UW News
The latest news from the UW
September 13, 2018
Poverty rates hold steady, average incomes continue to increase in Seattle area and Washington state
The share of Washingtonians living below the federal poverty threshold declined slightly from 11.3 percent to 11 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to new Census data released Thursday. While this change was not statistically significant, the 2017 poverty rate remains below the post-recession high of 14.1 percent in 2013. Washington was one of 28…
Tag(s): Jennifer Romich • School of Social Work • West Coast Poverty Center
UW psychology professor honored for founding research on implicit bias
When Tony Greenwald and his colleagues developed the online Implicit Association Test two decades ago, it enjoyed quick success in the pre-laptop, pre-smartphone, nascent Internet world, with some 45,000 participants in the first month. The test, which requires classifying words and images rapidly according to their meanings, captures unconscious biases toward — depending on the…
Tag(s): Anthony Greenwald • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of PsychologySeptember 12, 2018
Three UW teams receive TRIPODS+X grants for research in data science
The National Science Foundation announced on Sept. 11 that it is awarding grants totaling $8.5 million to 19 collaborative projects at 23 universities for the study of complex and entrenched problems in data science. Three of these projects will be based at the University of Washington and led by researchers in the College of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences.
Tag(s): big data • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Department of Statistics • Maryam Fazel • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Yin Tat Lee • Zaid HarchaouiSeptember 10, 2018
Evans School professor Justin Marlowe appointed to Washington Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors
Justin Marlowe, a professor in the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, has been named a member of Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s Council of Economic Advisors. He will be among those advising the governor on local and state economic conditions and national developments that affect state policies.
Tag(s): Council of Economic Advisors • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Justin Marlowe • Neil Bruce
Visionary gift from Hawaii businessman and philanthropist transforming education at University of Washington and University of Hawaii
An innovative gift from Honolulu-based real estate investor Jay H. Shilder to the Universities of Washington and Hawaii is being celebrated this week in Seattle. The gift includes cash, potential future leasing income and a transformational real estate gift to be realized a century from now.
Tag(s): Jay Shidler • School of Law • UW Medicine
UW polar scientists advised NASA on upcoming ICESat-2 satellite
Two UW polar scientists were among a dozen experts who advised NASA on its upcoming ICESat-2 mission to monitor the 3D surface of the Earth. The mission is scheduled to launch Sept. 15 from California.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • Benjamin Smith • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • Jamie Morison • polar science • Polar Science Center • School of OceanographySeptember 7, 2018
New Life Sciences Building is a nexus for modern-age teaching and research at the University of Washington
The University of Washington today opened the doors to a new Life Sciences Building that will transform learning, teaching and research for generations.
The $171 million Life Sciences complex includes seven floors and 207,000 square feet that encourages and makes possible team-oriented science. Designed by Perkins+Will and built by Skanska, the building encompasses a 187,000-square-foot research and teaching facility and a 20,000-square-foot research greenhouse with UW plant collections.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Life Sciences BuildingSeptember 6, 2018
WSJ: UW No. 3 in the country for best value
The University of Washington is among the top schools on The Wall Street Journal’s newest college ranking: value for the money. The UW was ranked third in the nation by the newspaper.
Tag(s): Rankings • University of Washington
Volcano under ice sheet suggests thickening of West Antarctic ice is short-term
Evidence left by a volcano under the ice sheet suggests that the observed bulging of ice in West Antarctica is a short-term feature that may not affect the glacier’s motion over the long term.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • glaciers • polar scienceSeptember 4, 2018
NSF to fund new $25M software institute to enable discoveries in high-energy physics
On Sept. 4 the National Science Foundation announced the creation of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Software for High Energy Physics, or IRIS-HEP. The institute is a coalition of 17 research institutions, including the University of Washington, and will receive $25 million from the NSF over five years.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Physics • Gordon Watts
UW-based center updates name to highlight role of ‘neurotechnologies’ in healing the brain and spinal cord
The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering is updating its name to the Center for Neurotechnology (CNT) to highlight the key role that neurotechnologies play in its mission.
Tag(s): Center for Neurotechnology • Chet Moritz • Rajesh RaoAugust 30, 2018
Climate change projected to boost insect activity and crop loss, researchers say
In a paper published Aug. 31 in the journal Science, a team led by scientists at the University of Washington reports that insect activity in today’s temperate, crop-growing regions will rise along with temperatures. Researchers project that this activity, in turn, will boost worldwide losses of rice, corn and wheat by 10-25 percent for each degree Celsius that global mean surface temperatures rise.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Curtis Deutsch • food production • School of OceanographyAugust 28, 2018
New study finds police-related fatalities may occur twice as often as reported
A study by the University of Washington and Cornell University shows that the risk of being killed by police, relative to white men, is 3.2 to 3.5 times higher for black men, and between 1.4 and 1.7 times higher for Latino men.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Sociology
Working class heroes: A look inside the Labor Archives of Washington
An exploration of UW Libraries’ Labor Archives of Washington with labor archivist Conor Casey.
Tag(s): Andrew Hedden • Conor Casey • James Gregory • Labor Archives of Washington • Michael McCann • UW LibrariesAugust 27, 2018
Rankings: UW is No. 14 in the world, third among U.S. public universities, plus on Money and Washington Monthly best-of lists
The University of Washington is ranked No. 14 in the world — No. 3 among public universities — on the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month.
Tag(s): RankingsAugust 23, 2018
Hack week: Study supports collaborative, participant-driven approach for researchers to learn data science from their peers
A team from the University of Washington, New York University and the University of California, Berkeley has developed an interactive workshop in data science for researchers at multiple stages of their careers. The course format, called “hack week,” blends elements from both traditional lecture-style pedagogy with participant-driven projects.
Tag(s): Anthony Arendt • Applied Physics Laboratory • Ariel Rokem • big data • Daniela Huppenkothen • DIRAC Institute • eScience InstituteAugust 21, 2018
Bus battle: Do private shuttles affect the reliability of public transit?
Last year, King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation started a pilot program that allowed Microsoft’s and Seattle Children’s Hospital’s private shuttles to pick up employees at a few public bus stops throughout Seattle. Now a recent study from researchers at the University of Washington suggests that public buses are unaffected by private shuttles most of the time.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering • Don MacKenzie • Sustainable Transportation Lab
Do persistent babies make for successful adults?
University of Washington researchers argue that further study of why infants persist, and to what end, may shed new light on how they learn and what the future yields.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Jessica Sommerville • Kelsey Lucca
Policy pivot: A new emphasis on restoration to protect Puget Sound
University of Washington researchers have found policies are shifting toward restoration projects that include input from more groups and offer a range of benefits to Puget Sound, including flood control, salmon recovery, recreation and habitat protection.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • David Fluharty • Patrick Christie • School of Marine and Environmental AffairsAugust 20, 2018
California plain shows surprising winners and losers from prolonged drought
Meticulously tracking of 423 species before, during and after the worst droughts to hit California in more than a thousand years shows surprising patterns. Key prey species plummeted in the third year of the drought, and carnivores were hardest hit in later years.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • ecology • Laura Prugh • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Student volunteers help expand UW’s outreach to homeless youth
The University of Washington’s Doorway Project has offered a cafe for homeless young adults each quarter, while students have helped add services, from preventive health care, to establishing a fundraising organization to designing a permanent café home. Its summer pop-up cafe event is Aug. 24.
Tag(s): Josephine Ensign • School of Nursing • School of Social Work • The Doorway Project • Urban@UWAugust 16, 2018
Men and women show surprising differences in seeing motion
A new UW-led study shows that males and female process visual motion differently, a variation that may be attributable to a neural regulatory process that is different in the male brain.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences • Department of Psychology • Raphael Bernier • School of Medicine • Scott MurrayAugust 15, 2018
UW professor Cecilia Bitz elected American Geophysical Union fellow
Cecilia M. Bitz, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist, has been elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Tag(s): Cecilia Bitz
Flying blind: How a drone can soar without using GPS
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new method that gives aircraft a backup system in case GPS fails: An antenna on the ground that can tell a drone where it is. The team successfully tested their system in June.
Tag(s): Christopher Lum • College of Engineering • Department of Aeronautics & AstronauticsAugust 14, 2018
Diving robots find Antarctic winter seas exhale surprising amounts of carbon dioxide
A new study led by the University of Washington uses data gathered by floating drones in the Southern Ocean over past winters to learn how much carbon dioxide is transferred by the surrounding seas. Results show that in winter the open water nearest the sea ice surrounding Antarctica releases significantly more carbon dioxide than previously believed.
Tag(s): Alison Gray • College of the Environment • School of OceanographyAugust 13, 2018
UW forest biologist on wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, California
Forest biologist and University of Washington professor David Peterson explains which natural materials burn hotter and faster during a wildfire, what homeowners can do to protect their properties and how climate change is impacting the fire season.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • David Peterson • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences • wildfires
Information School’s Hans Scholl on promises, cautions of ‘digital government’
Hans Scholl, professor in the UW Information School, discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital government. The website Apolitical has named him among the “Top 100 Most Influential People in digital government.”
Tag(s): Hans Scholl • Information SchoolAugust 10, 2018
Labor leader Frank Jenkins honored with UW fellowship
Now, a new $250,000 fellowship at the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies has been established in his name. The Jenkins Fellowship in Labor Studies will honor and preserve Jenkins’ lifelong commitment to the causes of social and economic justice through financial support for students at the UW.
Tag(s): Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
Rankings put UW at No. 4 among US universities
The University of Washington placed fourth among U.S. higher education institutions, according to the NTU Rankings released Thursday.
Tag(s): RankingsAugust 9, 2018
For UW physicists, the 2-D form of tungsten ditelluride is full of surprises
In a paper published online July 23 in the journal Nature, a UW-led research team reports that the 2-D form of tungsten ditelluride can undergo “ferroelectric switching.” Materials with ferroelectric properties can have applications in memory storage, capacitors, RFID card technologies and even medical sensors — and tungsten ditelluride is the first exfoliated 2-D material known to undergo ferroelectric switching.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • David Cobden • Department of PhysicsAugust 7, 2018
NIH awards University of Washington, partner institutions $6.5M for reusable, reproducible biomedical modeling
The NIH has awarded a $6.5 million, five-year grant to the University of Washington and partner institutions to establish the Center for Reproducible Biomedical Modeling. The center’s primary goal is to develop more effective predictive models of biological systems, which are used in research and medicine.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Bioengineering • Herbert Sauro • School of Medicine
Evans School to study effects of Seattle’s sick leave ordinance
Hilary Wething, a doctoral student in the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, has received a grant to study the effects of Seattle’s law requiring paid sick leave.
Tag(s): Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Hilary WethingAugust 6, 2018
Alexa, be my friend: Children talk to technology, but how does it respond?
When young children talk to voice-activated technologies, the devices don’t always respond in a helpful way. A new University of Washington study suggests that these interfaces could be designed to be more responsive – repeating or prompting the user, for example – and be more useful to more people.
Tag(s): Alexis Hiniker • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering • Department of Sociology • Information School • Kate Yen • Sijin Chen • Yeqi Chen • Yi ChengAugust 3, 2018
UW, PNNL to host energy research center focusing on bio-inspired design and assembly
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded an expected $10.75 million, four-year grant to the University of Washington, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other partner institutions for a new interdisciplinary research center to define the enigmatic rules that govern how molecular-scale building blocks assemble into ordered structures and give rise to complex hierarchical materials.
Tag(s): Center for the Science of Synthesis Across Scales • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • David Baker • Department of Chemical Engineering • Department of Chemistry • Department of Materials Science & Engineering • Francois Baneyx • Institute for Protein Design • James De Yoreo • NW IMPACT • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • School of MedicineAugust 2, 2018
UW books in brief: Urban diaries, battling Jim Crow on campus and more
Recent notable books by University of Washington authors tell of the struggle to break free of racism in higher education, taking an “urban diary” approach to documenting city life and more.
Tag(s): Chuck Wolfe • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Built Environments • College of Education • College of the Environment • Deborah Lynn Porter • Department of Atmospheric Sciences • Department of Political Science • Jackson School of International Studies • Joy Williamson-Lott • Karen Litfin • Lauren Berliner • Stephen Warren • UW BothellAugust 1, 2018
Harmful dyes in lakes, rivers can become colorless with new, sponge-like material
A team led by the University of Washington has created an environmentally friendly way to remove color from dyes in water in a matter of seconds.
Tag(s): Anthony Dichiara • College of the Environment • School of Environmental and Forest SciencesJuly 31, 2018
Lou Cariello named vice president for UW Facilities
Lou Cariello has been named vice president of UW Facilities, University of Washington Executive Vice President Jeff Scott announced earlier this month. Cariello is scheduled to start in mid-August.
Tag(s): University of WashingtonJuly 30, 2018
Sea-level rise report contains best projections yet for Washington’s coasts
A University of Washington report provides the best projections yet for sea-level rise due to climate change at 171 sites along Washington’s coasts.
Tag(s): climate change • Climate Impacts Group • College of the Environment • Guillaume Mauger • Harriet Morgan • Ian Miller • oceanography • Washington Sea GrantJuly 25, 2018
And then there was (more) light: Researchers boost performance quality of perovskites
In a paper published online this spring in the journal Nature Photonics, scientists at the University of Washington report that a prototype semiconductor thin-film has performed even better than today’s best solar cell materials at emitting light.
Tag(s): Clean Energy Institute • clean or renewable energy • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • David Ginger • Department of Chemical Engineering • Department of Chemistry • Hugh Hillhouse • Molecular Engineering & Sciences InstituteJuly 23, 2018
Study shows why eastern U.S. air pollution levels are more stagnant in winter
Observations over the eastern U.S. show why emissions reductions haven’t achieved the same results in winter as they have in summer.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Department of Atmospheric Sciences • Joel Thornton • Lyatt Jaegle • pollution« Previous Page Next Page »
