Research

Is anybody else out there? Are there other planets that resemble Earth? Scientists in the Virtual Planetary Laboratory are looking for clues by creating virtual planets through computer modeling. 

The growing trend of allowing police to "banish" citizens from certain neighborhoods is explored in Banished: The New Social Control in Urban America, by UW Professors Katherine Beckett and Steve Herbert.

Working in teams with seniors from the Pike Market Senior Center, students in a course on qualitative research methods learned to embrace the "organized chaos" that is field research.

The new Center for Human Rights, based in the College of Arts and Sciences with Angelina Godoy as director, hopes to encourage broad collaboration on human rights issues. “It’s gratifying to see how readily colleagues across the campus have embraced the Center’s interdisciplinary vision,” says Godoy. 

When the economy floundered, Chinese migrant workers were among the largest casualties globally, in part because of a Maoist-era institution known as hukou that continues to function in China today, creating two levels of citizenship.

Over the past half century, the Brown Treesnake has decimated bird populations in Guam, leading to the extinction of nearly all native birds. Now researchers are studying the impact of bird extinctions on the island's remaining flora and fauna. 

Accurate predictions for the spread of AIDS are hard to come by in countries where health data is limited. An A&S professor's new statistical model has improved accuracy of AIDS projections and is now being adopted by many African countries. 

With support from a major Challenge Grant, the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities is planning a Digital Humanities Commons to create and evaluate the next generation of digital humanities scholarship. 

Disappointed by the depiction of Helen of Troy in a recent film, Ruby Blondell was inspired to research Helen, whom she describes as “simultaneously the supreme object of men’s desire and the instrument, or agent, of their destruction.” 

The UW's field school at Tel Dor, Israel, took center stage recently when a student unearthed a very rare gemstone, carved with a portrait of Alexander the Great, that dates back to about 230 BCE. 

In a new book, Robert Heilman's life—including his years as chair of the Department of English—is presented through letters to and from colleagues and renowned writers from Theodore Roethke to Wallace Stegner. 

Tour downtown Seattle with Professor Michael Brown and you’ll experience the city from a rarely seen perspective, focusing on Seattle’s gay and lesbian history.

Greed. Excess. Exploitation of natural resources. Sound familiar? In a new book, Money Matters, Professor Richard Gray explores how these issues played out in late 18th and early 19th century Germany.

It doesn't look like much, but Athena is currently the most powerful computer on the UW campus, helping scientists tackle fundamental questions about our universe.