Natural Sciences Division

Astronaut Michael Anderson, who perished in the space shuttle Columbia, earned his B.S. from the UW College of Arts and Sciences in physics and astronomy. 

After Frith Maier retraced adventurer George Kennan's 1870 route through the Caucasus Mountains, the journey became the basis of her UW master's thesis and a new book. 

There have been big changes in the College of Arts and Sciences in the past few years as long-standing departments have joined together to create new, more effective units. 

At the Summer Institute in Life Science, offered by UW Biology Program, middle school teachers do a lot of hands-on learning--and gain ideas for their own classrooms. 

A childhood interest in astronomy, renewed in adulthood, led David Brooks to support postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Astronomy. 

Art Levinson (1972), head of biotech firm Genentech, got his start working in a faculty lab as a UW student.

The UW's Medicinal Herb Garden, home to hundreds of medicinal plants, has a long and colorful history.

Five A&S alumni who have been astronauts talk about their experiences.

Considering a change to your schedule? April 5th is the last day to add courses without registration transaction fees or faculty permission, and we have you covered!

The following courses are open to all students, fulfill Areas of Inquiry requirements, and, at last check, have seats available.

Welcome, New Huskies 2026! The College of Arts & Sciences invites admitted students and their families to discover majors, programs, and campus life during UW Admitted Student Day on Saturday, April 4, as well as through online information sessions and other opportunities to connect.

Meet the bioengineering graduate student from Bellevue using ancient inspiration to change the narrative in modern medicine.

Scientists once thought that post-starburst galaxies scattered all of their gas and dust — the fuel required for creating new stars — in violent bursts of energy, and with extraordinary speed. Now, a team led by University of Washington postdoctoral researcher Adam Smercina reports that these galaxies don’t scatter all of their star-forming fuel after all. Instead, data from the Chile-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, reveals a more complex process at work.

Julianne Dalcanton, professor emeritus of astronomy, explains the dramatic deep space collision of two galaxies.