Washington Engineer - July 2015
In the July 2015 issue:
- Dean's Message
- Research - Hacking Robots, Cell Phone Guilt, Cell-to-Cell Communication
- Campus News - Female Faculty Numbers, UW and Tsinghua University, Fusion Infusion
- Events - Fall Lecture Series, Innovation Summit in Shanghai
- In the Media - CSE & Female Undergrads, Demand for AI Experts, Wireless Drone Charging
Dean's MessageThe dean touches on doubling the number of tenure-track female engineering faculty, promoting women's participation in undergraduate computing and security in the age of smart technology. Read message » |
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Research
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UW researchers hack a teleoperated surgical robot to reveal security flaws Electrical engineering researchers easily hacked a next generation teleoperated surgical robot — one used for research purposes — to test how easily a malicious attack could hijack remotely-controlled operations of the future. Ars Technica | Popular Science | Daily Mail | The Engineer | ComputerWorld |
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Study: 44 percent of parents struggle to limit cell phone use at playgrounds A new study from the UW's Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering found parents or babysitters absorbed in their cell phones at playgrounds were much less attentive to children's requests. Nearly half of caregivers at playgrounds struggled to stay off their phones, which was a significant source of parental guilt. UPI | TODAY.com | Seattle Times | Geekwire | CBS Seattle |
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UW team programs solitary yeast cells to say 'hello' to one another UW synthetic biologists have produced a novel form of cell-to-cell communication in baker's yeast — a first step in learning to build multicellular organisms or artificial organs from scratch. Hacked | Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News |
Campus News
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UW LEADs nation in female engineering faculty Among the nation’s top 50 engineering schools, the University of Washington has the highest percentage of women in tenure-track engineering faculty positions: 22.4 percent. Nationally, the figure is 14.5 percent, and that gap didn’t grow by accident. Puget Sound Business Journal |
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UW and Tsinghua University create groundbreaking partnership with launch of the Global Innovation Exchange With $40 million in foundational support from Microsoft, two of the world’s leading research universities — the University of Washington and Tsinghua University — are partnering to create the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), an institute dedicated to educating the next generation of innovators. The Wall Street Journal | The New York Times | Inside Higher Ed | Bloomberg News | GeekWire |
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UW researchers scaling up fusion hopes with DOE grant With a $5.3 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, UW aeronautics and astronautics and electrical engineering researchers will scale up a "Sheared Flow Stabilized Z-Pinch" device in the hopes of achieving plasma stability and a sustainable fusion reaction that might one day power homes or propel spaceships. |
Events
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Save the dates! 2015 Engineering Lecture Series Wednesday, October 7, 2015 Franziska Roesner, Assistant Professor, Computer Science & Engineering Wednesday, October 21, 2015 Dieter Fox, Professor, Computer Science & Engineering Director of the UW Robotics and State Estimation Lab Tuesday, November 3, 2015
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The UW in Shanghai November 13-14, 2015 The UW Innovation Summit will be held on Friday, November 13 and features presentations by engineering faculty including Vikram Jandhyala and Shwetak Patel. |
In the Media
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Making computer science more inviting: A look at what works The New York Times | May 21, 2015 When Sonja Khan started college, she’d never thought of studying computer science. But when she heard from friends that the University of Washington's intro class was good, she gave it a try — and then ended up majoring in it. UW CSE's award from the National Center for Women & Information Technology for attracting female computer science undergraduates is featured. Seattle Times | Xconomy | KIRO Radio | GeekWire | UW Today |
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Artificial Intelligence experts are in high demand The Wall Street Journal | May 1, 2015 Technology companies are scrambling to push the bounds of artificial intelligence, or AI, and they are stocking their own research centers with big-name academics and aspiring Ph.D. candidates. University of Washington, based in the same state as Microsoft and Amazon, has long been a center of excellence for AI. |
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Coiled and ready to strike The Economist | June 27, 2015 Most drones cannot fly for more than a quarter of an hour before they need to find a human being to recharge them. UW computer scientist Joshua Smith hopes to change that with his company Wibotic — which plans to recharge drones (and also earthbound robots) without having to establish an awkward physical connection with a plug. |