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The Dean's Academy Futurists — which includes faculty from across all four divisions of the college and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds — consider the future of higher education and liberal arts education. The Futurists are a part of the dean's Rethinking the Academy initiative.

The materials that make up your body are intergalactic voyagers that have existed beyond the limits of the Milky Way. The UW's Samantha Garza, a doctoral student of astronomy, and Jessica Werk, professor and chair of astronomy, are quoted.

The carbon on the Earth – and therefore, in us – probably spent some time outside the Milky Way galaxy before forming our planet, according to a new study. The UW's Samantha Garza, a doctoral student of astronomy, and Jessica Werk, professor and chair of astronomy, are quoted.

The carbon that is a key component of the human body — and all other lifeforms on Earth — may have traveled outside the galaxy after being created before returning on a cosmic "conveyor belt," an author of a new study has suggested. Samantha Garza, a doctoral student of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha writes with balance: violence and liberation, bias and truth, destruction and possibilities.

As director of government relations for the Catholic Health Association, Paulo G. Pontemayor (BA, 2005) is dedicated to increasing equity and access to health care in the United States.

Every atom of carbon in your body has an incredible story to tell. Before becoming part of you, the carbon atom likely spent time not just in other living things, but also floating in the vast spaces between stars. Samantha Garza, a doctoral student of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

The southern resident killer whale, known as Tahlequah, has now lost another calf in what the Center for Whale Research called “devastating” news. Samuel Wasser, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

University of Washington scientists recently discovered that the giant 'conveyor belt' currents that push star-forged material out of our galaxy and pull it back in can also transport carbon atoms. That means that a good deal of the carbon here on Earth, including the carbon in our bodies, likely left the galaxy at some point!

Alumna Tessa Olmstead, now completing a medical residency, shares how her dance major has helped her succeed as a medical student.