UW News


February 16, 2024

Video: Bringing stars back to the sea 

A clear box suspended deep in the water holds a few sea stars and mussel shells.

Scientists at Friday Harbor Laboratories, a University of Washington facility in the San Juan Islands, are working to help sunflower stars — a type of sea star — grow and thrive once again after their populations along the West Coast were devastated by a mysterious disease called sea star wasting syndrome.


January 2, 2024

Video: UW Rorrer Lab seeks new life for plastic waste

Close up of woman wearing protective eyewear and a lab coat looking at a small square of clear plastic film she's holding.

At the University of Washington Rorrer Lab, Julie Rorrer, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is teaching students to explore ways to transform plastics into useful chemicals to make new plastic or fuel, shifting away from fossil fuel consumption and reducing waste plastics.


December 19, 2023

How will climate change affect how predators hunt prey? Two UW professors teamed up to find out

A hand wearing a glove next to a paw print in the snow

Two UW professors teamed up to study how climate change will affect predator-prey interactions in snowy landscapes. Together with a group of researchers, the two measured snow properties that led to a “danger zone,” where prey would sink but predators would not.


December 12, 2023

Holiday blahs? Why social connection, even talking to strangers, can help

A close up of two women and a girl that look like family, looking at a book or a screen and sharing a laugh.

Milla Titova, assistant teaching professor of psychology and director of the Happiness and Well-Being Lab at the UW, offers strategies for joy this holiday season.


November 20, 2023

New research aims to reduce fatal bird collisions on campus

A dead bird lies on the pavement

A project in the UW College of Built Environments, led by researcher Judy Bowes, is examining how building architecture contributes to bird collisions, and the ways bird-safe glass and other designs can help address the problem.


October 23, 2023

Video: Familiar ingredients make Afghan Food Guide easy to swallow

A plate with meat, rice, a vegetable salad and strawberries on it.

Unfamiliar foods can get in the way of following a recommended diet. For the Afghan community seeking health care in the U.S., a nutrition handbook created by UW School of Public Health graduate student Priyasha Maharjan works to solve this problem, using Afghan food examples to educate patients and care providers on the nutritional content of their meals.


September 20, 2023

Video: UW welcomes students to campus as thousands move into residence halls

About 8,500 students, including 78% of this year’s freshman class, are expected to move into UW residence halls and apartments this week.  


September 7, 2023

Video: New hives at UW Farm welcome us to ‘bee curious’

A close up of bees on a honey comb.

The UW Farm welcomed an addition this spring: two bee hives in an apiary on the south side of the Center for Urban Horticulture. The hives will serve as a teaching tool for students who want to know more about agriculture and the function of pollinators in the ecosystem.


June 8, 2023

Video: UW School of Drama lead costumer retires after 15 years

Inside Hutchinson Hall, home of the University of Washington School of Drama, students work at tables as they learn to assemble patterns based on costume designs. They’re surrounded by dress forms, bolts of cloth, sewing machines and costumes in progress. This is the Costume Shop, the domain of Val Mayse, master dressmaker for the School of Drama.


June 7, 2023

Video: UW Architecture’s bench project turns an idea into an experience

In UW Architecture’s Making and Meaning class, students built benches to learn about design and construction, and to create community.


May 15, 2023

Video: What to wear? UW Libraries explores age-old question

Around the world, people begin each day by deciding what clothes to put on their bodies. A yearlong exhibit in the Allen Library explores a history of clothing and fashion, featuring a rotating selection of prints, books and artwork inspired by dress from the early 19th century to the present.


April 27, 2023

Video: Tiny, fierce hummingbirds are also an evolutionary delight for UW, Burke researcher

Close up of hummingbird at a feeder

Many of us are familiar with the hummingbirds that visit feeders, plants and gardens around us. But these small creatures are unusual in the ways they push the limits of biology, says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, UW assistant professor biology and curator of ornithology at the Burke Museum. He and his students study hummingbirds and other birds…


April 24, 2023

Awakening the canoe: UW Canoe Family prepares for this summer’s Tribal Canoe Journey

The wide end of a wooden paddle is being held by a gloved hand in an indoor workshop setting.

Member of the University of Washington Canoe Family have spent months carving traditional paddles using only hand tools, all in preparation for this summer’s Tribal Canoe Journey.


April 6, 2023

National and local leaders convene at UW for discussion of CHIPS and Science Act, investing in scientific discovery

We see the back of the director of the National Science Foundation as he shakes hand with one student in a group of students in a lab.

Leaders from Washington higher education institutions met with national policymakers April 4 to discuss opportunities provided by the CHIPS and Science Act. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited the University of Washington campus to talk about the legislation, which provides more than $100 billion to fund scientific research and…


March 15, 2023

Cherry blossoms get new visitors’ website, are on track for early April peak bloom

The cherry blossoms at the University of Washington campus are a seasonal tradition and celebration for the entire region. This year’s colder-than-usual spring is demanding a little more patience. Mark your calendars and plan your visit for a peak bloom expected in early April.


February 17, 2023

Video: Lummi Nation School students visit UW to talk to International Space Station astronaut

Astronaut Josh Cassada holding a microphone and floating in the International Space Station.

Students from the Lummi Nation School visited the University of Washington in earlh February for a real-time Q&A with astronaut Josh Cassada aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Cassada helped do space research on a plant science experiment the students sent to the ISS.


February 2, 2023

Hitting the snow with a new course on accessibility and disability justice

Scene of chair lift on in a snowy area with skiers being transported on a chair above.

It’s ski season and cold sunny days fill outdoor enthusiasts with delight, but ski areas usually come with stairs, crowds and an infrastructure generally built for skiers and snowboarders who ride solo and on two legs.   
Observing this winter activity through a lens of accessibility and disability justice is the point of a new class developed by UW Bothell associate teaching professor Jason Naranjo. His course, “Disability & Society — A Focus on Community and the Outdoors,” pairs UW students with skiers from Outdoors for All, an organization that provides adaptive outdoor activities for people who, for cognitive or physical reasons, can’t simply pop on skis and hit the slopes.


December 14, 2022

Video highlights: UW News in 2022

Couple taking selfie in front of cherry trees

The year 2022 saw the UW community coming together again with in-person classes, events and fascinating research that make videographers excited to hit “record” and share these scenes with you.


December 2, 2022

‘Good manners are good economics’: UW’s Anthony Gill on the value of giving

Holiday sweater with a cat's frowning face on it and the words Merry Whatever.

University of Washington political science professor Anthony Gill explains the social and economic value of gift-giving — and how even unwanted gifts help promote trust and build relationships.


November 28, 2022

‘Everything that you need is already in you’: Supporting young women of color through the Sisterhood Initiative

Faces of young brown skinned woman and a friend smiling with purple paw prints on their faces

The University of Washington’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the UW’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.


October 27, 2022

Bats are everywhere, but they get special attention around Halloween

Large bat flying during the day as seen from below against the sky.

These nocturnal flying mammals live in cities and rural areas and in most climates around the world – and maybe even in your own backyard.
Sharlene Santana, a University of Washington professor of biology and curator of mammals at the Burke Museum, explains that there are over 1,400 species of bats spanning an incredible diversity.


October 13, 2022

Video: Finding — and keeping — the perfect fit for a prosthetic leg

University of Washington Professor Joan Sanders and her team are creating a new type of prosthetic leg: one that automatically adjusts its fit throughout the day. Their latest prototype detects in real time how well the prosthesis socket and amputation site are fitting and responds by automatically changing the size of the socket, without the need for adjustments to padding or user action.


September 26, 2022

UW’s incoming class, one of the university’s largest and most diverse, welcomed at New Student Convocation

students listen to convocation speaker

The University of Washington on Sunday held its 39th annual New Student Convocation, which returned to Alaska Airlines Arena, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, for the first time since 2019.


September 21, 2022

Video: UW welcomes students back to campus with move-in days

The University of Washington’s campus again is bustling as students began moving into residence halls on Tuesday and will participate in annual fall activities for incoming undergraduates. About 10,000 students are expected to move into campus housing this week.


August 17, 2022

New UW Photonic Sensing Facility will use fiber-optic cables for seismic sensing, glaciology and more

jumble of yellow cables

A University of Washington pilot project is exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring. Funded in part with a $473,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Washington, the new UW Photonic Sensing Facility will use photons traveling through a fiber-optic cable to detect ground motions as small as 1 nanometer.


June 15, 2022

Video: Improvised Music Project Festival’s new format focuses on recording process

Man wearing mask sits behind professional looking microphone

This year, the School of Music’s Improvised Music Project focused on audio recording, inviting acclaimed recording engineer David Boucher for a weeklong workshop. The new format allowed students and faculty to gain experience with UW’s new mobile recording system while teaching fundamental recording and audio skills. 


May 26, 2022

Video: Alexes Harris draws attention to low representation of people of color in bone marrow registry

Bald woman in hospital bed looking at nurse examining medications beside her

In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.


May 24, 2022

Video: Experts collaborate to troubleshoot necessary fires and harmful smoke

Forest on fire with smoke billowing, as seen from a helicopter

Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?


April 1, 2022

Video: Rubbish is reborn as ‘Trash Art’ in unique contest

Image of quilt made from disposable face masks

Bottle tops, face masks and dog hair — these are all items usually destined for the dumpster. But UW Recycling came up with a unique art contest that takes waste from garbage to gallery.


March 30, 2022

Video: New face mask guidance for UW’s 2022 spring quarter

With the start of spring quarter on March 28, face masks became optional — but still recommended — inside most UW facilities. In light of the policy change, UW News spoke with several experts about what to expect on campus, how the current science and transmission rates inform our policy, and emotions and feelings we may experience as a result of removing our face coverings.


December 17, 2021

Video: UW News 2021 highlights

students walking around campus

As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by UW News during 2021 — a year where the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact our lives.


December 13, 2021

Video: Modeling how debris affects buildings during a tsunami

Researchers are modeling how tsunami debris pushes on a building — either by hitting it or getting lodged on it and creating a dam. They are also looking for patterns in the way floating debris moves around and against rigid shapes. The information may help in designing buildings in coastal communities that can better withstand damage by floating objects in tsunami events. 


December 9, 2021

Video: Peer Health Educators help students meet life’s challenges

Who do you talk to when you have a problem? For a student, it’s most likely a friend. Because young people tend to talk first to someone in their peer group, UW’s LiveWell created a Peer Health Education program where trained students teach other students about taking care of themselves and each other. 


November 22, 2021

Video: UW students build purifiers that can remove virus particles, other pollutants

A UW class that normally is about air pollution has pivoted to focus on another airborne health hazard — coronavirus aerosols. As part of the class project, students are designing and building air purifiers and testing how effective they are.


November 11, 2021

Video: UW pauses to recognize those with military service

The University of Washington’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, held on Thursday at the Medal of Honor Memorial near Red Square, featured music by the Husky Marching Band and a formation of UW Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.


November 4, 2021

Video: Standard time is better for us, UW expert says

On Sunday, Nov. 7 we switch from daylight saving time to standard time. A University of Washington expert in circadian rhythms says that’s a good thing.


October 28, 2021

Video: UW Farm’s Perry Acworth talks about pumpkins large and small

Perry Acworth, UW Farm manager, talks about different varieties of winter squash — from the palm-sized pie pumpkin to Cucurbita maxima, which can produce giant pumpkins.


Video: Great ShakeOut drill tests new earthquake early warning system

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GkB93CQjuK0_0-GRxhAGmwV0SSLt31_V?usp=sharing

At 10:21 a.m. on Oct. 21, teacher Wade Johnson’s science class at Port Susan Middle School scrambled under their desks as part of the annual Great American ShakeOut. It was Stanwood Camano School District’s first live test of its earthquake early warning system with all 13 of its schools participating in a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drill.


October 20, 2021

Video: Highlights from 2021 Annual President’s Address

UW President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her 2021 annual address, sharing her perspective on the road ahead as we work together to recover from the pandemic and support equity and well-being for our community of faculty, staff and students.


October 11, 2021

UW Resilience Lab aims to change campus culture toward compassion and mindfulness

Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Ed Taylor chats with Director of the UW Resilience Lab Megan Kennedy about how students, faculty and staff can create a more supportive, compassionate environment in which to learn and discover as the University of Washington community comes back to the campuses and recovers from the traumas of the last two years.



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