Technology
May 17, 2012
'Hackademia': Course harnesses the spirit of old-school hacking
Beth Kolko’s experimental course takes its cue from the hacker community, helping students of any major get a taste of what it means to build software and hardware.
May 9, 2012
Portable diagnostics designed to be shaken, not stirred
A textured surface mimics a lotus leaf to move drops of liquid in particular directions. The low-cost system could be used in portable medical or environmental tests.
April 27, 2012
UW computer science students win national cyber defense competition
Last year, they were underdogs. This year, they’re a dynasty. A team of eight students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering reclaimed the top stop at last weekend’s National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.
April 26, 2012
Cells in blood vessel found to cling more tightly in regions of rapid flow
The cells that line the pipes leading to the heart pull more tightly together in areas of fast-flowing blood. The cells’ mechanical response to their environment could aid understanding of heart disease.
April 13, 2012
History Channels Titanic documentary features UW engineers
A History Channel documentary on the Titanic airing Sunday includes materials testing in the UW’s Structural Research Laboratory. UW faculty and staff participated in the testing.
April 10, 2012
Newfangled space-propulsion technology could help clean up Earth orbit
A magnetized ion plasma system devised by a UW researcher to propel spacecraft at ultra-high speeds could be adapted to clean up dead satellites and other debris crowded in Earth orbit.
March 30, 2012
Bigger, bolder, greener: The 2012 UW Environmental Innovation Challenge (with video)
The fourth Environmental Innovation Challenge was the biggest yet. The winning team proposes to replace concrete lane dividers with ones made from recycled rubber tires. Other student teams presented their prototypes for emergency shelters, rooftop gardens, nonstick cookware and other green businesses.
March 23, 2012
Tech survey shows students want better connections, faculty want more flexible classrooms
Students want better wireless and electrical connections on campus, while faculty would like more consistent and more flexible configurations of classroom technology, a new survey shows.
March 12, 2012
Bellingham roadway with recycled toilets is world's first official 'Greenroad'
Greenroads, a rating system developed at the University of Washington to promote sustainable roadway construction, awarded its first official certification to a Bellingham project that incorporates porcelain from recycled toilets.
March 6, 2012
One year later: Japan quake, tsunami a cautionary tale for Pacific Northwest
On the one-year anniversary of Japan’s great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, UW scientists said the devastating event has some important lessons for the Pacific Northwest – most notably, that a similar event will happen here, and this region is much less prepared than Japan.
March 1, 2012
UW students to design alternative-fuels vehicle for EcoCAR 2 competition
Over the next three years, a team of UW students will convert a 2013 Chevy Malibu into a fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicle that still meets consumer demands for a driver-friendly car. The UW is one of 15 schools participating in the EcoCAR 2 contest, sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy.
February 21, 2012
Design eye for the science guy: Drop-in clinic helps scientists communicate data
The Design Help Desk offers scientists a chance to meet with a student who can help them create more effective figures, tables and graphs. This visual equivalent of a Writing Help Desk is also a study on how to teach data visualization.
February 8, 2012
UW launches technology startup incubator, aims to double startups in three years
A business incubator unveiled today is one element in a larger commercialization initiative announced by UW President Michael Young that will double the number of startups produced by the university – from an average of 10 a year to 20 – during the next three years.
January 30, 2012
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
The walls of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits a response to electric fields known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The discovery could have implications for treating human heart disease.
January 25, 2012
USDOT awards $3.5 million for UW-based regional transportation center
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a grant of $3.5 million to a multi-university, regional transportation center led by the University of Washington. The newly established Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium, or PacTrans, will focus on safe and sustainable transportation systems.
January 12, 2012
Surgical robots to provide open-source platform for medical robotics research
Seven identical robots created and built at the UW will be flown to campuses across the country, where they will provide the first common research platform to develop the future of surgical robotics. The robots will be display Friday at an open house.
December 7, 2011
Device promises nutrition diagnosis in minutes
A new plasma pencil promises to give nutrition status in minutes that used to take 24 hours, and could improve health in developing world.
November 22, 2011
Big step forward for safety of bionic contact lenses
Bionic eye steps closer to reality.
October 13, 2011
Improving the physics of grocery store display cases to save energy
Aeronautical engineers are devising ways to boost the efficiency of open-air refrigerated cases, which are increasingly common in supermarkets. Results could lower the energy use of existing cases by up to 15 percent — potentially saving $100 million in electricity costs each year.
October 12, 2011
New software licensing agreements bring more products for use on UW-owned computers
Faculty and staff can now take advantage of new software licensing agreements that provide even more products for use on UW-owned computers at no additional cost.
September 20, 2011
Proton-based transistor could let machines communicate with living things
Materials scientists at the University of Washington have built a novel transistor that uses protons, creating a key piece for devices that can communicate directly with living things.
August 31, 2011
Boeing 787’s certification puts spotlight on UW materials lab (with slide show)
On the eve of the certification of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner by the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell held a press conference on the UW campus highlighting the work of a federally funded research center that helped realize that goal.
August 3, 2011
Web search is ready for a shakeup, says UW computer scientist
On the 20-year anniversary of the World Wide Web, computer scientist Oren Etzioni has written a two-page commentary in the journal Nature that calls on the international academic and business communities to take a bolder approach when designing how people find information online.
August 2, 2011
Digital photos can animate a face so it ages and moves before your eyes
Computer scientists have created a way to take images from the web or personal photos collections and in seconds create an animation of a persons face. The tool can make a face appear to age over time, or gradually change the expression from a smile to a frown.
July 27, 2011
Microgravity team conducts experiments on NASA's 'vomit comet'
Eight students lurched, tumbled and floated through an unforgettable final lab project last month. Participants in NASAs Microgravity University in Houston spent the last week of their undergraduate careers carrying out an experiment they designed for testing in a reduced-gravity environment.
July 25, 2011
Materials scientist John Cahn awarded international Kyoto Prize
John Cahn, a UW affiliate professor in the departments of physics and materials science & engineering, has won an international Kyoto Prize, sometimes described as Japan’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize. Cahn is recognized for his work describing and predicting the behavior of mixtures of materials.
July 22, 2011
The cable has landed: Ocean science history in the making — with slideshow
Submarine cables for the nations first regional cabled ocean observatory, a project led by the University of Washington, made landfall last week on the Oregon coast.
July 19, 2011
Race matters when recruiting, retaining undergraduate women engineers
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.
July 14, 2011
UW will lead $18.5 million effort to create mind-machine interface
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.
July 12, 2011
Wireless power could cut cord for patients with implanted heart pumps
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.
May 31, 2011
Code green: Energy-efficient programming to curb computers power use
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.
May 16, 2011
Digital imaging software creates a ‘Google Earth view of the bladder
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.
May 2, 2011
College students use of Kindle DX points to e-readers role in academia
A nine-month study of how University of Washington graduate students did or did not use the large-format Amazon Kindle DX in their course reading provides information on the potential future for e-readers in academia.
April 13, 2011
Computer Science and Engineering students win National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
This weekend in San Antonio, eight students from the UW’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering won the trophy in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.
March 15, 2011
Controlling a single molecules reaction with light could improve solar cells
In new research published in “Science,” engineers at UW and UCLA used nanotechnology to control and observe how molecules react. They plan to use their method to develop more efficient solar molecules.
February 23, 2011
Dimmable windows with solar panels could power zero-energy buildings
UW engineers and architects are collaborating on smart windows that can change transparency depending on conditions and actually harvest energy from the suns rays.
February 14, 2011
Carbon Leadership Forum will devise standards to limit carbon footprints in building products
University of Washington researchers, along with design and construction professionals, will devise standards that will help limit carbon footprints of building products and systems.
February 8, 2011
UW's Hank Levy elected to National Academy of Engineering
Henry “Hank” Levy, professor and chair of the UW’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
February 1, 2011
New center aims to dramatically lower barrier to making silicon photonic chips
The University of Washington has launched a new program, co-funded by Intel Corp., to make it easier and cheaper to build silicon photonic circuits. Sending information using light, instead of electrons, will allow for faster, lower-power and more versatile microchips.
January 3, 2011
Engineering students hack Kinect for surgical robotics research
Students in the Biorobotics Laboratory hacked the Kinect, a motion-based controller for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming system, for research on telerobotic surgery.
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