NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 2, No. 3 | May 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. 3 | May 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).

May 8, 2008 | The Economist
Return to the fold

For sheer adrenaline, the UW's new computer game, Foldit, does not match the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV. But for the world's obsessive problem solvers, a three-dimensional Tetris which allows them to help design a new life-saving vaccine seems certain to be a hit.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Computer game's high score could earn the Nobel Prize in medicine | May 8, 2008

May 8, 2008 | Technology Review
Biologists enlist online gamers

A leading protein researcher has teamed up with computer scientists to create an online game for developing useful protein structures. Players will help design new vaccines and make enzymes for repairing DNA in diseased tissues.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Computer game's high score could earn the Nobel Prize in medicine | May 8, 2008

May 12, 2008 | CTV
Gaming for science

A group of UW computer-science students have developed a computer game that allows players to contribute to medical research. CTV's Canada AM program interviews doctoral student Seth Cooper.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Computer game's high score could earn the Nobel Prize in medicine | May 8, 2008

May 19, 2008 | The Seattle Times
Dispatches from China

Locals in China report on the earthquake's effects. The last dispatch is from Geoffrey Morgan, a UW civil & environmental engineering student, currently on exchange at Sichuan University.

RELATED MATERIAL
UW communities organize vigil and fund drive for China earthquake victims | May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 | The UW Daily
UW students in China start earthquake relief organization

UW undergraduates studying at Sichuan University are founding an organization to help earthquake victims in Sichuan province, China. One of the students is third-year civil & environmental engineering major Geoffrey Morgan.

RELATED MATERIAL
UW communities organize vigil and fund drive for China earthquake victims | May 20, 2008

May 1, 2008 | Horizon Air Magazine
Smart materials

Innovative fabrics and metals could enhance our lives. Mechanical engineer Minoru Taya describes his research on smart windows and artificial-touch sensors based on the Venus fly trap, and mechanical engineer Wei-Chih Wang describes fiber-optic sensors that can detect skin irritation.

May 21, 2008 | The Stranger
The business of booming: Ben Verellen's basement amp factory

Electrical engineering senior and musician Ben Verellen is obsessed with fine-tuning his sounds on the electric guitar. Recently, he's taken this obsession one step closer to the source: Instead of looking for the perfect amplifier, he decided to learn how to build them himself.

May 20, 2008 | The American Surveyor
Have concrete canoes, will travel

In a test of "think or swim," hundreds of civil engineering students, including the University of Washington team, will travel to Montreal in June for the 21st annual National Concrete Canoe Competition.

RELATED MATERIAL
National concrete canoe races come to Seattle | June 12, 2007

May 7, 2008 | Nanomaterials News
Popcorn-ball design doubles the efficiency of dye-sensitised solar cells

By using tiny kernels of nanoparticles clumped together into much larger porous spheres, materials scientists at the University of Washington in the US report that they can more than double the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitised solar cells (see page 5).

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

	May 8, 2008 \| The Future of Things New method doubles solar cells' efficiency
	Engineers from the University of Washington have developed a unique method that could drastically boost the efficiency of cheap solar cells. SOURCE MATERIAL Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells \| April 10, 2008

May 20, 2008 | eSchool News
Study probes RFID use in schools

Computer-science researchers at the UW are tracking students and faculty in an experiment they hope will show the benefits and drawbacks of using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to bolster school safety and security initiatives.

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

May 15, 2008 | The New Yorker
Neurobotics: Where robots and humans connect

Yoky Matsuoka, the director of the UW's neurobotics laboratory, discusses how brain signals can control prosthetic limbs, and other advances in the hybrid field of neuroscience and robotics. From “Stories from the Near Future,” the 2008 New Yorker Conference.

RELATED MATERIAL
UW computer engineer wins MacArthur Foundation 'genius' award | Sept. 24, 2007

May 9, 2008 | Puget Sound Business Journal
Questions for Oren Etzioni, professor, computer science & engineering, University of Washington

The Puget Sound Business Journal talks with Oren Etzioni, professor of computer science and engineering. Etzioni's spinout companies include airfare prediction website Farecast, just bought by Microsoft for a reported $115 million.

May 1, 2008 | The Seattle Times
Microsoft Photosynth makes star turn on CSI: NY tonight

One of Microsoft's most impressive technologies in recent years starred in Wednesday night's episode of the popular crime drama, "CSI: NY." In the episode, the detectives investigate a slaying during a high-school prom. They use Photosynth, software that stitches together images and creates a three-dimensional map, to re-create the scene of a slaying. The technology makes use of "Photo Tourism" software developed by University of Washington and Microsoft researchers.

RELATED MATERIAL
Photo software creates 3D world | Feb. 14, 2007

May 1, 2008 | The Seattle Times
Huskies rower Lowell Neal tries to build a better oar

Lowell Neal, a junior aeronautical engineer and varsity rower, is mixing academics with athletics. With experiments involving Cap'n Crunch cereal and videotape of rowers in the Montlake Cut, he's trying to build a better oar blade.

May 5, 2008 | The UW Daily
Smoke signals

A feature article on Engineers Without Borders, a group of UW students who have dedicated their time and resources to implementing sustainable engineering projects in developing countries.

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

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.