Interdisciplinary

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. And you don’t have to wait until November: Take a look at everything still happening in October. Go directly to the week you’d like to view: Week 1: November 2 – 8 Week 2: November 9 – 15...

Across campus, first-year students beginning their college art classes face new and familiar scenes: the scratching of charcoal against thick, white paper; the tap-tap of dance shoes taking flight; and images flickering across a projector screen. College introduces plenty of unfamiliar routines, from finding classrooms to deciding how to spend free time. For some first-year students, though, the transition brings a chance to return to the familiar process of creating art. 

Washington state officials have made it harder for immigration agents to access driving records during deportation raids, but keep getting played by Trumps deportation goons. Angelina Godoy, professor of law, societies, and justice and of international studies, as well as director of the Center for Human Rights at the UW, is quoted.

Immigration arrests linked to a search of Washington driver information have jumped at least fivefold since July, according to new data from the University of Washingtons Center for Human Rights. Angelina Godoy, professor of law, societies, and justice and of international studies, as well as director of the Center for Human Rights at the UW, is quoted.

Willapa Bay is the nations most prolific estuary for oyster production, responsible for 10% to 20% of all U.S. oysters. But these landings dont come easy. The UW's Jennifer Ruesink, professor of biology; and Emma Guerrini Romano, doctoral student of biology, are 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Its been a busy few months for AI hype. At the end of April, Anthropic claimed that its model Claude Mythos is better at finding software vulnerabilities than most security experts. Then we had the OpenAIHugging Face hacking incident, after which Anthropic (proudly) and Meta (reluctantly) disclosed similar incidents involving their models," write Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, and Timnit Gebru.

A UW adjunct professor of taxation is reviving a legendary Pioneer Square coffee business while fighting cancer.

University of Washington researchers are leading and collaborating on four research projects as part of Phase 1 in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Genesis Mission, a national initiative to build an AI-for-science ecosystem which accelerates breakthroughs in energy, discovery science and national security.

The 2026 Gates Volunteer Service Award goes to Jodi Green and Mike Halperin, lifelong connectors and learners who champion the UW as a force for good.