Research

The College of Arts & Sciences is home to many distinguished researchers, faculty, and students. Their work and contributions have been featured in media outside of the UW and across the country. Take a look at some ArtSci features from this past Winter Quarter. From new telescopes to UW in high schools, ArtSci in the Media has something for everyone!

Because of its unique status in the modern world, myths and misunderstandings about Chinese characters abound. Where does this writing system, so different in form and function from alphabetic writing, come from? How does it really work? How did it come to be used to write non-Chinese languages? And why has it proven so resilient? By exploring the spread and adaptation of the script across two millennia and thousands of miles, Chinese Characters across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (University of Washington Press, 2025) by Dr. Zev Handel addresses these questions and provides insights into human cognition and culture. Written in an approachable style and meant for readers with no prior knowledge of Chinese script or Asian languages, it presents a fascinating story that challenges assumptions about speech and writing.

Communication professor Benjamin Mako Hill studies why successful peer-produced websites (like Wikipedia) eventually struggle to maintain their openness to new contributors.

Researchers in natural language processing tried to tame human language. Then came the transformer. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

In a global ranking of research productivity of political scientists, UW Professor Christopher Adolph was ranked first globally for recent impact, thanks to his research on COVID-19 policies.

As researchers at American universities face an uncertain future, other countries are doing their best to lure scientists away.Is the US set to face a brain drain as top talent moves overseas or into other fields? Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

These birds have evolved to withstand the equatorial sun and shelter in volcanic rocks along a subtropical coastline. After 50 years, biologist Dee Boersma, professor of biology at the UW, continues to learn new things about the species.

Autism rates are rising, but RFK Jr. is wrong about the reasons. Heres what the science says. Annette Estes, director of the UW Autism Center and a research professor of speech and hearing sciences, is quoted.

Biologists Benneth Obitte and Inoro Tanshi are exploring Nigerias bat diversity and trying to save it. Tanshi, postdoctoral researcher in the UW Department of Biology, is quoted.

Bonobos grunts, peeps and whistles may share an advanced linguistic property with human language. Shane Steinert-Threlkeld, assistant professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Archaeologists previously assumed that East Asia did not see considerable tool development during the Middle Paleolithic, but new findings might change that widely held idea. Ben Marwick, professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted.

Tony Greenwald, professor emeritus of psychology, is among those honored with a Frontiers of Knowledge Award for developing the Implicit Association Test, an online test that explores our implicit biases.

"New technologies today often involve electronic devices that are smaller and smarter than before. During the Middle Paleolithic, when Neanderthals were modern humans neighbors, new technologies meant something quite different: new kinds of stone tools that were smaller but could be used for many tasks and lasted for a long time," Ben Marwick, professor of anthropology at the UW.

Any institution with a depository of Indigenous items that receives federal funds must notify a tribe if it has the tribes property and obtain informed consent. But a staggering number of institutions have ignored the law. Sven Haakanson, chair of anthropology at the UW and curator of Native American anthropology at the Burke Museum, is quoted.

Chemistry professor Alshakim Nelson and his research team use 3D-printing technology to develop new materials with potential real-world applications in medicine, engineering, and sustainability.