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Tue, 11/28/2017 | UW News

UW students win Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize for most engaging socialbot

A team of University of Washington students and faculty has won Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize, a university competition designed to produce an artificial intelligence agent capable of coherent and sustained conversation with humans.

Tue, 11/28/2017 | UW Today

Two UW professors elevated to IEEE Fellows

Two College of Engineering faculty have been elected as 2018 fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Tom Furness, professor of industrial and systems engineering, was honored for “leadership in virtual and augmented reality” and Siddhartha “Sidd” Srinivasa, professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, was recognized for “contributions to robotic manipulation and human-robot interaction.”

Wed, 11/22/2017 | UW Today

AAAS names 8 UW researchers as fellows in 2017

James Riley, professor of mechanical engineering, was named as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Riley was honored for his contributions in fluid mechanics and his advancements in the understanding of turbulent flows.

Mon, 11/20/2017 | College of Engineering

Global Engineers

Engineering Rome, a program offered through Civil & Environmental Engineering, challenges students to understand what engineer has been — and what it can be — while navigating thousands of years of history.

Thu, 11/16/2017

Scholarship Impact 2017

Kiana Peterson, a STARS student and EE major, discusses her student experiences and the impact scholarships have made on her education.

Thu, 11/16/2017 | UW News

UW receives top honors from CleanTech Alliance for research and support in energy innovation, industry partnerships

The CleanTech Alliance has presented the University of Washington with the organization’s 2017 CleanTech Achievement Award. The honor recognizes the UW’s dedication to research and development of transformative clean energy technologies, facilities, pipelines for startups and industry partnerships.

Tue, 11/14/2017 | UW News

2 UW engineering students make Forbes ’30 under 30 in Energy’ list

Molly Grear (CEE) and Matthew Murbach (ChemE) were included by Forbes magazine on its list of the top 30 people in the world under age 30 in working on energy solutions.

Mon, 11/13/2017 | UW News

New tool quantifies power imbalance between female and male characters in Hollywood movie scripts

The team of researchers used machine-learning-based tools to analyze the language in nearly 800 movie scripts, quantifying how much power and agency those scripts give to individual characters.

Wed, 11/08/2017 | Department of Mechanical Engineering

Tradition with a modern twist

The UW Human Powered Sub team blended traditional boatbuilding with aerospace and marine engineering to create a one-of-a-kind submarine. And they won a first place prize at the International Submarine Races.

Wed, 11/01/2017

Engineering for all

AccessEngineering is laying the groundwork for engineering programs to better serve more diverse student bodies – at the UW and beyond.

Tue, 10/31/2017 | UW News

How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronics

Using magnetic properties of conductive thread, University of Washington researchers are able to store data in fabric. In this example, the code to unlock a door is stored in a fabric patch and read by an array of magnetometers.

Thu, 10/19/2017 | Civil & Environmental Engineering

Developing ‘breakaway’ tsunami resistant buildings

To better protect communities during tsunamis, a faculty team comprised of Dawn Lehman, Michael Motley, Charles Roeder and Pedro Arduino have received a $1 million NSF grant to develop a new structural system.

Wed, 10/18/2017 | UW Today

For $1000, anyone can purchase online ads to track your location and app use

University of Washington research finds that for a budget of roughly $1000, it is possible for someone with devious intent to track your location and app use by purchasing and targeting mobile ads. This research aims to raise industry awareness about the potential privacy threat.

Tue, 10/17/2017 | UW Today

Flexible ‘skin’ can help robots, prosthetics perform everyday tasks by sensing shear force

Robotic and prosthetic hands must be able to sense shear forces, such as the pull created when objects slip from grasp, to manipulate items with greater precision. As yet, robotic hands have had difficulty accurately sensing vibrations and shear forces. A team of researchers, including ME professor Jonathan Posner, developed a flexible sensor “skin” that can be stretched over any part of a robot to accurately convey information about shear forces and vibration.

Thu, 10/12/2017 | UW News

UW names second CSE building the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering

A group calling themselves “Friends of Bill & Melinda” have donated more than $30 million to name the UW’s second CSE building, the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering, in honor of the couple. The gift recognizes the Gateses’ leadership while enabling the UW to deliver an unparalleled educational experience to more of Washington’s students.

Fri, 10/06/2017 | UW News

3 UW researchers chosen for NIH High-Risk, High-Rewards program

Three University of Washington faculty members are among those honored with a biomedical research grant as part of this year’s NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The program funds exceptionally creative scientists proposing to use highly innovative approaches to tackle major challenges in biomedical research.

Wed, 10/04/2017 | UW Today

New portable blood analyzer could improve anemia detection worldwide

A research team, including ME associate professor Nathan Sniadecki, has developed a device to monitor anemia that is smaller than a toaster. About one quarter of the world’s population suffers from anemia, but current methods for analyzing blood require hands-on expertise to prepare and run a sample, limiting the ability to monitor anemia in many parts of the world. This new device requires only a few drops of blood for analysis and does not require additional steps to prepare the sample.

Thu, 09/28/2017 | UW News

Lisa M. Zurk named executive director of UW Applied Physics Laboratory

Lisa Zurk will be the next executive director of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW), Vice Provost for Research Mary Lidstrom announced this week. She will be the first woman to hold the position of executive director of APL-UW. Zurk comes to the UW from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where she directed allocation of the nation’s research investments. As a program manager in the agency’s Strategic Technology Office, her area of interest was physics-based processing techniques applied to advanced sensor system concepts.

Mon, 09/25/2017 | UW News

UW to host $15.6M NSF-funded center for innovation, education in materials science

The new Molecular Engineering Materials Center's goal is to empower the next generation of science and engineering leaders. This will involve engaging and supporting students and postdoctoral researchers — and giving them the research and educational experiences, training and cross-disciplinary mentorship that they will need to forge careers on the cutting edge of materials science. The Molecular Engineering Materials Center is funded by a $15.6 million, six-year grant from the National Science Foundation as part of its highly competitive Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program.

Mon, 09/18/2017 | College of Engineering

Investing in innovation: UW advances the future of neural engineering

The intersection of engineering and neuroscience promises great advances in health care. The UW is establishing itself as a global leader in the field.

Mon, 09/18/2017 | College of Engineering

Career connectivity: The Career Center @ Engineering links future engineers and employers

The Career Center @ Engineering (CC@E) connects engineering students and employers, assisting students with career exploration and becoming a 1-stop shop for recruiters.

Thu, 09/14/2017 | UW Today

People of color exposed to more pollution from cars, trucks, power plants during 10-year period

A new study finds that the U.S. made little progress from 2000 to 2010 in reducing relative disparities between people of color and whites in exposure to harmful air pollution. It found disparities in NO2 exposure were larger by race and ethnicity than by income, age or education, and that relative inequality persisted across the decade.

Wed, 09/13/2017 | UW News

UW team shatters long-range communication barrier for devices that consume almost no power

In the long-range backscatter system developed by UW researchers, this sensor allows devices that run on extremely low power for the first time to communicate over long distances.

Wed, 09/06/2017 | UW Today

PupilScreen aims to allow parents, coaches, medics to detect concussion, brain injuries with a smartphone

Researchers are developing a smartphone app that is capable of objectively detecting concussion and other traumatic brain injuries in the field, which could provide a new level of screening for athletes and accident victims. PupilScreen can detect changes in a pupil’s response to light, using a smartphone’s video camera and artificial intelligence, with accuracy almost as high as a pupilometer, an expensive and rarely used machine found only in hospitals.

Tue, 08/29/2017 | Civil & Environmental Engineering

New bachelor’s program in environmental engineering

A new bachelor's program in environmental engineering launches this fall. The program was added due to student interest in the field and increasing demand for environmental engineers.