Learning

April 3, 2015

Tourist to traveler: 2015 Kelly Lecture to highlight impact of study abroad

University of Washington English professor Shawn Wong, who has designed and led numerous study abroad classes over the last 18 years, will address the importance of academic travel when he presents the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s (OMA&D) 11th annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture on Thursday, April 16. His lecture titled “Tourist to Traveler: The Transforming Experience of Study Abroad” will take place at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception…

March 30, 2015

UW faculty team for five-year study of Seattle’s minimum wage increase

What will be the effects of the city of Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance? Faculty from the UW’s schools of public affairs, public health and social work are teaming up for The Seattle Minimum Wage Study, a five-year research project to learn that and more.

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…

February 18, 2015

Fearless birds and shrinking salmon: Is urbanization pushing Earth’s evolution to a tipping point?

We’ve long known that humans and our cities affect the ecosystem and even drive some evolutionary change. What’s new is that these evolutionary changes are happening more quickly than previously thought, and have potential impacts not in the distant future — but now.

February 13, 2015

AAAS symposium looks at how to bring big-data skills to academia

A session Feb. 15 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting will explore how big data scientists can find careers at universities and within academic settings.

University of Washington named one of 12 ‘top producers’ of both Fulbright scholars and students

The University of Washington is one of 12 institutions to make the “top producers” list of both Fulbright scholars and students for 2014-15, according to lists released Thursday in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Fulbright Program, operated by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Seven scholars and 13 students from the UW were awarded Fulbright grants for 2014-2015, with the university landing fourth on the…

December 19, 2014

UW architecture students to design, build public pavilion on Seattle’s waterfront

A drawing of the proposed Hotspot Pavilion on Seattle's waterfront, to be designed and built by UW architecture students. THe south end, to the right, will have a performance stage.

UW architecture students will design and build a new temporary event pavilion and Internet hub for the Seattle waterfront.

December 1, 2014

‘What is HCDE?’ New comics class aims to answer the question

Undergraduate students Xiangyi (Anne) Zheng, left, and Daniel Aldridge give feedback on each other's comics at a recent class.

A new class at the University of Washington is using comics to explain what, exactly, the field of human-centered design is all about.

November 20, 2014

UW undergrad’s early life challenges become a hectic schedule of opportunity

From starting his own company – and recruiting 11 friends to join him – and running a successful nonprofit to doing research in the lab and taking a full course load, engineering undergraduate student David Coven is an expert schedule juggler.

November 14, 2014

Portable planetarium takes astronomy to school

The UW Astronomy Department’s Mobile Planetarium visits Sammamish High School in Bellevue, where students give their own planetarium presentations.

November 7, 2014

Undergrads use sonar to uncover Lake Union shipwrecks

Undergraduates this week were among the first people to try the latest in seafloor mapping technology — and use it to image a shipwreck on Seattle’s urban lake.

November 5, 2014

UW Ebola preparedness plans reflect changing situation

Well-informed precautions are being taken to protect the UW community and the public.

October 16, 2014

Athletics initiatives, barriers to sustainability topics for Sustainability Summit

Theannual one-day Sustainability Summit this year is the centerpiece of a new weeklong SustainableUW Festival.

October 10, 2014

Citizen science key to keeping pace with environmental change

Seven students stand on beach holding bird carcass

Better integration of citizen science into professional science is a growing consideration at the UW and elsewhere.

October 8, 2014

Jackson School centers receive $16 million for international education

The University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education for all eight of its Title VI centers — with grants of more than $16 million to be awarded over four years.

September 30, 2014

UW students to build hybrid-electric muscle car in EcoCAR 3 contest

The UW is one of 16 schools invited to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Co. EcoCAR 3 competition that spans four years with stand-alone contests each spring. Their challenge in this next competition is to convert a Chevrolet Camaro into a hybrid-electric car.

September 24, 2014

Citizenship, women in tech, taboo language, psychology of superheroes among UW’s new fall class lineup

From exploring American citizenship to encouraging women in technology, the 2014-15 school year brings a wealth of new classroom experiences for UW students.

September 23, 2014

‘Celebrity and its Discontents’: The 2014 Performing Arts Lecture Series

Celebrities have fascinated the public for centuries — but why? And how does the spotlight affect those on whom it shines? This year’s Performing Arts Lecture Series, presented by the School of Drama, explores the power of celebrity from unique perspectives in three evening lectures.

September 22, 2014

New degree programs aplenty starting with school year

The University of Washington is offering a number of new degree programs with the start of fall quarter 2014.

Through new degree programs starting this fall, students will learn architecture from a liberal arts perspective, complete social sciences degrees online, become expert in the teaching of science, and much more.

September 19, 2014

Join expedition online: UW students help install cabled deep-sea observatory

UW students have had a unique experience off the coast of Washington and Oregon helping scientists and engineers complete construction of the world’s largest deep-ocean observatory.

September 3, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest

Latest news from the UW Health Sciences: Comparative genomes, open notes, teaching Ebola, depression in women

August 25, 2014

Learning by watching, toddlers show intuitive understanding of probability

UW researchers have found that children as young as 2 intuitively use math concepts to help make sense of their world.

August 21, 2014

Busy midsummer week for UW undergraduate researchers

Trinh Ha, an incoming freshman who will study engineering, talks with visitors at the UW Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Session Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014.

The popular Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Session allows UW students — and some just arriving — to show off their research.

August 7, 2014

Rebuilding part of the Large Hadron Collider – with Legos

UW physics graduate student Nikola Whallon shows off a Legos version of the Atlas detector.

UW students used Legos to build a replica of the Atlas detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider that made physics history. (With video)

August 1, 2014

A unique lab class: UW students explore nation’s largest dam removal

A spring research apprenticeship course had nine undergraduates living at Friday Harbor Labs and studying what will happen to sediment released by dam removals on the Elwha River.

July 29, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest 7.29.2014

News from the UW Health Sciences: Alzheimer’s impact on our aging population, hunger cues, trauma treatment study, avoiding burnout, training new neuroscientists, an AIDS-free generation

July 23, 2014

Historical guide ‘Shaping Seattle Architecture’ returns in second edition

The second edition of "Shaping Seattle Architecture" is out from University of Washington Press.

Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, UW professor of architecture, discusses the second edition of “Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects.” Ochsner edited both editions, working with a five-person editorial board.

July 15, 2014

Sustainable, sharing communities explored in Karen Litfin’s book ‘Ecovillages’

The forest provides firewood for the 40,000 Tamil villagers who live around Auroville. "Founded in 1968 upon a severely eroded plateau in south India, the first order of business for the pioneers was to revitalize the land. Three million trees later, Auroville is home to over 2,000 people from 43 different countries and is one of the few places on Earth where biodiversity is actually increasing," Litfin writes.

UW political scientist Karen Litfin spent a year traveling to 14 ecovillages worldwide in researching her book “Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community.”

July 14, 2014

Months before their first words, babies’ brains rehearse speech mechanics

A year-old baby sits in a brain scanner, called magnetoencephalography -- a noninvasive approach to measuring brain activity. The baby listens to speech sounds like "da" and "ta" played over headphones while researchers record her brain responses.

Research from UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences shows that in 7- and 11-month-old infants speech sounds stimulate areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech.

July 10, 2014

Students calculate future sea-level rise in Olympia

Students in a UW statistics course did a case study on sea-level rise in Olympia. All are co-authors on a new paper that looks at the uncertainties around estimates of rising seas.

July 2, 2014

‘I see it, learn it and do it’: A peek into the lives of some of UW’s online students

Forty-nine students from eight states are part of the inaugural group of Huskies in the UW’s first online bachelor’s degree completion program in early childhood and family studies.

June 30, 2014

Rebecca Thorpe studies military spending in new book ‘The American Warfare State’

UW political scientist Rebecca Thorpe discusses her new book, “The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of Military Spending.”

June 18, 2014

Global issues at play in book of study-abroad student letters

“T.I.P.S. to Study Abroad” is available at the University Bookstore and through Amazon. Proceeds from the book will go to the organizations the students met and worked with in India.

Creative letters written by UW undergraduates who studied last summer in Bangalore, India, are gathered in a new book, “T.I.P.S. for Study Abroad.”

June 13, 2014

News digest: NeuroFutures Conference, Honors: David Wright, Richard Haag, UWTV

Illustration of circitry superimposed on a human head

Compiled by the Office of News and Information

June 12, 2014

New computer program aims to teach itself everything about anything

Some of the many variations that the new program has learned for three different concepts: "Horse," "Dog" and "Walking."

Computer scientists from the University of Washington and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle have created the first fully automated computer program that teaches everything there is to know about any visual concept.

June 11, 2014

2014 UW graduates have interesting tales to tell

A large 'W' is at the north entrance to the UW campus.

UW Today profiles some of 2014’s highest-achieving graduates.

June 6, 2014

Ocean technology course ends spring quarter with a splash

A University of Washington undergraduate class has students design, build and test their own Internet-connected oceanographic sensors. The students are getting their feet wet, literally, in a new type of oceanography.

June 4, 2014

Back home again: UW ethnomusicologists return heritage music to its roots

Participants in the Association for Cultural Equity's music October 2013 repatriation ceremony perform and parade. The event, called the "All Our Friends Hill Country Blues Celebration," was held in Tate and Panola counties in Mississippi.

The UW School of Music’s Ethnomusicology Program is helping to bring roots and hill music collected decades ago by folklorist Alan Lomax back to its place of origin, with teaching materials and local ceremonies.

June 3, 2014

UW Libraries hosts digital collection of activist Gary Greaves’ interviews

Interviews from the 1990s by Seattle-area activist Gary Greaves on how the area changed after the 1962 World’s Fair are now offered online by UW Libraries.