University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her annual address to the community on Oct. 12. Highlights of the speech are reflected in this video. The audience was invited to attend the event remotely via livestream.


University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her annual address to the community on Oct. 12. Highlights of the speech are reflected in this video. The audience was invited to attend the event remotely via livestream.

The University of Washington welcomed its incoming class and families on Sunday at the University’s 40th annual New Student Convocation.

About 8,500 students, including 78% of this year’s freshman class, are expected to move into UW residence halls and apartments this week.

The UW Farm welcomed an addition this spring: two bee hives in an apiary on the south side of the Center for Urban Horticulture. The hives will serve as a teaching tool for students who want to know more about agriculture and the function of pollinators in the ecosystem.

Each year, the University of Washington reviews thousands of applications from students who want to pursue their undergraduate studies at the state’s flagship university.

Jason Yip, a UW associate professor in the Information School, discusses how parents and schools can adapt to new technologies in ways that support children’s learning.

More than 7,000 degrees were conferred to University of Washington graduates Saturday at the 148th Commencement at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium.

Inside Hutchinson Hall, home of the University of Washington School of Drama, students work at tables as they learn to assemble patterns based on costume designs. They’re surrounded by dress forms, bolts of cloth, sewing machines and costumes in progress. This is the Costume Shop, the domain of Val Mayse, master dressmaker for the School of Drama.

In UW Architecture’s Making and Meaning class, students built benches to learn about design and construction, and to create community.

A decade ago, Dustine Bowker went to a pizza party at the Husky Union Building.
Then a junior at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Bowker, who identifies as being on the autism spectrum, came to the University of Washington to learn about a program designed to help people like him. He had to learn to recognize social cues, he said, and adapt to fit into many situations.

Around the world, people begin each day by deciding what clothes to put on their bodies. A yearlong exhibit in the Allen Library explores a history of clothing and fashion, featuring a rotating selection of prints, books and artwork inspired by dress from the early 19th century to the present.

Many of us are familiar with the hummingbirds that visit feeders, plants and gardens around us. But these small creatures are unusual in the ways they push the limits of biology, says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, UW assistant professor biology and curator of ornithology at the Burke Museum. He and his students study hummingbirds and other birds that drink nectar. “I think what really caught my attention is their personality – how they can be so fierce and so bold despite being…

Member of the University of Washington Canoe Family have spent months carving traditional paddles using only hand tools, all in preparation for this summer’s Tribal Canoe Journey.

Leaders from Washington higher education institutions met with national policymakers April 4 to discuss opportunities provided by the CHIPS and Science Act. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited the University of Washington campus to talk about the legislation, which provides more than $100 billion to fund scientific research and workforce training. The UW and other Washington colleges and universities are poised to receive funds from the CHIPS and Science Act to invest in chip…

The cherry blossoms at the University of Washington campus are a seasonal tradition and celebration for the entire region. This year’s colder-than-usual spring is demanding a little more patience. Mark your calendars and plan your visit for a peak bloom expected in early April.

Peter Nicolas, professor of law and adjunct professor of music at the University of Washington, recently launched a new class. Music Law & Policy combines Nicolas’ legal training with his growing academic interest in the study of music.

Students from the Lummi Nation School visited the University of Washington in earlh February for a real-time Q&A with astronaut Josh Cassada aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Cassada helped do space research on a plant science experiment the students sent to the ISS.

It’s ski season and cold sunny days fill outdoor enthusiasts with delight, but ski areas usually come with stairs, crowds and an infrastructure generally built for skiers and snowboarders who ride solo and on two legs.
Observing this winter activity through a lens of accessibility and disability justice is the point of a new class developed by UW Bothell associate teaching professor Jason Naranjo. His course, “Disability & Society — A Focus on Community and the Outdoors,” pairs UW students with skiers from Outdoors for All, an organization that provides adaptive outdoor activities for people who, for cognitive or physical reasons, can’t simply pop on skis and hit the slopes.

The year 2022 saw the UW community coming together again with in-person classes, events and fascinating research that make videographers excited to hit “record” and share these scenes with you.

University of Washington political science professor Anthony Gill explains the social and economic value of gift-giving — and how even unwanted gifts help promote trust and build relationships.

The University of Washington’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the UW’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.

These nocturnal flying mammals live in cities and rural areas and in most climates around the world – and maybe even in your own backyard.
Sharlene Santana, a University of Washington professor of biology and curator of mammals at the Burke Museum, explains that there are over 1,400 species of bats spanning an incredible diversity.

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her annual address to the community on Oct. 20. Highlights of the speech are reflected in this video. The audience was invited to attend the event remotely via livestream. President Cauce talked about the power of public research universities to bring communities together across differences to address some of the world’s greatest challenges. Higher-education institutions, particularly the UW, are being called on to do great things, and “we will answer that call,”…

University of Washington Professor Joan Sanders and her team are creating a new type of prosthetic leg: one that automatically adjusts its fit throughout the day. Their latest prototype detects in real time how well the prosthesis socket and amputation site are fitting and responds by automatically changing the size of the socket, without the need for adjustments to padding or user action.

Comprised of University of Washington graduate students, the Chamber Dance Company works to perform, record and archive dance works of artistic and historical significance. This year, the company will exclusively perform contemporary works created within the last 15 years.

The University of Washington on Sunday held its 39th annual New Student Convocation, which returned to Alaska Airlines Arena, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, for the first time since 2019.
The University of Washington’s campus again is bustling as students began moving into residence halls on Tuesday and will participate in annual fall activities for incoming undergraduates. About 10,000 students are expected to move into campus housing this week.

A University of Washington pilot project is exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring. Funded in part with a $473,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Washington, the new UW Photonic Sensing Facility will use photons traveling through a fiber-optic cable to detect ground motions as small as 1 nanometer.

This year, the School of Music’s Improvised Music Project focused on audio recording, inviting acclaimed recording engineer David Boucher for a weeklong workshop. The new format allowed students and faculty to gain experience with UW’s new mobile recording system while teaching fundamental recording and audio skills.

To investigate what happens to snow intercepted by trees, UW researchers created a citizen science project called Snow Spotter.

On Saturday, for the first time since 2019, the UW held in-person Commencement ceremonies at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium where the University conferred degrees on the Class of 2022. On Sunday, it welcomed alumni from the 2020 and 2021 school years for a Return to Husky Stadium Graduation Celebration.

With the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge, UW students modified a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer to use electrification, advanced propulsion systems and automated vehicle technology. It’s an opportunity for students — across four years — to take a car from design to a consumer-ready product.

In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.

Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?

Bottle tops, face masks and dog hair — these are all items usually destined for the dumpster. But UW Recycling came up with a unique art contest that takes waste from garbage to gallery.

With the start of spring quarter on March 28, face masks became optional — but still recommended — inside most UW facilities. In light of the policy change, UW News spoke with several experts about what to expect on campus, how the current science and transmission rates inform our policy, and emotions and feelings we may experience as a result of removing our face coverings.

The 29 cherry trees in the Quad usually reach peak bloom the third week of March, and this year is on track to meet that timing.

Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the University of Washington, discusses her team’s five-year, eight-state study of legal financial obligations, and their findings that court-imposed fines and fees perpetuate inequality.

Angélica Amezcua never thought she’d achieve a doctoral degree, never mind landing a tenure-track job at the University of Washington. Raised in Mexico, she moved to California when she was 11, and she’s the first in her family to earn a Ph. D. She once believed that a career in academia was unattainable due to the obstacles placed in society for people of color.

As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by UW News during 2021 — a year where the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact our lives.