NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 1, No. 9 | Nov. 29, 2007 | A publication of the College of Engineering and uwnews.org, the UW Office of News and Information

UW College of Engineering NewsFlash | Vol. 1, No. 9 | Nov. 29, 2007

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 Hannah Hickey at (206-543-2580, hickeyh@uw.edu).

Nov. 7, 2007 | The Associated Press
When 'ee' means 'move right'

A mouse that can move accurately in response to sounds could mean the difference between dependence and independence for someone with motor impairments. UW electrical engineer Jeff Bilmes is teaching computers to do just that. (Reprinted in multiple publications.)

SOURCE MATERIAL
Generating 'oohs' and 'aahs': Vocal Joystick uses voice to surf the Web | Oct. 9, 2007

Nov. 5, 2007 | Christian Science Monitor
A reality check on dreams for space: the repairs

Saturday's spacewalk to fix a ripped solar panel on the International Space Station might be likened to threading cords through grommets of a waving, electrically charged camping tarp. It also points to the vital role that on-orbit maintenance will play as visionaries set their sights on more space structures. The solar-panel spacewalk was "really kind of a wake-up call," says UW aeronautics engineer Adam Bruckner.

Nov. 26, 2007 | BusinessWeek
Building a 3D world one snapshot at a time

That photo you snapped of Aunt Tilly in front of Notre Dame may help Netizens find their way around the world. Computer scientists Steve Seitz and Brian Curless use online photos to create 3D models of famous, and frequently snapped, landmarks.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Vacation photos create 3D models of world landmarks | Nov. 1, 2007

	Nov. 12, 2007 \| Discovery News 3D cityscapes made from Flickr pics
	Vacation-goers who post photos of landmarks from their travels online are helping produce some of the most accurate 3-D models of architecture and cityscapes, thanks to a new digital project. SOURCE MATERIAL Vacation photos create 3D models of world landmarks \| Nov. 1, 2007

Oct. 29, 2007 | New Scientist
Holiday snapshots used to model the world in 3D

Images uploaded to photo-sharing websites like Flickr could find a surprising new application – they could help build accurate 3D models of the real world. Michael Goesele, a former UW postdoctoral researcher, and UW computer scientist Steve Seitz say they have a simple method for creating 3D digital maps.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Vacation photos create 3D models of world landmarks | Nov. 1, 2007

Oct. 30, 2007 | KING 5 TV
Nanotechnology making its way into our homes

We've all heard of nanotechnology. It's about stuff that's really, really small. But now this technology is starting to make its way into the home. KING 5 visits Francois Baneyx in the UW's Center for Nanotechnology to see how small we're really talking about.

Oct. 29, 2007 | Fox News
Far-out ideas could provide solutions to world's energy crisis

Getting out from under the thumb of foreign oil producers and saying goodbye to polluting power plants could be just a couple of scientific breakthroughs away. Tom Jarboe, a UW professor of aeronautics and astronautics, describes the promise of fusion energy.

Nov. 16, 2007 | BusinessWeek
Computing heads for the clouds

IBM, Yahoo!, and Google are all putting the power of cloud computing to work. Google said it would make hundreds of processors in its data centers available to schools including the University of Washington, Stanford University, and MIT. Here's a short primer on how the new technology works.

RELATED MATERIAL
'Google 101' class at UW inspires first Internet-scale programming courses | Oct. 8, 2007

Nov. 3, 2007 | The Seattle Times
Skilled at code, he wins a load

UW senior Michael Skinner scored an upset victory Friday by winning his division of an international contest aimed at finding out who can write the most effective computer programs. Skinner, 22, was one of just two Americans among a field of 120 students gathered in Florida for the 2007 TopCoder Collegiate Challenge.

Nov. 6, 2007 | The Seattle Times
A virtual reality program aims to ease pain

The Seattle Times profiles Hunter Hoffman, research engineer in the Human Interface Technology Lab, whose work was recently cited by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum as one of the best examples of design art between 2003 and 2006.

RELATED MATERIAL
Virtual reality significantly reduces pain-related brain activity | June 21, 2004

Oct. 1, 2007 | KOMO TV
UW researchers put more 'reality' into 'virtual reality'

UW computer Zoran Popovic has come up with a new formula for simulating fluids like fires and smoke. The new formula is changing the world of virtual reality by improving the technology and making it more accessible at the same time.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Computers expose the physics of NASCAR | Aug. 9, 2007

Nov. 1, 2007 | Networkworld.com
The top 10 real-life Star Trek inventions

In the past few months a number of technologies and products that invoke the Star Trek name have been rolled out. The UW's medical tricorder, a Tricorder-like tool that uses high-intensity focused ultrasound rays, is number 2 on the list.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Star Trek medical device uses ultrasound to heal punctured lungs | Aug. 30, 2007

Oct. 1, 2007 | Seattle Metropolitan
Smartest city ever: 50 ways Seattle will change the world

A survey of Rain City's technology and geek culture includes: computer scientist Oren Etzioni's image translation tool (pg 3); electrical engineer Blake Hannaford's talk on surgical robots (pg 7); bioengineer Paul Yager's diagnostic lab-on-a-chip (pg 9); computer science grad student Tapan Parikh's cell phones for the developing world (pg 11); mechanical engineer Chunye Xu's 'smart' sunglasses (pg 14); and UW electrical engineering students Jeff Cole and Brandon Smith, whose iPod tool shows when an artist will be performing in your city (pg 15).