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News & events

News archive for 2017

Fri, 12/29/2017

UW a leader in supporting Washington’s STEM students

STARS is part of the effort to grow the pipeline of Washington students who will graduate and enter high-demand STEM and health care fields, a public-private partnership was initiated in 2011 to support low- and middle-income students as they earn their bachelor’s degrees and enter the workforce.

Tue, 12/19/2017 | Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering

UW selected as new site for the Center for Health Organization Transformation

ISE Professor Christina Mastrangelo will lead the new UW site for the Center for Health Organization Transformation, a National Science Foundation funded Industry-University Cooperative Research Center focused on providing innovative, evidence-based transformational strategies in healthcare.

Wed, 12/13/2017 | UW News

University of Washington celebrates fundraising and construction milestones for second computer science building

UW Engineering celebrated two major fundraising and construction milestones on Wednesday for the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering, which will allow the UW to double its annual computer science and engineering degree production, offer an unparalleled education to more of Washington’s students and grow its high impact research programs.

Tue, 12/05/2017 | UW News

Making humanity’s challenges smaller and smaller: UW launches Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems

The University of Washington has launched a new institute aimed at accelerating research at the nanoscale: the Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems, or NanoES. Housed in a new, multimillion-dollar facility on the UW’s Seattle campus, the institute will pursue impactful advancements in a variety of disciplines — including energy, materials science, computation and medicine.

Tue, 12/05/2017 | UW News

In first, 3-D printed objects connect to WiFi without electronics

UW engineers have developed the first 3-D printed plastic objects that can connect to WiFi without electronics.

Fri, 12/01/2017 | Avvo

How I made the most of my Avvo internship

STARS student and HCDE major Tuyen Truong gives students advice about how to make the most out of internship experiences.

Thu, 11/30/2017 | Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Thanks to scholarships, CEE senior is ready to make an impact

Tammy Teal, a CEE major and STARS participant, discusses her UW experiences in the Civil and Environmental Engineering departmental magazine. Teal hopes to put her engineering skills into practice by improving access to clean water in developing countries.

Tue, 11/28/2017

Earthshaking information

In the aftermath of the Central Mexico earthquake, a team of researchers including professor Pedro Arduino and Jake Dafni travel to Mexico to gather perishable data.

Tue, 11/28/2017 | UW News

UW students win Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize for most engaging socialbot

A team of University of Washington students and faculty has won Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize, a university competition designed to produce an artificial intelligence agent capable of coherent and sustained conversation with humans.

Tue, 11/28/2017 | UW Today

Two UW professors elevated to IEEE Fellows

Two College of Engineering faculty have been elected as 2018 fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Tom Furness, professor of industrial and systems engineering, was honored for “leadership in virtual and augmented reality” and Siddhartha “Sidd” Srinivasa, professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, was recognized for “contributions to robotic manipulation and human-robot interaction.”

Wed, 11/22/2017 | UW Today

AAAS names 8 UW researchers as fellows in 2017

James Riley, professor of mechanical engineering, was named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Riley was honored for his contributions in fluid mechanics and his advancements in the understanding of turbulent flows.

Mon, 11/20/2017 | College of Engineering

Global Engineers

Engineering Rome, a program offered through Civil & Environmental Engineering, challenges students to understand what engineer has been — and what it can be — while navigating thousands of years of history.

Thu, 11/16/2017

Scholarship Impact 2017

Kiana Peterson, a STARS student and EE major, discusses her student experiences and the impact scholarships have made on her education.

Thu, 11/16/2017 | UW News

UW receives top honors from CleanTech Alliance for research and support in energy innovation, industry partnerships

The CleanTech Alliance has presented the University of Washington with the organization’s 2017 CleanTech Achievement Award. The honor recognizes the UW’s dedication to research and development of transformative clean energy technologies, facilities, pipelines for startups and industry partnerships.

Tue, 11/14/2017 | UW News

2 UW engineering students make Forbes ’30 under 30 in Energy’ list

Molly Grear (CEE) and Matthew Murbach (ChemE) were included by Forbes magazine on its list of the top 30 people in the world under age 30 in working on energy solutions.

Mon, 11/13/2017 | UW News

New tool quantifies power imbalance between female and male characters in Hollywood movie scripts

The team of researchers used machine-learning-based tools to analyze the language in nearly 800 movie scripts, quantifying how much power and agency those scripts give to individual characters.

Wed, 11/08/2017 | Department of Mechanical Engineering

Tradition with a modern twist

The UW Human Powered Sub team blended traditional boatbuilding with aerospace and marine engineering to create a one-of-a-kind submarine. And they won a first place prize at the International Submarine Races.

Wed, 11/01/2017

Engineering for all

AccessEngineering is laying the groundwork for engineering programs to better serve more diverse student bodies – at the UW and beyond.

Tue, 10/31/2017 | UW News

How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronics

Using magnetic properties of conductive thread, University of Washington researchers are able to store data in fabric. In this example, the code to unlock a door is stored in a fabric patch and read by an array of magnetometers.

Thu, 10/19/2017 | Civil & Environmental Engineering

Developing ‘breakaway’ tsunami resistant buildings

To better protect communities during tsunamis, a faculty team comprised of Dawn Lehman, Michael Motley, Charles Roeder and Pedro Arduino have received a $1 million NSF grant to develop a new structural system.

Wed, 10/18/2017 | UW Today

For $1000, anyone can purchase online ads to track your location and app use

University of Washington research finds that for a budget of roughly $1000, it is possible for someone with devious intent to track your location and app use by purchasing and targeting mobile ads. This research aims to raise industry awareness about the potential privacy threat.

Tue, 10/17/2017 | UW Today

Flexible ‘skin’ can help robots, prosthetics perform everyday tasks by sensing shear force

Robotic and prosthetic hands must be able to sense shear forces, such as the pull created when objects slip from grasp, to manipulate items with greater precision. As yet, robotic hands have had difficulty accurately sensing vibrations and shear forces. A team of researchers, including ME professor Jonathan Posner, developed a flexible sensor “skin” that can be stretched over any part of a robot to accurately convey information about shear forces and vibration.

Thu, 10/12/2017 | UW News

UW names second CSE building the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering

A group calling themselves “Friends of Bill & Melinda” have donated more than $30 million to name the UW’s second CSE building, the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering, in honor of the couple. The gift recognizes the Gateses’ leadership while enabling the UW to deliver an unparalleled educational experience to more of Washington’s students.

Fri, 10/06/2017 | UW News

3 UW researchers chosen for NIH High-Risk, High-Rewards program

Three University of Washington faculty members are among those honored with a biomedical research grant as part of this year’s NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The program funds exceptionally creative scientists proposing to use highly innovative approaches to tackle major challenges in biomedical research.

Wed, 10/04/2017 | UW Today

New portable blood analyzer could improve anemia detection worldwide

A research team, including ME associate professor Nathan Sniadecki, has developed a device to monitor anemia that is smaller than a toaster. About one quarter of the world’s population suffers from anemia, but current methods for analyzing blood require hands-on expertise to prepare and run a sample, limiting the ability to monitor anemia in many parts of the world. This new device requires only a few drops of blood for analysis and does not require additional steps to prepare the sample.