In this issue:
- Dean's Message
- Research - Greenroads Certification; Space Weather Forecast; Ferrolectric Hearts
- Campus News - Faculty Honors; UW Launches Tech Startup Incubator; Students win Environmental Innovation Challenge
- Events - Engineering Discovery Days; Diamond Awards; Seattle Science Festival
- In the Media
Dean's MessageDean Matt O’Donnell discusses his strategies for expanding the UW’s College of Engineering to address the high demand for engineers in Washington State. Play video » |
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Research
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Roadway with Recycled Toilets is World's First Official
'Greenroad' A new rating system, designed at the UW to be a roadway equivalent to the LEED system for sustainable buildings, has awarded its first official certification. MSNBC | Scientific American |
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Space Weather Forecast: Sunspotty, with an Increasing
Chance of Solar Storms Solar storms have generated spectacular northern lights as far south as Seattle. Engineer John Sahr gives his read on the space weather forecast, and how it relates to his research. |
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Ferroelectric Switching Discovered in Soft Biological
Tissue In a discovery that could aid understanding of heart disease, the wall of the aorta is found to exhibit ferroelectricity — a response to an electric field known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. BBC | New Scientist | Nature Nanotechnology |
Campus News
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Faculty Honors: NAE Membership, Sloan Research Fellowship, CAREER Awards This winter, David Stahl was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, Shwetak Patel won a Sloan Research Fellowship, and Jim Pfaendtner, Xiaodong Xu and Marco Rolandi won NSF CAREER awards. |
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UW Launches Technology Startup Incubator, Aims to
Double Startups in Three Years The new business incubator is part of a commercialization initiative announced by UW President Michael Young that will double the number of startups produced by the university—from an average of 10 per year to 20—over the next three years. Seattle Times | Xconomy |
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Bigger, Bolder, Greener: The UW Environmental
Innovation Challenge Dozens of engineering students participated in the 2012 Environmental Innovation Challenge. Top prize went to a team proposing to recycle car tires into safe and sustainable highway barriers. Video |
Events
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Engineering Discovery Days Friday, April 20, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Saturday, April 21, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. UW Seattle campus This year’s open house will coincide with HuskyFest, a three-day campus-wide event to celebrate the UW’s 150th anniversary. |
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Diamond Awards Friday, May 18, 6–9 p.m. This year’s honored alumni include five-time astronaut Bonnie Dunbar (MS ’76), former Weyerhaeuser CEO Steve Rogel (BS ’65), and Facebook vice president of engineering and products Greg Badros (PhD ’00). |
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Seattle Science Festival June 2012 UW engineers will be involved in the region’s first science festival. Join them at Science EXPO Day, the Computer Programming Symposium and the Science Luminaries Series. |
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In the Media
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Quantum dots control brain cells for the first time New Scientist | Feb. 14, 2012 In an unlikely marriage of quantum physics and neuroscience, Lih Lin has used tiny particles called quantum dots to control brain cells. |
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Google offers look at Internet-connected glasses The New York Times | Apr. 4, 2012 The researchers behind Google’s Project Glass include Babak Parviz, whose area is bio-nanotechnology, the fusion of biology and technology at small scales. |
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Facebook’s got a lot of love for Seattle The Seattle Times | Apr. 16, 2012 Facebook's vice president of engineering talks about what drew the company to Seattle—a "critical mass density of engineers” and a culture in which “it’s cool to be an engineer." |
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