Tue, 09/08/2015 | UW Today

A new wearable technology developed at UW called MagnifiSense can sense what devices and vehicles the user interacts with throughout the day. Applications include tracking individuals' carbon footprints, enabling smart home applications, and assisting with elder care. Next steps are testing MagnifiSense on a wider variety of devices and miniaturizing the device.

Mon, 08/31/2015 | UW Today

Data scientists at the UW’s eScience Institute took a break from their typical work helping researchers and professors to incorporate cutting-edge technologies and data-based methods into their academic pursuits. Instead, they launched the Data Science for Social Good program which harnessed their expertise to address pressing urban issues closer to home. The program paired data scientists with students and local nonprofit and government partners. These interdisciplinary teams worked on projects to reduce family homelessness, improve paratransit bus service, foster community well-being and map better sidewalk routes for people with mobility challenges.

Tue, 08/25/2015 | UW College of Engineering

From Dean Mike Bragg

This fall quarter, Per Reinhall, chair of mechanical engineering, will take a well-deserved sabbatical leave. Professor John Kramlich has agreed to serve as acting chair of ME during Per's leave. John's appointment begins on September 16, 2015 and Per will return as chair on December 16, 2015.

I am grateful that John is willing to assume this role in service to the department and college. ME is making great strides in their identified areas of research which include energy, health, mechatronics, and advanced materials and manufacturing. I look forward to working with John as he continues to advance the important work taking place in ME by their faculty, staff and students.

Please join me in welcoming Professor Kramlich on board in September as acting chair of ME.

Mon, 08/24/2015 | UW College of Engineering

If you know an engineer who deserves recognition, we want to hear from you! The Diamond Awards honor outstanding alumni and friends who have made significant contributions to the field of engineering. Take a little time to nominate an engineer to join the distinguished ranks of Diamond Award honorees in one of 6 categories this year.

Mon, 08/17/2015 | University of Washington

Shruti Misra, a senior in electrical engineering with a strong interest in sustainability, is committed to harnessing the sun’s energy — whether it’s through finding ways to control solar panels remotely or helping to oversee projects to get panels installed around campus.

This summer, she’s interning at Athena Energy, a startup that designs hybrid inverters for solar panels. Her role is to help make the panels "smart." Using her computer programming background, she’s finding ways for users to get data from the solar panels and control them via WiFi.

Thu, 08/13/2015 | UW Today

CSE machine learning researchers developed a radically new approach to data optimization. Their paper won the top prize at the world’s largest artificial intelligence conference. The new UW approach outperformed standard optimization techniques, in some instances by many orders of magnitude. “In some ways optimization is the most important problem you’ve never heard of because it turns up in all areas of science, engineering and business. But a lot of optimization problems are extremely difficult to solve because they have a huge number of variables that interact in intricate ways,” said senior author Pedro Domingos, UW professor of computer science and engineering.

Wed, 08/12/2015 | UW Today

The source of carbon dioxide emissions from streams and rivers has been unclear to scientists. David Butman, an assistant professor in CSE, has co-authored a study that shows the greenhouse gas appears in streams by way of two different sources — either as a direct pipeline for groundwater and carbon-rich soils, or from aquatic organisms releasing the gas through respiration and natural decay.

Wed, 08/05/2015 | UW Today

To ensure places like UW's CoMotion MakerSpace are truly inclusive, ME's Kat Steele leads research on making communal DIY spaces accessible to people with disabilities.

Tue, 08/04/2015 | UW Today

A workshop gathered 100 grad students to identify challenges, ideas, or solutions that data science could advance in their science or engineering fields.

Mon, 08/03/2015 | UW Today

New research shows a variety of pathways to crystal formation. Crystallization occurs across scientific disciplines; a shift in the picture of how it occurs has far-reaching consequences, says MSE's James De Yoreo.

Mon, 08/03/2015 | UW Today

To serve growing demand for nanofabrication services, the Washington Nanofabrication Facility will double in size and get vital building upgrades.

Wed, 07/22/2015 | UW Today

A new study by UW and Columbia University researchers probed the computer security habits of 15 journalists across two continents and found a number of security weaknesses in their technological tools and ad-hoc workarounds. Use of online translation services or popular cloud-based data storage tools could expose confidential sources or other sensitive information. The authors, who include CSE assistant professor Franziska Roesner and students in the UW Master of Human Computer Interaction and Design program, identify a need for new tools designed with journalists in mind.

Thu, 07/16/2015 | UW Today

UW researchers who conducted the first academic review of nine mobile health applications on the market in March 2014 found none met all the criteria that would make them fully accessible to blind customers. Without proper coding, for example, an automated screen reader might read data in a glucose monitoring app as, "87 2:16 p.m. before breakfast fasting mgdl 5 13 15 glucose manual." Authors of the study include CSE doctoral student Lauren Milne, CSE professor Richard Ladner, and HCDE doctoral student Cynthia Bennett.

Tue, 07/07/2015 | College of Engineering

The CoMotion Innovation Fund awards grants to innovative projects with promising impact, bridging the gap between academic research grants and the ability to attract seed-stage investment. This year, seven out of the 11 innovation fund awards go to engineering-based projects!