UW News


March 18, 2019

Information School to welcome high school students March 19 for ‘MisInfo Day’ – from ‘Calling BS’ faculty duo

The UW Information School is taking a leading role in helping people better navigate this era of increasing online fakery and falsehood. On March 19, the school will welcome 200-some Seattle-area high school students for “MisInfo Day,” a daylong workshop on how to navigate the misinformation landscape, from Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom, the faculty duo behind “Calling BS in the Age of Big Data.”


March 14, 2019

Jackson School’s Devin Naar featured in documentary premiering March 24 at Seattle’s Jewish Film Festival

Professor Devin Naar of the UW Jackson School and Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, right, talks with Joseph F. Lovett, director of the documentary "Children of the Inquisition." The film, which Naar consulted on and appears in, will premiere at the 2019 Seattle Jewish Film Festival.

Devin Naar, UW professor of international studies and history, is featured in “Children of the Inquisition,” a new documentary film about descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions discovering their Sephardic Jewish heritage. The film will premiere March 24 as part of the Seattle Jewish Film Festival.


March 4, 2019

Fake faces: UWs ‘Calling BS’ duo opens new website asking ‘Which face is real?’

Which of these two very realistic renderings of faces is real, and which is a computer-generated fake? Biology professor Carl Bergstrom and Information School professor Jevin West -- creators of the "Calling BS" class and site -- now have a website to help you better discern between fake and real images online. Here, the image on the right is real. Check your own skills at their site, WhichFaceisReal.com

A new website from the UW’s Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom, the duo behind the popular “Calling BS” class, asks viewers to choose which of two realistic face photos is real and which is a complete fake.


February 19, 2019

Climate change and national security: Jackson School to hold public discussion March 6 featuring Gov. Jay Inslee

What geopolitical challenges is global climate change creating for the national security of the United States and throughout the world? The UW’s Jackson School of International Studies will host a public panel discussion of these issues on March 6, featuring Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.


February 6, 2019

UW Libraries is new home for decades of KIRO-TV news video

A screen shot from a KIRO-TV news story among those given to UW Libraries recently. The entire donation included local news footage from 1975 to about 2001. The cameraman's pants seem to indicate this footage is from the 1970s.

Last year, local station KIRO-TV donated thousands of hours of old news videotapes of its news broadcasts from the 1970s through about the year 2000 — about 15,000 videotapes in all — to UW Libraries.


January 28, 2019

UW’s Stroum Center affiliates present on Holocaust, Ladino archives and more at 50th anniversary Jewish studies conference

The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, was well represented at the 50th annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies Dec. 16-18 in Boston.


January 22, 2019

UW books in brief: Healthy travel, Hebrew in America, principals supporting teachers and more

  Recent notable books by University of Washington faculty members explore the importance of Hebrew to modern America, remember the 1919 Seattle General Strike and look at issues in education, among other topics. Practical advice for healthy travel, near or far A new book by Dr. Christopher Sanford offers simple, practical recommendations for those traveling…


January 14, 2019

Labor Archives of Washington, partners, to celebrate centennial of 1919 Seattle General Strike

The Labor Archives of Washington, housed in UW Libraries, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Seattle General Strike with a series of events in coming weeks, as well as a new library exhibit on campus.


January 10, 2019

Evans School researchers study options for possible Washington public bank

Justin Marlowe, professor in the UW Evans School and co-author of new state-commissioned study about possibility of a cooperative state bank in Washington.

If Washington state were to establish a public bank, what type of bank might work best? One that can provide targeted products and services to local governments across the state, says a new report by UW researchers from the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.


December 17, 2018

UW Evans School study of Fauntleroy ferry service proposes improvements to technology, engagement

Suggested upgrades to technology, training and communication — and funding them appropriately — lie at the heart of recommendations to the state from UW Evans School researchers after a study of service at the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal in West Seattle.


December 13, 2018

Hark! UW talents — on page and disc — for the good Dawgs on your holiday shopping list

collage of books and CD covers

As the year comes to a close and festivities abound, some UW faculty creations can make great gifts for the thinking Dawg on your giving list.


December 3, 2018

‘Carbon accountability’: UW architecture professor Kate Simonen sees progress in work to reduce embodied carbon in construction materials

Kate Simonen, UW professor of architecture and head of the Carbon Leadership Forum

Kate Simonen, architect, engineer and UW associate professor of architecture, discusses recent work by her and the Carbon Leadership Forum toward reducing embodied carbon in construction materials.


November 26, 2018

Papyrus scrolls to Kindle and beyond: UW professor pens meditation on ‘the book’

"The Book," by Amaranth Borsuk, published in 2018 by MIT Press, part of the publisher's Essential Knowledge series.

What is a “book” in the digital age — and what will it become? Amaranth Borsuk, assistant professor in the UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Studies, discusses the idea of “the book,” from clay tablets and papyrus scrolls to the hyperlinked, multimedia format of the digital age. She has her own new book out on the topic, titled “The Book.”


November 20, 2018

Study brings new climate models of small star TRAPPIST 1’s seven intriguing worlds

The small, cool M dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and its seven worlds. New research from the University of Washington speculates on possible climates of these worlds and how they may have evolved.

Not all stars are like the sun, so not all planetary systems can be studied with the same expectations. New research from a University of Washington-led team of astronomers gives updated climate models for the seven planets around the star TRAPPIST-1.


November 19, 2018

UW’s Marina Alberti to lead new NSF-funded research network to study impact of cities on Earth’s evolutionary dynamics

The cycle of eco-evolutionary feedback -- the topic of a new research coordination network funded by the National Science Foundation.

Here in what is called the Anthropocene era, humans and our urban environments appear to be driving accelerated evolutionary change in plants, animals, fungi, viruses and more — changes that could affect key ecosystem functions and thus human well-being. These interactions between evolution and ecology are called “eco-evolutionary feedback.” The National Science Foundation has awarded…


November 13, 2018

UW communication professor Ralina Joseph’s new book navigates minefield of ‘postracial racialism’

"Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity," by UW communication associate professor Ralina Joseph, was published in October by New York University Press.

Ralina Joseph, associate professor of communication, discusses here new book “Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity,” published this October by New York University Press.


October 29, 2018

UW books in brief: Postwar Japan, American Indian businesses, dictatorship to democracy — and more

Collage illustration for UW Books in Brief, Oct. 29, 2018

Recent notable books by UW faculty members study politics and culture in post-World War II Japan, explore regime change, nonprofit management, documents from the ancient world and more.


October 25, 2018

Valuing older buildings: Architecture professor’s book argues for reuse rather than wrecking ball

In her new book, Kathryn Rogers Merlino, UW associate professor of architecture, argues for the environmental benefit of reusing buildings rather than tearing them down and building anew.


October 16, 2018

Once there were camps: New book by UW historian Jordanna Bailkin remembers Britain’s ‘forgotten’ 20th-century refugee camps

Today, Britain is not known as a land of camps, but through much of the 20th century — from after World War I to the 1980s —  the country was home to dozens of refugee camps housing thousands of Belgians, Jews, Basques, Poles, Hungarians, Anglo-Egyptians, Ugandan Asians and Vietnamese. As University of Washington history professor…


October 8, 2018

Race, empire, agency explored in UW history professor’s book ‘Risky Shores: Savagery and Colonialism in the Western Pacific’

A new book by University of Washington history professor George Behlmer seeks to improve understanding of the British colonial era by “reconsidering the conduct of islanders and the English-speaking strangers who encountered them.”


September 24, 2018

David Shields deconstructs the mind of President Donald Trump in latest book

David Shields, UW professor of English, discusses his latest book, “Nobody Hates Trump More than Trump: An Intervention.”


September 18, 2018

UW historian Margaret O’Mara discusses famous 1968 computer mouse ‘demo’ — and the start of Silicon Valley — for new podcast by The Conversation

Margaret O'Mara, UW professor of history, is interviewed for a podcast by The Conversation

Margaret O’Mara, UW professor of history, explores the impact of a December 1968 computer presentation that came to be called “the mother of all demos” in an essay and podcast from the news website The Conversation.


Evans School’s Patrick Dobel pens book on ethics in public leadership

Patrick Dobel, professor emeritus of the UW Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, discusses his new book, “Public Leadership Ethics: A Management Approach.”


September 10, 2018

Evans School professor Justin Marlowe appointed to Washington Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors

Justin Marlowe, a professor in the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, has been named a member of Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s Council of Economic Advisors. He will be among those advising the governor on local and state economic conditions and national developments that affect state policies.


August 13, 2018

Information School’s Hans Scholl on promises, cautions of ‘digital government’

Hans Scholl, professor in the UW Information School, discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital government. The website Apolitical has named him among the “Top 100 Most Influential People in digital government.”


August 7, 2018

Evans School to study effects of Seattle’s sick leave ordinance

Hilary Wething, a doctoral student in the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, has received a grant to study the effects of Seattle’s law requiring paid sick leave.


August 2, 2018

UW books in brief: Urban diaries, battling Jim Crow on campus and more

collage of book covers

Recent notable books by University of Washington authors tell of the struggle to break free of racism in higher education, taking an “urban diary” approach to documenting city life and more.


July 9, 2018

Oxygen levels on early Earth rose and fell several times before the successful Great Oxidation Event

The Jeerinah Formation in Western Australia, where a UW-led team found a nitrogen isotope "excursion." “Nitrogen isotopes tell a story about oxygenation of the surface ocean, and this oxygenation spans hundreds of kilometers across a marine basin and lasts for somewhere less than 50 million years," said lead author Matt Koehler.

Earth’s oxygen levels rose and fell more than once hundreds of millions of years before the planetwide success of the Great Oxidation Event about 2.4 billion years ago, new research from the University of Washington shows.


June 27, 2018

Vintage editorial cartoons by Oregon’s Howard Fisher in UW Libraries exhibit ‘Captured in Ink’

UW Libraries Special Collections has a new exhibit called “Captured in Ink: Historical Cartoons and Caricatures.” The exhibit features the editorial cartoons of Howard Fisher, who worked and drew for decades for the Oregon Journal, a Portland newspaper that folded in 1982. Many other historical caricatures are included as well in the display, which stays up until October 19.


June 25, 2018

UW part of NASA network coordinating search for life on exoplanets

This image is an artist’s conception of what life could look like on the surface of a distant planet.

Researchers with the UW-led Virtual Planetary Laboratory are central to a group of papers published by NASA researchers today in the journal Astrobiology outlining the history — and suggesting the future — of the search for life on exoplanets, or those orbiting stars other than the sun.


June 18, 2018

Evans School faculty to study Fauntleroy ferry concerns for Washington State Ferries

The Washington State Legislature has commissioned faculty members with the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance to study ticketing and loading procedures at the West Seattle ferry dock and suggest ways to improve terminal operations. Evans School professor Alison Cullen and associate professor Stephen Page will lead the study, which begins…


June 1, 2018

Art, design provide eclectic mix for annual graduate show at Henry Art Gallery

Art and design can amaze, inform, entertain, challenge or even gently baffle the viewer — and the annual thesis exhibition for Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design at the Henry Art Gallery reliably offers a little of each.


May 24, 2018

Remaking a reef: UW landscape architecture students to present design for new artificial reef at Redondo dive site

A UW landscape architecture student's illustration of part of an artificial reef to be built at Washington's Redondo Beach dive area. UW students are working with the state, the dive community and others to design a new reef to provide a healthy habitat for marine life.

What makes a good artificial reef, for divers, and for marine life? University of Washington landscape architecture students have done designs for a state-funded project to replace the artificial reef at the Redondo Beach dive site. They will present and discuss their work in a public meeting May 30, in Des Moines. The landscape architecture…


May 14, 2018

Orbital variations can trigger ‘snowball’ states in habitable zones around sunlike stars

An artist’s impression of Earth as a frigid "‘snowball" planet. New research from the University of Washington indicates that aspects of a planet's axial tilt or orbit could trigger such a snowball state, where oceans freeze and surface life is impossible.

Aspects of an otherwise Earthlike planet’s tilt and orbital dynamics can severely affect its potential habitability — even triggering abrupt “snowball states” where oceans freeze and surface life is impossible, according to new research from UW astronomers.


Jackson School’s Taso Lagos pens ‘American Zeus,’ biography of theater mogul Alexander Pantages

"American Zeus: The Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul," by Taso Lagos, was published by McFarland.

It’s a challenge to write a biography of a man who was functionally illiterate and whose papers were mostly destroyed, but UW lecturer Taso Lagos has achieved it with his new book, “American Zeus: The Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul.”


May 7, 2018

Author Charles Johnson — with new story collection ‘Night Hawks’ out — discusses the anatomy of a short story

Prof. Charles Johnson's fourth book of stories, "Night Hawks," was published by Scribner.

Charles Johnson, UW professor emeritus of English, has released his fourth book of short stories, “Night Hawks.” He discusses his creative process for short story-writing.


May 2, 2018

Center for Communication, Difference and Equity to explore issues of race and media in conference May 10-12

Issues of race and racism permeate American culture and media more than ever. The UW’s Center for Communication, Difference and Equity will hold a three-day conference May 10-12 to explore these issues and foster engagement and support among academics.


May 1, 2018

UW astrobiologist Victoria Meadows receives SETI Institute’s Frank Drake Award

Victoria Meadows, UW astrobiologist and professor of astronomy.

Victoria Meadows, University of Washington astrobiologist, professor of astronomy and leader of NASA’s UW-based Virtual Planetary Laboratory, has been named recipient of the 2018 Frank Drake Award from the SETI Institute. She is the first woman to receive the award.


April 19, 2018

Vikram Prakash’s ‘ArchitectureTalk’ podcast explores topics ‘at the edge of the known’

Vikram Prakash, professor of architecture and creator of the ArchitectureTalk Podcast.

Vikram Prakash says his weekly “ArchitectureTalk” podcast got its start, as many things do, from a student’s idea.


April 17, 2018

Daniel Bessner’s ‘Democracy in Exile’ explores brain drain from Germany in 1930s, effect on U.S. foreign policy

Daniel Bessner's book "Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual" was published by Cornell University Press.

Daniel Bessner, assistant professor in the Jackson School, has a new book from Cornell University Press: “Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual.”



Previous page Next page