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Education

August 28, 2017

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 students with tools for lifetime success. “People who are good students tend to become good employees by being on time and putting forward their best…

Environment | News releases | Research | Science | Technology

August 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.

News releases | Research | Social science

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 of cardiovascular disease, weakened immune system and low back or neck pain. They also were at greater risk of some adverse health behaviors such as…

Research | Science | UW and the community | UW News blog

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 people — and a stylus to help play the record. Documents that Changed the World: Listen: Voyager’s “Golden Record,” 1977 About 20 billion kilometers (about…

Environment | Learning | Science | UW and the community | UW News blog

August 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.

Politics and government | Social science | UW News blog

August 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 that defines American culture, going back to before the revolution – that there is a longstanding dislike of centralized power and markets, and that this…

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science

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.

News releases | Politics and government | Research | Social science | UW and the community

August 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,”

Arts and entertainment | Honors and awards | Learning | Politics and government | Research | UW News blog

August 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.

Health and medicine | Learning | News releases | Research | Science | Social science | UW and the community

July 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 Livable City Year program, which connects one Washington community with UW faculty each year. The faculty incorporate projects identified by that community into their classes, giving…

Administrative affairs | Education | For UW employees | Honors and awards | News releases | UW and the community

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.”

News releases | Social science

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 Americans who are thin. Researchers believe this effect relates to common stereotypes that Asians are thin and Americans are heavy — so if someone of…

Arts and entertainment | Education | News releases | Politics and government | Research

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.”

News releases | Social science

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 and material wealth to friends and romantic partners. This social hierarchy may be so naturally ingrained, University of Washington researchers say, that toddlers as young…

Education | News releases | UW and the community

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 marginalizes low-income families and families of color, said Ann Ishimaru, assistant professor of education at the University of Washington. What schools and districts can do…

Administrative affairs | Honors and awards | News releases | UW and the community

July 19, 2017

Donors contribute record $564.4 million in private support to University of Washington; most donors in a single year

Donors contributed a record $562.7 million to the University of Washington in the 2017 fiscal year, breaking the previous record of $542.4 million set last year. The funds, secured through the University’s most ambitious philanthropic campaign in history, came in the form of private gifts and grants for student scholarships, faculty support, research projects and interdisciplinary programs.

News releases | Research | Social science

Artifacts suggest humans arrived in Australia earlier than thought

  When and how the first humans made their way to Australia has been an evolving story. While it is accepted that humans appeared in Africa some 200,000 years ago, scientists in recent years have placed the approximate date of human settlement in Australia further and further back in time, as part of ongoing questions about the timing, the routes and the means of migration out of Africa. Now, a team of researchers, including a faculty member and seven students…

Honors and awards | News releases | UW and the community

July 17, 2017

University of Washington named ‘Great College to Work For’ for fourth consecutive year, makes the Honor Roll

The University of Washington has been recognized as a “Great College to Work For” by the Chronicle of Higher Education for the fourth consecutive year. The UW received accolades in seven categories – the most categories to date – in addition to making the Honor Roll, a special distinction for institutions that were cited for recognition most often in their size group.