College of Arts and Sciences

The beloved raccoon, Jimothy, won over the hearts of Seattle residents and turned into a local celebrity featured in all aspects of city life, from Mariners games to street art. But what is the condition that captured our attention and hearts? Chris Law, an evolutionary biologist in the University of Washington biology department who studies mammals, previously spoke about Jimothy at the Burke Museum.

In a district shaken by deaths of 11 workers, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez faces a stiff challenge to keep her seat. Mark Alan Smith, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

A University of Washington-led center for optoelectronics technologies that combine light and electronics brings researchers from 14 universities across the U.S. together with the mission to develop new materials to transform information technology with light. Founded in 2021, NSF IMOD has received a second round of funding from the NSF to continue its work for the next five years.

October offers stargazers a packed calendar plus, a conversation about colliding planets and disappearing stars with Andy Tzanidakis, a doctoral student in astronomy at the UW and student director of the planetarium.

From science to suspense to Seattle's history, there's a wide world of UW community content out there.

"While so many of us were focused on fictional superintelligent machines that we were told could hypothetically cause human extinction, however, there was a more serious story being reported. A series of events almost got us to armageddon, not caused by rogue, superintelligent AI, but by government reliance on error-prone systems that are marketed by their manufacturers as being close to superintelligent," write Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, and Timnit Gebru.

The University of Washington today broke ground on a $231.1-million Chemical Sciences Building. Once completed, the state-of-the-art facility will be a nexus for collaborative research and teaching that will help the UW define the next 100 years of science education and breakthroughs.

"I teach a class called Philosophy 118: The Ethics and Psychology of Persuasion. The students who sign up all want to become more persuasive, and some of them are headed for careers in marketing or commercial real estate. But most of them also want to persuade friends and family members, and they want to do that without being creepy. They want to avoid manipulative tricks and to preserve their moral integrity," writes Colin Marshall, professor of philosophy at the UW.

Lawrence Goldman, a teaching professor of chemistry at the University of Washington, has also been a member of the Lake Forest Park city council since 2022. While science came naturally to Goldman, his venture into civics was more serendipitous.

Only 70 of 15,000 simulated stellar streams stayed smooth, and the galaxy alone bent the rest with no dark matter in the model. The UW's Nora Shipp, assistant professor; James Davenport, research assistant professor; and Arpit Arora, postdoctoral scholar all in astronomy are quoted.

Explore recent research from the University of Washington: ancient capybara and palm fossils found in the desert, a window into the bottom of the food web, waves that go a different way, environmental advocacy in Colombia, the mechanics of blood clotting and a superconducting surprise.

New faculty books from the University of Washington include those from the Information School, bioengineering, mathematics, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and Earth and space sciences.

The American Astronomical Society named Emily Levesque, professor of astronomy at the UW, the next editor in chief of its journals, including The Astrophysical Journal. She takes charge in August 2027.

Is it possible that AI is or might one day become trulyintelligent? We put this question to five experts working in a variety of fields, including linguistics, computer science, cognitive science and psychology. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Come curious. Leave inspired. The UW offers an exciting lineup of in-person and online events. From thought-provoking art and music to conversations on culture, history, and science, the UW community invites you to explore, learn, and connect across disciplines throughout the University. Sign up to receive a monthly notice when the ArtSci Roundup has been published. Go directly to the week you’d like to view: Week 1: September 28 – October 4 Week 2: October 5 – 11 Week 3:...