NewsFlash is a monthly email of press items featuring our College's researchers. For a more complete and regularly updated list of COE media coverage, see In the Media.
Click on a headline to read that article on the web. Some links may require a subscription or no longer be active.
NewsFlash is a service of the UW College of Engineering and the UW Office of News and Information. If you have a newsworthy result about one month from publication, presentation or demonstration, please contact Michelle Ma at mcma@uw.edu@uw.edu or (206) 543-2580.
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NewsFlash, October 2012
Nov. 01, 2012 | The Seattle Times
UW students' 3-D printer to turn trash into better life for Third World
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Mechanical engineering undergraduates Matt Rogge and Bethany Weeks have developed a machine that can "print" large plastic objects out of garbage. Faculty adviser Mark Ganter is also quoted. |
Nov. 02, 2012 | The Economist
A third-world dimension
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Mechanical engineering undergraduates show how 3-D printing might help poor countries. Matthew Rogge, Bethany Weeks and Brandon Bowman intend to employ their $100K prize money to form a startup that will work with the charity Water for Humans to custom-build composting toilets and rainwater collectors. They will train local entrepreneurs to build, use and maintain the printers. |
Oct. 25, 2012 | NBCNews.com: FutureTech blog
3-D printer to turn waste plastic into toilets
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3-D printing technology is being harnessed to take pesky plastic waste and make human waste disappear, via composting toilets. The UW mechanical engineering students' concept won the $100,000 top prize earlier this month in the 3D4D Challenge. |
Oct. 25, 2012 | GeekWire
Waste plastics to composting toilets: UW students win big with 3-D printer concept
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A group of University of Washington students have won first prize in the 3D4D Challenge, earning $100,000 for a giant 3-D printer device that transforms waste plastics into low-cost, lightweight and energy efficient toilets. |
Oct. 17, 2012 | PBS Nova
Can science stop crime?
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Computer scientist Yoshi Kohno, his family, and members of the UW's Computer Security and Privacy Research Lab -- grad students Karl Koscher, Alexei Czeskis, Franzi Roesner, Tamara Denning and Dan Halperin -- appear in this profile of the group's research (at 39:40). |
Researchers find implantable cardiac defibrillators may expose patients to security and privacy risks; potential solutions suggested
Nike+iPod Sport Kit raises privacy concerns
Oct. 13, 2012 | The Seattle Times
UW 'white-hat hacker' searches for security holes
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Computer scientist Tadayoshi Kohno will be featured in a PBS science show Wednesday for his work that shows how cars, medical devices and other interconnected gadgets can be hacked. |
Researchers find implantable cardiac defibrillators may expose patients to security and privacy risks; potential solutions suggested
Nike+iPod Sport Kit raises privacy concerns
Oct. 17, 2012 | The Seattle Times: Brier Dudley's blog
Online voter guide gets fact-checking librarians
| To cut through political malarkey, the University of Washington's online voting guide is bringing in a binder full of librarians. The guide, presented with the Seattle City Club, is a sort of online election information source and forum, where people can post short arguments for or against ballot measures. Computer science postdoc Travis Kriplean is quoted. |
Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election
Oct. 28, 2012 | The Seattle Times
Seattle library fact check experiment risky, but valuable
| Columnist Monica Guzman says she hopes the revamped Living Voters Guide, created by the UW and Seattle's City Club, is not just a successful library experiment, but an evolution in fact checking — and a sign of things to come. |
Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election
Oct. 17, 2012 | GeekWire
Librarians as political fact-checkers: New feature in online voters guide
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The Living Voters Guide, recent winner of the Evergreen Apps Challenge, has released its 2012 update that allows Washington state voters to learn about different ballot measures, compare the pros and cons of each and sound off with fellow contributors. |
Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election
Oct. 26, 2012 | ReadWriteWeb
Need accurate political fact-checking? Ask a librarian
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Instead of relying on fact-checking websites, the UW started the Living Voters Guide, a site dedicated educating Washington voters on issues and referendums. Here's the coolest part: voters can request to have statements on the user-generated pro/con lists fact-checked by librarians within 48 hours. |
Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election
Oct. 01, 2012 | Smithsonian: Innovations blog
Can you change your political beliefs?
| Leading up to the first presidential debate, a blogger asks whether any informed voters are still undecided. A survey of scientific work on political decision-making includes Sean Munson's "The Balancer," a plug-in that tracks online reading habits and calculates political bias. |
Browser plug-in helps people balance their political news reading habits
Oct. 03, 2012 | The (UW) Daily
UW researcher balances online consumption of politics
| In response to election season and political bias on the Internet, Human Centered Design and Engineering's Sean Munson created a tool to make the information age a little less asymmetrical, and a lot more balanced. |
Browser plug-in helps people balance their political news reading habits
Oct. 03, 2012 | DesignBuildSource.com
Are roads the next green frontier?
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Tacoma's Cheney Stadium is the second project certified under the GreenRoads rating system developed by civil engineer Steve Muench and former PhD student Jeralee Anderson. The system takes principles from the green building movement and applies them to environmentally friendly design and construction practices in roads and road infrastructure. |
Bellingham roadway with recycled toilets is world's first official 'Greenroad'
Oct. 02, 2012 | KING 5
Seattle gridlock: Too many cars, too few lanes, no easy fixes
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Traffic experts agree that congestion is a big problem in a region where the roads are too small for the number of drivers trying to access them. Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, says Seattle's challenge boils down to topography. |
Oct. 09, 2012 | The Seattle Times
Alaska Airlines: Our ticketing system up and running again
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The Alaska Airlines computer system that went on the fritz for five hours and stranded hundreds of passengers at Sea-Tac this morning is running again. Electrical engineer Martin Afromowitz says it's not the first time that damage to underground fiber-optic cables has caused major disruptions. |
Oct. 09, 2012 | The new York Times: Scientist at Work blog
In the wake of our forebears
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The New York Times blog Scientist at Work features Jim Thomson, civil engineer and oceanographer at the Applied Physics Lab, writing about his research with wave-tracking buoys. Michael Shwindemann, PhD student in civil and environmental engineering, is pictured. |
New York Times blog features UW scientist at sea
Oct. 04, 2012 | Medgadget
Cheap, nearly free, paper-based diagnostic testing platform
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Bioengineer Daniel Ratner has come up with a method to replace relatively costly nitrocellulose and at the same time create a new platform for the development of a wide range of cheap diagnostic tests. |
Sticky paper offers cheap, easy solution for paper-based diagnostics
Oct. 08, 2012 | Gizmag
New tech converts regular paper into powerful medical diagnostic tool
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Bioengineer Dan Ratner has found a way to isolate and identify medically interesting molecules using little more than scraps of office paper, a Ziplock bag and a cheap diluted solvent. |
Sticky paper offers cheap, easy solution for paper-based diagnostics
Oct. 05, 2012 | GigaOM
5 ways big data is transforming everyday life
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A former National Geographic and TIME photographer has tackled a new subject: big data. Computer scientist and electrical engineer Shwetak Patel, who developed the ElectriSense sensor for home appliance monitoring, is one of the subjects. |
Visionary innovator wins MacArthur 'genius' award
UW energy- and water-sensing technology acquired by Belkin
Sep. 26, 2012 | Wired
Why everyone (not just geeks) should care about Big Data
| Photographer Rick Smolan, best known as the creator of the Day in the Life series, has assembled a book of photographs that demonstrate data’s impact on our daily lives — which will be published under the title The Human Face of Big Data in November. One of the photos is of UW's Shwetak Patel. |
Visionary innovator wins MacArthur 'genius' award
UW energy- and water-sensing technology acquired by Belkin
Oct. 15, 2012 | Science 2.0
Fusion in a coffee mug
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A new piece of technology developed by aeronautical engineer Tom Jarboe could help contain the plasma using 1 percent of the energy currently required, which makes fusion energy-effective. |
Mug handles could help hot plasma give lower-cost, controllable fusion energy
Oct. 17, 2012 | The Economist
The road from SURFdom
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While its Art Deco headquarters in downtown Seattle harks back to the past, SURF Incubator looks firmly to the future. The UW's computer science program is mentioned as one of the resources important to the local technology start-up ecosystem. |
Oct. 04, 2012 | The Seattle Times
Healthful relationship between UW, business
| Columnist Jerry Large covers the Bioengineering Affiliates Program, which facilitates biotech partnerships between the public and private sectors. Program director Charles McLien III, bioengineer Jay Rubinstein and bioengineering seniors Leslie Cornaby and Yayun Chen are mentioned. |
Oct. 24, 2012 | The Seattle Times: Brier Dudley's blog
UW touts computer science growth
| Seattle Times blogger Brier Dudley covers UW computer science & engineering's Industrial Affiliates event, mentioning keynotes by chair Hank Levy and new faculty member Carlos Guestrin. |
Oct. 25, 2012 | GeekWire
Mobile app that measures lung functions headlines UW computer science show
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As part of CSE's Industry Affiliates Annual Meeting, 89 research groups made up of over 150 grad students set up shop in the Allen Center to show off their latest work in a poster and demo session. GeekWire covers the event, with a slideshow. |
App lets you monitor lung health using only a smartphone
Oct. 27, 2012 | The (UW) Daily
UW SACNAS chapter sweeps awards at national conference
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The UW chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science hosted this year's national conference and won Chapter of the Year for the third time since it was founded four years ago. Bioengineering major Yuriana Garcia and civil and environmental engineering major Faith Sims, both recruited through SACNAS, are mentioned. |
Oct. 28, 2012 | The Venture Alley blog
Women in tech: Dr. Eve Riskin, professor and assoc. dean of Engineering
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A Q&A with electrical engineer and associate dean Eve Riskin, one woman in tech who is actively working to “change the ratio” by increasing the number of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). |
Encouraging women scientists in industry, government to enter academia
Oct. 09, 2012 | The New York Times
Strides in medicine, and their price
| A guest columnist looks at how technology has shaped the practice of modern medicine. The UW's development of chronic renal dialysis, invented in 1960 by mechanical engineering alumnus Wayne Quinton, is mentioned. |
UW alum first recipient of award for outstanding achievements in biomaterials
If you have a newsworthy result about one month from publication, presentation or demonstration, please contact Hannah Hickey, hickeyh@uw.edu. Notice of student and faculty awards and grants is also welcome.