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2008 News Archive

Michael Hochberg headshot

December 2008 | Columns

Michael Hochberg Profiled in Columns

This 28-year-old assistant professor of electrical engineering is "one of the fastest-rising stars in the study of nanophotonics." His work is part of an "ecosystem" developing around nanophotonics in the Puget Sound region.

Maya Gupta headshot

December 22, 2008 | UW News

Maya Gupta Receives Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

Gupta, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, was honored for her work in developing theory and algorithms for estimation and statistical learning. The award comes with $1 million in research funding for each recipient.

December 9, 2008 | The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

WebAnywhere Wins MATC Award

WebAnywhere, an Internet service that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or headphone connections, has won a Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration. Accepting the award for UW was Jeff Bigham, a PhD candidate in Computer Science & Engineering.

Paul Yager headshot

December 4, 2008 | UW News

Paul Yager Named Chair of Bioengineering

The appointment was made by Matt O'Donnell, dean of the College of Engineering, and Paul Ramsey, dean of the UW School of Medicine. Yager had served since 2007 as acting chair.

Richard Ladner writing on glass

December 3, 2008 | Civic Ventures and Seattle dailies

Richard Ladner Awarded a Purpose Prize

Computer Science & Engineering professor Richard Ladner has been awarded a Purpose Prize by Civic Ventures for promoting accessible technologies for people with disabilities. See also Seattle PI article and Seattle Times article.

graphic showing measurement setup for nanophotonic device

November 26, 2008 | Seattle PI

UW Scientists Part of Breakthrough in Optical Nanotechnology

UW electrical engineering scientists, including assistant professor Michael Hochberg and staff scientist Thomas Baehr-Jones, and colleagues at Yale have found a way to greatly increase precision when manipulating matter with light. See also the abstract in Nature, Scientific American article, and New Scientist article.

headshot of Bonnie Dunbar in astronaut suit

November 24, 2008 | Puget Sound Business Journal

Bonnie Dunbar Honored as a Woman of Influence

Materials Science & Engineering alumna Bonnie Dunbar (BS ’71, MS ’75) has been named as one of 15 Women of Influence for 2008 by Puget Sound Business Journal. Dunbar is the president and CEO of the Museum of Flight and is a former astronaut. Also honored was UW Provost Phyllis Wise.

Industrial Assessment Center logo

November 19, 2008 | UW News

Track Your Fitness, Environmental Impact with New Cell Phone Applications

Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have created two new cell phone applications to automatically track workouts and green transportation.

November 17, 2008 | UW News

Web Crawler Archives Historical Data for Easy Searching

Eytan Adar, UW computer science & engineering doctoral student, and colleagues at UW and Adobe Systems Inc. are storing historical sites that users can easily search using an application called Zoetrope.

Industrial Assessment Center logo

November 12, 2008 | UW News

Free Energy Assessments for 20 Seattle-area Businesses

Students and faculty from the departments of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments working through UW's Industrial Assessment Center will help companies save tens of thousands of dollars per year.

MSE chair Alex Jen with Intel researcher Benjie Limketkai

November 2008 | Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Intel Research Seattle and MSE Professors Team Up on Organic Photovoltaics

The goal is to improve the efficiency and stability of organic photovoltaics (OPVs), which are emerging as a promising solution to the world's growing energy needs.

October 30, 2008 | UW News

Danger, Massive Amounts of Data Ahead; eScience Institute Can Help

The UW's new eScience Institute will help keep the UW competitive as research projects become ever more reliant on computation and on the analysis of massive amounts of data.

October 27, 2008 | Time

"Bionic Contacts" Make TIME's Best Inventions of 2008

The device was developed by Babak Parviz, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering.

October 30, 2008 | UW News

Machala Brings Spirit of Entrepreneurship to UW

Janis Machala, a local veteran start-up expert, will be joining UW TechTransfer to lead and expand LaunchPad Services, a three-year-old program to help UW faculty and graduate students who want to start their own companies.

October 23, 2008 | The New York Times

UW Researchers Find Flaws in Electronic Passports, IDs

Researchers in the UW's Computer Science & Engineering department were able to copy information stored on U.S. Passports and enhanced driver's licenses to make clone IDs. Also see The Wall Street Journal article.

Oct. 22, 2008 | Department of Chemical Engineering

Global Health Research Draws Grant for Engineering Professor

Dr. François Baneyx, UW professor of chemical engineering and adjunct professor of bioengineering, has received a $100,000 grant to explore the use of a new nanoparticle to fight diseases. Also see the Seattle PI and Seattle Times articles.

October 16, 2008 | UW News

UW Committee and Conference Organized for Puget Sound Area's Safety

Safety and security experts from UW and elsewhere will meet Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 to discuss the Puget Sound area's capacity to anticipate risks and recover from a disaster. UW technical communication professor Mark Haselkorn is chair of a new committee hosting the conference.

October 13, 2008 | Seattle Times

Making Seattle the Hub for Neural Engineering

Article features Yoky Matsuoka and a recent workshop at Microsoft's advanced research center.

October 13, 2008 | UW News

Scientists Develop New Cancer-killing Compound from Salad Plant

Henry Lai, a UW professor of bioengineering, is among the UW scientists to demonstrate how a new compound can greatly improve specificity in killing cancer cells.

October 10, 2008 | American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Buddy Ratner Named One of the "One Hundred Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era"

Ratner, a UW professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering, was selected by AIChE in the New Frontiers category for work in engineered biomaterial surfaces.

October 9, 2008 | University Week

Engineering Inspired by Nature Is Topic of Lecture Series

University Week provides brief introductions to the College of Engineering's fall lecture series, "Engineering Inspired by Nature: Robots, Greener Energy & Nanotech Systems," presented in partnership with the Alumni Association.

October 2, 2008 | National Science Foundation

Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Awards Announced

Yoky Matsuoka is an investigator in an NSF grant award entitled "Reverse-engineering the human brain's ability to control the hand" to begin 11/1/2008.

September 25, 2008 | UW News

Just in Time for School: Free Adeona Service Tracks Stolen Laptops

Learn more about a new laptop theft-protection program developed at UW and UCSD.

September 24, 2008 | Nature

Best in Class

Yoky Matsuoka is among four MacArthur Fellowship winners from years past profiled in Nature.

September 19, 2008 | Department of Mechanical Engineering

UW a Partner in New DOE Research Center

UW will focus on estuary tidal energy over the 5-year funding period. Phil Malte, professor of mechanical engineering, will co-direct UW efforts.

August 22 , 2008 | The Chronicle of Higher Education

UW among "most innovative IT schools"

A survey of IT executives and academics says the UW graduate-level IT programs rank high in value and at meeting the demands of today’s workplace.

August 21, 2008 | UW News

Can you see me now? Sign language over cell phones

Deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans will be able to use sign language over mobile phones using software developed by UW engineers.

August 19, 2008 | EurekAlert

Caltech, UW Awarded $10 million for Synthetic Biology Research

UW researchers to participate in developing computer science principles for programming information-bearing molecules like DNA and RNA polymers.

August 19, 2008 | UW News

Think Globally, Download Locally

UW and Yale researchers propose a new file swapping method to reduce network load caused by music and video sharing applications — without compromising performance.

August 17, 2008 | UW News

Researchers Discover Microbes with New Genome Identification Method

A team led by a UW scientist has studied microbial communities in lake mud and published a new way to sequence unidentified life.

August 2, 2008 | Seattle PI

Henry Lai in the News on Cell Phone Cancer Risk

Henry Lai, UW professor of bioengineering, warned of potential cancer risks from cell phones more than a decade ago. He's back in the news following a warning by a prominent cancer researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. See also the Seattle PI editorial and UW News article from 1999.

July 31, 2008 | NASA

Aeronautics & Astronautics Grad to Pilot Space Mission

Gregory C. Johnson will pilot the final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in October.

July 26, 2008 | Seattle PI

Fuzzy Math from Carbon Footprint Calculators

Research led by Anne Steinemann, UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs, has found "vast inconsistencies" in calculations performed by various carbon footprint calculators.

July 23, 2008 | UW News

Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners

Another study by Professor Steinemann found that top-selling laundry products and air fresheners emitted dozens of different chemicals—some regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws.

July 15, 2008 | UWTV

Point of Care Diagnostics on UWTV

In UWTV's Inside Look, Paul Yager shares his vision for bringing modern medical diagnostic testing to the developing world. Yager is professor and acting chair of the Department of Bioengineering.

 

July 15, 2008 | UW News

For your eyes only: Custom interfaces make computer clicking faster, easier

A new approach to computer interface design, developed at UW, makes the software automatically adapt to the user's vision and motor abilities based on a brief skills test.

July 3, 2008 | UW Formula Motorsports Web site

Strong Finish for UW Students at Formula SAE Competition

The UW student team took 2nd place in design and 5th place in autocross at this year's Formula SAE competition. More than 50 teams competed from the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

June 25, 2008 | UW News

With WebAnywhere, Low Vision Users Can Surf from Any Computer, Anywhere

A UW doctoral candidate recently launched WebAnywhere, an Internet service that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or headphone connections.

June 23, 2008 | UW News

Quantum Dots: Huge Potential, Tiny Technology

Years ago scientists discovered a way to stop a gene in living cells. Now UW nanotechnology researchers have improved "RNA interference," which could be used to treat conditions from breast cancer to deteriorating eyesight.

June 20, 2008 | UW Week

Professor Cindy Atman to Receive ASEE Award

Cindy Atman, professor of industrial engineering, will receive the American Society for Engineering Education's Wickenden Award in Pittsburgh the week of June 22. She is co-author of an exemplary research paper published in the Journal of Engineering Education.

June 19, 2008 | ASCE Web site

UW Team in Concrete Canoe Competition

Civil & Environmental Engineering students developed a lightweight concrete canoe and paddled to victory in regional competition. Now they are competing in the national event in Montreal, where at least one canoe has cracked in half.

June 5, 2008 | UW Week

A&A's Kristi Morgansen Builds Robofish to Explore Ocean Environments

Tracking groups of whales or spreading plumes of pollution, exploring caves and ice-covered waters are some of the applications aeronautics & astronautics assistant professor Kristi Morgansen envisions for her underwater robots.

May 26, 2008 | Q13 News

Prof. Bruckner Celebrates Successful Mars Landing

A&A professor Adam Bruckner celebrates at the Museum of Flight after watching the successful landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander. Three of his former students are "key to this mission."

May 21, 2008 | UW News

Mechanical Engineer Colin Daly Building Parts for Large Hadron Collider

When the world's most powerful subatomic particle collider begins gathering data this summer, it will be a major milestone for a number of University of Washington scientists—including Colin Daly, UW professor of mechanical engineering.

May 20, 2008 | The (UW) Daily

UW Students in China Start Earthquake Relief Organization

Geoffrey Morgan, a third-year UW student in civil and environmental engineering studying at Sichuan University, is among the founders of a new organization to help victims of the recent earthquake in Sichuan province.

May 8, 2008 | UW News

Online Gamers Take on Biological Mysteries

Foldit turns protein folding, a key concept for solving biological mysteries from Alzheimer's to vaccines, into an online game and a search for "protein-folding savants."

April 16, 2008 | UW News

Creating an Electronic Sherlock Holmes

UW associate professor Pedro Domingos will lead a $6.25 million project involving seven universities to enable computers to discover the best explanations from millions of possible clues.

April, 2008 | MSE News

Japan Opens Materials Science Office at UW

Japan's National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) has opened an office at the University of Washington (UW) Roosevelt Commons Building, establishing UW as an international crossroads for materials research and development.

April, 2008 | MSE News

Raj Bordia Receives Humboldt Research Award

Raj Bordia, UW professor of materials science and engineering, has received one of Germany's most prestigious international honors.

April 10, 2008 | UW News

Popcorn-ball Design Doubles Efficiency of Solar Cells

A new approach is able to create a dramatic improvement in cheap solar cells now being developed in laboratories.

April 8, 2008 | UW News

This Hubble Maps Internet “Black Holes”

UW research team has created an ever-changing online global map that shows a constellation of the Internet's weak points.

April 3, 2008 | UW Week

Three UW Students Honored as Medalists

Three UW students connected to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have been honored for having the strongest academic record in their class for the previous year.

March, 2008 | ChemE News

Hong Shen Awarded for Research on Using Nanomaterials to Fight Disease

Hong Shen, assistant professor of chemical engineering, won an NSF CAREER Award to support her research on using nanomaterials in medicine.

March, 2008 | EE News

Denise Wilson Wins UW Public Service Teaching Award

UW has awarded the Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award to Denise Wilson, associate professor in electrical engineering.

March 18, 2008 | SIA Online

Allstot Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Semiconducter Research

Electrical engineering Professor David Allstot was selected as a recipient of the 2008 SIA University Researcher Award by the Semiconductor Research Corporation in recognition of his many career contributions to semiconductor technology.

March 17, 2008 | UW Week

Assistant Dean Judy Mahoney Wins Leadership Award

Judy Mahoney, Asst. Dean of External Relations, has won the David B. Thorud Leadership Award, honoring her leadership, inspiration and collaboration.

March 12, 2008 | UW News

Security Flaw in Implanted Medical Devices Found by UW Computer Scientists

The wireless technology that allows doctors to monitor patients' vital data and adjust their therapy can be hacked, found UW engineers.

February 2008 | www.cra.org

Ladner Honored for Work for People with Disabilities

Richard Ladner, professor in computer science & engineering, received the Habermann Award for “lifelong, strong and persistent” work with and for people with disabilities.

February 2008 | MSE News

Christine Luscombe wins NSF CAREER Award

Christine Luscombe, UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering, won a five-year, $495,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to support her research on organic polymers.

February 25, 2008 | Seattle Times

Bridging an Engineer Shortage

Grad students are building bridges at local schools to get girls and black and Latino students thinking about engineering careers.

February 21, 2008 | UW Week

Yoshi Kohno wins Sloan Research Fellowship

Yoshi Kohno, assistant professor of computer science & engineering, has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship, given each year to outstanding young scientists.

February 12, 2008 | UW News

Future of social networking explored in UW's computer science building

A pilot project in the University of Washington's computer science building provides the next step in social networking, wirelessly monitoring volunteers and things in a closed environment.

February 7, 2008 | UW Week

Dorsey to head state's Mathematics Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program

A program for encouraging more underrepresented groups in Washington State to pursue science and technology careers has named James Dorsey as its new executive director.

January 31, 2008 | UW News

Water planners call for new thinking about changing climate

Warming makes past water patterns a poor basis for future planning, says UW Professor Dennis Lettenmaier in Science.

January 31, 2008 | MSNBC

Bamboo: great for the environment, except...

Mechanical Engineering's Associate Professor Joyce Cooper speaks on NBC Nightly News about the environmental cons of shipping bamboo products.

January 30, 2008 | UW News

Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides

UW researchers hope to help detect the earliest signs of esophageal cancer with an affordable, maneuverable endoscope.

January 28, 2008 | UW Week

Grad students and Native American tribes look to forests, farms for biofuels

A new PhD program will study the transformation of local forestry and agricultural waste into plant-based fuels while considering environmental, social and economic issues.

January 17, 2008 | UW News

Virtual Display from a Contact Lens Is in Sight

UW Engineers create a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights using manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales.

January 10, 2008 | UW News

Small is beautiful: Gallery celebrates the art of microfluids research

Albert Folch, UW associate professor of bioengineering, has taken hundreds of stunning photos of microfluids through his microscope. Now they're available for all to see on his lab's Web page.

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