The University of Washington’s graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate School rankings released Tuesday.
March 28, 2022
The latest news from the UW
Sherri Berdine named UW’s Director of Tribal Relations
Sherri Berdine has been named Director of Tribal Relations at the University of Washington, UW Vice President for External Affairs Randy Hodgins announced Monday. Berdine’s appointment is effective March 28.
Solar energy explains fast yearly retreat of Antarctica’s sea ice
Sea ice around Antarctica retreats more quickly than it advances, an asymmetry that has been a puzzle. New analysis shows that the Southern Hemisphere is following simple rules of physics, as peak midsummer sun causes rapid changes. In this respect, it seems, it’s Arctic sea ice that is more mysterious.
March 21, 2022
UW expert: Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings ‘will hold a mirror up to this nation’
LaTaSha Levy, assistant professor of American ethnic studies at the University of Washington, and Elizabeth Porter, interim dean of the UW School of Law, offer perspectives on the nomination and confirmation process of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 18, 2022
Urbanization is driving evolution of plants globally, study finds
A study led by evolutionary biologists at multiple institutions, including the University of Washington, focuses on a specific plant in examining whether parallel evolution is occurring in cities all over the world.
March 17, 2022
New volume on gender-neutral language sheds light on political controversy in France
In France, a political controversy arose when a gender-neutral pronoun was added to a respected dictionary. This controversy made a new volume co-edited by the UW’s Louisa Mackenzie especially relevant. It describes how nonbinary French speakers are changing their language to reflect their identity.
ArtSci Roundup: Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT, Life in One Cubic Foot, and More
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT Opens April 2 | Henry Art Gallery Bolivian-American artist Donna Huanca creates work that destabilizes the male gaze while exploring femme and indigenous, specifically Andean, narratives and mark-making. Huanca’s installations encompass painting, sculpture, and live performance, and are characteristically created for, and integrated with, the…
March 16, 2022
Tiny battery-free devices float in the wind like dandelion seeds
Inspired by how dandelions use the wind to distribute their seeds, a University of Washington team has developed a tiny sensor-carrying device that can be blown by the wind as it tumbles toward the ground.
March 15, 2022
UW professor’s new book presents opportunity to ‘rethink housing’
A new book by Gregg Colburn, assistant professor of real estate at the UW, explores the factors that drive homelessness, and the cultural and economic shift that can ultimately benefit all — housed and unhoused.
March 14, 2022
UW Regents approve milestone development in new Portage Bay Crossing area on Seattle campus
The University of Washington Board of Regents last week approved the development plan for the first major project in the UW’s newly named Portage Bay Crossing area on the west side of the Seattle campus. The Regents approved a ground lease of the property at Site W27 to Wexford Science + Technology and a lease of building space by the University.
Q&A: Preserving context and user intent in the future of web search
In a new perspective paper, University of Washington professors Emily M. Bender and Chirag Shah respond to proposals that reimagine web search as an application for large language model-driven conversation agents.
March 11, 2022
Statement from UW President on tragic deaths of two UW community members
The following is a statement from University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce following the news that a UW professor and a UW staff member were killed while diving off the coast of Mexico over the weekend.
March 10, 2022
Newest satellite data shows remarkable decline in Arctic sea ice over just three years
In the past 20 years, the Arctic has lost about one-third of its winter sea ice volume, and winter sea ice in the Arctic has lost about a foot and a half of thickness over just the past three years. This thinning is largely due to loss of older, multiyear sea ice that is more resistant to melting.
ArtSci Roundup: Re/frame: Orange, Sharon Isbin, and More
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Re/frame: Orange March 17, 12:00 PM | Online Orange can symbolize power, danger, excitement, and enlightenment. In different contexts, orange evokes images ranging from a bountiful fall harvest to a fiery explosion of energy. How does color affect the way we feel? How many different applications can one…
Gordon Stuart Peek, UW alumnus who donated Gerberding and Kane bells, dies at 96
Gordon Stuart Peek, a University of Washington alumnus who donated the bells that sit on two sides of Red Square, died peacefully at his home on March 2, 2022. He was 96.
UW welcomes community to view cherry blossoms; peak bloom expected mid-March
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.
March 9, 2022
More air pollution present in areas with historical redlining
A team of researchers at the UW and UC Berkeley has found that housing discrimination practices dating from the 1930s still drive air pollution disparities in hundreds of American cities today.
March 8, 2022
O-pH, a new UW dental tool prototype, can spot the acidic conditions that lead to cavities
You and your dentist have a lot of tools and techniques for stopping cavities, but detecting the specific chemical conditions that can lead to cavities and then preventing them from ever getting started is much harder. Now, in a new study, University of Washington researchers have shown that a dental tool they created can measure the acidity built up by the bacteria in plaque that leads to cavities. The O-pH system is a prototype optical device that emits an LED…
March 7, 2022
How Black Lives Matter protests sparked interest, can lead to change
A new study by the University of Washington and Indiana University finds that the growing use of anti-racist terms shows how Black Lives Matter has shifted the conversation around racism, raising awareness of issues and laying the foundation for social change.
March 4, 2022
Ukrainian American professor shares insights on ‘gut-wrenching’ events in Ukraine
Laada Bilaniuk is a professor of anthropology at the whose expertise is Ukrainian culture and society. The daughter of Ukrainian Americans, she shares insights on the Ukrainian people who are resisting, how the conflict relates to the use of language and the perspective of the local Ukrainian community.
March 3, 2022
Mindfulness meditation can reduce guilt, leading to unintended negative social consequences
Mindfulness meditation is a stress-management practice with ancient lineage that cultivates nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, often by directing attention to the physical sensations of breathing. Initially inspired by centuries-old Buddhist practices consisting of philosophies and meditations together, today a secular version of mindfulness — consisting of meditations alone — is becoming increasingly popular.
Moon jellies appear to be gobbling up zooplankton in Puget Sound
University of Washington-led research suggests moon jellies are feasting on zooplankton, the various tiny animals that drift with the currents, in the bays they inhabit. This could affect other hungry marine life, like juvenile salmon or herring — especially if predictions are correct and climate change will favor fast-growing jellyfish.
March 2, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, Space Between: Photographs from the Collection, and More
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band March 8, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall The UW Wind Ensemble (Timothy Salzman, director) performs music by Joseph Schwantner, Joaquín Rodrigo, and William Bolcom. The Symphonic Band (Shaun Day, director) performs music by Joan Tower, Jan Van der Roos, and Frank Ticheli. $10…
UW’s campuses in Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell announce the return of in-person commencement ceremonies
University of Washington’s 147th commencement ceremonies are scheduled to return this June to in-person celebrations in Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for the first time since 2019. Similar in-person commencement ceremonies are being planned for UW Bothell and UW Tacoma.
Counties that rely on the courts for revenue sentence more women to incarceration
Washington counties that rely more on revenue from court-imposed fines and fees also sentence more women to incarceration, a study by the University of Washington finds.
Multi-state study of monetary sanctions finds widespread inequities, far-reaching consequences
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.
March 1, 2022
UW celebrates 50 years of the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center
Visit the University of Washington’s Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center once, and you’ll be impressed by its size, the historic murals and the number of resources available to students.
February 28, 2022
UW statement on recent gift return, status of Israel Studies program
University of Washington Professor Liora Halperin, supported by the Benaroya endowment, expressed views in a statement that were not shared by the donor, Becky Benaroya. Our mission as a university demands that our scholars have the freedom to pursue their scholarship where it leads them and to freely express their views as academics and as individuals. After several months of good faith conversations between University and Stroum Center leadership, Prof. Halperin and the donor, Mrs. Benaroya requested that her gift be returned, and it was determined that returning the gift was the best path forward.
UW authors in IPCC report emphasize threats to human health and well-being
Two University of Washington experts in climate change and health are lead authors of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The new report titled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability, published Monday morning, details in over three thousand pages a “dire warning” about the consequences of inaction on reducing the emissions that are causing our planet to warm and on implementing interventions to prepare for and effectively manage the dangerous impacts of climate change…
February 25, 2022
Antibiotic used on food crops affects bumblebee behavior
Scientists at the University of Washington and Emory University report that an antibiotic sprayed on orchard crops to combat bacterial diseases slows the cognition of bumblebees and reduces their foraging efficiency. The study, published Feb. 9 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, focused on streptomycin, an antibiotic used increasingly in U.S. agriculture during the past decade.
February 24, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Lauren Williams: Wake Work*, Concert and Campus Bands, and More
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Don’t Miss Before it Closes! Lauren Williams: Wake Work* Through March 5 | The Jacob Lawrence Gallery What happens in the wake of state violence, particularly against Black people in the United States? Absence and erasure challenge the imagination in Lauren Williams: Wake Work*, an exhibition created as part of…
Farms following soil-friendly practices grow healthier food, study suggests
An experiment conducted on 10 farms across the U.S. suggests that crops from farms following soil-friendly practices for at least five years have a healthier nutritional profile than the same crops grown on neighboring, conventional farms. Researchers believe soil microbes and fungi boost certain beneficial minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals in the crops.
February 23, 2022
Andreas Bohman selected as VP for UW-IT and UW’s chief information officer
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce today announced the selection of Andreas Bohman as vice president for UW Information Technology and UW’s chief information officer. He is set to begin March 16.
A new upper limit on the mass of neutrinos
An international research team, including scientists from the University of Washington, has established a new upper limit on the mass of the neutrino, the lightest known subatomic particle. In a paper published Feb. 14 in Nature Physics, the collaboration — known as the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment or KATRIN — reports that the neutrino’s mass is below 0.8 electron volts, or 0.8 eV/c2. Honing in on the elusive value of the neutrino’s mass will solve a major outstanding mystery in particle physics and equip scientists with a more complete view of the fundamental forces and particles that shape ourselves, our planet and the cosmos.
February 22, 2022
Q&A: Student Kaden Lee on competing in the ‘Jeopardy! College National Championship’
The “Jeopardy! College National Championship” brought together undergraduate students from 36 U.S. colleges and universities. Kaden Lee, a UW junior from Medical Lake, Washington, majoring in aeronautics and astronautics, appeared in the tournament on Feb. 11.
February 17, 2022
UW biologist and computer scientist named Sloan Fellows
Two faculty members at the University of Washington have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 15, are Brianna Abrahms, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, and Yulia Tsvetkov, an assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.
ArtSci Roundup: DXARTS Winter Concert: Movement Actuation, Jazz Innovations: Part 1 and 2, and More
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Voice Division Recital February 22, 4:00 PM | Brechemin Auditorium Students of Thomas Harper and Carrie Shaw perform works from the vocal repertoire. Free | More info Borden Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry: Dr. Martin Head-Gordon February 23, 4:00 PM | Johnson 102 and Online via Zoom For the Borden…
February 16, 2022
Unexpected findings detailed in new portrait of HIV
Using powerful tools and techniques developed in the field of structural biology, researchers at the University of Washington and Scripps Research have discovered new details about the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. The findings bring into focus the basic architecture of the virus just above and below its surface and may help in the design and development of a vaccine that can protect against AIDS. These detailed findings include 3D views of the structure and position of the virus’ envelope “spike”…
Google’s ‘CEO’ image search gender bias hasn’t really been fixed
UW researchers showed that image search results for four major search engines from around the world, including Google, still reflect gender bias.
Faculty programs welcome most diverse cohort in recent UW history
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.