NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 2, No. 1 | March 27, 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. 1 | March 27, 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 12, 2008 | The New York Times
A heart device is found vulnerable to hacker attacks

To the long list of objects vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, add the human heart. The threat seems largely theoretical. But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker. Tadayoshi Kohno, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, is quoted.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Researchers find implantable cardiac defibrillators may expose patients to security and privacy risks; potential solutions suggested | March 11, 2008

March 12, 2008 | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Hackers can attack heart devices

A Seattle computer scientist who helped expose how hackers can mess with electronic voting machines is part of a team that has shown how new, wireless cardiac devices implanted in thousands of heart patients also are vulnerable to electronic attack. Computer scientist Yoshi Kohno is quoted.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Researchers find implantable cardiac defibrillators may expose patients to security and privacy risks; potential solutions suggested | March 11, 2008

	March 20, 2008 \| Wired blog Inside the twisted mind of a security professional
	Security requires a particular mindset. Security professionals -- at least the good ones -- see the world differently. Which is why Tadayoshi Kohno's CSE 484, an undergraduate computer-security course at the UW, is so interesting to watch.

March 23, 2008 | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Under the needle: Engineers Without Borders building better lives

A conversation about Engineers Without Borders-USA with Susan Bolton, adjunct professor in civil and environmental engineering. This week the Seattle chapter of Engineers Without Borders is hosting 700 members for the group's international conference at the University of Washington.

RELATED MATERIAL
Engineers Without Borders hosts conference | uweek.org | March 13, 2008

March 13, 2008 | The Guardian
Tracking technology in the corridors of learning

An American university is testing a system that allows participants to follow others' movements around campus. Computer scientists Magdalena Balazinska and Gaetano Borriello, and computer science doctoral students Evan Welbourne and Travis Kriplean, are quoted.

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

Feb. 28, 2008 | KIRO TV
Legislation to regulate RFID technology may be first in country

A Washington state representative has drafted legislation that would make it a felony to steal information from RFID cards, or radio frequency identification microchips. Computer scientist Magdalena Balazinska and PhD student Evan Welbourne comment on the technology.

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

March 25, 2008 | The Washington Post
Someday we may be surfing with our eyes closed

Move over, Bionic Man. Electrical engineer Babak Parviz has come up with a nanotech device that Steve Austin would have loved: a contact lens that displays images, letting a person surf the Web, read e-mail, scan a spreadsheet or play a video game, all without using a computer screen.

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

March 16, 2008 | KING TV
UW engineers create 'bionic eye'

UW engineers have created a contact lens with circuitry embedded in the small piece of plastic. KING 5's Roberta Romero reports.

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

March 7, 2008 | The Daily
Swallow-able solutions: Pill-sized camera helps detect America’s fastest rising cancer

The tethered capsule endoscope camera, developed by mechanical engineer Eric Seibel, is not only the smallest of its kind, but is also an innovative tool for the early detection of esophageal cancer, which is currently America’s fastest growing cancer.

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

March 16, 2008 | The Toronto Star
Hidden depths: 3D models from photos

Your March Break snapshots could wind up playing a small role in a big research project: creating accurate 3-D models of structures such as Notre Dame Cathedral or the Great Wall of China.

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

	March 2, 2008 \| The Associated Press Western Washington cities expect enough water for 40-50 years
	Water supplies in Western Washington will shrink by as much as 25 percent over the next decade, but with new sources and conservation there should be enough for the next 40 or 50 years, according to new studies. Civil engineer Richard Palmer is quoted.

March 21, 2008 | The Chronicle of Higher Education
Developing tools that help disabled students use the Web

The Chronicle interviews computer scientist Richard Ladner. The Computing Research Association recently gave Ladner its A. Nico Habermann Award for advancing underrepresented groups.

RELATED MATERIAL
New computer science academy welcomes hearing-impaired students | Aug. 2, 2007

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.