into the California desert, which stands in for the surface of an asteroid. In the “Asteroid Sampler” video, which aired Jan. 15 on Discovery Channel Canada, a UW team of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates launched a new type of rocket in California. The work is part of a NASA-funded project to…
UW alum David Horsey discusses Charlie Hebdo, editorial cartooning in volatile times
UW alumnus and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey discusses the Charlie Hebdo shootings and editorial cartooning in politically volatile times.
‘Handathon’ challenges students to build better 3-D printed prosthetic hands
Seattle’s first-ever “Handathon” will bring together students, faculty and clinicians in a hackathon-style, 24-hour event that challenges two dozen graduate and undergraduate students to design creative improvements to an existing 3-D printed prosthetic hand. Research teams from the University of Washington, UW Bothell and Seattle Pacific University have been designing and printing prosthetic hands, and now they’re hoping a larger community of students can help improve the design with a little friendly competition. “We are hoping for lots of fun,…
February 26, 2015
Scoping notice: University of Washington determination of significance and request for comments on scope of SEIS
Project Name: Computer Science and Engineering Expansion (CSE II) Proponent: University of Washington — Seattle Campus Description of Proposal: Site selection and construction of a new 130,000 gross square foot above and below grade building to create expansion space for education and research for the Computer Science and Engineering program. The structure will house new instructional space, undergraduate student spaces, research and educational labs, shops, offices and event space. Three alternatives will be analyzed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement…
Colleen Fukui-Sketchley to receive UW’s 2015 Odegaard Award
Colleen Fukui-Sketchley, diversity affairs director for Nordstrom, has been named the 2015 recipient of the University of Washington Charles E. Odegaard Award. Established in 1973, the Odegaard award honors individuals whose leadership in the community exemplifies the former UW president’s work on behalf of diversity. It is the only university- and community-selected award, and is regarded as the highest achievement in diversity at the UW. The award will be presented at the 45th annual EOP Celebration, Fête and Honors event…
Embrace unknowns, opt for flexibility in environmental policies
Two University of Washington professors argue in a Science perspectives article that ecosystem managers must learn to make decisions based on an uncertain future.
Student video contest: Climate change impacts in 3 minutes
What does climate change mean to you, in three minutes or less? That’s what the UW’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences is asking all high school and undergraduate students in the state of Washington in a video competition that will award up to $5,000 to the top entries in each age category. The UW Climate Change Video Contest, running now until April 13, is open to any student in the state who wants to enter as an individual or…
Donations in memory of journalism professor Fendall Yerxa, 1913-2014
Fendall Yerxa, a former faculty member in the Department of Communication, died in October 2014 at the age of 101. He is remembered as a patient teacher and an insightful and highly professional old-school journalist. He worked as Washington, D.C., bureau chief for The New York Times and managing editor of the International Herald Tribune. He anchored ABC News and even hosted his own television magazine-style program. He was an on-air news analyst for KOMO News in Seattle. And he…
February 25, 2015
Arts Roundup: Music, drama — and Mark Morris Dance Group
As February ends and March begins, the arts present a variety of events. In drama, the Undergraduate Theater Society’s production of “Cabaret” continues and the School of Drama opens the slapstick satire, “The Hostage.” In music, Piano Professor Robin McCabe gears up for her faculty recital. Meanwhile, students in the Dance Program prepare for the Dance Majors Concert.
Forefront and Facebook launch suicide prevention effort
Facebook users share countless details about their personal lives, from where they’re going on vacation to what they’re eating for dinner — and occasionally, feelings of dark despair, even thoughts of suicide. As the world’s biggest social network, with more than 1.39 billion users, Facebook is uniquely positioned to provide online resources and support to help suicidal people. That’s the goal of a new collaboration between Facebook and researchers at Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention, an interdisciplinary organization based in…