New research suggests that considering differences among a variety of cultures can have an impact on how well science and scientific concepts are communicated to the public.
October 15, 2014
The latest news from the UW
UW event will commemorate the life of Fred Nick
A memorial to celebrate the life of Fred Nick, the longtime director of the Center for Social Science Computation and Research, will be 4-6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in the Walker-Ames Room of Kane Hall. Nick died unexpectedly in early September, just a year after retiring from the UW. He is remembered for his stewardship of the Social Science research center for 38 years, serving faculty, staff and students as a mentor and colleague. In the center’s Autumn 2014 newsletter,…
Arts Roundup: Music, drama — and the Jacob Lawrence Gallery reopens
The Jacob Lawrence Gallery opens its first exhibit of the year, “Industry,” and the School of Drama opens the year’s first production “Cold Empty Terrible” — plus lectures, the World Series and more.
A new UW Libraries study center — and a cool book
UW Libraries is opening a new study center in its East Asia Library called the Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies. It’s the result of new collaboration between UW Libraries and the National Central Library, in Taiwan. The center will bring valuable Chinese and Taiwanese scholarly publications, and host a new annual lecture series about Taiwan as well. At an Oct. 2 ceremony where a memorandum of understanding was signed, Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, UW vice provost and dean of UW…
October 14, 2014
Orphanage care linked to thinner brain tissue in regions related to ADHD
Psychological studies of children who began life in Romanian orphanages shows that institutionalization is linked to physical changes in brain structure. The thinning of the cortex leaves a lasting legacy that can explain impulsivity and inattention years later.
Documents that Changed the World: Joseph McCarthy’s ‘list,’ 1950
Sometimes a document can be devastating — can ruin lives and change history — even if it doesn’t really exist.
October 13, 2014
Neural engineering hackathon: 36 hours, 15 students, five working prototypes
The workload and time crunch were comparable to pulling two all-nighters, but you wouldn’t guess that from the energy in the room. Fifteen students, all wearing matching grey t-shirts, buzzed around the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering Monday morning (Oct. 13), clearly excited to show off their designs. They had just finished a 36-hour weekend hackathon, a first for the National Science Foundation-funded center headquartered at the University of Washington. Their mission was to work as teams of three to…
Pronto cycle share launches in Seattle
The new Pronto Cycle Share system launched Monday around the U-District, downtown, South Lake Union and Capitol Hill. Pronto is Seattle’s cycle-sharing system featuring 500 bikes at 50 stations, with bikes available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Check out the station map to see all the Seattle locations. Campus stations are at the IMA, the Engineering Library, Meany Hall, Condon Hall, McCarty Hall, the Burke Museum and the Medical Center. Each station has a touchscreen kiosk, station map, helmets, and…
Northwest artists, writers, arts advocates in ‘Mary Randlett Portraits’
Frances McCue discusses “Mary Randlett Portraits,” a new book from University of Washington Press she created with the well-known Northwest photographer.
Symposium Oct. 20 will unveil draft campus landscape framework
A campus landscape framework – meant as a starting point for planning how the UW’s outdoor environment might look in 10, 20, even 50 years – will be unveiled in draft form Oct. 20 as part of a regional symposium on campus landscape planning and design.
Professor, author Michael Honey now blogging too
Michael Honey, professor of interdisciplinary arts and sciences at UW Tacoma, has written books about Martin Luther King — now he is blogging about King as well. His writings can be found on the Beacon Broadside, a blog written by authors with Beacon Press, an independent publisher of serious nonfiction founded in 1854. Honey said Beacon asked him to blog about how he got involved with King and the role of the Unitarian Church in civil rights work in the…
October 10, 2014
Students win award to make riding the bus more accessible for blind people
A group of University of Washington engineering students are winners of the 2014 Ford College Community Challenge, a competition that awards $25,000 per team to student-led groups at 10 universities to fund projects that help build sustainable communities. The UW team’s project is StopInfo, which integrates with the OneBusAway app and provides specific information on location, safety features and stop closures for each bus stop in King County. OneBusAway was developed at the UW and uses real-time data to track when…
Celebrate at the UW Combined Fund Drive’s Charity Fair & Silent Auction
The UW Combined Fund Drive raised more than $2 million last year for 1,788 nonprofits. This year’s effort kicks off with a charity fair and silent auction on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Engineering lecture series focuses on technologies for the heart
The University of Washington’s College of Engineering 2014 fall lecture series will feature faculty researchers in engineering and medicine who are improving cardiac medical care with new technologies.
Citizen science key to keeping pace with environmental change
Better integration of citizen science into professional science is a growing consideration at the UW and elsewhere.
October 9, 2014
University of Washington fifth worldwide, top US public institution in ranking of achievements in scientific research
Measuring universities on their scientific research productivity, impact and excellence, National Taiwan University named the University of Washington fifth best in the world, and the top public institution in the United States, in its 2014 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities released Thursday. The NTU Ranking is based on the production and impact of universities’ scientific papers, intended to objectively measure their contributions in the advancement of scientific innovation. “This is yet another international ranking that places the…
Welcome to the new UW Today blog
It’s impossible not to make this awkward, but here’s our best shot: Welcome to the new UW Today blog. For years, UW Today in various incarnations has provided the news of the University of Washington – from groundbreaking scientific research and awe-inspiring student projects, to ranking updates, awards and roundups of arts events that can be found on campus. So, why start a blog now? To put it simply: Because there’s just too much good stuff happening at the UW…
Migrating animals’ pee affects ocean chemistry
Tiny animals migrating from the ocean’s surface to the sunless depths helps shape our oceans. During the daylight hours below the surface the animals release ammonia, the equivalent of our urine, that plays a significant role in marine chemistry, particularly in low-oxygen zones.
October 8, 2014
Arts Roundup: Drama, music — and Anne Hamilton’s ‘The Common S E N S E’
Fall is a busy time for the arts on campus, with a dizzying array of performances and exhibitions to take advantage of.
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.
Renowned dances meticulously restaged for Chamber Dance Company’s ‘On the Edge’
The UW Chamber Dance Company presents restaging of well-known dances by choreographers Nacho Duato, Susan Marshall, Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith in “On the Edge,” Oct. 9-12 in Meany Hall.
UW fusion reactor concept could be cheaper than coal
University of Washington engineers have designed a concept for a fusion reactor that, when scaled up to the size of a large electrical power plant, would rival costs for a new coal-fired plant with similar electrical output.
October 7, 2014
Toddlers regulate behavior to avoid making adults angry
UW researchers have found that children as young as 15 months can detect anger in other people’s social interactions and then modify their own behavior.
October 3, 2014
University of Washington and Washington State University announce Memorandum of Understanding on medical education expansion
SPOKANE, Wash. – Leadership at the University of Washington and Washington State University today announced they have reached an agreement that will mutually dissolve their WWAMI partnership and provide a pathway to pursue separate solutions to address the state’s medical education needs and physician shortage. In order to provide the greatest benefit to the state and to meet the significant demand for more physicians, leaders from both universities agree that UW and WSU will independently pursue their respective proposals to…
Board of Regents — Oct. 9 meeting
The Board of Regents will hold meetings Thursday, Oct. 9, in the UW Tower Board Room, 22nd floor. The full schedule and agendas are available online.
Not stuff of musty museums: Enlist evolutionary biology against modern threats
Using evolutionary biology is one way to try to outwit evolution where it is happening too quickly and to perhaps find accommodations when evolution occurs too slowly.
October 2, 2014
Jackson School director discusses goals of new International Policy Institute
Resat Kasaba, director of the Henry M. Jackson School director, discusses goals and mission of the school’s new International Policy Institute.
UW’s Jeffrey Heer wins award to support data visualization research
Jeffrey Heer, a University of Washington associate professor of computer science and engineering, has received an award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to develop new theories, tools and techniques for data visualization that help scientists see and understand big data.
October 1, 2014
News digest: New schedules for Health Sciences Express/shuttle, flu clinics underway
Compiled by the Office of News and Information.
Arts Roundup: Music, The Big Draw — and Chamber Dance Company
Fall quarter has started, which means the weekly arts roundup is back in action. This week, the Burke is hosting The Big Draw and Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis performs at Meany Hall on Oct. 4.
Northwest ‘anarchist utopia’ explored in ‘Trying Home’
Justin Wadland of the UW Tacoma Library discusses his book “Trying Home: The Rise and Fall of an Anarchist Utopia on Puget Sound.”
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
Don’t ignore looming Metro bus cuts, check your options now
The UW in August introduced a Commute Concierge service to help riders with personalized commute plans.
Dying brain cells cue new brain cells to grow in songbird
Using a songbird as a model, scientists have described a brain pathway that replaces cells that have been lost naturally and not because of injury.
‘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
Snail shells show high-rise plateau is much lower than it used to be
Geologists have long debated when and how the Tibetan Plateau reached a 14,000-foot-plus elevation, but new UW-led research shows it once was probably even higher.
New degree programs aplenty starting with school year
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.
New RFID technology helps robots find household objects
The University of Washington and Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new search algorithm that improves a robot’s ability to find and navigate to tagged objects.
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.