A new study of female engineering students perceived challenges finds significant differences between black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American and white women. The findings could help institutions better attract and retain particular underrepresented student populations.
News releases
A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall in rabbits effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol. In the future, researchers hope to test whether this gene-delivery method works in heart bypass grafts.
The National Science Foundation today announced an $18.5 million grant to establish an Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at the UW. The interdisciplinary center will combine neuroscience and robotics to develop new rehabilitation technologies.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow, so forests have long been proposed as a way to offset climate change. But rather than just letting the forest sit there for a hundred or more years, the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere could be quadrupled in 100 years by harvesting regularly and using the wood in place of fossil-fuel intensive steel and concrete.
Sodium channels are pores in the membranes of excitable cells – such as brain nerve cells or beating heart cells – that emit electrical signals. Researchers have obtained a high-resolution crystal structure showing all the atoms of this complex protein molecule and how they relate in three-dimensions.
A new system to send electricity over short distances has been shown to reliably power a mechanical heart pump. The system could free patients from being tethered to a battery or external power source, lowering their chance of infection and improving their quality of life.
A forest resources professor whos an expert on invasive species and rare plants became director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens July 1.
Kelsey Knowles, a masters degree candidate in the Evans School of Public Affairs, has been appointed as the University of Washingtons student regent by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The appointment is for one year.
A study by University of Washington psychologists shows some people continue to drink heavily because of perceived positive effects, suggesting a new direction for programs targeting binge drinking.
The teens will spend a week in July at the UW exploring the nursing profession and what it takes to become a nurse. The camp is made possible by donations from UW School of Nursing faculty, staff and students, and from local community groups and businesses.
A new survey shows that Seattle residents who know or recognize a police officer in their neighborhood and have participated in a block watch or similar program are more likely to regard police positively. And its especially true about people of color.
Brief, voluntary conversations with a health educator led to up to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teenagers who frequently used the drug.
New research suggests that, in the Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta, human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the decline of the caribou population.
Better glucose, lipid and blood pressure control in the diabetic population over the past 20 years has not reduced the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease in the United States.
A recent report shows that building information modeling is challenging and changing the construction industry, including the ways mechanical contractors organize teams and technology.
New research shows that in some structured communities, organisms increase their chances of survival if they evolve some level of restraint that allows competitors to survive as well, a sort of “survival of the weakest.”
New research lends support to recent studies that suggest abrupt climate change is the result of alterations in ocean circulation uniquely associated with ice ages, not from atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Keiko Torii, professor of biology, is among 15 of the “nations most innovative plant scientists” selected to share $75 million for fundamental plant science research.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s most current county-level analysis of life expectancy in America finds large disparities nationwide. Women fare worse than men, and people in Appalachia, the Deep South, and Northern Texas live the shortest lives.
The law firm Perkins Coie has presented its $20,000 “Award for Discovery” to Deok-Ho Kim, UW assistant professor of bioengineering and a regenerative medicine researcher. Kim works on pre-conditioning stem cells to try to create longer-surviving patches for heart muscle repair.
The chief executive officers of UW Medicine and Valley Medical Center have announced the formation of a strategic alliance in which Valley Medical Center, Public Hospital District #1 of King County, will join UW Medicine effective July 1, 2011.
The snowpack decline of the last 50 years in the Rocky Mountains is highly unusual in context of the past 800 years, according to findings published June 10 in “Science.”
A century after the discovery of superfluids, scientists using a powerful supercomputer have devised a theoretical framework that explains the real-time behavior of superfluids.
An Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower in its native Sumatra and elsewhere because of its foul odor, has bloomed at the University of Washington botany greenhouse. Visit weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. while the bloom lasts.
The University of Washington and KEXP Radio have entered into a new management agreement for KEXP to continue operating the Universitys broadcast service at 90.3 FM for the next 30 years.
Students overall performed better – and educationally disadvantaged students generally made even greater strides than everyone else – in an introductory biology course at the University of Washington where recent budget woes doubled class sizes for the course, cut lab times and reduced the number of graduate teaching assistants.
Commencement is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, June 11, for UW Seattle; 2 p.m. Sunday, June 12, for UW Bothell; and 10 a.m. Friday, June 10, for UW Tacoma.
UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center have gone smoke- and tobacco-free as of Tuesday, May 31 — World No Tobacco Day. All designated smoking areas will be phased out. Nicotine replacement therapy and counseling will be available to patients, along with referrals to tobacco cessation programs when they are discharged.
A new system called EnerJ helps computer programmers go green, allowing them to cut a program’s energy consumption by as much as 50 percent.
Luis Fraga, associate vice provost for faculty advancement and Russell F. Stark University Professor at the University of Washington, has been appointed to the Presidents Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
UW scientists find that in an unfelt, weeks-long seismic phenomenon called episodic tremor and slip, the tremor can suddenly reverse direction and travel back through areas of the fault that it had ruptured in preceding days.
A fossil of a creature that died about 247 million years ago, originally thought to be a distant relative of both birds and crocodiles, actually came from the crocodile family tree after it had already split from the bird family tree, a UW researcher has found.
In a new book, a University of Washington psychologist argues that to flourish, humans need exposure to the natural world.
UW genome scientists have identified several sporadic mutations in children with autism spectrum disorder. By analyzing the protein-coding portions of the genome in 20 individuals with the disorder and in their parents, the researchers found 21 newly occurring mutations.
A more automated approach to bladder exams could be cheaper, more comfortable and more convenient. The system would use the UWs ultrathin laser endoscope, which is like a thin piece of cooked spaghetti, in combination with software that automatically creates a 3-D panorama of the bladder interior.
Scientists have demonstrated the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules. The researchers created a protein that disabled the part of the 1918 pandemic flu virus involved in invading respiratory tract cells.
With UW Accelerated Certification for Teachers — called U-ACT for short — the College of Education will become the credential program provider in Washington state for Teach For America.
Thanks to students at the UW Child and Youth Legislative Advocacy Clinic, Gov. Chris Gregoire will on Thursday, May 2 sign a bill that bans private credit reporting agencies from selling a youths criminal records after he or she turns 21.
University of Washington statisticians used a computer model to study the effect of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on commuter travel times. They found that relying on surface streets would likely have less impact on travel times than previously reported, and that effects on commute times are not well known.
Dr. Martha J. Somerman, dean of the UW School of Dentistry, has been named director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Timothy A. DeRouen, executive associate dean for research and academic affairs at the dental school, will serve as interim dean.