Welcome to the UW News office
Email | 206-543-2580
UW News
Box 351207
Seattle, WA 98195
The UW News office is the port of entry for journalists who need information about the University of Washington. Our media officers will help you find faculty experts or connect you with newsmakers at the UW.
Note: For news concerning the UW School of Medicine, call 206-543-3620.
Victor Balta, senior director for media relations / University Spokesperson
balta@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for UW administration issues
Michelle Ma, associate director
mcma@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for fisheries, forestry, environmental science, Puget Sound, marine policy, Friday Harbor Laboratories, urban horticulture.
Hannah Hickey, senior public information officer
hickeyh@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for atmospheric science, oceanography, polar science, climate change, weather, geology, seismology.
Peter Kelley, public information officer
kellep@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Editor of UW Notebook, which includes campus stories of faculty and staff achievements, honors and other news of note.
James Urton, public information officer
jurton@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for natural and life sciences, including biology, chemistry, physics, etc.; also bioengineering, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, the Clean Energy Institute, the Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute, the Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems, the eScience Institute.
Kim Eckart, public information officer
keckart@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for social sciences, including psychology, anthropology, education, political science, public policy, law, built environments.
Jackson Holtz, public information officer
jjholtz@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for major university initiatives, programs and gifts
Sarah McQuate, public information officer
smcquate@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Information School, the Center for Neurotechnology, aeronautics and astronautics, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, human-centered design, industrial and systems engineering.
Jake Ellison, public information officer
jbe3@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Nursing, public health, dentistry, pharmacy and the Population Health Initiative.
Misty Shock Rule, public information specialist
mistysr@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Media contact for economics, business, communications, arts, humanities, history and world affairs. Also tracks news coverage of the UW.
Kiyomi Taguchi, videographer
ktaguchi@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Illustrates the office’s stories with videos, both for the university’s purposes and for use by external media.
Rebecca Gourley, digital content producer
rgourley@uw.edu | 206-543-2580
Social media, daily UW Today newsletter, data stories and projects, and the UW News website.
UW Medicine Newsroom
mediarelations@uw.edu | 206-543-3620
The central media relations office for UW Medicine responds to journalists’ requests for interviews with topic experts and spokespersons, background information, fact-checking, patient condition reports, records requests, filming access, official statements and disaster communications. This group covers all entities of UW Medicine, and a variety of research institutes and service programs. Learn more at newsroom.uw.edu.
| Photo | Name | Title | Email / Phone | Expertise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Allard | Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Poverty and inequality, safety net policy and urban policy |
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| Ernesto Alvarado | Research associate professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences | Forest fire ecology, fire management, prescribed fire, smoke emissions, climate change, tropical forestry, landscape, international forestry, modeling |
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| Cecilia Aragon | Professor, Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering | Human-centered data science; data visualization; visual analytics; human-computer interaction; data-intensive discovery; human-centered natural language processing. |
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| Joel Baker | Science director, Center for Urban Waters | Transport of organic contaminants in the environment, oil spills and water contamination, particularly in urban environments. |
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| Rory Barnes | Research assistant professor, astronomy | Identifying habitable planets, formation and evolution of habitable planets |
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| Erica Mills Barnhart | Director, Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy | Communications, marketing, nonprofits, philanthropy |
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| George Bergantz | Professor, Department of Earth & Space Sciences | Volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Numerical modeling, lab experiments and field studies. |
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| Carl Bergstrom | Professor, Department of Biology | Behavior, evolution and systematics, mathematical and computational biology |
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| Elin Björling | Senior research scientist and lecturer, Human Centered Design & Engineering | Technology design to improve mental health in teens |
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| Nick Bond | Research scientist, UW Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies / Washington state climatologist | Washington’s state climatologist, can comment on recent events, historic trends and the seasonal outlook |
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| Ann Bostrom | Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Risk perception, risk communication, and decision making under uncertainty |
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| Sally Brown | Research associate professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences | Contaminated soils, risks, waste (compost municipal wastewater) soil amendments, carbon accounting |
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| Benjamin M. Brunjes | Assistant Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | American political institutions and processes; Public administration – bureaucracy, management, organization theory, ethics; and Public finance and procurement – budgeting, tax policy, government contracting |
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| Karin Bumbaco | UW research scientist, Washington's assistant state climatologist | Questions or data inquiries on Washington weather trends in the context of historical data. Publishes the monthly newsletter on statewide trends and forecasts. |
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| Steve Calandrillo | Professor, law | Controversial law and public policy topics including contracts, daylight saving time, drone technology/regulation, organ donation, minimum wage legislation, instant replay, and baseball’s designated hitter rule |
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| Ryan Calo | Associate professor, law | law, technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, misinformation |
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| Shuyi Chen | Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences | Tropical meteorology, air-sea interactions, mesoscale dynamics, numerical modeling |
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| Eric Chudler | Research associate professor, Department of Bioengineering | Behavioral neuroscience, brain-computer interfaces |
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| Alison Cullen | Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Risk analysis, environmental policy, wildfire risk and management |
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| Angel Fettig | Associate professor, education | Special education, early childhood special education, developmental disabilities |
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| Karen Fredriksen Goldsen | Professor, School of Social Work | Aging and well-being, health disparities among LGBT older adults |
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| Anne Goodchild | Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Freight transportation, E-commerce and online shopping, Urban Freight Home delivery, UAV or drone delivery, Goods movement, Sustainable freight transportation, Transportation logistics |
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| Mary Kay Gugerty | Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Nonprofit and philanthropic policy and management; evaluation and social impact measurement; advocacy, accountability and voluntary regulation programs among nonprofit and NGOs; and community-based organizations and rural development policy in sub-Saharan Africa |
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| Crystal C. Hall | Associate professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Judgment and decision making, poverty and social welfare policy, and psychology and behavioral economics |
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| Brian Harvey | Assistant professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences | Wildfires, climate, ecology, resource management, forest disturbances |
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| Heather Hill | Associate professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Effects of poverty and low-wage work on families and children |
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| Ines Jurcevic | Assistant professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Intersection of social psychology and public policy; stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and diversity |
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| Reşat Kasaba | Professor, Jackson School of International Studies | State-society relations in the Middle East from a historical perspective, Turkey |
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| Deborah Kelley | Professor, School of Oceanography | Underwater volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, cabled deep-sea observatories |
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| Sharon Kioko | Associate professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Public finance (US states/local governments), tax policy, voter referendum and tax limitations, education finance (K-12), infrastructure finance/debt management |
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| Marieka Klawitter | Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Family and employment policy, gender, policy analysis, sexual orientation policy and savings and asset-building for low-income families |
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| Patricia Kramer | Professor, anthropology | Biological anthropology, evolution, human paleontology, nonhuman primates |
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| Jane Lee | Assistant professor, social work | Role of migration shaping health and wellbeing of immigrant populations |
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| Taryn Lindhorst | Professor, School of Social Work | Poverty, safety net health care settings and health equity; oncology social work; end-of-life, palliative are and grief issues |
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| Jana Mohr Lone | Director, UW Center for Philosophy for Children / Affiliate Associate Professor | Philosophical abilities of children and youth |
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| Joe Lott | Associate professor, education | Equity studies, higher education, policy and educational reform |
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| Don MacKenzie | Associate professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Electric vehicles, shared use transportation services, energy use in transportation sector |
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| Julian Marshall | Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Models and measurements of people's exposure to air pollution, investigating ways to reduce exposures, environmental justice and disparities in exposure, exposures in the United States and in low-income countries |
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| Karin Martin | Assistant professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Crime and punishment policy, criminal justice debt, courts and sentencing, criminal justice reform |
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| Scott Montgomery | Lecturer, Jackson School of International Studies | Arctic and oil, oil and gas (reserves, technology, prices, politics), fracking, nuclear power, worked 25 years in the energy industry |
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| Steve Muench | Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Infrastructure construction (bridges, roads, dams, etc.), Transportation infrastructure sustainability, Sustainability rating systems, Roads and pavements |
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| Devin Naar | Professor, international studies | Modern Jewish history, Jewish culture from antiquity until today, Sephardic history and culture, the history and memory of the Holocaust |
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| Jan Newton | Oceanographer, UW Applied Physics Laboratory | Ocean observing, ocean acidification and phytoplankton in Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest waters |
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| Jeffrey Ochsner | Professor, architecture | Architectural design, urban design, historic preservation, and architectural history |
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| Stephen Page | Associate professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance | Public leadership, organizational culture, inter-organizational collaboration, transportation policy and projects |
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| Saadia Pekkanen | Professor, international studies | Outer space security, foreign policy, international relations, national security |
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| Franziska Roesner | Associate professor, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering | Computer security and privacy |
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| Ilene Schwartz | Professor, education | Early childhood special education, applied behavior analysis and interventions for autism |
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| Jeff Shulman | Professor, Foster School of Business | Marketing, pricing strategies, Seattle growth, gig economy |
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| Amy Snover | Director, Climate Impacts Group | Climate change effects in the Pacific Northwest. Co-authored numerous regional reports on effects of climate change. Works with regional communities, governments and businesses on preparing for and adapting to climate change. |
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| Hugh Spitzer | Professor, School of Law | Constitutional law, legal ethics and professional responsibility, legal philosophy and theory, legislative process, local government and municipal law |
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| Bill Steele | Director of outreach and information services, Pacific Northwest Seismic Network | Regional earthquake, volcano and tsunami hazards, risk communication, tours of the UW seismology lab, ShakeAlert earthquake early warning |
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| Harold Tobin | Professor, Department of Earth & Space Sciences | Subduction zones, Cascadia Subduction Zone, earthquakes, “ShakeAlert” earthquake early warning system |
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| Kathy Troost | Associate teaching professor, Department of Earth & Space Sciences | Landslides, Seattle geology, Puget Lowland geology, geologic hazard mapping |
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| Denise Walker | Research associate professor, School of Social Work | Development, testing and implementation of interventions that bring about positive changes in patterns of behavior; treatment of marijuana disorders in both adolescents and adults |
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| Kathryn Watts | Professor, law | Administrative law, constitutional law, presidential powers, U.S. Supreme Court |
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| Jevin West | Associate professor, Information School | Misinformation, evolution of science, the models and science used to predict the spread of COVID-19 |
