December 18, 2013 | UW Department of Mechanical Engineering
UW AstroDawgs experiment selected by NASA
The UW Microgravity Team (UW AstroDawgs) has been selected to participate in NASA's 2014 Microgravity University Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. The goal of the UW experiment is to isolate regions that are affected by dust plumes and find a geometry that will produce the lowest dust cloud. The team of ME, AA, and EE students is advised by ME professor James Riley. They will travel to Houston for the June 2014 Flight Week at Johnson Space Center.
December 18, 2013
Ting wins innovation award for PhD dissertation
Congratulations to ME research associate Dr. Lucas Ting for winning the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) and the University Microflims International (UMI) Innovation in Technology Award for his PhD dissertation. WAGS consists of 15 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. Congratulations also to Professor Nate Sniadecki for doing such excellent and innovative work in his lab and for his role in advising Lucas during his PhD work.
December 12, 2013 | UW News
New state-funded Clean Energy Institute will focus on solar, battery technologies
UW's Clean Energy Institute launched on December 12 with an event attended by UW President Michael K. Young, Gov. Jay Inslee, and researchers, industry experts and policy leaders in renewable energy. According to institute director Dan Schwartz, chair and professor of chemical engineering, technologies developed at the institute can help "make solar power the cornerstone of a new clean energy economy."
See also: Seattle Times |
KIRO TV
December 9, 2013 | Science Nation
On the road to resiliency: Researchers map Hurricane Sandy impact in New York City
UW Civil & Environmental Engineering professor Dorothy Reed and her team have compiled a street-by-street view of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy that provides unprecedented detail of power and transit issues and reveals vulnerabilities. "I'm very interested in looking at what we can do as civil engineers to make the system more resilient," says Reed.
November 19, 2013 | UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Ben Taskar, Boeing Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at UW, died at home of an apparent heart attack on November 17, 2013. He was 36 years old. Ben joined the CSE faculty a year ago as part of a cohort in data analytics and made many significant research contributions in areas spanning machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. The UW Engineering community extends its deepest sympathies to Ben's family. See also: GeekWire | Seattle Times
November 14, 2013 | UW News
Computer scientist Rajesh Rao to lead national neural engineering center at UW
CSE associate professor Rajesh Rao has been named director of the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at UW. Rao is "looking forward to leading one of the largest-scale efforts in the world aimed at improving the lives of disabled people with cutting-edge neuro-technologies and developing neurally engineered devices for novel modes of interaction with the environment."
November 13, 2013 | UW Today
Snow melts faster under trees than in open areas in mild climates
Reservoirs in the western Cascades hold approximately a year's supply of water. That means when our snowpack is gone, our water supply depends on often meager summer rainfall to get us through until fall. Researchers, including Susan Dickerson-Lange, a doctoral student in CEE Associate Professor Jessica Lundquist's lab, have set tiny, battery-powered instruments to collect temperature readings every hour for 11 months to help them map winter temperatures throughout the watershed as they track snow accumulation and melt.
November 12, 2013 | UW Today
Grant will support interdisciplinary, data-intensive research at UW
A five-year, $37.8 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will support data-intensive science and discovery at UW, UC Berkeley, and NYU. Ed Lazowska, a professor of computer science and engineering and the director of the eScience Institute, is the UW project lead. One component at UW will be a dedicated "data science studio" in which researchers work directly with data scientists for a period of time, then take back what they learn to their home departments.
See also: data.washington.edu
November 1, 2013 | UW Today
UW surgical robot featured in 2013 movie 'Ender’s Game'
If you go see "Ender's Game," you'll see the Raven II surgical robot from the UW BioRobotics Laboratory in its Hollywood debut. Lab director Blake Hannaford, a UW professor of electrical engineering, got the call from a movie director in spring 2012. Within a month the robot and two graduate students were on their way to the film set in New Orleans.
See also: NBC News
October 25, 2013 | UW Today
New UW-Pacific NW National Lab computing-research institute holds first public workshop
Based at the UW, the Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing's first public event will feature speakers from the two institutions and industry, as well as breakout sessions that explore various aspects of science and engineering technologies. The daylong event at the UW's Husky Union Building is free and open to the research community with online registration. See also: Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing website
October 17, 2013 | UW Today
Yoga accessible for the blind with new Microsoft Kinect-based program
A team of University of Washington computer scientists has created a software program that watches a user's movements and gives spoken feedback on what to change to accurately complete a yoga pose. Project lead and CSE doctoral student Kyle Rector wrote the program, called Eyes-Free Yoga, using open-source Microsoft Kinect software. She and her team plan to make the technology available for download.
See also: YouTube video
October 15, 2013 | UW Today
Local infrastructure focus of College of Engineering's fall lecture series
UW Engineering's fall lecture series gets underway at Kane Hall on Wednesday, October 23 with "Failing Grades to Future Systems" featuring talks by Civil & Environmental Engineering chair Greg Miller and former state transportation secretary Paula Hammond. Lectures on October 30 and November 14 will focus on bridge engineering and the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel (and Bertha, the mammoth tunneling machine). Lectures are free but registration is required.
October 14, 2013 | The Seattle Times
UW female professors building a culture for engineering
The UW has seen steady growth in the number of women in engineering faculty positions since it received a national grant to help boost the numbers. In 2012, just over 20 percent, or 47 tenure- and tenure-track faculty, out of a total of 231, were women. The national average was 14 percent. Research has shown that when a group working on a problem includes people from different backgrounds and genders, the group comes up with more creative solutions.
October 9, 2013 | UW Today
New strategy lets cochlear implant users hear music
For users of cochlear implants – technology that allows deaf and hard of hearing people to comprehend speech – hearing music remains extremely challenging. A team of researchers led by Les Atlas, professor of electrical engineering, hopes to change this. They have developed a new way of processing the signals in cochlear implants to let users perceive differences between musical instruments, a significant improvement from what standard cochlear implants can offer.
October 4, 2013 | TechFlash
UW prof Julie Kientz on women in tech, human-centered design and commercialization
Following her selection by MIT Technology Review as one of its 35 Innovators Under 35, Julie Kientz sat down with the Puget Sound Business Journal to discuss the technology she's been working on around early childhood screening and sleep disorders, commercialization, and what it's like to be a woman working in technology.
October 3, 2013 | UW Today
Pioneering MOOC instructors remain enthusiastic
UW-IT interviewed four UW faculty members who used Coursera for the first time to offer a massive open online courses (or MOOC) this year. Three of the interviewees are faculty members in computer science and engineering: Daniel Grossman, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Bill Howe. See also the report from UW-IT.
September 30, 2013 | UW Today
UW engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA
An interdisciplinary team led by UW computer and electrical engineering researchers has developed a programming language for chemistry that could ultimately guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. In medicine, such networks could serve as "smart" drug deliverers or disease detectors at the cellular level. See also: nature.com article
September 25, 2013 | Puget Sound Business Journal
Alaska Airlines replaces China-made cups with local product
Alaska Airlines has adopted advanced plastic cups from UW start-up MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc. for its in-flight coffee service, replacing paper cups from China. The cups are expected to cost one third less, weigh half as much, insulate twice as well, and will be completely recyclable. MicroGREEN was cofounded by Krishna Nadella as a UW graduate student in the lab of Vipin Kumar, a UW professor of mechanical engineering.
September 17, 2013 | UW Department of Electrical Engineering
Klavins and Seelig win NSF award for molecular programming
UW faculty members Eric Klavins (EE, adjunct in CSE and BioE) and Georg Seelig (EE and CSE, adjunct in BioE) have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation's Expeditions in Computing program as part of a multi-investigator team working to establish the engineering foundations for molecular programming and synthetic biology.
September 16, 2013 | UW Today
Depletion of 'traitor' immune cells slows cancer growth in mice
BioE associate professor Suzie Pun's research team has developed a strategy to slow tumor growth and prolong survival in mice with cancer by targeting and destroying a type of cell that dampens the body's immune response to cancer. The researchers published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We're really enthusiastic about these results because they suggest an alternative drug target that could be synergistic with current treatments," said Pun.
September 13, 2013 | Life Sciences Discovery Fund
UW engineers among recipients of new Life Sciences Discovery Fund grants
Washington State's Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) has announced $3.7 million in new research and development grants. Two of the recipients are University of Washington engineers.
September 11, 2013 | UW Today
UW engineers get grant to make cookstoves 10 times cleaner for developing world
The goal: a high-efficiency, low-emissions cookstove that is affordable and attractive to families around the world who cook over a flame each day. UW mechanical engineers Jonathan Posner and John Kramlich and their team, with support from the US Department of Energy, will pursue that goal by designing a stove for East African communities and creating software that helps other stove designers create efficient designs.
September 4, 2013 | UW Today
Pico-world dragnets: Computer-designed proteins recognize and bind small molecules
UW researchers have demonstrated a new level of precision in designing proteins that bind to specific small molecules. The findings, published online in Nature, open up possibilities for many medical, industrial and environmental applications—such as detecting early stage cancer, blocking poisons, and trapping pollutants. Among the scientists on the project are David Baker, a UW professor of biochemistry whose adjunct appointments include bioengineering, chemical engineering, and computer science, and bioengineering graduate student Jiayi Dou.
August 30, 2013 | National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Robots could one day help surgeons remove hard to reach brain tumors
Technologies now in development may enable less invasive, image-guided removal of hard-to-reach brain tumors. This article describes two. First is a small, multi-jointed robot that could be monitored inside the brain even during continuous MRI. The second is adapting a scanning fiber endoscope for video images of the brain during surgery—a project led Eric Seibel, a UW professor of mechanical engineering. See also: Seibel's video demonstration
August, 2013 | GeekWire
Recent grad develops $15 microscope lens for smartphones
Recent ME grad Thomas Larson has launched a campaign to develop a simple but powerful microscope for smartphones. He was asking for $5000, but funding has snowballed to more than $90,000! Larson conceptualized the smartphone accessory in the 2013 Business Plan Competition and Nate Sniadecki's Cell Biomechanics lab. At the UW last year, Larson won 3rd place at the UW SEBA Science and Technology Showcases and 1st Place for Best Technical Presentation at Pacific District D of ASME and 1st Place for the Student Presentation Competition at Western Washington section of ASME.
August 27, 2013 | UW Today
Researcher controls colleague's motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface
UW engineering researcher Rajesh Rao plays a computer game with his mind. Across campus, researcher Andrea Stocco wears a magnetic stimulation coil over the left motor cortex region of his brain. Stocco's right index finger moved involuntarily to hit the "fire" button as part of the first human brain-to-brain interface demonstration. While the breakthrough conjures science fiction scenarios, Rao cautioned this technology only reads certain kinds of simple brain signals, not a person's thoughts. And it doesn't give anyone the ability to control your actions against your will.
August 26, 2013 | UW Today
Microneedle patch could replace standard tuberculosis skin test
A team led by MSE assistant professor Marco Rolandi has created a patch with tiny, biodegradable needles that can penetrate the skin and precisely deliver a tuberculosis test. The current standard diagnostic test is difficult to give, because a hypodermic needle must be inserted at a precise angle and depth in the arm to successfully check for tuberculosis.
August 21, 2013 | Seattle Times
Computer games + math = fun and learning in schools
Classroom teachers are using more computer games in the classroom, and a UW researcher is working on ways to make games more effective at teaching math. The article discusses research at UW's Center for Game Science and quotes CSE professor Zoran Popović.
August 21, 2013 | MIT Technology Review
Julie Kientz named one of 35 Top Innovators Under 35
With her people-first perspective on technology, the HCDE assistant professor is at the forefront of an emerging idea: using relatively simple and common computing tools to improve human health. Julie Kientz has created novel ways of helping people with sleep disorders and families with autistic children.
See also: UW Today | HCDE article
August 13, 2013 | UW Today
Wireless devices go battery-free with new communication technique
UW engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power. The technique is called "ambient backscatter" and harvests energy from ubiquitous TV and cellular transmissions. Applications could include everything from monitoring for hairline cracks in bridges to sending text messages even after a phone's battery dies.
August 7, 2013 | UW Today
Regulating electron ‘spin’ may be key to making organic solar cells competitive
New research shows a synthetic, high-performance polymer developed at UW behaves differently from other tested materials and could make inexpensive, highly efficient organic solar panels a reality. The material was created in the lab of Alex Jen, a UW professor of materials science and engineering, and tested at the University of Cambridge in England. The results are published in Nature.
August 1, 2013 | UW Today
Brain chemistry changes in children with autism offer clues to earlier detection and intervention
Between ages 3 and 10, children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit distinct brain chemical changes that differ from children with developmental delays and those with typical development, according to a new study led by University of Washington researchers. Stephen R. Dager, a UW professor of radiology and adjunct professor of bioengineering, is quoted.
August 1, 2013 | MIT Technology Review
Belkin gadget will reveal how much energy your devices use
A project in the works at electronics company Belkin makes it possible to see how much electricity you're spending on everything from the TV in your living room to the washing machine in your basement. The device is called Echo Electricity and builds on technology acquired in 2010 from an energy-monitoring startup Zensi together with the doctoral work of University of Washington PhD candidate Sidhant Gupta, whose advisor, Shwetak Patel, was a Zensi founder.
See also: UW Today (4/22/2010)
July 29, 2013 | UW Today
Natural affinities – unrecognized until now – may have set stage for life to ignite
The chemical components crucial to the start of life on Earth may have primed and protected each other in never-before-realized ways, according to UW researchers. Roy Black, a retired biochemist-turned-affiliate-professor-of-bioengineering and Sarah Keller, UW professor of chemistry are co-authors of the findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Black volunteered his time for a year and a half straight, for the joy and the curiosity.
July 28, 2013 | UW Today
Breakthrough in detecting DNA mutations could help treat tuberculosis, cancer
Georg Seelig, assistant professor in EE and CSE, along with EE PhD student Sherry Chen and David Zhang of Rice University, designed probes that allow researchers to look for variations in DNA sequences in much more detail than previous methods. Their solution does not require complicated reactions or added enzymes, making it well-suited for diagnostic applications in low-resource settings.
July 23, 2013 | UW Today
Pain of artificial legs could be eased by real-time monitoring
Joan Sanders, a UW professor of bioengineering, leads development of a device that tracks how much a person's limb swells and shrinks when inside a prosthetic socket. The data could help doctors and patients predict how and when their limbs will swell, which could be used to build smarter sockets that cause far less pain for the wearer.
July 16, 2013 | Seattle Times
Northwest scientists using drones to spy on nature
Once used mostly for surveillance and reconnaissance on the battlefield, small, unmanned aircraft are now fetching data for Northwest scientists. UW researchers quoted in the article include Aeronautics & Astronautics professor emeritus Juris Vagners, A&A associate professor Kristi Morgansen, and Civil & Environmental Engineering associate professor Jessica Lundquist.
July 16, 2013 | UW Today
Eye-tracking could outshine passwords if made user-friendly
Despite the difficulties in creating and remembering secure passwords, they are still the most common electronic authentication systems. A study lead by Cecilia Aragon, associate professor in HCDE, found that user-centered design and well chosen feedback, in addition to speed and accuracy were important for the success of an eye-tracking security system.
July 12, 2013 | The Seattle Times
ME's WOOF team refines its methods to "print" new milk-carton boat
For the second year, Washington Open Object Fabricators (WOOF) entered a 3-D printed boat in this year's Seafair Milk Carton Derby. The new boat represents a better understanding of how to print with recycled plastic, said Dana Henshaw, a student and director of operations for WOOF. The boat required fewer recycled bottles. It was printed over 11 hours instead of 19 hours, by using a different nozzle that extruded a thicker line of plastic.
July 9, 2013 | UW Today
Biceps bulge, calves curve, 50-year-old assumptions muscled aside
Researchers assisted by the computational power of the cloud have shown that muscle forces generated in a radial direction play a much larger role in muscle power than previously assumed. Michael Regnier, a UW professor bioengineering, is co-author of a new paper appearing in a Royal Society journal. He says new understanding of the respective roles of radial and long axis forces in muscle power can help improve treatments for cardiac and skeletal muscle diseases.
June 27, 2013 | UW Today
Competitive STEM program at UW targets deaf, hard of hearing students
Seventeen deaf and hard-of-hearing students from around the country have come to UW for an intensive summer of computer science courses, industry tours, and networking. The Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing, the brainchild of CSE professor Richard Ladner, offers academic credit and a chance for deaf students to explore an academic field they may not have already considered.
June 27, 2013 | UW Today
UW gas-, electric-powered cars claim 1st and 2nd in national contest
The UW Formula Motorsports team clinched the overall win in a field of nearly 80 teams at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers competition held June 19-22 in Lincoln, Neb. The overall win is a first for the student-run UW team, now in its 24th year. In the new electric car category, the UW team placed second overall out of 20 registered teams.
June 25, 2013 | UW Today
UW awarded $10 million to design paper-based diagnostic medical device
The U.S. Department of Defense's award will continue a project aimed at building a small, paper-based device that could test for infectious diseases. "This test will be inexpensive, simple to use, and robust enough that people could use it in their homes, in the developing world and in a doctor's office," said lead researcher Paul Yager, BioE professor and chair.
June 25, 2013 | UW Today
Clearing up confusion on future of Colorado River flows
Recent studies of the Colorado River estimated declines of future flows ranging from 6 to 45 percent by 2050. A paper by Julie Vano, lead author and a recent PhD grad in CEE, co-author and CEE prof. Dennis Lettenmaier, plus co-authors at eight institutions across the West aims to explain this wide range, and provide policymakers and the public with a framework for comparison.
June 20, 2013 | Washington State Transportation Center
Hallenbeck receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Washington State Institute of Transportation Engineers
Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC) at the UW and associate director of PacTrans, was recently honored by the Washington State section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) with its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.
June 19, 2013 | UW Graduate School
Engineering Students Named 2013 Bonderman Travel Fellows
Three engineering students are among the fourteen University of Washington students recently awarded Bonderman Travel Fellowships. Established in 1995 and worth $20,000 each, the fellowships aim to expose students to the intrinsic, often life-changing benefits of international travel.
June 12, 2013 | UW Today
Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce
LumiSands, a startup based on UW technology, has created a silicon-based material that can be substituted for expensive rare-earth elements as a means to soften LED lighting. The company started as a graduate student project for CEO Chang-Ching Tu, who received his doctorate in electrical engineering at the UW and just completed a stint as a postdoctoral researcher in materials science and engineering.
June 11, 2013 | UW Today
New tasks become as simple as waving a hand with brain-computer interfaces
UW researchers have shown that using a brain-computer interface – electrodes placed directly on the brain and linked to a computer – patients learned to control a robotic arm or a prosthetic limb. CSE professor Rajesh Rao and BioE PhD student Jeremiah Wander, collaborating with Jeffrey Ojemann, professor of neurological surgery, found the action could become second nature and could improve communication and daily life for a person who is paralyzed or has lost the ability to speak from a stroke or neurodegenerative disease.
June 4, 2013 | UW Today
Wi-Fi signals enable gesture recognition throughout entire home
CSE and EE researchers in Shwetak Patel's lab have developed gesture-recognition technology that could enable users to control their electronics and household appliances from any room in the home with a simple gesture. They've have shown it's possible to leverage Wi-Fi signals around us to detect specific movements without needing sensors on the human body or cameras.
May 29, 2013 | UW Today
UW to host student steel bridge competition this weekend
On May 31 and June 1, the UW hosts the 2013 National Student Steel Bridge Competition. Forty-nine finalist teams and about 600 people will converge on campus for the largest club event in the nation for civil engineering undergraduates. Many of the student designs will be steel truss structures similar to the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River that collapsed May 23.
May 24, 2013 | GeekWire
Meet the clean water startup that just won 1st place in the UW biz plan competition
GeekWire introduces Pure Blue Technologies, grand prize winner in this year's UW Business Plan Competition. The company is developing a system that uses visible light photo disinfection technology to process contaminated water -- for example, water used in the oil and gas industry -- and make it available for beneficial reuse. The team includes members from four UW Engineering departments and other disciplines.
See also: Foster Unplugged
May 21 2013 | LiveScience
Sounds Of The Sea: Stones Clanging
PhD student Christopher Bassett's research on the noise in Admiralty Inlet of Puget Sound shows that the clacking of pebbles in the seabed, moved by the current, produces a cacophony that drowns out other ocean noises. Bassett says his study is the first to show that currents are capable of regularly moving round objects the size of those seabed pebbles.
See also: InsideScience |
Physics Central
May 14, 2013 | UW Today
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
Expensive, state-of-the-art medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body’s natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response. Their findings were published online this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology. BioE and ChemE professor Buddy Ratner and Shaoyi Jiang, professor in ChemE, are co-authors.
May 08, 2013 | Greenroads Foundation
Greenroads Selected as a White House Champion of Change
Greenroads, a nonprofit that grew out of research at the UW Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, has been chosen as a White House Champion of Change for Transportation Technology Solutions. The honor recognizes Greenroad's unique ratings system designed to certify sustainable roadway and transportation projects.
May 8, 2013 | UW Today
New 'academic redshirt' program to support undergraduate STEM education
The University of Washington in collaboration with Washington State University is developing an "academic redshirt" program that will bring dozens of low-income Washington state high school graduates to the two universities to study engineering in a five-year bachelor's program.
May 6, 2013 | UW Today
New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes
Mechanical Engineering associate professor Jae-Hyun Chang and NanoFacture, a Bellevue Wash. company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods. The hand-held device can clean four separate human fluid samples at once, but the technology can be scaled up to prepare 96 samples at a time, which is standard for large-scale handling.
May 1, 2013 | UW Today
National Academy of Sciences selects Mary Lidstrom, David Kaplan
Mary Lidstrom, a UW professor of chemical engineering and microbiology and vice provost for research, is among the 84 new members announced by National Academy of Sciences. Lidstrom's research focuses on developing environmentally friendly and economically viable alternatives to chemical fuels. Also elected was UW physics professor David Kaplan.
April 29, 2013 | UW Today
Susan Eggers elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
UW professor emeritus of computer science and engineering Susan Eggers has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as a member of the Class of 2013. Eggers is co-inventor of a computer processing technology that makes more efficient use of a chip's computing power. The technology changed industry standards and was adopted by Intel, IBM and others.
April 29, 2013 | UW Today
Grocery delivery service is greener than driving to the store
Anne Goodchild, associate professor in CEE has found that using a grocery delivery service can cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least half when compared with individual household trips to the store. The research was funded by the Oregon DOT and published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum.
April 23, 2013 | UW Today
Robots, solar-powered cars at Engineering Discovery Days, April 26-27
Engineering Discovery Days is Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 on the University of Washington Seattle campus. Explore engineering through demonstrations and interactive displays, presentations for high school students, a scavenger hunt and more. From old favorites including the glowing pickle and homemade silly putty, to new exhibits like wool dying and game demonstrations from the Center for Game Science, the event is an engineering smorgasbord.
April 22, 2013 | UW Today
Professor of computer science and engineering remembered through UW scholarship fund
Computer science & engineering professor David Notkin passed away on April 22, 2013. At UW since 1984, David served as department chair of CSE from 2001 to 2006 and was recently associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Engineering. Earlier this year, the David Notkin Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Computer Science & Engineering was established at the UW in his honor. David will be remembered as a gifted mentor and world leader in software engineering.
April 15, 2013
High glucose levels could impair ferroelectricity in connective tissues
ME Professor Jiangyu Li and researchers at Boston University have discovered that high glucose levels could impair ferroelectricity in the body's connective tissues. "This could be associated with aging and diabetes, which I think gives more importance to the phenomenon," said Li.
Read more: Physical Review Letters
April 12, 2013 | UW Today
New device could cut costs on household products, pharmaceuticals
UW researchers have found a way to thicken soap products like shampoo and dishwashing detergent using a microfluidic device instead of by adding surfactants. Amy Shen, a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering, is the lead author of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She notes the technique's money-saving potential. See also: paper abstract
April 4, 2013 | UW Today
Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars
UW researchers and scientists at a Redmond-based space-propulsion company are building components of a fusion-powered rocket aimed to clear many of the hurdles that block deep space travel. The project is funded by NASA and led by John Slough, a UW research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics. See also: NBC News and many articles In the Media
March 26, 2013 | UW Today
Gene therapy may aid failing hearts
Interdisciplinary research between UW bioengineers and researches at UW Medicine suggests safe and effective gene therapy to treat patients whose hearts have been weakened by heart attacks and other heart conditions. Michael Regnier, UW professor and vice chair of bioengineering, and Charles Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology, led the study that showed a sustained improvement in heart muscle function. See also: PNAS article
March 19, 2013 | UW Today
Tenfold boost in ability to pinpoint proteins in cancer cells
A team of UW bioengineers has developed a new method for color-coding cells that allows them to illuminate 100 biomarkers, a ten-time increase from the current research standard, to help analyze individual cells from cultures or tissue biopsies. "Discovering this process is an unprecedented breakthrough for the field," said corresponding author Xiaohu Gao, associate professor in BioE. See also: Nature Communications article
March 13, 2013 | National Academy of Engineering
Vest Scholarships Program Announced; UW One of Eight Participating U.S. Universities
In 2010, UW Engineering partnered with the National Academy of Engineering to host the Seattle Grand Challenges Summit, with a focus on Engineering Better Medicines and Engineering the Tools of Scientific Discovery. Today we announce our participation in the Vest Scholarship Program to advance graduate-level research and collaboration addressing the Grand Challenges.
February 26, 2013 | UW Today
Michael B. Bragg selected as dean of UW College of Engineering
Michael B. Bragg, professor and interim dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as dean of the University of Washington College of Engineering, effective July 15, 2013. Bragg is a renowned expert in aerospace engineering, a champion of diversity, and has received university-level recognition for his teaching and advising. See also: Seattle Times
February 20, 2013 | The Daily
Rehabilitation through re-wiring
The future of rehabilitation therapy for victims of stroke or spinal-cord injury may lie in a small computer chip -- called a neurochip -- being developed by the Washington National Primate Research Center and Brian Otis, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering.
February 20, 2013 | UW Department of Electrical Engineering
UW EE and Agilent Technologies collaborate on new high-tech RF and microwave teaching laboratory
Agilent Technologies Inc. and the University of Washington will work together to create a new RF and microwave teaching laboratory and curriculum using the industry's latest test equipment. The lab will help students gain important hands-on test and design experience. See also: Agilent press release
February 19, 2013 | UW Today
James Carothers Receives 2013 Sloan Fellowship
James Carothers, an assistant professor in chemical engineering, is one of three UW faculty to receive a 2013 Sloan Fellowship. Carothers' research focuses on developing design platforms for engineering functionally-complex RNA-based control systems. These systems process cellular information and program the expression of large numbers of genes, enabling increased understanding of fundamental biological processes and applications to meet the demands for renewable chemicals and new therapies.
February 12, 2013 | Human Centered Design & Engineering
A Go Go Games Studios video game for children with autism and Feedback Sandwich, a "non-awkward way to ask for constructive feedback," are this year's winners of the Shobe Prize, established by Matt Shobe (MS HCDE 1996).
February 6, 2013 | Engineering News-Record
MolES Building wins a "Best of the Best 2012" award in national competition
The Molecular Engineering & Sciences Building has taken top honors in the Higher Education/Research category in a national competition sponsored by Engineering News-Record. Of nearly 1,000 project entries at the regional level, 169 advanced to the national level, where industry judges selected 19 projects as the "Best of the Best" based on teamwork, success in overcoming challenges, innovation, and quality.
February 6, 2013 | The Seattle Times
Sally Jewell, BSME '78, Nominated by President Obama to Lead Interior
Chosen for her background in engineering and leadership of a company regularly listed as a "best company to work for," Sally Jewell was nominated by President Barack Obama for Secretary of the Interior. If confirmed, Jewell, now president and CEO of REI and a UW regent, will take over a department steeped in controversy over the regulation of oil and gas and will be the steward of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands.
January 30, 2013 | The Herald Business Journal
PUD tackles green energy storage dilemma
Power from the sun, wind, and waves is not continuous and is challenging to store in large amounts. A new project launched by the Snohomish County PUD aims to meet that challenge in partnership with industry and researchers at the University of Washington. The solution may lie in 1 megawatt, plug-and-play battery systems. Daniel Kirschen, a UW professor of electrical engineering, is quoted.
January 29, 2013 | UW Today
Pioneer of human values in technology design to give University Faculty Lecture
Batya Friedman, a UW Information School professor and director of the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab, will give the University Faculty Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, in Room 130 of Kane Hall. The lecture is entitled "The Shape of Being: Technology Design, Human Values, and the Future." Friedman is an adjunct professor in two CoE departments: Computer Science & Engineering and Human Centered Design & Engineering.
January 24, 2013 | UW Today
Organic ferroelectric molecule shows promise for memory chips, sensors
Researchers at UW and Southeast University in China have discovered a remarkable molecule that shows promise as an organic alternative to today’s silicon-based semiconductors. Cheap, flexible, and nontoxic, the molecule is well suited to a wide range of applications in memory, sensing and low-cost energy storage. Findings are published this week in the journal Science.
See also: Chemical & Engineering News | Xconomy
January 9, 2013 | UW Today
EE professor Vikram Jandhyala to co-lead joint computing institute, tackle big data
The deluge of data coming from countless electronic devices will be harnessed to take on the most pressing problems facing science and society at a new computational institute in Seattle. The new institute will be located on UW's campus and led by co-directors Vikram Jandhyala (UW electrical engineering chair and Applied Computational Engineering Lab Director) and PNNL Fellow Moe Khaleel. See also: PNNL announcement
January 7, 2013 | UW Today
Judith Ramey appointed interim dean of UW College of Engineering
Judith Ramey, professor and former chair in the UW's Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE), this month steps into the role of Frank & Julie Jungers Interim Dean of the University of Washington's College of Engineering. Ramey joined the UW as a faculty member in 1983 and led her department from 1997 until 2008.
January 3, 2013 | Seattle Times
Noisy ships, ferries create racket below Puget Sound
Recent work by University of Washington researchers shows noise in some Puget Sound shipping channels regularly meets or exceeds levels the federal government suggests may be harmful to marine life. Article quotes Christopher Bassett, PhD student in mechanical engineering. See also: YouTube video
January 1, 2013 | Seattle Times
UW grants degree to late student undaunted by terminal cancer
The University of Washington has granted a rare posthumous degree to Nolan Roquet, a student who died from bone cancer. Nolan started at UW in 2006. After being fitted with a prosthesis following a partial leg amputation due to bone cancer, he began studies in mechanical engineering and very nearly completed all required credits.