Tidal-power testing for electricity production near Admiralty Inlet will begin at the end of the month, with testing at Deception Pass and other locations to follow. Teaming up with the UW departments of oceanography and mechanical engineering, Snohomish County officials will use acoustic Doppler to measure currents over the next several months.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Underwater turbines could turn Puget Sound's tides into electricity  |  uweek.org story: May 10, 2007

The tidal energy "gold rush" is on, and the Snohomish Public Utility District is the latest prospector to stake its claim to potentially potent sources of power in Puget Sound waters. The PUD has partnered with the UW to study the currents in Admiralty Inlet and Deception Pass.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Underwater turbines could turn Puget Sound's tides into electricity  |  uweek.org story: May 10, 2007

Snohomish County PUD's venture into generating electricity using underwater tidal turbines is cranking to life. Phil Malte, a UW professor of mechanical engineering, was hired by the PUD to develop models of currents in Puget Sound.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Underwater turbines could turn Puget Sound's tides into electricity  |  uweek.org story: May 10, 2007

The NY Times profiles William Wulf, an advocate for innovation and former president of the National Academy of Engineering. The UW's Ed Lazowska, professor of computer science and engineering, describes Wulf's influence on U.S. research policy

Car radios may be an old technology, but they represent a hugely important channel for delivering programming and advertising to listeners. The work of the late Chih-Chi Hsu, former UW professor of electrical engineering, is described with a quote from electrical engineer Les Atlas.

Another Microsoft project, unveiled last year and built in collaboration with the UW, collects images from public photo-sharing Web pages. Photo Tourism combines the photos into a 3D image so users can look at the object from any view. The idea was to take advantage of the potentially billions of images that are online, said Noah Snavely, a UW doctoral student who works on the project with Microsoft researchers.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Photo software creates 3-D world  |  uwnews.org release: Feb. 14, 2007

The UW's Richard J. Anderson, professor of computer science and engineering, may have solved the problem of the class loudmouth. With computers on their desks that have touch-sensitive screens that read pen strokes, however, it's easy for anyone to raise a "virtual hand." The program is called Classroom Presenter.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Microsoft picks new UW center to develop distance learning technologies  |  uwnews.org release: July 16, 2007

Microsoft committed $750,000 over three years to establish a Center for Collaborative Technologies at the University of Washington, which will focus on distance learning technologies and high-tech classrooms.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Microsoft picks new UW center to develop distance learning technologies  |  uwnews.org release: July 16, 2007

On a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles a few years ago, Oren Etzioni learned that an aisle mate had paid about $100 less for his ticket than Etzioni had. When he returned to the University of Washington, where he is an expert on artificial intelligence, Etzioni set about creating a computer program that could ensure that fliers get the best deal. His brainchild, Farecast, attempts to tell travelers when they should buy a ticket by predicting whether a fare will go up or down.

A national conference hosted by the UW's College of Engineering was geared toward advising academic leaders in the science, engineering and math fields on how to manage their divisions while keeping diversity in mind. The workshop was organized by the UW's Eve Riskin and Joyce Yen.

The UW is expanding its research in nanophotonics, an emerging field of science involving ultra-tiny materials and light that many believe has the potential to revolutionize computing. Research by Alex Jen, chair of materials science, is mentioned.

Students from all over the country have traveled to the UW for the first Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing. During the intense, nine-week program students will learn how to program software, write computer codes, model 3-D objects and make cartoon figures move.

SOURCE MATERIAL  
Deaf computing academy welcomes first students in national program  |  uwnews.org release: June 13, 2007

Hybrid diesel-electric buses run quieter, smoother, use less fuel, and don't have the dark, smelly smoke of standard diesel buses. Federal transportation money recently awarded to Everett is expected to help add cleaner-burning hybrid buses to Everett Transit's fleet. The UW's Scott Rutherford, professor of civil and environmental engineering, is quoted.

The daily slog over the Tacoma Narrows will improve when the new bridge opens next week. But we should enjoy life in the faster lane now, because it probably won't last long -- the drivers who stay away awhile eventually will come back. UW civil engineer Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, is quoted.

Some Internet service providers have been caught inserting ads into the Web pages their customers visit. Computer scientist Yoshi Kohno and members of the UW security and privacy research group teamed up with the International Computer Science Institute to investigate. They developed an online tool that helps identify when an ISP inserts ads or otherwise modifies Web pages.

New Washington state driver's licenses to be issued next year need better security to protect against unauthorized tracking of individuals, technical experts and privacy advocates said Thursday. Computer scientist Gaetano Borriello and doctoral student Evan Welbourne, both involved in a privacy-related research in the UW's computer science building, are quoted.

The iPhone has tiny, powerful sensors--an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, and an infrared sensor--that are able to pick up cues from the environment and adjust the phone's functions accordingly. But the tasks are "pretty mundane." Tanzeem Choudhury, a researcher at Intel Labs Seattle and affiliate at the UW, put similar sensors on first-year UW graduate students last year and explored more advanced applications.

Those people lining up to buy Apple iPhones on Friday are guinea pigs, and experts in the field of human-computer interaction are taking note. UW computer scientist James Landay is quoted.

A new-age pointing device under development at Microsoft Research lets you navigate your PC using nothing but a bare hand. The device, known as Soap, is essentially a wireless optical mouse surrounded by a fabric hull—think of it as a beanbag with some hardware inside. It was dreamed up by Microsoft's Patrick Baudisch, an affiliate professor of computer science at the UW.