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2010 News Archive

image of water purification by sun

December 20, 2010 | UW Today

Students' Water-testing Tool Wins $40,000, Launches Nonprofit

UW engineering students have won an international contest for their design to monitor water disinfection using the sun's rays. The students will share a $40,000 prize from the Rockefeller Foundation and are now working with nonprofits to turn their concept into a reality.

30-foot-wide tidal turbine

December 13, 2010 | UW News

Assessing the Environmental Effects of Tidal Turbines

Brian Polagye, UW research assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and colleagues are involved in environmental monitoring before and during a planned deployment of two 30-foot-wide turbines in Admiralty Inlet, the main entrance to Washington state's Puget Sound. Polagye presents findings in an invited talk at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco.

model results of water speed around a turbine blade

December 13, 2010 | UW News

Engineering Researchers Calculate Tidal Energy Turbines' Effects on Sediments and Fish

Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a set of numerical models, solved by computers, to study how changing water pressure and speed around turbines affects sediment accumulation and fish health. Teymour Javaherchi, a UW mechanical engineering doctoral student, says his model shows these pressure changes could be too fast for the fish to adapt.

Shwetak Patel accepting 2010 Flashie award

December 1, 2010 | TechFlash

TechFlash Newsmaker of the Year Award to Shwetak Patel

The EE and CSE assistant professor topped some high-powered competition for a 2010 Flashies award for selling his home energy monitoring technology and for using electrical wiring as a wireless antenna system.

Karl Bohringer, Jim Ritcey, Gaetano Borriello, Steven Seitz, and Paul Kinahan

December 1, 2010 | UW Today

Five UW Faculty Named Fellows of the IEEE

Five faculty members in the UW College of Engineering have been elected as 2011 fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The new Fellows are James Ritcey (EE), Karl Bohringer (EE and BioE), Gaetano Borriello (CSE), Steve Seitz (CSE), and Paul Kinahan (adjunct in BioE and EE).

 

Ed Felten

November 17, 2010 | Princeton Alumni Weekly

CSE Alum Ed Felten Appointed FTC's Chief Technologist

Known for shaking up the computer security world by exposing huge vulnerabilities, Felten earned his MS and PhD in computer science and engineering here at the UW. Read more in the Princeton Alumni Weekly and FTC announcement.

many faces of PEERs

November 17, 2010 | UW Today

College of Engineering Putting Diversity Front and Center

The College of Engineering is making the challenges of diversity a front-burner issue for today’s students. The PEERs (Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships) Program exposes undergraduates to issues of bias, both subtle and overt, within engineering disciplines. The cornerstone of PEERs is a one-credit course. Students who complete the seminar become PEER Leaders and give presentations to various groups on and off campus.

iGEM team

November 17, 2010 | UW Today

Undergraduates’ Anthrax-killing Protein Wins International Synthetic Biology Prize

An interdisciplinary team that included engineering students and faculty advisers took home the top prize in the Health and Medicine category this month at the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. The team’s winning creation is a bacterium that has been modified to seek out and destroy anthrax.

ultrasound tool developed by UW student team

November 9, 2010 | UW News magazine

Undergraduates' Low-cost Ultrasound System Wins Gates Foundation Grant

A team of UW engineering undergrads were among 65 research groups to win a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's $100K Grand Challenges Explorations grant. They will use the grant to travel to Africa to test their tool's capability to increase access to ultrasound and lower childbirth-related mortality.

Seattle Business magazine cover image with Shwetak Patel

October 29, 2010 | Seattle Business magazine

CoE Faculty Honored in Seattle Business Magazine's Top Innovators 2010

UW College of Engineering innovators are well represented in Seattle Business magazine's Top Innovators 2010. Shwetak Patel, a UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering whose energy monitoring technology was acquired by Belkin, is on the cover. CoE honorees also include Minoru Taya, a professor of Mechanical Engineering who developed the technology behind Vitriosic's electrochromic glass, and Dustin Miller, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering and the cofounder and chief technology officer for Nanocel. Miller and UW MBA Daniel Rossi won the grand prize in the 2009 UW Business Plan Competition.

UWAMIT logo

October 28, 2010 | UW Week

Molecular Imaging and Therapy Center to Develop, Commercialize Technologies

Ultrasound, best known by many for snapping baby pictures, could soon be a way for spotting cancerous cells before a tumor develops, precisely monitoring how a person responds to treatment, or delivering genetic therapies to their targets. Those are just some of the things to be researched in the new Ultrasound-based Washington Molecular Imaging and Therapy Center.

photo, Anne Steinemann

October 26, 2010 | UW News

Scented Consumer Products Shown to Emit Many Unlisted Chemicals

Anne Steinemann, UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs led a study on 25 best-selling scented products. More than a third of the products emitted at least one chemical classified as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and for which the EPA sets no safe exposure level.

Jay Rubinstein on King5 News

October 21, 2010 | King5 News

UW surgeons perform world's first implant to treat Meniere's disease

Bioengineering professor and surgeon Jay Rubinstein and his team re-engineered existing cochlear implant technology to adapt it for Meniere's patients.

Patrick Stayton photo

October 19, 2010 | UW News

Molecular Engineering and Science Institute to Address Energy and Medicine; UW Bioengineer Named Director

Engineering custom molecules is a revolutionary change that promises to advance a wide range of fields, and the University of Washington has established a new Molecular Engineering and Science Institute focused on medical and energy applications. Pat Stayton, a UW professor of bioengineering, has been named the institute’s first director.

Living Voters Guide logo

October 7, 2010 | UW Week

'Living Voters Guide' Invites Washington Voters to Hash Out Ballot Initiatives

An online experiment created by the UW in partnership with the Seattle civic nonprofit CityClub aims to spark a civil and objective discussion among Washington voters by letting them work together to write their own voters guide. See also the UW Daily article.

lecture series brochure image

October 7, 2010 | UW Week

Gulf Oil Spill, London Olympics, Driver Distraction to Be Featured in College of Engineering Fall Lectures

Over the next few weeks, the College of Engineering's popular fall lectures will take a more technical look at some of the topics currently in the news. This year's series, "Engineering in the Headlines," offers insiders' perspectives on this summer's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the upcoming Olympics, and efforts to tame driver distraction.

thumbnail of CAEE report cover

October 5, 2010 | CAEE

National Study Identifies Range of Opportunities to Improve Engineering Education

Enabling Engineering Student Success, a new report released by the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE), identifies key opportunities for improving how engineering students are prepared for professional practice. Multi-year studies involving thousands of students at more than 20 institutions—as well as 100 newly hired graduates—provide a detailed picture of the paths engineering students take as they enter, experience, and graduate from undergraduate degree programs.

Manduca sexta moth in flight

September 30, 2010 | UW News

UW Leading $7.5 Million Study of Animal Flight and Aerial Vehicles

The UW is leading a five-year, $7.5 million project to study birds, insects and bats in order to develop autonomous aerial vehicles that can adapt to obstacles and fly in unpredictable conditions. The project leader is Kristi Morgansen, a UW associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics.

September 27, 2010 | UW Engineering

NRC Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs

Dean O'Donnell voices concerns about accuracy of data used in the National Research Council Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs.

wiring wrapped around a home sensor

September 15, 2010 | UW News

Home's Electrical Wiring Acts As Antenna to Receive Low-power Sensor Data

Using a home's electrical wiring as a giant copper antenna enables extremely low-power wireless sensors that run for decades on a single watch battery. The device could be used for low-cost medical monitoring or home sensing systems.

Yoky Matsuoka photo

September 13, 2010 | UW CSE News

Yoky Matsuoka Named UW Medicine's 2010 Emerging Inventor of the Year

Yoky Matsuoka, the Torode Family Endowed Career Development Professor in Computer Science & Engineering, has been recognized by UW Medicine as the 2010 Emerging Inventor of the Year. She will be honored at a reception on October 26th. Inventor of the Year Award recipients exemplify outstanding research scientists that work to improve the health and economy of our community.

Mari Ostendorf photo

September 1, 2010 | IEEE Education Society

Mari Ostendorf Receives Engineering Education Award

Mari Ostendorf, a UW professor of Electrical Engineering and CoE's associate dean for research and graduate studies, has been selected as the 2010 recipient of the Hewlett-Packard/Harriett B. Rigas Award. The award is presented by the IEEE Education Society and "recognizes outstanding faculty women who have made significant contributions to electrical/computer engineering education."

students test UW-developed devices for using ASL over a cellular network

August 16, 2010 | UW News

Deaf, Hard-of-hearing Students Do First Test of Sign Language by Cell Phone

University of Washington engineers are developing the first device able to transmit American Sign Language over U.S. cellular networks. The tool is just completing its initial field test by participants in a UW summer program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

energy bill comparing neighborhood energy use

August 13, 2010 | CNN Tech

Persuasive Technology: Do the Right Thing

Ph.D. candidate Jon Froehlich (CS&E), who is designing a prototype system to track and display home water consumption, helped CNN compile a list of the coolest technologies to persuade users to make better health choices and save energy.

Linda Ng Boyle in auto simulator

August 10, 2010 | UW News

Distracted drivers benefit from in-car driving coach

A recent study by Linda Ng Boyle, a University of Washington associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, looked at the effect of an electronic coach that uses an eye tracker to monitor drivers' gaze. With just a small amount of coaching, high-risk drivers more than doubled their time until a virtual crash.

Scaffold of flexible, biocompatible material with pores that support fragile cardiac cells

August 9, 2010 | UW News

A Strategy to Fix Broken Hearts

Collaborating UW engineers and physicians have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. A description of the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals, is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

screenshot from protein folding game

August 4, 2010 | UW News

Gaming for a Cure: Computer Gamers Tackle Protein Folding

Two years after Foldit turned a molecular biology problem into a game, UW researchers find humans beat computers on some complex problems, especially those that required intuitive leaps or major shifts in strategy. Future work will aim to better combine the strengths of experts, computers and thousands of game players.

representation of a 30-nanometer particle

July 27, 2010 | UW News

Multifunctional Nanoparticle Enables New Type of Biological Imaging

By combining a nanoparticle's magnetic and thermal properties, researchers have created a new type of medical imaging that virtually eliminates the background noise. Xiaohu Gao, a UW assistant professor of bioengineering, is lead author of a new report in the journal Nature Communications.

Geoffrey Morgan and Christopher Mound photo

July 22, 2010 | UW Week

UW Engineering Students Win National Scholarships

Two College of Engineering students are among seven at UW to have been chosen recently for prestigious national scholarships. Geoffrey Morgan, a double-major in civil & environmental engineering and international studies, received the Morris K. Udall Scholarship. Morgan's work has included study and construction of water projects in Chinese villages. Bioengineeering student Christopher Mount received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Mount works in Dr. Suzie Pun's lab and participates in the UW chapter of Bioengineers Without Borders.

Mary Lidstrom photo

July 15, 2010 | UW News

University of Washington Names Lidstrom Interim Provost

Interim president-designate Phyllis Wise has named Mary Lidstrom to be interim provost, filling the position Wise will leave when she becomes interim president in the fall. Lidstrom is currently vice provost for research and a professor of chemical engineering and microbiology. She has also served as associate dean for new initiatives in the College of Engineering.

WTC logo

July 8, 2010 | Washington Technology Center

UW Engineering Partnerships Get a Boost from Washington Technology Center Awards

Five company-researcher projects connected with the UW College of Engineering have been awarded state funding for the development of innovative commercial technologies.

Mechanical Engineering ($100,000)
Partnering with Hummingbird Scientific to develop a system for nanoscale imaging of materials in temperature-controlled fluid environments.

Electrical Engineering; Computer Science & Engineering ($100,000)
Working with Pico Computing to evaluate the use of high-performance parallel computing for accelerating genomics processing.

BioRobotics Lab, Electrical Engineering ($89,811)
Teaming with Simulab Corporation to commercialize UW software capable of measuring hands-on surgical skills.

College of Engineering; Department of Chemistry ($79,974)
Partnering with SpringStar, Inc. to develop a significantly improved mosquito trap for use by the U.S. military, mosquito abatement districts and consumers. An additional $19,860 will come from SpringStar.

Medicine ($82,500)
Working with Healionics Corporation to commercialize UW technology that will reduce infection from skin-breaching devices such as catheters. (Helionics Corp. is a spinoff from the UW Engineered Biomaterials center directed by Buddy Ratner, a UW professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering.)

wall of screens at the TransNow TransLab

July 8, 2010 | UW Week

TransNow TransLab a New Hub for UW Transportation Research

Buckle up. Transportation research at the UW is about to shift into a high gear. The TransNow TransLab that opened to the public this June provides a new space for UW researchers to discuss ideas and share data in the world of transportation research.

Jim Hermanson and Per Reinhall

July 8, 2010 | UW News

Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics & Astronautics Appoint New Chairs

Per Reinhall, professor of mechanical engineering, will become chair of that department, while James Hermanson, professor of aeronautics & astronautics, is the new chair in A&A. Both are graduates of the UW.

microrobot photo showing controllers in the middle and grids of tiny feet on either end

July 1, 2010 | UW News

Thermal-powered, Insectlike Robot Crawls Into Microrobot Contenders' Ring

UW engineers have built an insectlike robot with hundreds of tiny legs. Compared to other such robots, the UW model excels in its ability to carry heavy loads—more than seven times its own weight—and move in any direction.

Eric Chudler holding model of brain

June 25, 2010 | UW News

BioE associate professor Eric Chudler's Web Site Honored by Science Magazine

Neuroscience For Kids, created by UW Bioengineering faculty member Eric Chudler received a Science Prize in Online Educational Resources (SPORE) Award. The site lets kids explore just about every aspect of the nervous system and provides lesson plans for teachers.

UW Formula SAE race car on the track

June 20, 2010 | UW Formula SAE

UW Forumula SAE Race Car Takes Third Place

The 2010 UW Formula SAE race car, built by students participating in a program offered by the UW Department of Mechanical Engineering, finished 3rd out over 50 competitors at the Formula SAE California competition. Contributing to the strong finish were especially high marks in presentation, acceleration, and endurance. More info: UWashington Formula SAE Facebook page, overall results table, YouTube video

Bioengineering professor Chuck Murray

June 14, 2010 | UW News

UW Medicine Researchers Receive $12.6 Million Grant to Fund Work in Stem Cells, Cardiovascular Repair

Bioengineering professor Dr. Chuck Murry leads “an ambitious program to regenerate the heart and to get to clinical trials.” The grant will be funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

UW Awards of Excellence Medal

June 10, 2010 | UW Week Special Supplement

Professors Buddy Ratner and Scott Hauck Honored with UW Awards of Excellence

Buddy Ratner (BioE and ChemE) was named University Faculty Lecturer. Scott Hauck (EE) received the Distinguished Teaching Award. The Awards of Excellence ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 10 at 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in Meany Hall.

student-built blimp flying in Paul Allen Center atrium

June 3, 2010 | UW Week

Student-built Blimp Finds Unique Job in Computer Science Building

Students in the Engineering Emerging Leaders program built a blimp for a challenge and for the UW's Engineering Discovery Days. More recently, the blimp finally managed to clear a dusty paper airplane from a ledge in CSE's Paul Allen Center atrium.

still from video of BP oil spill

June 3, 2010 | UW Week

UW Engineers Help U.S. Government Estimate Seepage Rate of Gulf Oil Spill

UW mechanical engineers Alberto Aliseda and James Riley are among 10 academic experts who joined 12 government experts over the past two weeks to estimate oil seepage in the Gulf of Mexico. The panel's estimate, released to the public last Thursday, was 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day, putting the current spill to date at twice the volume of the Exxon Valdez spill.

Biofuels logo

May 27, 2010 | UW Week

UW, Tribal Partnership to Develop Bioenergy

UW researchers and local Native American tribes are collaborating to develop bioenergy solutions that make sense for the Pacific Northwest while considering feasibility, political obstacles, and environmental and social boundaries. See also: UW's Bioresource-based Energy for Sustainable Societies program and Biofuels Discovery video.

May 27, 2010 | UW Week

Genome Comparison Tools Found to Be Susceptible to Slip-ups

Lining up different species’ genomes is common practice in evolutionary research. But the tools for doing so have serious quality-control issues, according to a study by two UW researchers. The lead author is Xiaoyu Chen, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering. The corresponding author is Martin Tompa, a UW professor of computer science and engineering and of genome sciences.

Eric Arendt and Susie Lu photos

May 2010 | UW Engineering

Congratulations Dean's Medalists!

This year's winners of the Dean's Medal for Academic Excellence are Eric Arendt and Shan (Susie) Lu.

MicroGREEN logo

May 19, 2010 | Google news (multiple links)

$6.9 Million in Financing for MicroGREEN

Waste Management Inc. and partners are investing $6.9 million in MicroGREEN Polymers, founded by UW mechanical engineering alumnus Krishna Nadella. The company's patented processes reduce material costs for plastic products and are based on the work of Vipin Kumar, a UW professor of mechanical engineering. See also A UW spinout success story on TechFlash (8/2009).

Buddy Ratner photo

April 29, 2010 | UW News

Buddy Ratner to Deliver Annual Faculty Lecture

Buddy Ratner, UW professor in the departments of bioengineering and chemical engineering, has been selected to give the 2010 UW Annual Faculty Lecture. The distinction honors faculty whose work has been widely recognized by their peers. Ratner's research focuses on specially designed materials, called biomaterials, that are used in medical devices and implants.

Shwetak Patel photo

April 22, 2010 | UW News

UW Energy- and Water-Sensing Technology Acquired by Belkin

Zensi, a research startup that uses simple technology to monitor home electricity and water use, has been acquired by electronics company Belkin International Inc. The startup was based on technology developed by Shwetak Patel, a UW assistant professor in the departments of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering. See also: Xconomy article, CNET news story

Ed Lazowska photo

April 15, 2010 | UW Week

ACM Gives Ed Lazowska its Distinguished Service Award

The Association for Computing Machinery has given Ed Lazowska, who holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering, its Distinguished Service award, recognizing his "wide-ranging service to the computing community and his longstanding advocacy for this community at the national level."

April 12, 2010 | WSU Today

DoE Gives $2.5 million for UW/WSU Smart Grid Training Program

The program is one of 54 in the country to receive stimulus funds for smart grid workforce training projects. The fund will be used to develop courses in clean energy and smart grid engineering.

Life Sciences Discovery Fund logo

April 9, 2010 | UW Office of Research

$5 Million Awarded to Establish the Washington Molecular Imaging and Therapy Center

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) has awarded the UW $5 million to "create a center focused on researching, translating, and commercializing new ultrasound techniques for molecular imaging and therapy." The application was a collaboration between the Applied Physics Laboratory (Tom Matula), Bioengineering (Matt O'Donnell), and Radiology (Norm Beauchamp).

a reconstruction of the UW Electrical Engineering building

April 8, 2010 | UW News

PhotoCity, Virtual Game of Capture-the-flag, Happening Now on UW Campus

UW and Cornell University students are taking digital photos of the campus in a game of virtual capture-the-flag. The game is part of a research project to create 3-D reconstructions from photos.

showing an EnVitrum wall

April 8, 2010 | UW Week

Student Clean-tech Innovations Impress at UW Environmental Innovation Challenge

A team of UW mechanical engineering students with a business called EnVitrum has won the $10,000 grand prize in the second annual UW Environmental Innovation Challenge. Their technology converts glass into bricks that are stronger and cheaper than masonry and have a dual purpose of cultivating plants. Engineering students were also part of the Triangle Energy team, which won the $5,000 second prize for technology to convert solid biomass into synthesis gas. Watch a video about the challenge.

a diagram from a paper about Prefab

March 30, 2010 | UW News

What If All Software Was Open Source? A Code to Unlock the Desktop

A new system makes it possible to add custom features to Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Apple iTunes or any other program. Custom computing would particularly benefit people with disabilities.

Space Shuttle Discovery

March 29, 2010 | NASA

A&A Alums to Pilot Next Two Shuttle Missions

NASA announced that Jim Dutton (MSAA '94) will pilot the scheduled April 5 mission; Tony Antonelli (MSAA '02) will pilot the mission scheduled for May 14. These are two of the last 5 flights for the space shuttle.

Scott Hauck photo

March 18, 2010 | Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Hauck Honored with UW Distinguished Teaching Award

Scott Hauck, a UW professor of electrical engineering, has been selected as a recipient of the 2010 University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2009, Hauck was honored with a UW Engineering "Community of Innovators" award for teaching. His work is focused on FPGAs, chips that can be programmed to implement complex digital logic.

Computer Science & Engineering logo

March 11, 2010 | UW Week

Conquering the Chaos in Modern, Multiprocessor Computers

A group of computer scientists has found a way to tame multiprocessor computers, which behave in wildly unpredictable ways even as they become widespread in the industry. The group has launched a startup that will soon release its first product.

OneBusAway logo

March 5, 2010 | UW News and Information

OneBusAway Wins WTIA Award

OneBusAway, a suite of tools to make using public transit easier for King County riders, last night won the Washington Technology Industry Association's 2010 Industry Achievement Award in the category "Best Use of Technology in the Government, Non-Profit, or Education Sector." OneBusAway was developed by Computer Science & Engineering doctoral student Brian Ferris and Civil & Environmental Engineering doctoral student Kari Watkins.

Jesse Burk-Rafel photo

March 4, 2010 | UW Week

BioE Undergrad Wins Luce Scholarship

Bioengineering honors student Jesse Burk-Rafel was selected as a 2010-11 Luce Scholar. As a Luce Scholar, Burk-Rafel plans to study Asia's efforts to meet healthcare challenges. He is especially interested in contributing to meaningful cross-cultural exchange to improve the delivery of healthcare on a global scale.

Dennis Lettenmaier photo

February 18, 2010 | UW Week

Dennis Lettenmaier Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Dennis Lettenmaier, the Robert and Irene Sylvester Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Lettenmaier was honored for "contributions to hydrologic modeling for stream water quality and hydro-climate trends and models for improved water management."

Christine Luscombe and Luis Ceze photo

February 18, 2010 | UW Week

Two UW Engineering Professors Among this Year's Sloan Research Fellows

Christine Luscombe, a UW assistant professor of materials science & engineering, and Luis Ceze, a UW assistant professor of computer science & engineering, are among the three UW faculty members to receive a Sloan Research Fellowship this year. The fellowships include a grant of $50,000 over a two-year period.

Boeing logo on plane

February 17, 2010 | A&A and Boeing

New Boeing Fellowship in A&A

The Boeing Company has announced a commitment of $500,000 to the University of Washington's Aeronautics & Astronautics department. The William E. Boeing Fellowship in Aeronautics and Astronautics will support graduate student education and research by providing fellowships based on both academic merit and financial need.

levels of brain activity identified by color

February 15, 2010 | UW News

Brain-controlled Cursor Doubles as a Neural Workout

Rajesh Rao, a UW associate professor of computer science & engineering, is co-author of a new study on brain signals generated by imagined movements.

Eberhard at Haiti's main port in Port-au-Prince

February 11, 2010 | UW Week

UW Earthquake Engineer Assesses Damage in Haiti

The UW's Marc Eberhard, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, led a five-person team sent to evaluate damage from the devastating magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12.

February 2, 2010 | CSE department

Google logo image, reduced

Google Commits Major Research Support to UW's Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Google has announced a $1.5 million award to Gaetano Borriello, a UW professor of computer science and engineering, for researching mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environment monitoring. The company has also committed $1 million to support research in the department's Graphics and Imaging Laboratory.

biodegradable scaffold for stem cells

February 2, 2010 | UW News

3-D Scaffold Provides Clean, Biodegradable Structure for Stem Cell Growth

Traditional means of producing stem cells has led to contamination of cell lines. UW materials scientists have now created an alternative. They built a three-dimensional scaffold out of a natural material that mimics the binding sites for stem cells, allowing the cells to reproduce on a clean, biodegradable structure.

The collapsed Hotel Montana

January 29, 2010 | CEE Facebook page

Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor Reports from Haiti

CEE structural engineering professor Marc Eberhard is in Haiti leading the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute team's effort to conduct building inspections and earthquake reconnaissance. For updates from Haiti, read his blog at http://neescomm.blogspot.com/.

image of butterflies that mimic each other for disguise

January 28, 2010 | UW Week

Butterfly Vision Through the Eyes of an Engineer

Some people might spend their retirement relaxing at a beachside condo. Others might travel to exotic places, or tick items off their bucket list. Gary Bernard, on the other hand, serves as a UW affiliate professor of electrical engineering and goes eye to eye with butterflies in the laboratory he built into his Federal Way home.

thumbnail map showing some locations of smart grid test sites

January 21, 2010 | UW Week

How Much Electricity Are You Using? Smart-Grid Demonstration Project to Take Place on UW Campus

Over the next few years the electricity traveling invisibly through the UW’s Seattle campus will become a lot more visible. So-called smart grids, electrical systems that track exactly how much power is being used at any given time to let customers view and manage their consumption, will be tested in campus buildings and residence halls. See also a companion article covering UW research on next-generation smart-grid devices.

Bonneville dam spillway

January 21, 2010 | UW News

New Rules for Managing Dams in a Changing Climate

Civil engineers at the University of Washington and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Seattle office have developed a new technique to determine when to empty reservoirs in the winter for flood control and when to refill them in the spring to provide storage for the coming year.

Buddy Ratner and David Castner photos

January 14, 2010 | UW Week

Gates Foundation Funds Technology to Measure Micronutrients in Malnourished Populations

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last fall awarded Buddy Ratner and David Castner, both UW professors of bioengineering and chemical engineering, $640,000 to develop an inexpensive micronutrient rapid measuring device that could be used to detect deficiencies in settings with scarce resources.

Greenroads logo excerpt

January 13, 2010 | UW News

'Greenroads' Rates Sustainable Road Projects

Road construction is a more-than-$80 billion annual industry in the United States. Yet nothing comparable to the LEED rating system for buildings, or the Energy Star system for appliances, exists for highways and roads. University of Washington researchers and global engineering firm CH2M Hill today unveiled Greenroads, a rating system for sustainable road design and construction. The lead author is Steve Muench, a UW assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.

photo of new crane at Molecular Engineering Building site

January 7, 2010 | UW News

Crane Installation a Milestone in Construction of Molecular Engineering Building

While the campus took its holiday break, workers constructing the Molecular Engineering Building passed a major milestone with the installation of a tower crane to speed the moving of materials as the building takes shape. Although the crane's jib hovers over nearby buildings, no loads will be suspended over them during construction. View a slideshow of the crane's installation.

Washington Technology Center logo excerpt

January 4, 2010 | Washington Technology Center

Three CoE Researchers Awarded $100,000 Each for Collaborations with Washington Companies

The Washington Technology Center announced awards to:

  • MSE research associate professor Brian Flinn and Seattle-based inVision Technology to develop composite materials for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)/li>
  • EE associate professor Alexander Mamishev and Maple Valley-based Enertechnix to develop more energy-efficient pulp and paper mills
  • BioE assistant professor Suzie Pun and Seattle-based Omeros Corporation to develop cancer-targeting technology

More »