UW and the Community

The UW participated in its first Tribal Canoe Journey, with students, faculty, staff, and alums working together as a family — the Shell House Canoe Family, č̓away̓altxʷ ʔiišəd — to make it all happen.  

High school teachers spent four weeks at the UW Summer Institute in Physics and Physical Science to improve their understanding and teaching of physics. 

While it's hard to determine if today's poetry scene is any more successful than other times without taking a deep dive into data, there's currently a lot to celebrate in the Seattle poetry world: local poets are receiving critical acclaim and national recognition, a slew of books are being published and poets are choosing to move to the city to develop their craft. David Nikki Crouse, director of the UW's Creative Writing Program, is quoted.

Amazon reported a slight drop in greenhouse gas emissions, but its total footprint remains millions of metric tons larger than past years, according to the company's sustainability report. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science and director of the Center for Environmental Politics at the UW, is quoted.

New electronic devices? New data storage methods? UW Physics & Materials Sciences Professor Xiaodong Xu studies the properties of single atomic layer semiconductors. He looks for new materials and new ways to control electrical conductivity.

A memorable one-day event, developed by artist Daniel Alexander Jones, guided visitors to five temporary altars around the UW campus.

As the world's best-known fictional archaeologist goes after what may be his last ancient mystery in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," new generations of real-life archaeologists are ready to dig in with 21st-century technologies and sensibilities. Sara Gonzalez, associate professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted. Peter Lape, professor of anthropology at the UW, is referenced.

Three new faculty books from the University of Washington cover wide-ranging topics: oysters, the moral contradictions of religion, and Cherokee creature names and environmental relationships.

A team led by scientists and engineers at the University of Washington has announced a significant advancement in developing fault-tolerant qubits for quantum computing. In a pair of papers published June 14 in Nature and June 22 in Science, they report that, in experiments with flakes of semiconductor materials — each only a single layer of atoms thick — they detected signatures of “fractional quantum anomalous Hall” (FQAH) states. The team’s discoveries mark a first and promising step in constructing a type of fault-tolerant qubit because FQAH states can host anyons — strange “quasiparticles” that have only a fraction of an electron’s charge. Some types of anyons can be used to make what are called “topologically protected” qubits, which are stable against any small, local disturbances.

By studying the light atoms emitted when stimulated by a laser, they were able to detect vibrations sometimes referred to as atomic "breathing," a feature fundamental to nature's building blocks. The UW's Mo Li, professor of physics and of electrical and computer engineering; Adina Ripin, a doctoral student in physics; and Ting Cao, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, are quoted.

A 2,000-year-old collection of medical tools, recently unearthed in Hungary, offer insight into the practices of undaunted, much-maligned Roman doctors. Lawrence J. Bliquez, professor emeritus of classics and art history at the UW, is quoted.

"The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the deep need that people feel for human touch and connection in hospital settings. Having relatives peering through windows at their loved ones or unable to enter hospitals altogether exacerbated the lack of human intimacy that is all too common in health care settings" writes Marlaine Gray, affiliate assistant professor of anthropology at the UW.

Sapna Cheryan, professor of psychology at the UW, and her colleagues want U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to consider not telling grads to, "Follow your passions," in his commencement address on Saturday. Instead, in this interview Cheryan shares alternative advice for graduating students.

This week and summer, honor the 2023 Awards of Excellence recipients, visit the newly renovated Jacob Lawrence Gallery to see the works of design students, add one of College of Arts & Sciences Dean Dianne Harris’ favorite books to your summer reading list, learn about the largest animals to ever roam the earth at the...

"Public understanding of science is essential for democracy. Misleading readers to score political points with an argument that scientists have exchanged merit and objectivity for progressive ideology is a disservice to science and the public alike," writes Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, in a letter to the editor.