NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 2, No. 2 | May 6, 2008 | A publication of the College of Engineering and uwnews.org, the UW Office of News and Information

UW College of Engineering NewsFlash | Vol. 2, No. 2 | May 6, 2008

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).

March 31, 2008 | The Seattle Times
UW team researches a future filled with RFID chips

Some University of Washington students, faculty and staff are being tracked as they move about the computer-science building, with details of where they've been, and with whom, stored in a database. If it seems a bit like Big Brother, that's the intention. The project is meant to explore both positive and negative aspects of a world saturated with technology that can monitor people and objects remotely.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Future of social networking explored in UW's computer science building | Feb. 12, 2008

April 25, 2008 | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gates looks back, ahead

With his father and two sisters watching from the front row, Gates recounted for the overflow crowd the well-known story of roaming the University of Washington campus as a boy with Paul Allen, who would become the Microsoft co-founder, looking for research computers that they could use in off-hours. Gates discussed a wide range of topics during a speech and a question-and-answer period, spanning his interests in technology, health and education.

SOURCE MATERIAL
'Bill Gates Unplugged': UW final stop on tour of North American universities | April 17, 2008

April 26, 2008 | The Seattle Times
UW helped nurture computing ideas, Gates says

As teenagers, Paul Allen and Bill Gates wandered the University of Washington campus, trying to pilfer free computer time. They let their minds wander to a future when computing power would essentially be free. Gates, in the final stop of his last university-speaking circuit as a full-time Microsoft employee, told students and faculty at the UW on Friday about what they imagined then and how much of what they dreamed of is becoming reality.

SOURCE MATERIAL
'Bill Gates Unplugged': UW final stop on tour of North American universities | April 17, 2008

March 31, 2008 | The Seattle Times
Conference issues the call: Engineers as a force for change

Engineers Without Borders-USA founder Bernard Amadei called on engineers to be "social entrepreneurs, community builders and peacemakers," working on behalf of people living in poor conditions in the developing world. Donee Alexander, civil engineering PhD student and projects director for the UW student chapter, is quoted.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Engineers Without Borders-USA international conference this week in Seattle | March 26, 2008

	March 26, 2008 \| The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Engineering as diplomacy
	An op-ed by Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders - USA. The organization was formed out of the conviction that engineers have a leadership role to play in addressing some of the world's most serious problems: contaminated water, poor sanitation systems, expensive or harmful energy sources. SOURCE MATERIAL Engineers Without Borders-USA international conference this week in Seattle \| March 26, 2008

March 26, 2008 | ABC affiliate stations
Tethered endoscope

Mechanical engineer Eric Seibel shows off his novel scan for esophageal cancer in a segment that aired this winter on ABC affiliate stations.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides | Jan. 24, 2008

April 1, 2008 | The (UK) Science Museum
World's first electronic contact lens

Mere mortals could soon enjoy superhuman vision thanks to a breakthrough in building the world's first electronic contact lens, developed at the UW and now on display at the Science Museum in London, England.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision | Jan. 17, 2008

April 8, 2008 | America.gov
Iranian-American researcher explores technology frontiers in US

Computer displays that fit into contact lenses, machines that assemble themselves, tools that let a doctor see precisely which of your cells has cancer, and nanodevices that monitor your health and dispense medicines -- these are just some of the projects by Iranian-American scientist and electrical engineer Babak Parviz.

RELATED MATERIAL
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision | Jan. 17, 2008

April 16, 2008 | Popular Science
Of circles and solar cells

Hardly a week goes by these days without a new solar panel technology development in the news. While the approach that materials scientist Guozhong Cao took was not intended immediately to maximize efficiency, it is at its core a method for capturing more light.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells | April 10, 2008

April 14, 2008 | EcoGeek
Nano 'popcorn balls' increase dye-solar efficiency by 250%

UW engineers have announced an exciting breakthrough in dye-sensitized solar cell technology. Materials scientists studying solar cell configurations discovered that by using a design based on a popcorn ball (tiny spheres grouped into bigger porous spheres), efficiency in cheap solar cells was more than doubled.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells | April 10, 2008

April 1, 2008 | Backpacker
Survive this: A plunge into raging whitewater

Don't assume that early morning is the best time to cross melt-swollen streams, says UW civil engineer Jessica Lundquist. Variables like river distance and snowpack depth can generate peak flow at any time of the day or night, says Lundquist, who has studied snowmelt fluctuations in Yosemite.

	April 28, 2008 \| KIRO radio Regionwide tolling on Puget Sound highways?
	Civil engineer Mark Hallenbeck discusses highway tolls with KIRO radio's Dori Monson. “Are you ready to rumble?" asks Dori. "Bring it on," Mark responds. The program aired at 1 p.m. on April 28.

April 17, 2008 | Associated Press
UW leading computer study for Defense Department

Computer scientist Pedro Domingos is leading a five-year study by seven universities to help the military process vast amounts of computer information.

SOURCE MATERIAL
UW to lead $6.25 million project creating electronic Sherlock Holmes | April 16, 2008

	April 18, 2008 \| The Seattle Times Not elementary
	Seattle Times columnist Brier Dudley writes about the electronic Sherlock Holmes project the UW is leading for the Department of Defense. SOURCE MATERIAL UW to lead $6.25 million project creating electronic Sherlock Holmes \| April 16, 2008

April 23, 2008 | CNN.com
Arranged marriage gets high-tech twist

The rise of cell phones has made long-distance courtships easier. A small 2006 study from a UW researcher in technical communications found that young Indians living in Bangalore used cell phones to get to know partners introduced to them by their parents.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Mobile phones facilitate romance in modern India | Feb. 12, 2007

	April 7, 2008 \| New Scientist Microsoft creates 'instant backing band' for singers
	Whether you're a frustrated songwriter or a shower-time crooner, you may long to hear your lyrics put to music. New software, from Microsoft Research and UW computer science doctoral student Ian Simon, promises instant musical accompaniment.

April 11, 2008 | MSNBC
Scientists discover black holes on the Internet

You’re pounding the keyboard, double-clicking away, sighing and grumbling, but to no avail: That devilish little hourglass icon refuses to give way to the Web site you’re trying to reach. Ethan Katz-Bassett, a UW graduate student in computer science, and his advisor, Arvind Krishnamurthy, designed a program to continuously search for these strange Internet gaps.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Hubble maps the changing constellation of Internet 'black holes' | April 8, 2008

April 24, 2008 | KUOW
The new science for treating hearing loss

Host Steve Scher explores new technologies to treat hearing loss. Bioengineer and otolaryngologist Jay Rubinstein talks about his work on processing audio signals for implants in the inner ear. And at minute 44, Richard Ladner and Eve Riskin describe their experimental video-enabled cell phone for the deaf community.

March 22, 2008 | Daily Journal of Commerce
Guggenheim Hall

UW's Guggenheim Hall reopened to students last fall after a $28 million renovation and historic restoration. The 1928 collegiate Gothic-style building houses the departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Applied Mathematics.

	April 1, 2008 \| The UW Daily Body of graduate student found in adviser's office
	UW students were shocked to find the remains of fellow graduate student in electrical engineering professor Blake Hannaford's office last week. The skeleton was identified as doctoral candidate Ganesh Sankaranarayanan. Dean Matt O'Donnell is quoted. (Note: This is from the April Fools’ issue.)

March 31, 2008 | The Seattle Times
12 rules to boost your brainpower

The Seattle Times reviews “Brain Rules" by John Medina, affiliate professor of bioengineering.

If you have a newsworthy result about one month from publication, presentation or demonstration, please contact Hannah, hickeyh@u.washington.edu. Notice of student and faculty awards and grants is also welcome.