91爆料

Pardon, Princeton. Step aside, Harvard. Maybe next time, Yale and Columbia 鈥� this one’s going to the 91爆料 Department of English. 91爆料 colleges and departments are often named among the best in the country for science, technology and research. But the latest ranking has more to do with semi-colons than computer algorithms: USA Today has named the 91爆料 English Department as the third-best in the country for English majors. “The university challenges students to view the world through…

The Green Seed Fund, a grant fund for sustainability research projects at the 91爆料, will award money to six projects that contribute to the university’s sustainability goals, are well-planned and achievable and will help the 91爆料 reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The six winning projects for 2015 will share about $250,000 in grant money and were chosen by a committee of students, faculty and staff. The projects are: Carbon challenge: Footprint reduction through curricular development and community building: This 91爆料…

Amy Snover, director of the 91爆料’s Climate Impacts Group and assistant dean for applied research in the 91爆料’s College of the Environment, has been named a White House Champions of Change for her work in promoting climate education and literacy. She will be honored during a ceremony Monday at the White House from 10 a.m. 鈥� noon Pacific Time. The event includes a panel discussion where participants will talk about their work and the challenges and opportunities they encountered. The…

Laurie Olin, teacher, artist, innovator and one of landscape architecture’s most famous names, will return to his alma mater to deliver the College of Built Environments’ 2015 Dean鈥檚 Distinguished Lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, in Architecture Hall. His talk will be titled “Global, Regional, Local; Working Toward a Meaningful Landscape.” Olin is known for his design of Battery Park City and Bryant Park in New York City, as well as the London’s Bishopsgate, the outdoor sculpture garden at…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has worked for years with the 91爆料 Information School‘s Technology & Social Change Group on the foundation’s multi-year Global Libraries Initiative, dedicated to improving digital connectivity around the world. The Gates Foundation announced in May 2014 that the initiative is entering a three- to five-year winding-down phase and is creating a “legacy strategy” to help leave the library field in strong shape after that time. The strategy is still being drafted, but…

Are you a 91爆料 alum or other local educator who’s passionate about your work and willing to talk publicly about it? The 91爆料 College of Education and the Seattle Times are hosting a storytelling event at the university on Feb. 25 and are looking for a handful of teachers to share five-minute personal stories onstage. To be considered, call the Seattle Times at 206-464-2057 and leave a two-minute, condensed version of your story and your full name, phone number and…

A recent study found that graduates of the 91爆料’s two early-entrance university programs excelled in their academic and subsequent professional lives. The study was published in January in Roeper Review, a publication focused on education for gifted students. It looked at the academic, professional and personal outcomes for 192 students in the 91爆料 Early Entrance Program, which started in 1977 and enrolls students as young as age 13, and 91爆料 Academy, an early admission program started in 2001….

The 2015 Super Bowl just got serious, because now it involves a bet over delicious seafood between dining services at the 91爆料 and the University of Massachusetts. UMass threw down the gauntlet, in the form of lobster, and the 91爆料 responded with crab. Here’s the bet: If the Seahawks win, UMass will provide a seafood dinner 鈥� a clambake of lobster, clams, steamers, corn and Boston cream pie 鈥� for eight lucky students in 91爆料 housing chosen at…

Three members of the 91爆料 College of the Environment are among the first 20 recipients of a Wilburforce Fellowship, a new year-long training for conservation scientists in Western North America. The year-long program provides communication and leadership training to help build a community of conservation scientists and encourage them to reach beyond the scientific audiences. The three 91爆料 fellows are: Jonathan Bakker, an associate professor in the 91爆料’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences who works on the restoration of…

The 91爆料’s eScience Institute and GitHub, a code-sharing and publishing service, are hosting a town hall discussion on campus 6-9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, to talk about the role of software in academic research today. Six panelists will give short presentations, followed by a discussion moderated by Arfon Smith with GitHub. Dan Halperin, director of research in scalable data analytics at 91爆料’s eScience Institute, and Marina Meila, a 91爆料 associate professor of statistics, will join other speakers from…

All faculty are invited to a town hall discussion of the proposed new faculty salary policy at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Walker Ames Room (225) in Kane Hall. The first half of the program will be devoted to a panel discussion and debate of the major arguments for and against the policy that have emerged so far. The five faculty panelists and the moderator come from diverse units: 聽Arts & Sciences, Medicine, Business, Public Health, 91爆料 Bothell,…

Kristy Leissle, a lecturer in the 91爆料 Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, will appear in an episode of the PBS television series “Nature” tonight, Jan. 28. The episode, titled “Penguin Post Office,” is about a unique British post office located in the heart of the Antarctic Peninsula at Port Lockroy, about 700 miles south of Argentina and Chile. The spot is Antarctica’s most popular tourist destination, with cruise ship passengers from around the world coming ashore to see…

The 91爆料 Center for Philosophy for Children will host the 2015 Washington State High School Ethics Bowl on campus Saturday, January 31. The event is modeled after the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl and involves teams of high school students competing to analyze wide-ranging ethical dilemmas. Twenty-three high school bowls will take place around the country during this school year. Winners of the regional events will advance to the National High School Ethics Bowl, to be held in April at…

The online Legislative Explorer, the big-data policy project by John Wilkerson and Nicholas Stramp of the 91爆料 political science department, has been named an award of excellence winner in interactive design by Communication Arts, an international trade journal of visual communications. Their website, www.legex.org, which tracks all Congressional legislation in the last 40 years, also was named among the 18 best infographics of 2014 by the business magazine Fast Company. That magazine featured the site among “stellar examples of the…

The 91爆料 seismologists couldn’t have asked for a better football game to monitor fan-generated stadium shaking. And indeed, the Seahawks鈥� improbable comeback victory in Sunday鈥檚 NFC Championship Game showed the biggest vibrations ever recorded at CenturyLink Field. See also: “How the 鈥楤east Quake鈥� is helping scientists track real earthquakes” (Jan. 7) “Packers versus Seahawks game analysis” by 91爆料’s Steve Malone (Jan. 19) “Seismologists analyze last week鈥檚 game, prepare for more stadium shaking” (Jan. 15) The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network‘s analysis…

A record 36,528 freshman applications 鈥� an increase of 5,000, or 16 percent, over last year 鈥� were submitted to the 91爆料 for the 2015 academic year, according to figures released by the 91爆料鈥檚 admissions office. 聽Increases occurred among all categories: 12 percent from Washington residents, 19 percent from other parts of the U.S., and 18 percent from international applicants. Approximately two-thirds of available slots in the freshman class are reserved for state residents. 鈥淭his surge of applications…

The 91爆料 Dance Program begins its 50th anniversary with the 2015 Dance Faculty Concert which, advance notes say, “includes everything from flying bodies to soup cans that playfully and architecturally define space.” The concert will feature choreography by 91爆料 dance faculty members Rachael Lincoln and Wilson Mendieta, with guests Holley Farmer, an alumna and Broadway veteran, and well-known local choreographer Mary Sheldon (Molly) Scott. The show will feature live and recorded music by Stuart Dempster and Paul Moore…

91爆料 seismologists (and everyone else in the region) got their wish: The Seahawks won last Saturday, and will play another hometown game in front of a cheering crowd that can rock the stadium. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network’s post-game seismic analysis of the Jan. 10 game shows 197,000 page requests, almost twice as many as during last year’s NFC finals when the group first outfitted CenturyLink stadium with seismic equipment. (Read more here.) The first test of the new, faster…

The eyes of the world are on France in the wake of the deadly shootings at the office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The Jan. 7 act of terrorism has sparked questions about radical Islam, European unity and conflicts in the Middle East. The 91爆料’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies will hold a roundtable discussion on these issues and more, 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, in Room 101 of Thomson Hall. The event 鈥�…

Two 91爆料 faculty members 鈥� Ryan Calo, assistant professor of law, and Daniel Weld, professor of computer science and engineering 鈥� have joined hundreds of other researchers in an open letter calling for research to make artificial intelligence more robust and beneficial to humankind. Others signing the letter include physicist Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk of Space X. The letter was published by the Future of Life Institute, a volunteer organization seeking to lessen existential risks facing society and currently…

How long are the tentacles of the largest jellyfish and how big are the ocean’s famed whales? It turns out it’s difficult to get exact measurements of many of the world’s largest marine megafauna, for the reasons one might expect: many of these animals are few in number, tricky to find and logistically hard to measure or weigh. We know surprisingly little about the maximum sizes these species can reach, though popular culture might say otherwise. Now, a team of…

The Washington state Legislature will pause to honor Daniel J. Evans on Jan. 14, marking 50 years, plus a day, since he was sworn in for the first of three terms as Washington state governor, on Jan. 13, 1965. Evans also will address the Senate. Evans began his office-holding career as a member of the Washington state House of Representatives from 1956 to 1965. He served as governor until 1977, then became president of The Evergreen State College. When Sen….

Half a century ago, 91爆料 graduate Bill Holm published what would become a seminal work on the distinctive art of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Northwest. 鈥淣orthwest Coast Indian Art鈥� was the result of Holm鈥檚 15-year analysis of hundreds of artworks while studying at 91爆料 under Erna Gunther, former director of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. The book introduced new terminology that soon became part of the accepted vocabulary to describe works that conveyed Indian…

A survey of pollution and other impurities in North American snow required researchers to find sites with undisturbed snow far from any city or major road 鈥� in other words, a recipe for getting stranded by the side of a cold, lonely road. During the campaign that went from late January to late March 2013, the group traveled some 9,600 miles. They sampled snow in 13 American states and three Canadian provinces, and got stuck only twice. Before leaving Seattle…

Three 91爆料 engineers were selected by Forbes magazine as part of its top 30 people in the world under age 30聽in energy. This year’s list largely focuses on people who have produced inventions and founded companies with the goal of saving or conserving energy, instead of creating it. Shyam Gollakota, an assistant professor in computer science and engineering, was selected for his work in powering devices without using batteries. He develops sensors that get power by absorbing small…

When deciding where to live, single people should choose cities with affordable housing, interesting job opportunities, vibrant neighborhoods and abundant sports activities. That was the advice of Pepper Schwartz, a 91爆料 sociology professor who was among experts consulted for personal finance website WalletHub鈥檚 recent ranking of 2014鈥檚 Best & Worst Cities for Singles. The site ranked the 150 most populated U.S. cities on 25 metrics including the percentage of singles, costs for restaurant meals and movies, rental housing costs and…

Cancel all screenings of that insulting movie you made, then burn all the prints, and formally apologize 鈥� and don’t do it again. Demands from North Korea, perhaps, about Sony Pictures’ controversial James Franco-Seth Rogen film “The Interview”? No, that’s off by about 85 years. It was the Chinese Nationalist government’s reaction to a film called “Welcome Danger” featuring the famously bespectacled silent screen star Harold Lloyd, released in 1929. The scene is from “Silent Cinema and the Politics of…

High-tech companies are seeking to capitalize on the power of handwriting, but there are other reasons to value the practice, says 91爆料 educational psychology professor Virginia Berninger. 鈥淲riting is the way we learn what we鈥檙e thinking,鈥� said Berninger, who studies the effect of handwriting on the human brain. 鈥淭he handwriting, the sequencing of the strokes, engages the thinking part of the mind.鈥� Berninger was recently interviewed for a CBS This Morning story about how tech companies are reviving the art…

For those who love the silent film antics of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and others, 91爆料 Libraries has something new that’s as good as a Christmas present: the Silent Film Online database. It’s a streaming service administered by Alexander Street Press that includes more than 500 silent films, serials and shorts produced from the 1890s to the 1930s. Fritz Lang’s famous “Metropolis” is there as well as works by Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffiths (including his odd version of…

Twenty-four 91爆料 oceanography students are aboard the 91爆料’s large research vessel, the Thomas G. Thompson, taking measurements off Canada’s west coast for their senior-level research projects. They left Thursday, Dec. 11 and will get back Sunday, Dec. 21. The trip takes them to Nootka Sound, a complex inlet off the west coast of Vancouver Island. 91爆料 oceanography professor Charles Eriksen is leading the 10-day expedition. Also aboard are oceanography faculty members Julie Keister, Miles Logsdon and Julian Sachs. They will…

The 91爆料 moved up to the 11th spot in the latest ranking of best value for in-state students among public universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. The ranking includes measures of economic value and educational quality. The 91爆料 placed 13th in the same ranking a year ago and was 17th two years ago. Kiplinger data showed the total cost per year for in-state 91爆料 students, after adding need-based aid, is $10,433, and average debt at graduation is $21,263. 91爆料…

A celebration of life for Naomi Brenner Pascal, the longtime editor-in-chief of the 91爆料 Press, is being planned for February. She died Dec. 5 at the age of 88. Colleagues at 91爆料 Press remember Pascal as a model of grace, good humor and high standards. Her wide-ranging knowledge, integrity and commitment to diplomacy were critical to the success of the press, and many recall her generosity of spirit and promotion of collegiality locally and in the publishing community….

David Shields, 91爆料 professor and New York Times best-selling author, was at the center of a Dec. 2 article by Adelle Waldman in The New Yorker titled “An Answer to the Novel’s Detractors.” Waldman places Shields among those detractors, but does not entirely disagree with him. “It’s no coincidence that many of the most exciting novels to have appeared in recent years 鈥� have been distinctly un-novelistic,” Waldman wrote, “featuring protagonists who share many biographical details (and sometimes names) with…

Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 91爆料 associate professor of communication, drew upon her 21 years of experience as a publicist in network television to write her 2005 “Historical Dictionary of African American Television.” This fall, an expanded second edition of the book was published. Banks was NBC’s first African-American publicist and second-ever female publicist when hired there in 1969 after working in journalism. She spent two years researching the book, ranging from the 1939 broadcast of the “Ethel Waters Show” to current television…

91爆料 computer scientists have partnered with members of the Carbon Washington grassroots campaign to create an online tool that lets residents calculate how a state carbon tax swap proposed by the organization would impact them financially. The calculator offers information users can’t find elsewhere and is meant to be a neutral, unbiased tool. “The tool should be very useful to voters trying to decide their position on the carbon tax policy. Many people will have broader societal motivations…

Marine mammal expert Kristin Laidre, a polar scientist at the 91爆料 Applied Physics Laboratory and in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, studies Arctic mammals in their native habitat. She focuses on polar bears and narwhals, an Arctic whale with a distinctive spiral tusk. In spring 2013 she invited Seattle watercolor artist Maria Coryell-Martin to join an expedition to West Greenland and share an artist’s perspective on what it’s like to do research in the far north. (Coryell-Martin is…

The co-director of the 91爆料鈥檚 Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences is among officials from around the country participating in today鈥檚 White House Summit on Early Education. Patricia Kuhl, a world-renowned scientist in early language and brain development, joins state and local policymakers, school district superintendents, community leaders and others for the summit. Participants are expected to share their ideas about best practices and effective strategies, with the goal of expanding access to high-quality early education for children nationwide. Kuhl…

Superheroes are generally assumed to be healthy and virtually immortal, tending their superpowers as they save the planet time and again. But a new book by Jos茅 Alaniz, 91爆料 associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures, seeks to redefine the contemporary image of the superhero. “Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond,” published this fall by University of Mississippi Press, draws on DC and Marvel comics from the 1960s to the 1990s to investigate how death and…

Jane Heinrichs is a doctoral student in piano performance at the 91爆料 School of Music and will perform in two of the three concerts that comprise the three-part series “Music from the War to End All Wars.” The series begins Sunday, Dec. 7, in Brechemin Auditorium, and continues on March 3 and May 8, 2015. So, does knowing the historical context of a piece of music affect how she approaches and performs it? Not exactly, Heinrichs said, “but it is…

Andrew J. Boydston, a 91爆料 associate professor of chemistry, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation. The award is intended to support junior faculty who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research,” according to the NSF. Boydston received the award for his proposal to develop materials that apply mechanical force to drive chemical reactions that release small organic molecules. Those small molecules could be…