Seven 天美影视传媒 students and recent alumni were awarded听听scholarships for the 2026鈥�27 academic year, joining about 2,000 students and recent graduates from around the country to pursue graduate study, conduct research and teach English abroad.

The Fulbright scholarship program is the largest U.S. international exchange opportunity for students to pursue graduate study, advanced research and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.

The Fulbright awards speak to the talent, curiosity and global commitment of 天美影视传媒 students, said UW Vice Provost for Global Affairs Ahmad Ezzeddine.

鈥淔ulbright remains one of our nation鈥檚 most powerful platforms for learning across cultures, and it gives students the opportunity to pursue ambitious research, teaching and study while building meaningful relationships around the world,鈥� Ezzeddine said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful for the State Department鈥檚 continued investment in this program and proud to see UW students representing our university 鈥� and the best of higher education 鈥� as thoughtful ambassadors engaged in work that will have lasting impact.鈥�

Among this year鈥檚 recipients are four UW undergraduate students or recent alumni who plan to travel to Europe and Asia to take part in graduate study, research and teaching assistantships. Three graduate-level students, including one recent alumnus, plan to travel to Asia, Europe and South America.

The UW also had five undergraduate students selected as alternates.

This year鈥檚听听awardees are:

• Katherine Guild: English teaching award, South Korea
• Tin Pak: Master鈥檚 degree program award, Taiwan
• Sofia Regan-Bon茅: English teaching award, Spain
• Wendi Zhou: Study award, Germany

This year鈥檚听 awardees are:

• Vecksle Drake: English teaching award, Mongolia
• Tessa Marks: Research award, Honduras
• Justin Zeitlinger: Study award, Netherlands

The Fulbright program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, provides round-trip travel, health insurance, a housing stipend and visa assistance to awardees. Awardees may, from time to time, decline the Fulbright scholarship to pursue other opportunities.

Read more about this year鈥檚 UW Fulbright Student Program finalists and the projects they will pursue abroad at the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards听and the Graduate School鈥檚听.

If you shop on Google Flights, you get a quick comparison for different itineraries: One flight鈥檚 carbon emissions may be average, while another鈥檚 are 14% higher. But if you go shopping for a new laptop, you likely won鈥檛 find quick, comprehensible information on different models鈥� sustainability bonafides, despite the of producing and discarding electronics. In part, that鈥檚 because understanding a device鈥檚 emissions is difficult and time-consuming, even for experts.听

天美影视传媒 researchers developed an artificial intelligence system that automatically estimates the environmental impacts of making different electronic devices. The system uses AI agents 鈥� programs that perform tasks autonomously 鈥� to comb through publicly available data and conduct life cycle assessments, or LCAs. The system achieves an average error rate of 5%-19%, similar to the accuracy of LCAs conducted by experts.

The team June 12 in Nature Electronics.听

AI agents have recently grown increasingly capable of performing complex tasks. Today’s agents can search the web and pull information about electronic parts from product descriptions, images and documents.听

鈥淪ome of our previous research made me curious about how LCA experts perform environmental assessments 鈥� and whether that process could be automated,鈥� said lead author , a UW doctoral student in the Allen School. 鈥淪o to understand the bottlenecks firsthand, and then built a system that emulates these interactions with two AI agents. Each of them mimics different roles in the LCA process.鈥�

One agent acts as a sort of analyst, defining what information needs to be gathered and how it will fit together. It also reviews results for accuracy. The second agent is more like an engineer. It scrapes publicly available data for information on an electronic device鈥檚 components. That might entail sifting through spreadsheets, or looking up images of the insides of devices and taking chip information from them 鈥� including from sources not typically used for LCAs, such as and posts on.听

The two agents work in a loop. The first sets the scope, the second gathers information. The first then looks that information over and might send the second agent searching again, and so on. The agents then reference to convert the complete list of parts to carbon estimates.

The team also developed a new method to bypass this detailed data collection and directly estimate carbon footprints. For common devices like laptops and smartphones with publicly available carbon footprint reports, they found that products with similar specs like screen size and processors clustered around similar carbon values, because only a handful of companies make specialized parts for all these devices. So an unknown device’s footprint can be represented as a weighted average of similar products.听

They also use this to estimate the carbon for materials not in LCA databases. For example, a new type of sustainable plastic could be estimated based on plastics with similar properties and chemistry.

鈥淲e tried this 鈥榥earest-neighbors鈥� approach and found that for materials, it鈥檚 actually better than the standard approach of a human picking the single closest entry,鈥� said Zhang. 鈥淲hen estimating missing emissions factors in a test, the average error for our method was 23%. Human experts had an average error of 143%.鈥澨�

The authors note that while the aim of the system is to help reduce carbon emissions overall, running AI models requires energy, so they鈥檝e taken several steps to mitigate its impact. They use small AI models that aren鈥檛 as energy-intensive as general-purpose models. They also start the process by running a search to see if the device鈥檚 estimated emissions have already been calculated. If so, it can stop there. If the system does need to call its AI models repeatedly, estimating a device鈥檚 carbon footprint is currently on par with the emissions generated by brewing a cup of tea.

The team plans to collaborate with companies in the future to help automate their workflows.听

鈥淎 lot of big companies have sustainability teams that perform these LCAs,鈥� Iyer said. 鈥淥ur hope is that automating this will actually free up their time, so they can spend their time reducing the carbon footprint of the products themselves, instead of hunting down elusive stats.鈥澨�

Co-authors include , a UW student in the Allen School;, , a UW postdoctoral researcher in the Allen School; , a UW doctoral student in the Allen School; , a UW professor in the Allen School; of Wesleyan University, who completed this research as a UW doctoral student in the Allen School; of the University of Notre Dame; of Northeastern University; and of Brown University, who completed this research as a UW assistant professor in the Allen School.听

This research was funded by Amazon Research Awards and the National Science Foundation. Zhang was supported by the .

For more information, contact Iyer at vsiyer@uw.edu and Zhang at zzhihan@cs.washington.edu.

Quantum materials are a class of exotic materials with special properties that are governed by rather than . Those properties 鈥� like , and unusual forms of magnetism 鈥� often originate in the tiny repeating patterns of atoms inside crystals, but through clever engineering they can be observed and controlled at a more human scale. Quantum materials are helping to power the quickly growing field of , and could find their way into future generations of energy-efficient electronics.听

Designing new materials from the atomic scale up, however, requires intense modeling and simulation. Some materials may appear ordinary when viewed as small clusters of atoms, yet reveal new and useful properties when their atomic building blocks repeat and interact over larger distances. Researchers must be able to accurately predict behaviors at large scales in order to find materials with practical applications 鈥� otherwise designing new materials is a slow and costly trial-and-error process.

In the past 50 years, supercomputers have helped materials scientists solve some of those thorny prediction problems, but two recent studies from the 天美影视传媒 demonstrate how newer computing techniques can help researchers sniff out promising quantum materials to pursue. , published June 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how researchers can use artificial intelligence to simulate dozens of sheets of atoms stacked in intricate patterns, a process that produces complex and potentially useful quantum behaviors. , published June 8 in Nature Communications, shows how quantum computers can create a self-improving design loop by discovering new materials that could themselves be components of future quantum computers.听

鈥淲hat is exciting is that AI and quantum computing are beginning to change not just what problems we can solve, but how we do research,鈥� said , a UW associate professor of materials science and engineering and the senior author of both studies.

These two new tools 鈥� AI and quantum computing 鈥� are complementary in that they each excel at a different kind of simulation problem. With the right training, an AI model can act as a fast and relatively inexpensive surrogate of a supercomputer, extrapolating the behavior of huge material systems from a relatively small dataset. Cao and collaborators used this approach to stack virtual sheets of atoms on top of one another over and over 鈥� a process that created completely new phenomena that were absent on a smaller scale, but would have been impractical to model by traditional supercomputing. From there, researchers can try to make the most promising materials in the lab to prove out the simulations.

Quantum computers, on the other hand, are essentially powered by the same quantum phenomena 鈥� like entanglement 鈥� that Cao and other materials researchers want to study. Such phenomena can be difficult to simulate using traditional computers or AI systems, but quantum computers are naturally suited to the task. In the study, Cao and his team used a quantum computer to study an exotic phase of matter known as a .听

Moving forward, Cao and his team plan to further build out their datasets and eventually develop models that can simulate a much wider range of materials. They also hope to combine their AI and quantum computing systems into a more powerful and flexible hybrid tool.

鈥淭he next step is to bring these tools together,鈥� Cao said. 鈥淲e can use AI to guide quantum simulations, and quantum computers to generate new data and insights that improve AI models.鈥�

鈥淲e are at the start of a new era,鈥� said , UW professor and chair of materials science and engineering and co-author of both studies. 鈥淥ur field is fundamentally changing. Things that were literally impossible a couple of years ago are now becoming routine. And we are only beginning to see what AI and quantum computing will make possible for quantum materials.鈥�

was led by , a UW doctoral student of materials science and engineering. was led by , a UW doctoral student of physics. A complete list of authors is included with the studies.

The authors acknowledge the support of Amazon and the Department of Energy.

For more information, contact Cao at tingcao@uw.edu.

The increased public attention on racial injustice after influenced how Black and white employees interacted at work, new 天美影视传媒 research suggests.

The study, recently published in , examines how major societal events tied to race and injustice can shape workplace behavior. Researchers specifically investigated how the heightened salience of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement impacted cooperation between Black and white coworkers.

鈥淥rganizations are often treated as relatively self-contained systems where formal goals, incentives and task structures determine how employees interact,鈥� said co-author , professor of management in the UW Foster School of Business. 鈥淏ut employees do not leave the outside world at the door. When major societal events occur, people carry those emotions, anxieties and identities with them into the workplace.鈥�

The study examines responses to 鈥渕ega-threats,鈥� a term used to describe highly-publicized and emotionally-charged events involving violence or injustice against marginalized groups. Such events can threaten people鈥檚 sense of identity and alter how they relate to others at work. To investigate these dynamics, researchers used an unexpected but enlightening proxy: the National Basketball Association (NBA).

鈥淭he NBA is essentially a collection of mini-organizations,鈥� Gupta said. 鈥淧layers from different racial backgrounds must cooperate intensively in order to succeed, and importantly, their cooperation can actually be measured.鈥�

Using detailed data from more than 124,000 player-to-player interactions during the 2014 to 2015 NBA season, the researchers tracked how passing rates aligned with the rise of the BLM movement. Passing behavior offered a direct behavioral measure of workplace cooperation.

The findings revealed strikingly different responses among Black and white players. Black players increased cooperation with other Black players 鈥� marked by more passes 鈥� but did not reduce cooperation with white teammates. The passing behavior of white players showed standard cooperation with other white players, but white players became less likely to cooperate with Black teammates.

The researchers then conducted two experiments in which participants were randomly exposed to either materials describing highly publicized incidents of race-based injustice or unrelated information. Participants were then asked to decide about collaborating with other Black and white participants, showing how heightened awareness of these events shapes cooperation.

For Black participants, attention to BLM increased identification with their racial group and strengthened feelings of solidarity with other Black individuals. This increased their willingness to cooperate with fellow Black coworkers.

White participants, however, experienced a different psychological reaction. Researchers found that many white participants experienced a sense of 鈥渕oral taint鈥� associated with acts of racial injustice committed by members of their racial group. This shame increased concern that attempts at interracial cooperation might be rejected, misunderstood or viewed skeptically by Black coworkers. As a result, many white participants became more hesitant to initiate cooperation across racial lines.

鈥淭hey did not necessarily become hostile,鈥� Gupta said. 鈥淩ather, many seemed to retreat inward because they feared that their gestures might be unwelcome or misinterpreted.鈥�

The researchers also uncovered an important exception. The tendency of white employees to withdraw from interracial cooperation was significantly weaker when the Black coworker held higher professional status.

In the NBA context, white players remained more willing to cooperate with Black teammates who occupied higher-status positions on the team. This suggests that workplace norms and professional role expectations can partially offset the interpersonal strain created by major societal conflicts.

The study highlights how societal events surrounding race and injustice can shape workplace relationships in subtle but important ways. The researchers argue that organizations need to recognize that employees may react differently to racial injustice depending on whether they identify with the victims or feel implicated by association with the perpetrators.

The study also suggests that organizations hoping to foster productive interracial collaboration during periods of social tension may need to create environments that reduce fears of rejection and encourage open, psychologically safe interaction across group boundaries.

鈥淏oth groups may need support, though for very different reasons,鈥� Gupta said. 鈥淥rganizations cannot assume that societal tensions remain outside the workplace. These events can alter patterns of trust, communication and cooperation in ways that directly affect organizational functioning.鈥�

For more information, contact Gupta at abhinavg@uw.edu.

天美影视传媒 President Robert J. Jones presided at the UW鈥檚 151st Commencement ceremony on Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium on Saturday, June 13.

Graduates have profound potential and have capacity to combine purpose, skill and cooperation in ways that will change the world,听 Jones said.听

鈥淭hey are innovators, scientists, artists, educators, healers, entrepreneurs and storytellers who have made their mark on the UW and are poised to do the same in the world beyond,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause of that, I feel not just hope 鈥� but confidence 鈥� that the future is in their capable hands.鈥�

About 7,500 UW graduates of the Class of 2026 participated in Saturday鈥檚 ceremony. Officials said about 50,000 family members and friends cheered the graduates from the Husky Stadium grandstands. Families from 42 countries from every continent except Antarctica joined the ceremony virtually.

, Class of 鈥�83, who shared the, was the featured speaker.听听

鈥淟eave yourself open to opportunities when they arise. Be willing to take a risk and to say yes to the unknown,鈥� Brunkow told the crowds in Husky Stadium. 鈥淵ou chose UW 鈥� and succeeded here 鈥� because it is a place of discovery, collaboration and optimism. Carry those values with you out into the world. We can鈥檛 wait to see what you make of them.鈥�

By Sunday evening, President Jones will have presented nearly 18,462 degrees to the Class of 2026 across all three UW campuses鈥� ceremonies. Members of the UW Board of Regents, deans and other representatives of the University鈥檚 24 colleges and schools across all three campuses also participated in the ceremonies.听

The following听data, drawn from preliminary information broken down by campus and prepared by the Office of the University Registrar, will be presented听at the Board of Regents鈥� June 11 meeting:听

• For work completed at the听Seattle听campus, about 14,932 degrees will be conferred, specifically: 9,066 bachelor鈥檚 degrees, 4,372 master鈥檚 degrees, 615 professional degrees, 16 Educational Specialist degrees, and 863 doctoral degrees.听
• 础迟听UW Bothell, about 1,886 degrees will be conferred, including 1,619 bachelor鈥檚 degrees and 267 master鈥檚 degrees.听
• And at听UW Tacoma,听students will receive about 1,644 degrees, including 1,321 bachelor鈥檚 degrees, 304 master鈥檚 degrees, 10 Educational Specialist degrees and nine doctoral degrees.听

Degrees are awarded to those who have completed academic requirements during the 2025-2026 academic year. Many colleges and schools also hold separate graduation programs and investiture ceremonies.听

UW Tacoma will hold its commencement June 12 at the Tacoma Dome. UW Bothell鈥檚 graduation ceremonies are scheduled for June 14 at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Fish that split their lives between fresh and salt water often face obstacles getting back and forth. Dams and roads fracture river networks and interfere with traditional migratory routes, sparking concerns about fish health and abundance, as well as biodiversity on a broader scale.

Efforts to restore fish passage are cropping up across the country, but these projects come with hefty price tags. In a new study, , 天美影视传媒 researchers explore whether this money is being well spent by examining the process that determines which projects are prioritized.

The current standard, called score and rank, involves evaluating barriers one by one and assigning a score based on potential gains, such as habitat expansion. Top-ranking projects become leading candidates for funding, but score and rank systems don鈥檛 always account for barriers in the full river context. High-scoring projects can yield stranded investments, where removing the barrier doesn鈥檛 have the desired outcome because of other barriers downstream or immediately upstream.

鈥淚deally, barriers that are most downstream will score higher, because they need to come out before the fish can benefit from upstream restoration, but approaches to scoring vary, so this isn鈥檛 always the outcome,鈥� said lead author , a UW associate professor of marine and environmental affairs.

As an alternative to score and rank, this study presents a mathematical computer program called optimization. Optimization synthesizes many inputs to make the most of a budget. It can serve as a performance indicator for other systems and highlight opportunities for improving an underperforming system.

鈥淚t’s looking at a portfolio instead of going barrier by barrier. In doing so, you can explicitly account for watershed connectivity and evaluate the performance of score and rank,鈥� Jardine said.

As concerns about the health of rivers mounted in recent years, state and federal governments have allocated billions of dollars toward reconnecting them. Fragmentation is an established threat to biodiversity, and recent studies show that a vast majority of river length is not protected by conservation measures.

Washington state is in the midst of a court ordered multibillion dollar effort to remove barriers that block salmon and steelhead from swimming upstream to spawn. The combines score and rank with optimization in a hybrid approach. Similar projects elsewhere tend to use score and rank.

鈥淚 think people see optimization as a black box because it’s not as obvious why a barrier rose to the top of the priority list,鈥� Jardine said. 鈥淲ith score and rank, they understand the scores and the process, but we don鈥檛 really know what the outcome will be.鈥�

In this study, researchers use fish passage in Western Washington as a case study to compare score and rank to optimization. They show that score and rank performs decently well when the only goal is opening up as much habitat as possible, but adding other variables into the mix, such as habitat quality, compromises its performance.

While optimization has the capability to balance variables, it might not work for everyone. The program needs data to run and someone with a mathematical background to run it. Still, even small tweaks to the score and rank approach can produce results that rival optimization.

鈥淢ajor change is hard, but minor changes may be enough,鈥� Jardine said.

Because these projects often represent the values of multiple stakeholders, it鈥檚 important to include safeguards against stranded investments.

鈥淵ou need to work from downstream up to make sure the success of a project isn鈥檛 contingent upon other projects,鈥� Jardine said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e spending a lot of money on this, but the total cost of restoring all barriers is much higher than the budget, so it’s really important that we make the most out of the financial resources that we have.鈥�

Additional co-authors include , a UW postdoctoral researcher in environmental and marine affairs; , who completed this research as a UW master鈥檚 student in environmental and marine Affairs;听 J Kahn, who completed this research as a UW master鈥檚 student in quantitative ecology and resource management; Andrew Cooke, a UW research consultant in environmental and forest sciences, , a UW research scientist in environmental and forest sciences; , a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and , , , and of NOAA.

This study was funded by Washington Sea Grant and the Rae S. and Bell M. Shimada Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Memory of Warren S. Wooster.

For more information, contact Jardine at jardine@uw.edu.听 听听

Is it a doctor’s job to get the best outcomes for their patients or to tell the truth? What happens when these two things are not aligned? These are questions that 天美影视传媒 students have to wrangle with in Biol 180: Introductory Biology. The goal, says , UW assistant professor of biology, is to have students experience a more nuanced side of biology. There is not always one right answer, and issues of power and relationships often come into play.

Theobald aims to connect the biology concepts the students learn in class to real-world issues, something she hopes will help both retain students in the biology major at the UW and help non-majors in the class with their future careers.

Just how common is it for biology curricula to include real-world examples? One way to answer this question is to look at educational resources for biology instructors.

In published in Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, Theobald and her team examined almost 3,000 science guidelines and assessment questions from 16 sources 鈥� including MCAT practice questions and questions from the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science and AP biology tests 鈥� for any connections to society. Of the approximately 200 elements 鈥� about 7% 鈥� that had real-world implications, many discussed ethics and public health issues.

UW News spoke with Theobald; lead author , UW postdoctoral fellow in biology; and co-author , UW doctoral student in biology, to find out more about these results and what they mean for biology education today.

Why do you think so few learning objectives and assessment questions were connected to real-world examples?

Carly Busch: One reason is probably that there’s a perception that real-world connections are not a part of the primary purpose of the course, that they only belong as an addendum or an aside.

This perception makes sense in some ways, given how departments and institutions have conceptualized biology and what biology undergraduate students expect to get out of a biology degree. But the lack of these connections to society was also remarkable, because I think they play a really important role in developing undergraduate students holistically and broadly as they continue on in their science careers. Real-world examples can support students’ interest in science and help them develop their scientific identity.

Madison Meuler: I think there is also a belief of, “Oh well, this is an intro biology class. If this person is going to be a scientist, they’ll get training in the societal stuff later.” But I think there’s value in having this type of information even in intro courses.

Students in these courses may or may not go on to major in biology, and may or may not pursue a career in STEM. But even if this is their only science course in college, what could they take away from it that can help them be an informed citizen in the world?

Science plays a huge role in politics and in a lot of decisions that affect people’s day-to-day lives. It’s a missed opportunity if you’re not making those connections in the classroom. We want students, regardless of their future careers, to at least walk away being equipped with some skills to critically analyze the role that science is playing in society.

You found that roughly half of the questions that did mention society only vaguely referenced real-world scenarios. Can you give examples of implicit versus explicit mentions?

CB: So the most vague mention was from the American Association of Immunologists’ recommendations for an undergraduate immunology course. This is one of the advanced subtopics that they list: the implications of Emil Von Behring’s . We coded it as a vague mention because some of those implications could be related to society, not only focused on scientific experiments.

An example of explicit incorporation is from the bioinformatics core competencies. It asks students to explain the implications, good and bad, of being able to walk into a doctor’s office and have your genome sequenced and analyzed, or of being able to obtain genetic information from direct-to-consumer testing services. There we have a very clear example of students being asked to think about how the science concept fits in with society.

Do you think that connecting science to society can help retain students in science?

CB: We haven’t tested this yet, but based on prior research, there is reason to believe that incorporating these connections is going to help students be more engaged in what they’re learning in class. Engagement is closely tied to students’ performance outcomes, which often make or break their decision to persist in a major.

There is also a theory that helping students apply what they’re learning in the classroom to things happening in their lives and in their communities .

This is something I am excited to study in the future 鈥� to understand how making these connections expands students’ perceptions of what science is and who does science. The types of research questions that most scientists ask are on topics they personally are interested in. Maybe they study wildflowers in Washington because they love hiking, and they’ve always been struck by how beautiful the flowers are. That’s the beauty of being an academic researcher: You get to explore all of the different things that you’re curious about.

MM: Connecting content to real-world experiences could also increase retention by helping students feel a sense of belonging in the classroom. You’re far less likely to persist in a class if you feel like you don’t belong in that physical space, right? The course content definitely plays a role in that.

I think that making these connections between content and societal issues could help students start thinking things like, “Oh, this is a thing I care about, how could I design a study that could provide evidence to help inform a policy decision?”

Elli Theobald: Students have said to me, “I don’t want to be a scientist because I want to help people.” And that’s a problem. If we’re teaching science in a way that makes it feel like it isn’t helping people, then we’re doing something wrong. It’s just such a huge disservice to biology because we’ll lose so many amazing and capable students who could push our field forward.

This study looked at biology education resources. Do you know if biology instructors are already incorporating more real-world connections in their courses? 听

CB: If instructors aren’t getting support but they’re still making these connections in the classroom, it’s because they are putting that onus on themselves and choosing to add it. I applaud all instructors who are making these connections, and I fully expect that more connections are being made than and in these resources. We are currently collecting actual course materials from intro bio courses to see where instructors are making these connections.

But I also think that it would be such a valuable resource for instructors to have more support in making those connections. Here’s where I think really bolstering the amount of resources for instructors could provide more scaffolding for instructors to be able to provide a variety of connections, or to even recognize opportunities to make these connections in the course objectives. One of my hopes for this work is that it helps to provide motivation for those sorts of materials.

ET: Instructors are amazing. They’re working so hard to connect the content in some way to students’ lives, or to find the best, coolest examples. They need to have support from their institutions to be able to do more of this in their classrooms.

This research was funded by The National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Theobald atellij@uw.edu Busch at cbusch3@uw.edu and Meuler at mmeuler@uw.edu.

Plants may not appear aggressive, but they can still defend themselves while under attack. When caterpillars chomp the leaves of bean plants, these plants release gases that lure predatory wasps. The wasps prey on the caterpillars, saving the plants from further destruction. In a paper , a UW-led team demonstrated that this defense strategy is run by a protein called INR, or inceptin receptor. The researchers grew bean plants with naturally occurring mutations in the INR gene alongside plants with functional INR in an experimental field in Oaxaca, Mexico. The knock-out plants didn’t emit gases and attracted far fewer wasps. This result helps explain a previous study by this team that first identified the biochemical pathway behind this defense mechanism. These results also showcase how the tiny actions of a single protein can affect the behavior of wasps and caterpillars, and in turn, protect the health of the plant. This could benefit nearby plants as well, the researchers said. Beans are often grown alongside “,” such as corn, with the idea that each plant provides a benefit for the others. Beans help make the soil richer for their companions, and, through the actions of INR, could also protect their neighbors from pests.

For more information, contact senior author , UW associate professor of biology, at astein10@uw.edu.听听

The other UW co-authors are , , , and . A full list of co-authors and funding is included .

Decades of satellite data show Himalayan rivers migrating rapidly in response to climate change

The movement of rivers is often described in terms of flowing water, but the path a river takes can also change. Some migration is normal, but in the Himalayas, rivers seem to be scrambling faster than scientists anticipated. In a study , researchers show that rivers in the Tibetan Plateau moved twice as much from 2000 to 2020 as they did from 1980 to 2000. As glaciers melt and frozen ground thaws in response to rising temperatures, rivers are inundated with silty meltwater from surrounding glaciers. The water picks the path of least resistance through softening ground. The 鈥渕ovement鈥� includes small lateral shifts, big swings that cut off entire sections of river and occasionally, . The international team attributes their observations to climate change, which is driving temperatures up faster here than many other places. More than 2 billion people rely on these rivers for fresh water and researchers are concerned about communities downstream, as well as the potential for similar patterns that may play out elsewhere.

For more information, contact co-author , UW professor of Earth and space sciences at bigdirt@uw.edu.听听

A full list of co-authors and funding is .

Researchers shrink eye-catching structure down to the nano scale听

made using a network of freestanding bars suspended by a web of thin, tense cables. The organization of the bars and cables allows the network of tension and compression forces to lock everything into place, creating a lightweight yet stiff structure. Tensegrities of different sizes are common in nature 鈥� examples include and the that help living cells maintain their shape 鈥� as well as in diverse manmade structures like , and . Now, a team of engineers at the UW have found a way to create tensegrities as small as five micrometers across 鈥� roughly a tenth of the width of a human hair. in the aptly-named journal Small, researchers used a specialized and a resin compound to print bar-and-cable structures about 30 micrometers across. They then heated the materials to 900 degrees celsius, causing the structures to shrink by over 80%. As they shrank, the thinner cables constricted more than the bars, resulting in nanostructures with specific, locked-in levels of stress that were up to 250% stiffer than the starting structures. The team is now working on ways to build larger materials composed of tiny tensegrities, which could eventually usher in a new class of stiff, light and impact-resistant materials.

For more information, contact lead author , a UW doctoral student of mechanical engineering.

Other UW co-authors are , , Zainab S. Patel, , and . Funding information is included .听

Scientists find a key water source for atmospheric rivers

In December 2025, brought a seemingly endless onslaught of precipitation to Washington that caused and washed away roads and homes. In published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, UW researchers help explain where all that water came from. They describe a link between the , a weather pattern that brings moisture east across the Pacific, and atmospheric rivers. Hypotheses about this connection have emerged from previous studies, but researchers couldn鈥檛 physically draw it until now. By tracking precipitation and wind patterns from 2000 to 2024, the UW researchers show that heavy rainfall and flooding are more likely when MJO is active, which happens several times a year. By identifying the MJO as a key moisture source for powerful atmospheric rivers, the researchers hope to improve forecast accuracy and give people more lead time to prepare for incoming storms.

For more information, contact co-author , UW professor of atmospheric and climate science at shuyic@uw.edu.

Other UW co-authors are and . Funding information is .

Maeda also was appointed a professor of American ethnic studies. He succeeds Dianne Harris, who will complete her service this year.

Maeda has previously served as the dean of the University of Colorado Boulder College of Arts and Sciences where he also was a professor of ethnic studies. He is an interdisciplinary cultural historian and is a nationally recognized scholar in Asian American studies and comparative ethnic studies.

鈥淒r. Maeda brings a wealth of experience to all aspects of the role of Katherine and John Simpson Endowed Dean for the College of Arts & Sciences, including a deep commitment to shared governance,鈥� Serio said. 鈥淭hroughout the selection process, Dr. Maeda repeatedly elevated the broad strengths of the College of Arts & Sciences, and the students, staff and faculty who define them, as foundational to leading the path forward through a framework of opportunity for all.鈥�

Since joining CU Boulder as an assistant professor in 2005, Maeda has served as chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, associate dean for student success in the College of Arts and Sciences, and dean and vice provost of undergraduate education. Maeda served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since June 2024 until he was appointed dean earlier this year. He is returning to the UW where he was an acting assistant professor in the Department of History from 2001 to 2002.

鈥淚 am deeply honored to serve the College of Arts & Sciences and grateful for the opportunity to partner with its exceptional faculty, students and staff,鈥� Maeda said. 鈥淭ogether, we will build on the college鈥檚 distinguished tradition of discovery, creativity and public impact while advancing an inclusive and inspiring vision for the future.鈥�

The College of Arts and Sciences at CU Boulder has 1,300 faculty members and 400 staff members. The college also has approximately 15,000 undergraduates in 49 majors and more than 2,000 graduate students in 36 doctoral programs and 35 master鈥檚 programs. As dean, Maeda managed an annual budget of more than $250 million and led a collaborative process that created the college鈥檚 budget allocation model. Under his leadership, the college established new records for first-year retention and six-year graduation rates and set a record for highest annual fundraising in the college鈥檚 history.

Maeda has published two books and numerous articles and book chapters on Asian American activism in the 1960s and 1970s. His most recent book, a cultural history of the iconic martial artist and actor 鈥� and former UW student 鈥� Bruce Lee, was published in 2022.

Maeda earned his doctoral and master鈥檚 degrees in American culture from the University of Michigan. He also holds a master鈥檚 in ethnic studies from San Francisco State University and a bachelor鈥檚 in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.

Come curious. Leave inspired.

The UW offers an exciting lineup of in-person and online events. From thought-provoking art and music to conversations on culture, history, and science, the UW community invites you to explore, learn, and connect across disciplines throughout the University. And you don’t have to wait until June: Take a look at everything still happening in May.

.

ArtSci On Your Own Time:

Through July 24 – Book Club | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (UW Alumni Association)
Readers鈥� Choice! Bundle up for an historical mystery set in 18th-century Maine. The body of a local man is found in the frozen Kennebeck River. Martha Ballard, the local midwife, suspects that this death is not an accident 鈥� and her detailed diaries of local life are full of clues. Will she weather the scandals unleashed by her pursuit of the truth? Inspired by historic events!听Free.

Podcast | (Comparative History of Ideas)
Dr. H艒k奴lani Aikau is joined by guest co-host and podcast research assistant Melialani Hamilton, a new PhD student in IGOV. Together, they interview Michael Wilson a Tohono O鈥檕dham human rights activist, U.S. military retiree, and documentary filmmaker and Dr. Jos茅 Antonio 鈥淭ony鈥� Lucero, Professor and Chair of the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the 天美影视传媒, Seattle. They are co-authors of, , a powerful memoir tracing Mike鈥檚 life journey and the experiences that led him to the controversial and courageous humanitarian work of placing water stations for migrants along the U.S.鈥揗exico border. The book captures the tension between Mike鈥檚 moral obligation to prevent death and the political stance of a nation committed to non-interference. Throughout the narrative, Tony 鈥渉yperlinks鈥� Mike鈥檚 personal story to broader histories and global struggles, illuminating how one life resonates far beyond the borderlands.听Free.

EXHIBITIONS:

June 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
A one-night exhibition of furniture, lighting, soft goods, electronics, and experimental work by UW junior industrial design students. Free.

Through June 5 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Opening nights: Group 1 – April 28, Group 2 – May 12, Honors – May 26. Free.

June 10 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

Through June 14 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The Henry is pleased to present the 天美影视传媒’s School of Art + Art History + Design Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design Thesis Exhibition. Throughout their programs, fine arts and design students work with advisers and other artists to develop advanced techniques, expand concepts, discuss critical issues, and emerge with a vision and direction for their own work. Henry staff conduct studio visits and work closely with the students to facilitate their projects and prepare them for exhibition at the museum. A digital publication will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition to highlight the students鈥� artistic endeavors and the Henry鈥檚 commitment to this exciting and important step in the students’ development as practicing artists and designers. is on June 5. Related article: . Free.

June 10 – 26 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
will be on June 12. Free.

Exhibition | (Henry Art Gallery)
ojo|-|o虂l谦虂 (pronounced oh-ho hol-ohn) is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by Din茅 artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na鈥檔铆zhoozh铆 [Gallup, New Mexico]) that includes sculpture, textile, collage, and video, activated by moments of performance. Across this work, Riege combines customary Din茅 practices of weaving, silversmithing, and beading with contemporary cultural forms, exploring Din茅 cosmology, the history of Euro-American trading posts in and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, and the notion of 鈥渁uthenticity鈥� as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft. Free.

Week of June 1

Online – June 1 | 听(Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Abdullah Al-Arian, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University in Qatar.听 The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men鈥檚 World Cup in Seattle. Free.

June 1 | (School of Music)
Phyllis Byrdwell leads the 100-voice Gospel Choir in songs from the Gospel tradition.

June 2 | (School of Music)
The Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band (Erin Bodnar, director) present “Emblems,” featuring music by Aaron Copland, Wim Bex, Kevin Day, Dwayne Milburn, John Mackey and others. With Eden Garza, bass trombone.

June 2 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Nature writers Kathryn True and Maria Dolan discuss their new book Seattle Field Guide: Explore Nature in the City, a guide to 38 outdoor adventures across the greater Seattle area. They will deliver a presentation featuring natural phenomena you can visit yourself around the city. Seattle Field Guide is a fun, accessible, and inspiring guide to 38 nature-filled outings across the greater Seattle area 鈥� perfect for all ages and experience levels. Whether you have a free afternoon or a full day to explore, Dolan and True offer seasonal adventures that reveal the wild wonders hidden in the city鈥檚 parks, shorelines, greenways, and neighborhoods.

June 2 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
What happens to our understanding of relational memory when viewed through queer histories? In this talk, Stirner examines memory art dedicated to often neglected queer and trans histories after National Socialism, from translucent quilts to an installation that melts a concentration camp gate and rewelds it into new forms. Beyond arguing for the inclusion of queer histories in relational frameworks of remembrance, the talk proposes that attending to the distinct shapes and textures of queer relationality reshapes the concept itself, showing how queer memory practices expand and transform what it means to think memory relationally.

Simone Stirner (Assistant Professor, Germanic Languages & Literatures, Harvard University) works on poetry and poetics, memory studies, and the intersections of critical and creative practices. Stirner’s first book Poetic Grief: Form and Remembrance after National Socialism (Fordham University Press, forthcoming) develops a new framework for understanding the relationship between reading poetry and the affective experience of grief by studying how poems in the enduring aftermath of National Socialism and the Holocaust make space for an encounter with the uncontainable dimensions of loss鈥攐n and off the page.听Free.

June 3 | (School of Music)
A free lunchtime performance featuring UW School of Music students in the North Allen Library lobby. Presented in partnership with UW Libraries.听Free.

June 3 | (School of Music)
The Studio Jazz Ensemble and Modern Ensemble present a shared program of repertory selections, original music, and inspired arrangements.

June 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
A one-night exhibition of furniture, lighting, soft goods, electronics, and experimental work by UW junior industrial design students. Free.

June 4 |听(Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Admission to the Burke Museum is FREE and the museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month. Get closer to the daily work happening in the Burke Museum鈥檚 visible collections storage, labs and workrooms during Free First Thursday.听Free.

June 4 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
This celebration honors all the Building A Movement interns and 2026 graduating Labor students!

June 5 | (School of Music)
The UW Symphony (David Alexander Rahbee, director) and combined UW Choirs (Giselle Wyers, director) team up for a year-end program featuring music by Ottorino Respighi, Nadia Boulanger, and Francis Poulenc. Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski is featured soloist with the combined ensembles for works by Boulanger, orchestrated by David Alexander Rahbee. Soledad Mayorga-Maldonado is featured soloist for Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, with Giselle Wyers conducting.

June 5 | (Geography)
The Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium spotlights innovative and compelling undergraduate work. Student researchers will share fresh ideas, sharp insights, and standout projects with the community. Free.\

June 5 | 听(Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
Engage with emerging scholarship in gender, women, and sexuality studies and celebrate the work of our undergraduate researchers. Each student will give a short presentation, followed by responses from GWSS graduate students who will help facilitate discussion. Whether you’re a student, faculty member, or community member, support scholars and take part in the conversation. A reception with light refreshments will follow. Free.

June 5 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Join the Henry and 天美影视传媒’s School of Art + Art History + Design in celebration of the 2026 天美影视传媒 MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition. See the diverse work of this year’s graduate students and enjoy a no-host bar. Artists: Stephanie Alacon, Dahae Cheon, Li-Yuan Chiou, Jeff Jiang, Victoria Mackender, Alex Moni-Sauri, Oscar Pearson, Chave Pichardo, Andrew Roibal, and Ryan Walters. Related article: . Free.

June 5 – 6 | 听 (Dance)
Join the UW Department of Dance Kawasaki Guest Artist Amy O’Neal, 23 UW dance students, and Seattle guest artists for a Spring Hybrid Dance Lab (HDL). This performance plus dance party is a research and performance platform for experimental street dance practitioners to challenge traditional notions of street dance in theater, address creative hybridity, and nurture cultural literacy. Made possible by generous gifts from the Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation and John C. Robinson. Free.

June 6 | (School of Music)
Emerging and established composers explore unconventional sonic landscapes in this concert of music by students, faculty, alumni, and guests of the UW Composition program. Free.

听June 8 – 30

Online – June 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Jen Barnes, Co-Chair of Pride+ Match Impact Committee SEA2026; Founder, CEO, Rough & Tumble Pub; Salmon Bay FC. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men鈥檚 World Cup in Seattle. Free.

June 10 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

June 11 | 2026 Awards of Excellence Ceremony
The UW is delighted to announce the recipients of the 56th annual 天美影视传媒 Awards of Excellence! The awards honor outstanding alumni, faculty, staff, students and retirees who contribute to the richness and diversity of our University community. The program includes a one-hour ceremony hosted by President Robert J. Jones and Provost Tricia Serio, followed by a reception with refreshments and community connection. Free.

June 12 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

June 12 | 听(Speech & Hearing Sciences)
Presentation by Dr. Catherine Off听 (Ph.D, Speech & Hearing Sciences, ’08). 听Free.

Online option – June 13 | 天美影视传媒’s 151st Commencement Ceremony
The 天美影视传媒 will honor the graduating class of 2026 at the University鈥檚 151st Annual Commencement Exercises. Over 7,400 graduates will take the field at the magnificent Husky Stadium to the cheers and applause of 50,000 family members and friends.听Free.

June 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Learn more about the incredible range and diversity of sex, sex-development, gender, and sexuality in the natural world and the many purposes of sex and sexuality for building strong and vibrant communities in the natural world.

ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).uw.edu).