UW Notebook features stories of interest to the UW community — including projects and books by, and recognition of, UW faculty, students and staff. If you’d like to submit a story idea, email uwnews@uw.edu.
José Alaniz says that comics — especially superhero tales — hooked him and “rewired” his brain at an early age. They also got him drawing his own comics, chronicling his life and the things he observes. Now Alaniz, a UW professor of Slavic languages and literatures, has published a collection of his own drawings and essays. “The Phantom Zone.”
Recent honors to University of Washington faculty and staff have come from Architect magazine, the Center for Research Libraries, member states of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the American Society of Human Genetics.
Notable new books by UW faculty and staff include a study of rebellion at sea, an emeritus faculty member’s Buddhist-focused memoir, a reconsideration of Northwest Coast Native American art with Indigenous perspectives in mind, thoughts on bridging cultural gaps through design — and an award for the editor-in-chief of UW Press.
BJ Cummings,community engagement manager for the Superfund Research Program at the UW, discusses her book “The River that Made Seattle: A Human and Natural History of the Duwamish,” published in July by UW Press.
A talk with Eric Madfis of UW Tacoma about his new book “How to Stop School Rampage Killing: Lessons from Averted Mass Shootings and Bombings,” published this spring by Palgrave MacMillan.
A quick look at several UW-produced podcasts, from benevolent marketing to Arctic geopolitics — and a classics professor’s work being featured in a podcast produced by the Times Literary Supplement.
UW family physician Morhaf Al Achkar publishes memoir “Being Authentic,” and a Lambda Literary award goes to UW Tacoma’s Emily Thuma.
The Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute has named UW mathematics professor Tatiana Toro the recipient of its 2020 Blackwell-Tapia Prize.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff have come from the British Computer Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group, the Freeman Foundation and the IEEE.
Charles Johnson has written novels and short stories, screenplays and philosophical meditations, but his latest book is something different, and very personal. “GRAND: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Life” was published May 5.
It’s one thing to run a marathon for 26.2 miles. But what possesses some people to run 100 miles or more, and do it again and again? “Salvation,” answers Amy Mower in a new book about ultramarathon running, “or at least a very good time.”
How do you make the sound of birds flying for a radio broadcast? Flapping leather gloves will do. Curtis Takahashi of UW Bothell’s Career Development Program talks about his side gig of providing sound effects for local live radio broadcasts.
One of the essential roles that is often not seen is the work of our campus photographers. They continue to capture the visual stories and people on campus in a time when many of us aren’t there to see them ourselves. UW News asked one of our campus photographers to share some of his favorite photos he’s taken this spring, and to describe what it’s like working on campus now.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff have come from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Washington Native Plant Society, the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the Republic of Ghana.
Research projects funded for 2020 by EarthLab’s Innovation Grants Program will study how vegetation might reduce pollution, help an Alaskan village achieve safety and resilience amid climate change, organize a California river’s restoration with tribal involvement, compare practices in self-managed indigenous immigrant communities and more.
Recent honors to University of Washington faculty and staff have come from the Association of Asian Studies, the American Society of Public Administration, the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography and Cascade Public Media.
Farming and food production can be made more compatible with bird and wildlife conservation, says UW ornithologist John Marzluff in his latest book, “In Search of Meadowlarks: Birds, Farms, and Food in Harmony with the Land”
Recent notable books by UW faculty members look at gentrification and inequity in a New York neighborhood, skin lighteners though history, female agency in Arthurian legend and biographical epitaphs in China across many centuries.
The UW Asian Languages & Literature Department has been awarded a four-year $1.3 million “flagship” grant from the the Institute for International Education that will support the expanded study of Chinese language and culture across the UW.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff have come from the American Education Research Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the SeaDoc Society.
Noting the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, NASA has featured UW-led research by Faisal Hossain that uses satellite data to help farmers manage water more efficiently.
A conversation with international studies professor Dan Chirot about his new book, “You Say You Want a Revolution: Radical Idealism and its Tragic Consequences.”
When the UW announced it was moving its spring quarter 2020 classes entirely online to combat the novel coronavirus, instructors across campus faced a new, uncharted challenge.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff include fellows named by an organization for medical and biological engineering, and a remembrance of political science professor Ellis Goldberg, who died in 2019.
A talk with James Banks, UW professor emeritus of education, about his new book of essays, and three other education books are also noted.
UW Notebook visits with the producer of “Crossing North,” a podcast by the Scandinavian Studies Department, and notes other podcasts on campus and an appearance by David Montgomery on the podcast “Undark.”
Recent honors to University of Washington faculty and staff have come from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the World Register of Marine Species.
Any old fish can swim. But what fish can walk, scoot, clamber over rocks, change color and even fight to the death? That would be the frogfish. A talk with Ted Pietsch, UW professor of emeritus of aquatic and fishery sciences, about his latest book, “Frogfishes: Biodiversity, Zoogeography, and Behavioral Ecology”
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff have come from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Republic of Lithuania and Google.
A talk with UW architecture professor Tyler Sprague about his book “Sculpture on a Grand Scale: Jack Christiansen’s Thin Shell Modernism.” Plus books from Rick Bonus and Yong-Chool Ha.
Ted Poor, assistant professor of drums in the UW School of Music, has a new album. “You Already Know,” was released Feb. 28 on New Deal/Impulse. UW Notebook caught up with Poor for a short Q and A.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff include a Finnish knighthood, an NIH award to extend a research grant and a new annual award from the Society of General Physiologists.
It’s the year 2020, and where two or more are gathered, it seems, there is a podcast. Given the level of creativity among University of Washington faculty and staff, it’s no surprise that many high-quality podcasts are now being produced on campus. Here’s a look at three podcasts being created by UW departments or people, including a couple that have been underway for quite a while. UW Notebook will occasionally report on campus podcasts and ask a few questions of…
The ’s design program in the School of Art + Art History + Design earned top honors on the 2020 list of “Best Graphic Design Programs” by the online site Animation Career Review. UW was the top ranked school in Washington, among the top 10 on the West Coast and ranked 7th out of 40 public institutions.
Steve Kramer, a professor of UW civil and environmental engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Kramer is among 87 members and 18 international members newly elected to the academy, one of the highest professional distinctions in engineering.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff members include awards for architectural education and biomaterials research, fellowships in nursing and cloud computing, a professor named among Seattle’s most influential people and a big news year for “a burgeoning band of embodied carbon busters.”
Notable new books by UW faculty members include studies of military cultural education programs and equitable collaboration between schools and families. Also, National Endowment for the Humanities support for a coming book on an 18th century India poet, an honor for a work about postwar Japan — and a National Jewish Book Award.
UW Notebook visits with Allee Monheim, UW Libraries public service librarian, who curates the libraries distinctive social media accounts.
Recent honors to UW faculty and staff include an early career award in astronomy, an honorary doctorate from the Delft University of Technology, a seat on Washington state’s new LGBTQ Commission and national honor for an English Department writing program.
James W. Harrington is not only a UW professor and former administrator — in recent years, he has also become a prolific painter. UW Notebook caught up with him to ask a few questions about his art and his coming exhibit at the UW Tower.