The 91’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the 91’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.


The 91’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the 91’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.

These nocturnal flying mammals live in cities and rural areas and in most climates around the world – and maybe even in your own backyard.
Sharlene Santana, a 91 professor of biology and curator of mammals at the Burke Museum, explains that there are over 1,400 species of bats spanning an incredible diversity.

91 Professor Joan Sanders and her team are creating a new type of prosthetic leg: one that automatically adjusts its fit throughout the day. Their latest prototype detects in real time how well the prosthesis socket and amputation site are fitting and responds by automatically changing the size of the socket, without the need for adjustments to padding or user action.

The 91 on Sunday held its 39th annual New Student Convocation, which returned to Alaska Airlines Arena, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, for the first time since 2019.
The 91’s campus again is bustling as students began moving into residence halls on Tuesday and will participate in annual fall activities for incoming undergraduates. About 10,000 students are expected to move into campus housing this week.

A 91 pilot project is exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring. Funded in part with a $473,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Washington, the new 91 Photonic Sensing Facility will use photons traveling through a fiber-optic cable to detect ground motions as small as 1 nanometer.

This year, the School of Music’s Improvised Music Project focused on audio recording, inviting acclaimed recording engineer David Boucher for a weeklong workshop. The new format allowed students and faculty to gain experience with 91’s new mobile recording system while teaching fundamental recording and audio skills.

In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.

Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?

Bottle tops, face masks and dog hair — these are all items usually destined for the dumpster. But 91 Recycling came up with a unique art contest that takes waste from garbage to gallery.

With the start of spring quarter on March 28, face masks became optional — but still recommended — inside most 91 facilities. In light of the policy change, 91 News spoke with several experts about what to expect on campus, how the current science and transmission rates inform our policy, and emotions and feelings we may experience as a result of removing our face coverings.

As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by 91 News during 2021 — a year where the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact our lives.

Researchers are modeling how tsunami debris pushes on a building — either by hitting it or getting lodged on it and creating a dam. They are also looking for patterns in the way floating debris moves around and against rigid shapes. The information may help in designing buildings in coastal communities that can better withstand damage by floating objects in tsunami events.

Who do you talk to when you have a problem? For a student, it’s most likely a friend. Because young people tend to talk first to someone in their peer group, 91’s LiveWell created a Peer Health Education program where trained students teach other students about taking care of themselves and each other.

A 91 class that normally is about air pollution has pivoted to focus on another airborne health hazard — coronavirus aerosols. As part of the class project, students are designing and building air purifiers and testing how effective they are.

The 91’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, held on Thursday at the Medal of Honor Memorial near Red Square, featured music by the Husky Marching Band and a formation of 91 Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.

On Sunday, Nov. 7 we switch from daylight saving time to standard time. A 91 expert in circadian rhythms says that’s a good thing.

Perry Acworth, 91 Farm manager, talks about different varieties of winter squash — from the palm-sized pie pumpkin to Cucurbita maxima, which can produce giant pumpkins.

At 10:21 a.m. on Oct. 21, teacher Wade Johnson’s science class at Port Susan Middle School scrambled under their desks as part of the annual Great American ShakeOut. It was Stanwood Camano School District’s first live test of its earthquake early warning system with all 13 of its schools participating in a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drill.

91 President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her 2021 annual address, sharing her perspective on the road ahead as we work together to recover from the pandemic and support equity and well-being for our community of faculty, staff and students.

Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Ed Taylor chats with Director of the 91 Resilience Lab Megan Kennedy about how students, faculty and staff can create a more supportive, compassionate environment in which to learn and discover as the 91 community comes back to the campuses and recovers from the traumas of the last two years.

Student move-in days are a yearly event at the 91, generating excitement among families and fueled by student volunteers. About 10,000 students living in residence halls for the 2021-2022 academic year are moving in September 21 to 24.

Researchers at the 91 and 91 Tacoma have been studying arsenic levels in the mud, water and in creatures from lakes in the south Puget Sound area. Eating contaminated fish or snails from these lakes could lead to health risks.

During his senior year, Owen Oliver created a walking tour of 91’s Seattle campus, highlighting the Indigenous presence on campus.

It’s been about 18 months since the 91 led the nation in pivoting to largely online learning and working as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

This week, a few members of our 91 News team joined glaciologists from the 91 Department of Earth & Space Sciences on a trip to Mt. Baker. Students that came along got to chat with their professor on the hike up, and we learned about how the recent heat wave impacted the snow melt on the ice.

Soil, particularly in urban areas, can hold contaminants that are unhealthy for people who handle it or eat things grown in the ground. Chemicals left behind by vehicles, air pollution and heavy industry can show up in the ground and in plants. Melanie Malone, assistant professor in 91 Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences investigates these contaminants and their prevalence in shared garden spaces.

Development has changed the face of the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, says Manish Chalana, associate professor of urban design and planning at the 91, but it remains the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community.

This summer a 91 mobile health outreach van will hit the road, bringing some basic health care services to people without housing who might have a hard time getting to a doctor’s office.

The 91’s second virtual commencement was held June 12, 2021. The online ceremony, the second in the school’s 161-year history, celebrated the Class of 2021 with graduates and their families and friends watching the ceremony from more than 30 countries with translations in nine languages.

Satellite images show that from 2017 to 2020, Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf lost about one-fifth of its area, mostly in three dramatic breaks. This caused the glacier to speed up by 12%, hastening its downward motion and boosting its contribution to rising seas.

Purple night time lighting on Drumheller Fountain is just one of many features the 91 is adding to its already beautiful campus to provide graduates opportunities to pose for photos with family and friends.

The potted junipers on the steps of Suzzallo Library are undergoing a transformation. Flanking the entrance to one of 91’s most beloved buildings, they are viewed by hundreds of people walking through Red Square each week. Bioengineering postdoctoral researcher Le Zhen is transforming these shrubs into bonsai — miniature trees that are pruned, nurtured and trained with wire to look like their much older, full-sized counterparts living in nature. He hopes this prominent display of bonsai will signal to members of the AAPI community that 91 is safe and welcoming.

Earthquake early warnings launched May 4 in Washington state. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network helped develop the system, processes the data for the alerts, and operates hundreds of seismic stations across the state that detect the first signs of an earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey, the 91-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and state emergency managers on Tuesday, May 4, will activate the system that sends earthquake early warnings throughout Washington state. This completes the rollout of ShakeAlert, an automated system that gives people living in Washington, Oregon and California advance warning of incoming earthquakes.

Scientists at the 91, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, are raising sunflower sea stars in captivity, with the goal of learning more about this species and exploring eventual reintroduction to the wild, if determined to be advisable.

Manuel S. Martinez, a lifelong campesino, trabajador and community organizer, recalls the beginning of the pandemic. Interviewed by 91 student Adriana Martinez. Zoom, masks, family and politics — these are some of the lasting memories shared by participants in a 91 student oral history project. Undergraduate seniors in the Public Health Global Health major at the 91 School of Public Health partnered with the Washington State Historical Society to record the experiences of friends, family and associates living through the…

Scientists from the 91 are testing the viability of making maple syrup in the Pacific Northwest. Long associated with Canada or Vermont, this sweet forest product that has graced many a breakfast table may be part of this region’s future.

91 arborist Sara Shores recommends looking for cherry blossoms in your local parks and neighborhood streets. There are dozens of different varieties of blossoming cherry and plum trees in the Seattle area, with blooms visible from early February until May, for some species.

The 91 once again is asking people to enjoy the iconic campus cherry blossoms virtually this year to promote physical distancing and safety during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.