UW News
The latest news from the UW
September 30, 2016
‘We the people’: All invited to UW Constitution read-aloud event Oct. 7
UW Libraries is inviting the public to Suzzallo Library at lunchtime on Oct. 7 to listen to — or participate in — the annual reading of the United States Constitution.
Tag(s): Cassandra Hartnett • Suzzallo Library • UW Libraries • UW Reads the Constitution
CO2 record at Mauna Loa, the music video: The sounds of climate change
University of Washington scientists have put world’s longest-running measure of atmospheric carbon dioxide to music. The result is a 90-second rendition of human-induced climate change: The video project was done by Judy Twedt, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences, and Dargan Frierson, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences and amateur musician. Their techno…
Tag(s): climate change • College of the Environment • Dargan Frierson • Department of Atmospheric and Climate ScienceSeptember 29, 2016
UW gets NOAA grant to begin testing new forecast for toxic shellfish
UW oceanographers are working on a system that will act like a ‘weather forecast’ for Pacific Northwest harmful algal blooms.
Tag(s): harmful algal blooms • oceanography • Parker MacCready • Ryan McCabe • School of Oceanography
Ocean conditions contributed to unprecedented 2015 toxic algal bloom
A study led by researchers at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration connects the unprecedented West Coast toxic algal bloom of 2015 to the unusually warm ocean conditions — nicknamed “the blob” — in winter and spring of that year.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • harmful algal blooms • oceanographySeptember 28, 2016
UW ranked among the top five most innovative universities in the world by Reuters
The University of Washington landed at No. 5 on The Reuters 100: The World’s Most Innovative Universities. Now in its second year, the list ranks the educational institutions doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies and help drive the global economy.
Tag(s): RankingsSeptember 27, 2016
UW works to boost faculty diversity through recruitment and retention efforts
Like post-secondary schools across the country, the University of Washington has struggled to attract and retain a talented, diverse faculty. But efforts that have been quietly underway for a few years are starting to pay off, attracting top-level candidates to the UW even over schools that are able to offer bigger salaries and more perks….
Tag(s): Chadwick Allen • diversity • Norma Rodriguez • Office of Faculty Advancement • Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity • Rickey Hall
Researchers modify yeast to show how plants respond to a key hormone
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a novel toolkit based on modified yeast cells to tease out how plant genes and proteins respond to auxin, the most ubiquitous plant hormone. Their system, described in a paper published Sept. 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, allowed them to decode auxin’s basic effects on the diverse family of genes that plants utilize to detect and interpret auxin-driven messages.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology • Jennifer Nemhauser • plant science
NSF award to launch citizen science initiative across Pacific Rim
A team of researchers led by the University of Washington believes creating a network of community-based science is possible with new support from the National Science Foundation.
Tag(s): COASST • College of the Environment • Julia Parrish • School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Missing fish catch data? Not necessarily a problem, new study says
A new study by University of Washington scientists finds that in many cases, misreporting caught fish doesn’t always translate to overfishing. The study was published online this month in the journal Fish and Fisheries.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • IGERT • School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences • Trevor Branch
Secure passwords can be sent through your body, instead of air
UW engineers have devised a way to send secure passwords through the human body, instead of over the air where they’re vulnerable to hacking.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shyam Gollakota • Vikram IyerSeptember 26, 2016
UW archaeology field school unearths ‘treasure trove’ of tribal artifacts
Finding a long-buried outhouse might not sound exciting to most people, but to Sara Gonzalez and her crew, it was a holy grail of sorts. An assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Washington, Gonzalez led an archaeological field school this summer on a tribal reservation in northwestern Oregon. Gonzalez and a team of…
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Anthropology • Sara GonzalezSeptember 23, 2016
‘If these shackles could speak’: Charles Johnson’s powerful statement for Smithsonian Magazine feature on new African American Museum of History and Culture
Charles Johnson, UW professor emeritus of English, wrote a statement to accompany an item to be displayed in the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. What he wrote also was featured in a special issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
Tag(s): Charles Johnson • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of English
UW lands at No. 25, fourth among U.S. public institutions, in Times Higher Education world ranking
The University of Washington landed at No. 25 on the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2017, released this week. The UW is fourth on the list among U.S. public universities, behind UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan.
Tag(s): Rankings
UW prof the first recipient of national social work award
University of Washington social work professor Paula Nurius is the inaugural recipient of a new national award for helping advance doctoral education in her field. Nurius will receive the 2016 Educational Leadership in Doctoral Education award from the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) at a meeting in November. The…
Tag(s): Paula Nurius • School of Social Work
How natural selection acted on one penguin species over the past quarter century
University of Washington biologist Dee Boersma and her colleagues combed through 28 years’ worth of data on Magellanic penguins to search for signs that natural selection — one of the main drivers of evolution — may be acting on certain penguin traits. As they report in a paper published Sept. 21 in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, selection is indeed at work on the penguins at the Punta Tombo breeding site in Argentina.
Tag(s): Center for Ecosystem Sentinels • College of Arts & Sciences • Dee Boersma • Department of Biology • evolution
Week-long exhibit in La Conner joins climate scientists, artists
UW scientists worked with artists for an exhibit at the Museum of Northwest Art focusing on climate change impacts on coastal communities.
Tag(s): climate change • Climate Impacts Group • Guillaume MaugerSeptember 22, 2016
5 UW professors among HHMI’s inaugural class of Faculty Scholars
Amid a decline in funding for scientific research, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Simons Foundation to launch a new Faculty Scholars program. Announced Sept. 22 by HHMI, the inaugural crop of early-career scientists includes 5 faculty members from the University of Washington.
Tag(s): awards • College of Arts & Sciences • Daniel Stetson • Department of Biology • Department of Genome Sciences • Department of Immunology • Department of Microbiology • Department of Statistics • Jennifer Nemhauser • Maitreya Dunham • School of MedicineSeptember 21, 2016
UW jumps to No. 2 in the world for clinical medicine, pharmacy; remains No. 6 in life sciences
The University of Washington moved up to No. 2 in the world for clinical medicine and pharmacy in the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities by Broad Subject Fields.
UW team to study baby teeth in effort to identify autism risk factors
University of Washington researchers are part of a national team that will study the baby teeth of children who have siblings with autism to determine if prenatal exposure to chemicals increases their risk of developing the disorder. The study will involve testing children’s teeth for levels of environmental chemicals that they might have been exposed…
Tag(s): Annette Estes • autism • Stephen Dager • Wendy Stone
UW receives $500,000 from Boeing to enhance STEM training, opportunities for local students
Boeing announced Wednesday it is awarding $6 million in grants to more than 50 nonprofit organizations and education institutions across Washington, including $500,000 to the University of Washington.
September 20, 2016
New film about British Holocaust trial has UW connection
“Denial,” a new movie about an American historian’s lengthy court battle with a British Holocaust denier, has a UW connection — Deborah Lipstadt, the film’s protagonist, taught at the UW early in her career.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Deborah Lipstadt • film • Jackson School of International Studies • Stroum Center for Jewish StudiesSeptember 19, 2016
UW wins national nanotechnology startup challenge for breast cancer treatment
Researchers at the University of Washington are among the winners of a startup challenge to shorten the transition time from lab bench to patient. The team, including members of professor Suzie Pun’s research group in the UW Department of Bioengineering, was selected based on its proposal and business plan to develop a targeted drug delivery system for breast cancer.
Tag(s): awards • College of Engineering • CoMotion • Department of Bioengineering • School of Medicine • Suzie Pun
Award for genetic tracking to rein in pangolin poaching
A team of conservationists at the University of Washington is among the Grand Prize Winners of the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge for a proposal to identify poaching hotspots for pangolins, one of the most trafficked group of mammals in the world.
Tag(s): awards • Center for Environmental Forensic Science • College of Arts & Sciences • conservation • Department of Biology • Samuel Wasser
Microbes help plants survive in severe drought
Plants can better tolerate drought and other stressors with the help of natural microbes, University of Washington research has found. Specifically, plants that are given a dose of microbes stay green longer and are able to withstand drought conditions by growing more leaves and roots and using less water.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • School of Environmental and Forest Sciences • Sharon DotySeptember 15, 2016
Poverty decreases, income inequality holds in Washington state
The share of Washingtonians living in poverty dropped from 13.2 percent to 12.2 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to new data released Thursday. Washington was one of 23 states with statistically significant declines in their poverty rates during that period. The remaining 27 states and the District of Columbia saw no change in their…
Tag(s): Jennifer Romich • West Coast Poverty Center
Floating DNA reveals urban shorelines support more animal life
Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present at a point in time. A new University of Washington study is the first to use these genetic markers to understand the impact urbanization has on the environment — specifically, whether animal diversity flourishes or suffers.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Ryan Kelly • School of Marine and Environmental AffairsSeptember 14, 2016
Allen Library exhibit explores South Asia in art, scholarship
A new exhibit in the UW’s Allen Library explores South Asia through art, artifacts, manuscripts, music and more. “Envisaging South Asia: Art, Images, and Scholarship” will be on view through Oct. 31.
Tag(s): Deepa Banerjee • UW Libraries
The Great UW ShakeOut: An opportunity to practice earthquake preparedness
All across the world, millions of people will be practicing their earthquake-preparedness on Oct. 20. The event — called the Great ShakeOut — will commence at 10:20 a.m. for those participating at the University of Washington and across the state. It is an opportunity for people to practice what they should do in the event of an earthquake: Drop, cover and hold on.
UW Osher Lifelong Learning Institute receives $1 million gift
The Bernard Osher Foundation has announced a $1 million gift to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Washington (OLLI-UW). The Institute offers a diverse array of non-credit courses and activities for people 50 and older, giving these adults access to continuing education at the UW. The Osher Foundation’s gift takes the form…
All polar bears across the Arctic face shorter sea ice season
A new University of Washington study finds a trend toward earlier Arctic sea ice melt in the spring and later ice growth in the fall across all 19 polar bear populations, which can negatively impact the feeding and breeding capabilities of the bears.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • Harry Stern • Kristin Laidre • Polar Science CenterSeptember 13, 2016
Westerly winds have blown across central Asia for at least 42 million years
The winds that gust across the Tibetan Plateau have done so for far longer than previously believed, showing they are resilient to the formation of mountains and changes in carbon dioxide and temperature.
Tag(s): Alexis Licht • climate • College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space Sciences • geologySeptember 12, 2016
Graduate education in clean energy due for ‘big data’ overhaul
Jim Pfaendtner, University of Washington associate professor of chemical engineering, is leading a new endeavor funded by the National Science Foundation to bring big data to graduate education in clean energy research at the UW.
Tag(s): Clean Energy Institute • clean or renewable energy • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Engineering • Department of Chemical Engineering • Department of Chemistry • Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering • Department of Materials Science & Engineering • education • eScience Institute • Jim Pfaendtner • Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute
UW scientist helping direct NASA field study of clouds off Namibia
UW atmospheric scientists are part of a month-long NASA effort to learn how smoke and clouds interact.
Tag(s): climate • College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science • Rob Wood • Sarah Doherty
UW forestry student wins Bullitt Foundation’s top prize for wildlife conservation
A Q&A with Carol Bogezi, a UW doctoral student in environmental and forest sciences who received the 10th annual Bullitt Environmental Prize. The award recognizes people with exceptional potential to become powerful leaders in the environmental movement.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • School of Environmental and Forest SciencesSeptember 8, 2016
How do shark teeth bite? Reciprocating saw, glue provide answers
A recent University of Washington study sought to understand why shark teeth are shaped differently and what biological advantages various shapes have by testing their performance under realistic conditions.
Tag(s): Adam Summers • College of the Environment • Friday Harbor Laboratories • School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Life after Fitbit: Appealing to those who feel guilty vs. free
Is life better or worse after sticking your Fitbit in a drawer? UW researchers surveyed hundreds of people who had abandoned self-tracking tools and found emotions ranged from guilt to indifference to relief that the tracking experience was over.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering • James Fogarty • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Sean MunsonSeptember 7, 2016
Feeling they are part of a group increased preschoolers’ interest, success in STEM
Cultivating young children’s interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics has become a leading educational priority, as experts predict that many future jobs will require substantial math and technology skills. Early education in STEM topics, as they’re known, is critical for boosting later success in school and attracting students to occupations in those fields. But…
Tag(s): Allison Master • Andrew Meltzoff • education • I-LABS
HemaApp screens for anemia, blood conditions without needle sticks
UW engineers have developed HemaApp, which uses a smartphone camera to estimate hemoglobin concentrations and screen for anemia without sticking patients with needles.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shwetak PatelSeptember 6, 2016
UW law professor named to United Nations working group on business and human rights
When law professor Anita Ramasastry began teaching at the University of Washington in 1996, she was working on an article about banks’ responsibilities around human rights, to the bemusement of her peers. The groundbreaking piece focused on the role of Swiss banks during World War II and the dormant accounts of Holocaust victims and their…
Tag(s): Anita Ramasastry • School of Law
Forefront marks World Suicide Prevention Day Sept. 10 with workshops, documentary film
World Suicide Prevention Day, Sept. 10, is a reminder that we all have a role to play in preventing suicide. Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention, based in the UW School of Social Work and led by Professor Jennifer Stuber, is offering a film and two suicide prevention workshops on Sept. 10.
Tag(s): film • Forefront • Jennifer Stuber • Sue Eastgard« Previous Page Next Page »
