UW News
The latest news from the UW
September 5, 2017
UW, Seattle Housing Authority plan to build affordable housing in the U District
The University of Washington and the Seattle Housing Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding for the two organizations to develop affordable housing in the University District.
Gun dealers, suicide-prevention advocates partner to save lives
With 80 percent of firearms deaths in Washington related to suicide, the scenario isn’t hard to imagine: A person thinking of ending their life enters a gun store to buy the means to do it. Unfortunately, other scenarios play out, as well: A person filling a lethal dose of a prescription medication at a…
Tag(s): Forefront • Jennifer Stuber • School of Social Work
How governments can maintain strong public-private partnerships: Guide from Evans School’s Justin Marlowe
The biggest risk to public-private partnerships in governing is not financial or technical, but political, says UW Evans School professor Justin Marlowe in his fourth guide to financial literacy, published by Governing magazine.
Tag(s): Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Justin MarloweAugust 31, 2017
Q&A: How Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Yellowstone National Park are confronting climate change
A new book focuses on climate change risks in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and how managers of public lands can prepare.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • David Peterson • forests • Q&A • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Record-low 2016 Antarctic sea ice due to ‘perfect storm’ of tropical, polar conditions
This exceptional, sudden nosedive in Antarctic sea ice last year was due to a unique one-two punch from atmospheric conditions both in the tropical Pacific Ocean and around the South Pole.
Tag(s): Cecilia Bitz • College of the Environment • Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science • polar science • sea iceAugust 28, 2017
Home prices up, supply down in second quarter of 2017
Washington state’s housing market showed the continuing effects of high demand in the second quarter of 2017, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington The statewide median sales price rose to $337,700 in the second quarter, 6.6 percent higher than the same time period last year. This represents…
Tag(s): James Young • Runstad Department of Real Estate • Washington Center for Real Estate Research
New app could use smartphone selfies to screen for pancreatic cancer
A new app could lead to earlier detection of pancreatic cancer simply by snapping a smartphone selfie. The disease kills 90 percent of patients within five years, in part because there are no telltale symptoms or non-invasive screening tools to catch a tumor before it spreads.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Department of Pediatrics • James Taylor • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • School of Medicine • Shwetak Patel
How reading and writing with your child boost more than just literacy
Children who read and write at home — whether for assignments or just for fun — are building long-term study and executive function skills, according to a paper from the University of Washington. And while home literacy activities have already been associated with higher test scores, the new study shows these activities also provide…
Tag(s): College of Education • Virginia BerningerAugust 25, 2017
As Tolstoy noted (sort of), all unhappy microbiomes are unhappy in their own way
The bacterial communities that live inside each of our guts are relatively similar when times are good, but when stress enters the equation, those communities can react very differently from person to person.
Tag(s): Jesse Zaneveld • marine microbiology • microbes and viruses • UW BothellAugust 24, 2017
Scientists to create digital encyclopedia of 3-D vertebrate specimens
A $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant will daylight thousands of specimens from their museum shelves by CT scanning 20,000 vertebrates and making these data-rich, 3-D images available online to researchers, educators, students and the public. The University of Washington is a partner institution contributing most of the fish and bat scans.
Tag(s): Adam Summers • Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • College of the Environment • Department of Biology • Luke Tornabene • School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences • Sharlene Santana
A dean looks back: Harry Bruce reflects on UW ‘iSchool’ past, future
Information School Dean Harry Bruce talks about his job and life as he prepares to step down.
Tag(s): Anind Dey • Harry Bruce • Information School
Lesbian, gay and bisexual older adults suffer more chronic health conditions than heterosexuals, study finds
Lesbian and bisexual older women are more likely than heterosexual older women to suffer chronic health conditions, experience sleep problems and drink excessively, a new University of Washington study finds. In general, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) older adults were found to be in poorer health than heterosexuals, specifically in terms of higher rates…
Tag(s): aging • Aging with Pride • Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen • School of Social WorkAugust 23, 2017
UW is No. 13 in the world, third among public universities, in new ranking
The University of Washington is ranked No. 13 in the world — No. 3 among public universities — on the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month.
Tag(s): Rankings
Greetings from Earth: Documents that Changed the World podcast revisits Voyager’s ‘Golden Record,’ 1977
Forty years ago this month, Planet Earth said hello to the cosmos with the launch of the two Voyager probes that used gravity to swing from world to world on a grand tour of the solar system. Each bore a two-sided, 12-inch, gold-plated copper “Golden Record” of sights and sounds from Earth and its…
Tag(s): Documents that Changed the World • Information School • Joe JanesAugust 21, 2017
Native American youth launch high-altitude balloons for unique perspective on solar eclipse
While many people across the country donned viewing glasses and prepared to watch Monday’s solar eclipse, a group of 100 teenagers from tribes across the Pacific Northwest launched balloons thousands of feet into the air, gaining a novel perspective of the eclipse — and the chance to send meaningful artifacts to the edge of space during a memorable moment in history.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • Robert Winglee • Washington NASA Space Grant ConsortiumAugust 18, 2017
‘Be sure to look around you’: Tips on Seattle eclipse viewing
With many in Seattle are wondering what the Aug. 21 solar eclipse will be like in our city, Bruce Balick, UW professor emeritus of astronomy, shared a few thoughts.
Tag(s): Bruce BalickAugust 17, 2017
Q & A: Sarah Quinn lifts the curtain on the ‘hidden state’
Given today’s political climate, one might assume that terms like “administrative state” and “deep state” are merely examples of polarized rhetoric. But the wariness underlying those terms goes back much further, said Sarah Quinn, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Washington. Try colonial America. “Some historians will say this is something…
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Sociology • Q&A • Sarah QuinnAugust 16, 2017
Modern genetic sequencing tools give clearer picture of how corals are related
As corals face threats from warming oceans, a new study uses modern genetic-sequencing tools to help reveal the relationships between three similar-looking corals.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences • Steven Roberts
Computer scientists use music to covertly track body movements, activity
Researchers at the University of Washington have demonstrated how it is possible to transform a smart device into a surveillance tool that can collect information about the body position and movements of the user, as well as other people in the device’s immediate vicinity. Their approach involves remotely hijacking smart devices to play music embedded with repeating pulses that track a person’s position, body movements, and activities both in the vicinity of the device as well as through walls.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shyam Gollakota • Tadayoshi Kohno
UW professor Franziska Roesner named one of world’s top innovators under 35
MIT Technology Review has named Franziska Roesner, University of Washington professor of computer science and engineering, one of 35 “Innovators Under 35” for 2017.
Tag(s): awards • College of Engineering • Franziska Roesner • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringAugust 15, 2017
Evans School’s Scott Allard notes poverty’s changing landscape in ‘Places in Need’
The number of poor people living in America’s suburbs has more than doubled over the last 25 years, with little attention from academics or policymakers, says Scott W. Allard, a professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, in his new 2017 book “Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty,”
Tag(s): books • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Scott AllardAugust 14, 2017
Probiotics help poplar trees clean up Superfund sites
Researchers from the University of Washington and several small companies have conducted the first large-scale experiment on a Superfund site using poplar trees fortified with a probiotic — or natural microbe — to clean up groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE.
Tag(s): biology • College of the Environment • pollution • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences • Sharon Doty
Tidally locked exoplanets may be more common than previously thought
Many exoplanets to be found by coming high-powered telescopes will probably be tidally locked — with one side permanently facing their host star — according to new research by UW astronomer Rory Barnes.
August 10, 2017
Public has rare opportunity to view work on T. rex skull
Starting Aug. 12, the public can watch fossil preparation of the University of Washington Burke Museum’s Tyrannosaurus rex skull “live.”
Tag(s): Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Gregory Wilson Mantilla • paleontology
Researchers, students on annual expedition to maintain internet-connected deep-sea observatory
The annual maintenance cruise for the Pacific Northwest’s deep-sea observatory continues through Aug. 29. Two dozen students will participate, and more than 120 ocean instruments will get their yearly checkup.
Tag(s): Deborah Kelley • Ocean Observatories Initiative • oceanography • School of Oceanography
DNA sequencing tools lack robust protections against cybersecurity risks
A new UW study finds DNA sequencing tools lack robust cybersecurity protections. In a scientific first, the team also infected a computer with synthesized DNA molecules.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Luis Ceze • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Tadayoshi KohnoAugust 7, 2017
UW to host Interior Department’s Northwest Climate Science Center
The University of Washington is the new host for the federally funded Northwest Climate Science Center, a consortium that supports climate-adaptation research in the Northwest.
Tag(s): Amy Snover • climate change • College of the EnvironmentAugust 3, 2017
Evans School researchers analyze Seattle’s competing arena proposals
Researchers at the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance have released a public finance analysis of two competing proposals to develop an NBA/NHL arena in Seattle.
Tag(s): Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Justin MarloweAugust 1, 2017
English professor William Streitberger honored for book on Queen Elizabeth I’s Revels Office
William Streitberger, UW professor of English, has been honored for his book “The Masters of Revels and Elizabeth I’s Court Theatre.” Decades in the making, the book was published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Tag(s): awards • books • Brian Reed • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of English • William StreitbergerJuly 31, 2017
University of Washington’s Livable City Year program completes inaugural partnership with Auburn
University of Washington students have been working with city of Auburn staff and community members throughout the past year on a wide range of projects tackling challenges around livability and sustainability in the city. Livable City Year is continuing in the 2017-2018 year in partnership with the city of Tacoma. These projects were part of the UW…
Tag(s): Livable City Year
University of Washington recognized for access, affordability and value in three separate rankings
The University of Washington has been recognized by three separate publications in rankings focused on access for low-income students, affordability and value.
The New York Times’ College Access Index ranked the UW 18th in the nation – ninth among public institutions – in its assessment of “which top universities are doing the most to promote the American Dream.”
Earth likely to warm more than 2 degrees this century
A new UW statistical study shows only 5 percent chance that Earth will warm less than 2 degrees, what many see as a “tipping point” for climate, by the end of this century.
Tag(s): Adrian Raftery • climate change • College of Arts & Sciences • College of the Environment • Dargan Frierson • Department of Sociology • Department of Statistics
Heavier Asian Americans seen as ‘more American,’ study says
What makes people look “American”? The way they dress? Maybe their hairstyle, or mannerisms? How much they weigh? A University of Washington-led study has found that for Asian Americans, those who appear heavier not only are perceived to be more “American,” but also may be subject to less prejudice directed at foreigners than Asian…
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Sapna CheryanJuly 27, 2017
Six UW faculty elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences
Six scientists and engineers from the University of Washington have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences.
Tag(s): Washington State Academy of Sciences
UW building underwater robots to study oceans around Antarctica
Oceanographers are building swimming robots to carry out an ambitious mission gathering climate data from one of Earth’s most challenging locations: the icy water that surrounds Antarctica.
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • oceanography • polar science • School of Oceanography • Stephen Riser
Run-up to revolution: Early American history seen through the stage in Odai Johnson’s book ‘London in a Box’
The true cultural tipping point in the run-up to the American Revolution might have been the First Continental Congress’s decision in late October of 1774 to close the theaters in British America, says University of Washington drama professor Odai Johnson in his new book, “London in a Box: Englishness and Theatre in Revolutionary America.”
Tag(s): books • Odai Johnson • School of Drama
Even babies can tell who’s the boss, UW research says
This video acquaints the viewer with the puppets and introduces the idea of which is socially dominant. The charismatic colleague, the natural leader, the life of the party – all are personal qualities that adults recognize instinctively. These socially dominant types, according to repeated studies, also tend to accomplish and earn more, from accolades…
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Psychology • Elizabeth Enright • Jessica SommervilleJuly 25, 2017
Could spraying particles into marine clouds help cool the planet?
A first test of humans’ ability to modify clouds would help explain the behavior of clouds and aerosols, while also testing a possible future climate emergency measure.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science • Rob Wood • Tom AckermanJuly 24, 2017
11 UW students receive Fulbright scholarships in 2017-18
Eleven UW students and alumni were awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships for the 2017-18 academic year, and four have been named as alternates, joining about 1,900 students and recent graduates from around the country to study and teach abroad this coming year.
From volunteer to decision-maker: how parents can play a greater role in schools
Most schools offer parents specific ways to help out: Join the PTA, chaperone a field trip, grade papers for a teacher or assist on a classroom art project. Those volunteer opportunities, however, not only reinforce the top-down power structure of schools, but also cater to mostly white, privileged families, maintaining the institutionalized racism that…
Tag(s): Ann Ishimaru • College of Education« Previous Page Next Page »
