NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 1, No. 8 | Oct. 30, 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. 8 | Oct. 30, 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).

Oct. 19, 2007 | Discovery News
Joystick takes cues by voice

"Ah," "ee," "aw" and "oo" are not just vowel sounds, but vocalizations that can now control a computer cursor. The Vocal Joystick detects sounds at 100 times a second and then turns them into movements on the screen.

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

Oct. 24, 2007 | CBC Radio
Interview: Jeff Bilmes on the Vocal Joystick

There are certain everyday technologies that I take for granted. Like the computer mouse. But for some people with motor impairments, a computer mouse can be impossible to use. Instead, they may use tongue joysticks, eye tracking devices, or brain-computer interfaces to control a mouse pointer. Electrical engineer Jeff Bilmes may have developed an alternative.

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

	Oct. 10, 2007 \| Computerworld.com Internet surfers say goodbye mouse, hello voice commands
	UW researchers have developed software designed to let those who can't work a handheld mouse use their voice instead to navigate the Web. "There are many people who have perfect use of their voice who don't have use of their hands and arms," said UW electrical engineer Jeffrey Bilmes. RELATED MATERIAL Generating 'oohs' and 'aahs': Vocal Joystick uses voice to surf the Web \| Oct. 9, 2007

Oct. 23, 2007 | BusinessWeek
Boeing: Man on the hot seat

Pat Shanahan, a UW mechanical engineering alum, has been the aircraft maker's Mr. Fix-It on a number of projects. Now he faces his biggest challenge: the 787 Dreamliner.

	Oct. 17, 2007 \| The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Aerospace Notebook: Boeing Dreamliner chief replaced
	Boeing Co. announced a new head of the 787 Dreamliner program: Pat Shanahan, a Washington native and UW graduate in mechanical engineering. Shanahan has been in charge of Boeing's complex missile defense program in Washington, D.C. The appointment is effective immediately.

Oct. 17, 2007 | The Seattle Times
787 visionary out; new chief must make it fly

Boeing has named UW alumnus Pat Shanahan as the new 787 program chief. Shanahan graduated from the UW with a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1985 and has been working for Boeing in Washington, D.C. The new position is a glorious opportunity, as well as a return home to Washington state and to the commercial-airplane business.

Oct. 8, 2007 | The Wall Street Journal
IBM, Google, universities combine 'cloud' forces

International Business Machines Corp. and Google Inc. said they are starting a program on college campuses to promote computer-programming techniques for clusters of processors known as "clouds." Hundreds of donated computers will be accessible from six universities, led by UW, where some of the programming techniques were developed.

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

Oct. 9, 2007 | The (San Jose) Mercury News
Google, IBM forge computing program

Google's alliance with IBM to supply massive amounts of computing power to college campuses around the country started as one individual's idealistic notion. The Academic Cluster Computing Initiative is the dream of a 26-year-old graduate from the University of Washington named Christophe Bisciglia.

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

	Oct. 8, 2007 \| The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Software Notebook: Google, IBM expand program to teach 'Internet-scale' computing
	Google and IBM, expanding an effort that began at the University of Washington, will launch an initiative to help computer science students and researchers learn a form of programming increasingly significant in the Internet age. RELATED MATERIAL 'Google 101' class at UW inspires first Internet-scale programming courses \| Oct. 8, 2007

Oct. 15, 2007 | USA Today
'Brilliant' minds think alike -- for good of mankind

Computer scientist Yoky Matsuoka is one of Popular Science's "Brilliant 10."

Oct. 15, 2007 | Popular Science
Robot connector: Yoky Matsuoka

She's built incredibly lifelike robots. Now she's connecting them directly to our brains. Popular Science magazine names UW computer scientist Yoky Matsuoka to its 6th annual "Brilliant 10" list.

	Oct. 8, 2007 \| The Tacoma News Tribune Traffic Q&A
	To merge, or not to merge? Civil engineer Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, helps answer a heated traffic debate.

	Oct. 7, 2007 \| The Baltimore Sun A modern-day Ahab
	American culture valorizes the uncompromising dreamers--one way to describe former Johns Hopkins professor Robert Hemke, who sacrificed everything to build a soil probe. The device detects how various soils will behave in earthquakes of different magnitudes. UW civil engineer Steve Kramer is quoted on page 2.

Sept. 24, 2007 | Computerworld.com
Happy birthday, Sputnik! (Thanks for the Internet)

Fifty years ago, a small Soviet satellite was launched, stunning the U.S. and sparking a massive technology research effort. Could we be in for another "October surprise"? UW computer scientist Ed Lazowska is quoted on pages 2 and 4.

Oct. 3, 2007 | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Where did Sputnik leave us?

In an op-ed article, bioengineering doctoral student Thomas Robey asks: What is the state of science a half-century after Sputnik? NASA has an image problem; science allocations lag behind inflation stifling innovation; and while more Americans than other nationalities win Nobel Prizes, those accolades go to scientists trained in a different era -- the uncertain funding situation facing young scholars today is an impediment to many pursuing careers in science.

	Sept. 28, 2007 \| The Oregonian A love song to a vanished falls and a man's passion to hear it
	A musical that tells the story of filling The Dalles Dam in Oregon features music by the UW's Chenoa Egawa. In her day job, Egawa is a UW staff member developing Native American programs in the College of Engineering's Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Achievement (MESA) office.