Tue, 06/27/2017 | UW Today

Essential tremor, a movement disorder characterized by involuntary shaking during intentional movement, can be treated by implanting an electrode in the brain for deep brain stimulation (DBS). In the current method for DBS, the implanted electrode is constantly “on” even when a patient doesn’t need it, which wastes battery life. UW researchers at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering have developed a closed-loop system for DBS that is on only when the patient needs it. This system saves battery life and lengthens the amount of time a patient can go between surgical procedures to replace the battery.

Mon, 06/26/2017

Jihui Yang, the Kyocera Professor in MSE, will take on the position of Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, starting September 1, 2017. Jihui has provided leadership in the department as chair of the undergraduate committee, and brings experience in both academia and industry that will position the department to grow and excel in the coming years.

Mon, 06/26/2017 | Department of Mechanical Engineering

The Engineering Innovation in Health (EIH) program partners engineering students and faculty with clinicians to develop affordable solutions to pressing health needs.

Mon, 06/26/2017 | UW Today

A versatile light-sheet microscope, developed by a UW team including ME associate professor Jonathan Liu, can provide surgeons with real-time pathology data to guide cancer-removal surgeries and can also non-destructively examine tumor biopsies in 3-D. The microscope provides surgeons with proof that they have removed all cancerous tissue, preventing the need for further surgeries to remove cancerous cells that were missed during the initial procedure.

Thu, 06/08/2017 | UW Today

WideOpen is a new open-source tool to help advance open science by automatically detecting datasets that are overdue for publication. Its use on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) led to the dramatic drop of overdue datasets, with 400 datasets released within the first week.

Wed, 06/07/2017 | UW Today

A team led by Xiaodong Xu, a UW professor in MSE and a member of the UW's Clean Energy Institute, and researchers at MIT has for the first time discovered magnetism in the 2-D world of monolayers, or materials that are formed by a single atomic layer. The findings, published June 8 in the journal Nature, demonstrate that magnetic properties can exist even in the 2-D realm — opening a world of potential applications. Magnetic materials form the basis of technologies that include sensing and hard-disk data storage. Researchers are always seeking new magnetic materials that are more compact, more efficient and can be controlled using precise, reliable methods.

Fri, 06/02/2017 | UW Today

SeaGlass helps detect cell phone surveillance by modeling a city’s cellular landscape and identifying suspicious anomalies.

Tue, 05/30/2017 | UW Today

A new study finds that drone deliveries emit less climate-warming carbon dioxide pollution than truck deliveries in some — but not all — scenarios.

Tue, 05/30/2017 | College of Engineering

We congratulate 3 students from the STARS program's first cohort who completed the program — and their engineering degrees — in four years instead of the expected 5.

Fri, 05/26/2017 | Foster School of Business

UW Engineering teams took 1st, 3rd and 4th place as well as a number of other awards in this year’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition! Congratulations to Membrion (ChemE) in 1st place, LC-Tourniquet (ME) in 3rd place and Epi4All (ME) in 4th place!

Thu, 05/25/2017 | UW Today

A team of UW synthetic biology researchers have demonstrated a new method for digital information processing in living cells, analogous to the logic gates used in electric circuits.

Fri, 05/19/2017

Undergraduates Celina Gunnarsson (BioE) and Alexis Harroun (A&A) received the 2017 Dean's Medal for Academic Excellence for a combination of their grades, academic rigor, research experience, extracurricular activities, and leadership. Celina helped develop a three-dimensional model of the blood-brain barrier to study cerebral malaria while Alexis has conducted experiments on thermal protection systems and hypervelocity launching technologies.

Mon, 05/15/2017 | Department of Mechanical Engineering

EcoCAR students are converting a Camaro into a hybrid-electric car. The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program supports long-term, experiential projects like EcoCAR that present real-world learning opportunities.

Wed, 05/10/2017 | UW Today

A recent UW study found that children who played with Wi-Fi-enable toys like Hello Barbie and CogniToys did not know their toys were recording their conversations, and some children were troubled by the idea of their conversations being recorded. Parents were worried about their children’s privacy when they played with the toys and desired more control over the toys’ connectivity.

Mon, 05/08/2017 | Department of Bioengineering

Bioengineering Professor Emeritus Allan Hoffman received two prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to the field of biomaterials. He received the 2017 Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal as well as a Controlled Release Society Award in 2016.

Tue, 05/02/2017 | UW Today

A new study finds that smartphone apps to track menstrual cycles often disappoint users with a lack of accuracy, assumptions about sexual identity or partners, and an emphasis on pink and flowery form over function and customization.

Wed, 04/26/2017 | UW Today

A new study from University of Washington researchers describes how some people turn to posting photos on Instagram to track food intake or to be held accountable by followers in meeting healthy eating or weight loss goals.

Mon, 04/24/2017 | UW Today

A new scientific discovery game, Mozak, is allowing video gamers to significantly speed up reconstructing the intricate architecture of brain cells, a fundamental task in 21st century brain science.

Wed, 04/19/2017 | UW Today

CSE professor Tom Anderson was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. This latest honor follows Anderson’s induction last year into the National Academy of Engineering.

Fri, 04/14/2017 | UW Today

The UW and Japan’s Tohoku University have agreed to create an Academic Open Space (AOS) to foster collaborations and academic exchanges between these two leading research institutions of the Pacific Rim. The AOS will build upon current collaborations in aerospace design and materials, as well as launch new science and engineering partnerships. Fumio Ohuchi, UW professor and MSE interim chair, will serve as director of the AOS and oversee UW-based efforts and activities.

Thu, 04/13/2017 | UW Today

The College of Engineering is taking a significant step to improve undergraduate engineering students’ educational experiences by offering Direct to College admission beginning with the entering freshman class of 2018. This change will assure incoming freshman students who are admitted into the college and their families that they will be able to pursue an engineering degree at the UW.

Tue, 04/11/2017 | UW Today

Pacific Northwest engineers have developed a new, automated technology to analyze the potential for rockfalls from cliffs onto roads and areas below, which should speed and improve this type of risk evaluation, help protect public safety and ultimately save money and lives.

Mon, 04/03/2017 | UW Today

University of Washington researchers have shown that Google’s new tool that uses machine learning to automatically analyze and label video content can be deceived by inserting a photograph periodically and at a very low rate into videos.

Fri, 03/31/2017 | UW Foster blog

Congrats to UW Engineering student teams that won the second place and clean energy prizes at the 2017 Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge! The Airy team, out of UW Electrical Engineering, won the $10,000 Herbert B. Jones Foundation prize for their battery-free, wireless home security solution that uses sensors mounted on doors or windows to harvest energy. Membrion, from UW Chemical Engineering, took the UW Clean Energy Institute clean energy prize with their low-cost, high-performance membranes for advanced batteries, fuel cells, and reverse osmosis water desalination applications. UW Engineering teams also received "Judges also really liked" awards: Membrion, UW Hyperloop (ME, CEE, EE), and GreenFeed (ChemE). Twenty-one student teams from seven colleges and universities around the Northwest addressed environmental and cleantech issues.

Thu, 03/30/2017

Congratulations to Greg Miller (CEE) for receiving the David B. Thorud Leadership Award, which honors two University of Washington leaders who champion positive change in our workplace, our state and throughout the world.