Accolades

Dennis Lettenmaier Elected NAE Member

Dennis Lettenmaier, professor of civil and environmental engineering, is among 68 new members and nine foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Engineering, joining seven other active members at the UW.

NAE cited his contributions to hydrologic modeling for stream water quality and hydro-climate models for water management. His research in large-scale hydrology includes remote sensing and interactions related to climate.

A UW alumnus (BS '71, PhD '75) and a faculty member since 1976, he holds the Robert and Irene Sylvester Professorship of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Among his professional associations, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union, and is president-elect of AGU's hydrology section. More »

2010 NSF CAREER Awards

The first round of 2010 National Science Foundation CAREER awards has recognized three young faculty members with support for their outstanding research projects. The awards are typically about $500,000 over five years.

	Julie Kientz, assistant professor of human centered design and engineering, received a CAREER Award for her research on "Healthy Families: Technology to Support the Health and Wellness of Young Children."
	Charlotte Lee, assistant professor of human centered design and engineering, received a CAREER award for her research on "Interacting with Cyberinfrastructure in the Face of Changing Science." More »
	Georg Seelig, assistant professor of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering, received a CAREER award for his research on "Nucleic Acid Circuitry for Programming Gene Expression." More »

New Sloan Research Fellows

Two faculty are among 118 early career scientists in the U.S. and Canada to receive prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships given by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The grants provide $50,000 over two years. More »

	Luis Ceze, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, focuses his research on making it easier to write reliable programs for parallel computer systems, now common in laptops, data-center nodes, and even cell phones.
	Christine Luscombe, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, is developing better methods to make a special class of polymers that absorb light and electricity. They could lead to cheaper and more flexible electronic devices.

Bioengineering Student Wins Luce Scholarship

Senior honors student Jesse Burk-Rafel is one of 18 students nationwide and the first at UW since 1977 to receive a coveted Luce Scholarship to spend the 2010–11 academic year in Asia, where he will study health care challenges. He then plans to enter an MD/PhD program to become a physician-scientist. More »

Honors Abound: Visit the CoE Faculty Honors and department Web pages to read about other recent honors to faculty and students.

Engineering News

UW Campus a Site for Smart Grid Demonstration Project
Smart meters will be installed on most buildings on campus to provide updates every 15 minutes on electricity usage during 2012–13. UW partners with Seattle City Light on this federally funded pilot project to test next-generation grids.

Undergrads Create Keypad System to Help Children Learn Math
Children in poor, rural communities usually have to take turns using computers. CSE undergrads developed a "one keypad per child" device that lets up to four students share a computer screen to work together to solve math problems.

CEE Structural Engineer Assessed Earthquake Damage in Haiti
Professor Marc Eberhard (photo) led a five-person team sent to evaluate damage from the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12. They installed instruments to measure aftershocks and helped pinpoint the epicenter.

More UW Engineering news »

College Leadership Transitions

In late 2009 several long-time faculty members and leaders assumed new administrative roles.

	Dave Castner, now the college's associate dean of infrastructure, guides the development of new research and computational facilities. He is a professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering and a former director of the UW Center for Nanotechnology.
	Greg Miller, professor of civil and environmental engineering, became chair of the department on December 1. He previously served for two years as associate dean of infrastructure.
	Dan Schwartz, Boeing-Sutter Professor of Chemical Engineering and adjunct in materials science, assumed the chair of ChemE in September. He also served a term as associate dean for research.