Natural Sciences Division

The University of Washington is proud to announce that 56 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at UW have been named on the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list from Clarivate.

Hummingbirds often seem gentle from a distance. A closer look tells a different story. Life in the forest pushes each bird to compete, react fast, and make sharp choices. Alejandro Rico Guevara, associate professor of biology at the UW and curator of birds at the UW Burke Museum, is quoted.

Theres a quantum paradox in Washington. The state has strong ingredients for a quantum technology hub: powerful giants like Microsoft and Amazon, a hardware leader in IonQ, and world-class research at UW and PNNL. Yet it may be falling behind states like Illinois, Montana and Colorado that are pushing forward on quantum. Charles Marcus, professor of materials science and engineering and of physics, is quoted.

The green hermit hummingbird, which lives primarily in mountain forests of Central and South America, fights to win a mate. New research found that these fights have shaped the species evolution, yielding significant differences in bill shape for male and female green hermits.

Several English classes at Sedro-Woolley High School are implementing lesson plans designed by Linsey Kitchens to help students understand the limitations of artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT. The UW's Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology, and Jevin West, professor in the Information School, are mentioned.

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Washington published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the spotted ratfish, sometimes called a ghost shark.Karly Cohen, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW's Friday Harbor Labs, is interviewed.

Getting help for parents of children with autism and receiving an early diagnosis can be costly and slow. Annette Estes, director of the UW Autism Center and a research professor of speech and hearing sciences at the UW, is quoted.

Interactions between academic neuroscience and industry will grow, and the neurotech sector will expand, most survey respondents predict. The current funding upheaval in the United States may accelerate this trend as the field searches for new funding models. Bing Wen Brunton, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Looking for a fresh perspective? Check out these podcasts and radio shows from UW alumni and faculty, including Markus Dekanogisdi Teuton (Cherokee), (BM, Jazz Studies // BA, CHID, 2024) and Kara Bazzi (BA, Psychology, 2021). 

Ten years ago the world met in France to agree to the landmark Paris Agreement a global commitment signed by almost 300 nations to ward off catastrophic climate change. Adrian Raftery, professor emeritus of statistics and of sociology, is quoted.

The spotted ratfish is a deep-ocean cartilaginous fish, part of the Chimaera genus that diverged from sharks about400 million years ago.Theyre commonly caughtaccidentallyby fishers in the Puget Sound. Karly Cohen, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW's Friday Harbor Labs, is quoted.

Ashleigh Theberge, a UW professor of chemistry, pursues projects ranging from designing at-home biological sample collection kits to exploring the physics of liquid flow to investigating molecules made by filamentous fungi. Her broad-ranging interests made her a fit for the Schmidt Polymaths Program, which supports mid-career scientists pursuing interdisciplinary research.

Dr. Duchin leads the Data and Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Chicago. In October, Duchin delivered the annual Blackwell Seminar, which honors one of her heroes, the mathematician and statistician David Blackwell. The UW is mentioned.

In the College of Arts & Sciences, we are proud to celebrate our first-generation community through a collection of stories! We honor our faculty and staff, and their many contributions to our university community and beyond.

In the wake of One Ocean Week Seattle, participating University of Washington researchers share highlights, connecting the weeks events to ongoing efforts to understand and protect marine ecosystems and coastal communities.