UPDATE April 7, 2026:聽The original version of this story omitted two UW programs that were included in the rankings: Occupational Therapy (Tied for 20th) and Physical Therapy (Tied for 31st).听

The 天美影视传媒鈥檚 graduate and professional degree programs again were recognized as among the best in the nation, according to .

Topping this year鈥檚 list include programs at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in the College of Engineering and the College of Education. The College of Arts & Sciences and the College of the Environment also had top-rated programs.

In total, 81 graduate and professional degree programs across the UW placed in the top 35 in this year鈥檚 U.S. News rankings.

“These rankings highlight the strength and impact of the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 graduate and professional programs,鈥� said UW President Robert J. Jones. 鈥淭hese programs equip students with the skills and knowledge to meet critical workforce needs and serve society, while demonstrating the power of higher education to advance the public good. We are proud to foster an environment where students and faculty can thrive and have a real impact on the world around them.鈥�

While the UW celebrates the success and impact of the programs recognized by U.S. News 鈥� and notes that many applicants use these rankings to help them select schools and discover potential areas of study 鈥� the University also recognizes shortcomings inherent in the ranking systems.

The UW School of Law and the UW School of Medicine withdrew from the U.S. News rankings in 2022 and 2023, respectively, citing concerns that some of the methodology in the rankings for those specific disciplines incentivize actions and policies that run counter to the schools鈥� public service missions.

UW leaders continue to work with U.S. News and other ranking organizations to improve their methodologies, to the extent that the organizations are open to it. Schools, colleges and departments continually reevaluate the benefits and potential shortfalls of participating in specific rankings.

Excluding the School of Law and the School of Medicine, 29 UW programs placed in the top 10, and 81 are in the top 35.

聽The UW this year placed in the top 10 nationwide in public affairs, biostatistics,聽 nursing, computer science, education, psychology, speech and language pathology, statistics and Earth sciences.

The UW鈥檚 Evans School of Public Policy & Governance has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade and tied for fifth in the nation this year. The Evans School鈥檚 environmental policy program was ranked second, while public finance and budgeting as well as leadership both ranked No. 10.

The UW School of Nursing鈥檚 doctor of nursing practice program tied for No. 1 among public institutions. The School of Public Health has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade, coming in this year at No. 9. The school also had three programs in the top 10: biostatistics, environmental health sciences and epidemiology.听

The UW鈥檚 programs in speech and language pathology tied for No. 6.听 Two programs from the College of Education placed in the top 10. And the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering this year tied for seventh place overall with three programs ranked in the top 10, including artificial intelligence, programming language and systems.

U.S. News ranks biostatistics in two ways. UW ranked No. 3 as a science discipline that applies statistical theory and mathematical principles to research in medicine, biology, environmental science, public health and related fields. UW鈥檚 School of Public Health ranked No. 7 in biostatistics as an area of study that trains students to apply statistical principles and methods to problems in health sciences, medicine and biology. At the UW, biostatistics is a division of the School of Public Health.

In some cases, such as the College of Arts & Science and the Foster School of Business, U.S. News ranks several professional disciplines housed within academic units. Programs in dentistry are not ranked.听

The rankings below are based on preliminary data and may be updated. relies on both expert opinions and statistical indicators.

TOP 10:

Library and Information Studies (overall): Two-way tie for 1st (ranked in 2025)

Public Affairs (environmental policy): 2nd

Library and information studies (digital librarianship): Two-way for 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Library and Information Studies (information systems): 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Biostatistics: 3rd

Physics (nuclear): Two-way tie for 3rd (ranked in 2024)

Nurse practitioner (doctor of nursing practice): Four-way tie for 4th

Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): Four-way tie for 5th

Library and Information Studies (library services for children and youth): Two-way for 5th (ranked in 2022)

Computer science (systems): Tied for 6th

Education (elementary education): 6th

Psychology (clinical): Three-way tie for 6th

Speech-language pathology: Five-way tie for 6th

Statistics: Four-way tie for 6th

Public Health (biostatistics): 7th

Computer science (overall): Three-way tie for 7th

Computer science (programming language): Tied for 7th

Education (secondary education): 7th

Nursing (midwifery): Five-way tie for 7th

Public Health (environmental health sciences): 7th

School of Social Work (overall): 7th (ranked in 2025)

Public Health (epidemiology): 8th

Computer science (artificial intelligence): 9th

Earth sciences: Tied for 9th聽

Geophysics: Three-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)

Public Affairs (nonprofit management): 9th

School of Public Health (overall): Tied for 9th

Public Affairs (public finance and budgeting): 10th

Public Affairs (public management and leadership): 10th

TOP 25:

Biological sciences: Five-way tie for 16th

Business (accounting): 10-way tie for 16th

Business (entrepreneurship): Five-way tie for 17th

Business (information systems): Three-way tie for 15th

Business (part-time MBA): Three-way tie for 11th

Business (full-time MBA): 20th

Business (management): Five-way tie for 25th

Business (marketing): Eight-way tie for 25th

Chemistry (analytical): Four-way tie for 16th (ranked in 2024)

Chemistry: Seven-way tie for 22nd

Chemistry (inorganic): Three-way tie for 22nd (ranked in 2024)

Computer science (theory): Tied for 11th

College of Education (overall): Tied for 24th

Education (administration): Tied for 11th

Education (curriculum/instruction): Tied for 12th

Education (policy): Tied for 14th

Education (special education): Tied for 12th

College of Engineering (overall): Three-way tie for 22nd

Engineering (aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical): Tied for 17th

Engineering (biomedical/bioengineering): Five-way tie for 12th

Engineering (civil): Four-way tie for 13th

Engineering (computer): 12th

Engineering (electrical): Three-way tie for 22nd

Engineering (industrial/manufacturing/systems): Seven-way tie for 24th

Engineering (materials engineering): Five-way tie for 25th

Library and Information Studies (school library media): Two-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2022)

Mathematics (applied math): 21st (ranked in 2024)

Nursing master鈥檚 (overall): Tied for 12th

Nurse practitioner (adult gerontology acute care): Tied for 11th

Nurse practitioner (family): Tied for 15th

School of Pharmacy (overall): Tied for 14th

Physics (overall): Tied for 20th聽

Public Affairs (public policy analysis): 14th

Public Affairs (social policy): Tied for 13th

Public Affairs (urban policy): Three-way tie for 21st

Public Health (health care management): Three-way tie for 16th聽

Public Health (health policy and management): 11th

Public Health (social behavior): 13th

Sociology (overall): Two-way tie for 22nd (ranked in 2025)

Sociology (population): Two-way tie for 15th (ranked in 2022)

TOP 35:

Business (analytics): Seven-way tie for 32nd

Business (executive MBA): Three-way tie for 29th

Business (finance): Nine-way tie for 31st

Business (international MBA): Tie for 32nd

Business (production & operations): Five-way tie for 27th

Engineering (chemical): Tied for 28th

Engineering (mechanical): 34th

English: Two-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2025)

Fine arts: 15-way tie for 34th

History: Three-way tie for 31st (ranked in 2025)

Mathematics: Four-way tie for 26th

Occupational Therapy: Tied for 20th

Physical Therapy: Tied for 31st

Political science: Five-way tie for 33rd (ranked in 2025)

New evidence suggests that a disease-causing tapeworm that has been spreading across the United States and Canada has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. The tapeworm, called Echinococcus multilocularis, lives as a parasite in coyotes, foxes and other canid species and can cause severe disease if passed to domestic dogs or humans.

E. multilocularis has long been recognized as a public health threat in parts of the Northern hemisphere, including Europe and Asia, but was considered extremely rare in North America until approximately 15 years ago, when cases in humans and dogs began cropping up in Canada and the midwestern U.S., indicating that the parasite was spreading.

This study, led by 天美影视传媒 researchers, is the first to detect E. multilocularis in a wild host on the west coast of the contiguous U.S. Researchers surveyed 100 coyotes in the Puget Sound region, and found E. multilocularis in 37 of them. The results were .

鈥淭his parasite is concerning because it has been spreading across North America. There have been numerous cases of dogs getting sick, and a handful of people have also picked up the tapeworm,” said lead author , who recently graduated from the UW with a doctorate in environmental and forest science. “The fact that we found it here in one-third of our coyotes was surprising, because it wasn鈥檛 found anywhere in the Pacific Northwest until earlier this year.鈥�

When E. multilocularis infects an animal or person, it causes cancer-like cysts to form in the liver and sometimes other organs. If untreated, infection can be fatal.

However, not all carriers become sick. E. multilocularis has a complex life cycle that involves multiple hosts. Canids, which host adult parasites, can support thousands of worms in their intestines without becoming sick. The worms shed eggs that are then passed in their feces.

Rodents 鈥� another host 鈥� become infected by eating food contaminated with coyote feces. Once consumed, the parasite eggs migrate to the liver and form cysts, ultimately weakening or killing the rodents. The parasite鈥檚 life cycle begins again when coyotes prey upon infected rodents.

Humans and domestic dogs are categorized as accidental hosts. Humans may pick up the parasite by consuming tapeworm eggs 鈥� in food that is contaminated with coyote or dog feces, for example 鈥� and can develop a disease called , characterized by slow-growing metastatic cysts. Symptoms may not appear for five to 15 years after exposure, which complicates diagnosis and treatment.

Alveolar echinococcosis is considered the third most important food-borne illness globally, and one of the top 20 neglected tropical diseases by the World Health Organization. Many countries have developed robust protocols for tracking it.

Domestic dogs that are exposed to E. multilocularis may or may not become sick, depending on where the parasite is in its life cycle at exposure. It is more common for dogs to carry the parasite and shed eggs without developing disease, but dogs that are exposed to parasite eggs may develop the same cancer-like cysts as other infected animals.

鈥淭o minimize the risk of dogs getting infected with E. multilocularis, owners should not let them prey on rodents or scavenge their carcasses,鈥� said co-author , an associate professor and director of the Parasitology Diagnostic Laboratory at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Owners can also give dogs preventative medication for worms and ticks and ensure routine veterinary care, which should include diagnostic tests for parasites, Verocai said.

Although the researchers found E. multilocularis in more than one-third of local coyotes tested, there is little evidence of the infection spreading to other hosts. One study in Washington, Oregon and Idaho since 2023, five of which were in Washington. Few human cases have been reported in the U.S., and none on the West Coast.

鈥淭he reason that it’s so high in coyotes is because they are regularly eating raw rodents, and that is the primary way for them to get infected. Most domestic dogs are not eating the raw livers of wild rodents,鈥� Hentati said.

Before the uptick in the 2010s, there were several reports of E. multilocularis on remote islands in northwestern Alaska. Those cases were caused by a parasite with different origins than the current outbreak. Genetic analysis pins the earlier cases to a tundra variant while these recent cases are driven by a more infectious variant with European origins. The coyotes in this study carried the newer variant, now thought to be the predominant variant in the U.S. and Canada.

Neither Canada nor the U.S. require dogs to undergo deworming upon arrival, which may explain the spread. Previous studies also proposed that E. multilocularis could have come over in red foxes imported for hunting 100 years ago, but no one knows for sure.

鈥�The main takeaway is that Echinococcus multilocularis is here, it’s pretty prevalent in the local coyote population and people should be aware of potential risks,鈥� Hentati said.

Co-authors include , lab manager at UW; , UW doctoral graduate in environmental and forest science; , a UW professor of environmental and forest science; , a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery science; of the College of William and Mary; Erika Miller of Sound Data Management; of DePaul University; and of UC Berkeley. This study was funded by The National Science Foundation and the 天美影视传媒 Hall Conservation Genetics Fund.

For more information, contact Hentati at yhentati26@gmail.com.

Nautilus and Allonautilus cephalopods and their extinct ancestors have been drifting through of the ocean for more than 500 million years. Researchers have spent the last 40 years trying to understand how these mysterious “living fossils” thrive in areas with limited nutrients. published in Scientific Reports, a UW-led team documented new habits and habitats for current Nautilus and Allonautilus species. These creatures appear to live in deeper water than their extinct cousins did, and the younger ones live twice as deep as the fully mature adults. Nautilus and Allonautilus species scavenge their food and never stop moving. While a few species migrate hundreds of meters down at dawn and then back up at dusk every day, the team found that most species aren’t quite as intrepid. The researchers also describe a new population of Allonautilus in waters off the island , one of several populations thriving due to hunting restrictions inspired in part by research efforts from this team.

For more information, contact senior author , UW professor of both biology and Earth and space sciences, at argo@uw.edu.

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

Green clay tennis courts become carbon negative after 10 years

The United States has around a quarter of a million tennis courts, 40,000 of which are helping mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Green clay tennis courts, an alternative to traditional hard courts and the red clay courts popular in Europe, are constructed with a type of rock that reacts with carbon dioxide and water to sequester carbon as a stable dissolved salt. In , UW researchers show that in the U.S., green clay courts remove 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year and 80% of green clay courts make up for construction emissions within 10 years. Moving forward, the researchers hope to experiment with other materials that also remove carbon dioxide without compromising performance for players.

For more information contact lead author , UW assistant professor of oceanography, at fjpavia@uw.edu.

A full list of co-authors and funding is available .

Temperature dynamics, not just extremes, impact heat tolerance in mussels

Intertidal mussels, forming bumpy layers on shoreline rocks, withstand significant temperature swings as the tide ebbs and flows. These creatures live in one of the most thermally variable environments on Earth, but a new study shows that the rate, timing and duration of heating and cooling impact their metabolic rate, a proxy for overall health. At the UW鈥檚 , researchers exposed mussels to temperature regimens with equal highs and lows but different patterns of change. Even when the average temperature for a set period was the same, the mussels鈥� response was distinct. These results, , show that predicting how marine organisms respond to climate change means considering how temperature changes over time, not just how warm it gets.

For more information, contact lead author , assistant professor of biology at the College of the Holy Cross and a mentor for the UW Friday Harbor Laboratories , at mnishizaki@holycross.edu.

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is available .

When algae stop growing, bacteria start swarming

Tiny geometric algae, called , produce nearly a quarter of the world鈥檚 organic matter by photosynthesis. In the microscopic marine universe, diatoms coexist with both harmful and helpful bacteria. A new study, , describes how a recently identified species of marine bacteria targets diatoms based on growth phase and nutrient availability. Growing diatoms can resist bacterial attacks, but when growth ceases, the bacteria modulate their gene expression patterns to become aggressive 鈥� first swimming and releasing compounds that damage the diatom and then clustering around them to feed. Bacteria can also overcome the diatom鈥檚 defenses in nutrient-rich environments. These findings highlight the dynamic relationship between bacteria and algae in the lab. Moving forward, researchers will explore what, if anything, changes in a more complex environment.

For more information, contact lead author , UW postdoctoral fellow in oceanography, at dawiener5@gmail.com.

Other UW co-authors are and . A full list of co-authors and funding is available .

Humans look to nature for sustenance and nourishment 鈥� food, water, energy, transportation, culture, tradition, adventure and so on. With the population of the United States now exceeding 340 million, humans are demanding more of the natural world than ever before. To understand the consequences, researchers set an ambitious goal: a wellness check on nature.

Nature is a sweeping category that includes everything from massive mountains to tiny urban gardens. Its health can鈥檛 be summarized in just a few words. In fact, it took researchers 868 pages, split into 13 chapters, to report the condition of lands, waters, wildlife, and biodiversity and describe links to human health and safety, culture, economy, and national security.

The new report, , is available for public comment and scientific review until May 30.

鈥淭he Nature Record tells an honest story,鈥澛� said , director of The Nature Record and interim executive director of the UW鈥檚 EarthLab. 鈥淚t does not shy away from the scale of change we are seeing in nature 鈥� but it also shows that our choices matter, and that there are real, tangible ways to restore and sustain the systems we depend on.鈥�

The preliminary findings are a mixed bag. On one hand, the report details a long history of resource extraction and habitat loss that will be difficult to reverse. At the same time, it shows how restoration and Indigenous stewardship approaches can help turn things around.

For example, the report states that approximately 50% of U.S. land is used for agriculture. This means farmers and ranchers must be involved in efforts to protect ecosystems and preserve biodiversity, Levin said.

The U.S. has millions of miles of rivers, which are fragmented by tens of thousands of large dams and as many as 2 million small dams and culverts.

Damming rivers disrupts fish migration and degrades ecosystem health. Ecological concerns have spurred hundreds of dam removals in the past decade, after which rivers quickly rebounded. In some places, fish have returned to spawning grounds that were inaccessible for generations.

鈥淭he assessment documents many examples where ecosystems and communities are recovering together,鈥� Levin said. 鈥淭hese success stories show that change is possible when science, policy and communities align.鈥�

The project began in 2022 following an executive order calling for an assessment of nature. Levin, selected to lead the effort, assembled a national team of experts to work on what was then called the National Nature Assessment.

Then, in January 2025, just weeks before the team was due to deliver a first draft, the effort came to a screeching halt when the federal government canceled the effort.

Undeterred, the team, including more than 170 scientists and experts, decided to continue working independently. They published a draft of The Nature Record in March.

鈥淲e built this to be useful,鈥� Levin said. 鈥淎nd the only way it becomes truly useful is if people engage with it 鈥� question it, add to it, and help shape what comes next.鈥�

He encourages people of all backgrounds to engage with the report and share feedback on the clarity, relevance and thoroughness, including representation of diverse perspectives.

In addition to documenting how humans are changing nature, the record provides important insights into how nature influences quality of life. Access to nature varies widely across the U.S. 鈥� the benefits of nature are not equally shared, nor is the burden of going without. Social and historical factors often determine whether communities enjoy greenspaces and clean drinking water, among other essentials.

鈥淭his assessment reflects not just the state of nature, but the relationships people have with it,鈥� said deputy director , principal research scientist at the UW鈥檚 EarthLab. 鈥淲e want people to see themselves in this work 鈥� whether through their communities, their values, or the places they care about 鈥� and to help shape how it evolves.鈥�

For more information, contact Levin at pslevin@uw.edu.

Plowing, or tilling, is an age-old agricultural practice that readies the soil for planting by turning over the top layer to expose fresh earth. The method 鈥� intended to improve water and nutrient circulation 鈥� remains popular today, but concerns about soil degradation have prompted some to return to regenerative methods that disturb the soil less.

In a new study, a team led by 天美影视传媒 researchers examined the impact of tilling on soil moisture and water retention using methods originally designed for monitoring earthquakes. Researchers placed fiber optic cables alongside fields at an experimental farm in the United Kingdom and recorded ground motion from plots receiving different amounts of tillage and compaction from tractor tires pulling farm equipment.

The study, , shows that tilling and compaction disrupt intricate capillary networks within the soil that give it a natural sponge-like quality.

鈥淭his study offers a clear explanation for why the process of tillage, one of humanity鈥檚 oldest agricultural activities, changes the structure of soil in ways that affect how it soaks up water,鈥� said co-author , a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

The link between tilling and soil degradation has been established for quite some time, but the rationale is less robust.

鈥淚t’s counterintuitive,鈥� Montgomery said.

Tilling is supposed to create holes for water to reach the roots of plants, but it breaks these small channels in the soil instead, causing rain to pool on the surface and form a muddy crust. Over time, this can increase erosion and flood risk. The researchers observed this phenomenon in detail using seismological methods.

For the past decade or so, physical scientists have been exploring ways to harness the fiber optic cable network to make remote observations. They use a technique called distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, that records ground motion based on cable strain. Because the technology is so sensitive, it can also capture the speed at which sound waves pass through a substance, which is called seismic velocity.

When soil gets wet, seismic velocity changes. Sound moves slower through mud than dry dirt.

鈥淲e wanted to find out whether seismic tools could be used to understand how soil 鈥� under different treatment regimens 鈥斅爓ould respond to environmental variability,鈥� said senior author , a UW associate professor of Earth and space sciences.

An experimental farm near Newport in the United Kingdom, affiliated with Harper Adams University, turned out to be an ideal testing ground for their experiment.

The farm is split into rows that have received consistent cultivation for more than two decades.

There are no-till rows, rows tilled 10 centimeters deep and rows tilled 25 centimeters. Compaction is a byproduct of tilling caused by tractors. Different levels of compaction were tested by modulating tractor tire pressure.

鈥淲e took advantage of a natural experiment that had already been done, but just not yet measured,鈥� Montgomery said.

The researchers lined their experimental plots with a fiber optic cable. They collected continuous ground motion data for 40 hours and combined it with weather data over the same period, which featured light to moderate rainfall and mild temperatures.

鈥淲e observed the natural vibration of the ground and found that it is really sensitive to environmental factors, including precipitation,鈥� said , lead author and former UW postdoctoral researcher of Earth and space sciences, now at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

They determined how each cultivation strategy impacted the soil鈥檚 response to rainfall by comparing trends in seismic velocity across study sites. Shi developed various models to process the data and help the researchers understand seismic velocity in terms of soil moisture.

The method is straightforward, inexpensive and offers far better spatial and temporal resolution than previous monitoring tools.

The researchers believe it could help farmers understand how to manage their land, provide real time flooding alerts, improve earth systems models by refining estimates of atmospheric water content and better inform seismic hazard maps with data on liquefaction risk.

Additional co-authors include , a UW professor of atmospheric and climate science, , a UW research assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, from the University of California Santa Cruz, formerly at Purdue University, , , and from Harper Adams University, from the University of Exeter聽

This study was funded by The Pan Family Fund, the Murdock Charitable Trust, the UW College of the Environment Seed Fund, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and a National Environmental Research Council cross-disciplinary research capability grant.听

For more information, contact Denolle at mdenolle@uw.edu.听

Stark black against an open sky, common ravens are often spotted soaring above wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Researchers assumed that the notorious scavengers were following the wolves to get their scraps, but new research reveals a twist: Ravens don鈥檛 follow wolves, they remember common hunting grounds and regularly check back for fresh meat.

When food is easy to find, animals save energy by memorizing the path to retrieving it. Because scavengers rely on other animals to eat, their meals are less predictable. Some scavengers contend with this insecurity by tailing predators, but as this study shows, ravens don鈥檛. Researchers tracked 69 ravens and 20 wolves across Yellowstone National Park for two and a half years and found that the ravens knew where to go without cues from the wolves.

鈥淪cavengers are not quite as glorious as predators, and have traditionally been understudied by comparison. Getting a better understanding from the scavengers鈥� viewpoint might give us insight into sensory abilities, underappreciated environmental cues and spatial and temporal memory,鈥� said , a 天美影视传媒 professor emeritus of environmental and forest sciences and the study鈥檚 senior author.

March 12 in Science.

Ravens and wolves pick at the scraps of a wolf kill in Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Bob Landis

The mutualistic relationship between ravens and wolves has fascinated humans for centuries. According to Norse mythology, the god Odin created two ravens 鈥� 鈥� to travel the world gathering intelligence for him. Odin sent his two wolves, , with the ravens to ensure they remained fed.

鈥淭his tight coevolutionary relationship between predator and scavenger has persisted in human thought for millennia,鈥� Marzluff said.

Modern scientific research documents a similar relationship between the two species. Ravens have been known to follow wolf tracks through the snow and respond to howls. After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, ravens were a wolf than anywhere else in the park. The odds of seeing a raven further increase when wolves are hunting.

Marzluff, who is well known for studying crows and ravens, teamed up with lead author , an assistant professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna then the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, to study how ravens track wolves so well.

The wolves in Yellowstone are already closely monitored, but the researchers needed data on the ravens to compare. Over a few months, Marzluff and Loretto trapped 69 ravens and outfitted them with small GPS trackers. For two and a half years, the researchers monitored where the ravens and wolves went, which routes they took and when their paths crossed.

They only documented one instance of a raven following a wolf for an extended period, yet overall, ravens still managed to arrive promptly after the wolves made a kill. Ravens were spotted at nearly half the observed wolf kills within seven days and some flew more than 150 kilometers to reach a kill. Their flight patterns also suggested that the ravens were making a beeline instead of conducting a sweep.

Ravens were also far more likely to visit areas where wolf kills were more frequent, per the researchers鈥� 鈥渃arcass abundance map,鈥� which split the territory into nine square kilometer parcels and plotted kill sites.

The authors propose that ravens rely on spatial memory 鈥� the brain鈥檚 ability to follow directions 鈥� to monitor the wolves鈥� favorite hunting grounds. Their hypothesis is further supported by data showing that ravens fly over common kill sites en route to other food sources, including areas where humans hunt wild game.

鈥淲e already knew that ravens can remember stable food sources, like landfills,鈥� Loretto said. 鈥淲hat surprised us is that they also seem to learn in which areas wolf kills are more common. A single kill is unpredictable, but over time some parts of the landscape are more productive than others 鈥� and ravens appear to use that pattern to their advantage.鈥�

Additional co-authors include and from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre; , and Lauren Walker from National Park Service and and from 鈥嬧�婱ax Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

This study was funded by the European Union, the National Geographic Society, the German Research Foundation, the James W. Ridgeway endowment to the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the 天美影视传媒 and Yellowstone Forever.

For more information, contact Marzluff at corvid@uw.edu or Loretto at聽 matthias.loretto@vetmeduni.ac.at.

This story was adapted from by Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior.

[April 6] UPDATE: Flower petals are falling on the Quad as the trees lose their blossoms. The waning bloom is still quite a site but it’ll be a while before the trees are back on full display.

[March 23] UPDATE: The cherry trees are officially in peak bloom! Visit campus anytime in the next week or so to see the blossoms in all their glory.

[March 18] UPDATE: Recent temperature swings have slowed bud development for the Quad cherries. About half of the trees are still in peduncle elongation stage while half have moved on to the 鈥減uffy white鈥� stage that precedes full bloom. Cool temperatures in the coming days may delay peak bloom as trees gradually blossom. Warm weather could produce a sudden transition. Check the live cams for updates.

[March 13] UPDATE: It’s snowing but the blossoms are still growing! The Quad cherries are now in the “peduncle elongation” stage, where the flower-bearing stalk extends from the bud. Some have also begun to flower.

Each spring, large crowds gather on the 天美影视传媒 Quad to admire 29 puffy pink cherry trees making their seasonal debut. The trees begin to wake up as the weather warms, and this year, estimates suggest that they will reach 鈥減eak bloom鈥� on March 20.

The UW鈥檚 iconic cherry trees achieve peak bloom when 70% of the blossoms have opened, but the week before and after still offer visitors an optimal viewing experience.

The cherry blossom visitors鈥� website provides updates on bloom status as well as details on transportation, activities and amenities. The cherry blossoms also have live video feeds for virtual viewing and their own social media accounts on and .

The cherry trees are both beautiful and ecologically significant. Tracking when the buds burst each year helps researchers predict peak bloom and determine how climate warming is impacting the trees, which were planted in the Washington Park Arboretum in 1936 and then relocated to UW in 1962.

This year, many plants began to emerge early as a mild winter gave way to spring. Recent UW research described how plants rely on both temperature and light cues to time their flowering. Temperature is particularly important to cherry trees, which estimate the arrival of spring based on how cold it has been. They accrue 鈥渃hilling units鈥� as winter progresses and 鈥渉eating units鈥� as it yields to spring.

鈥淭he buds need to accumulate a specific amount of chilling units before they can start accumulating the heating units. When it is not as cold, the chilling units accumulate much slower, so it takes them longer to wake up from dormancy, which is very counterintuitive,鈥� said , a UW doctoral student of environmental and forest sciences.

Theil is now overseeing data collection on campus, with the help of approximately 20 undergraduate students. The researchers make observations as the trees begin to wake up and feed the data into a computer model that incorporates weather forecasts to predict peak bloom.

Historically, the onset of peak bloom has fallen between March 12 and April 3, with an average date of March 23. While the weather impacts peak bloom year to year, climate change drives longer term trends over multiple decades.

Research shows that bloom time has shifted approximately two days earlier each decade since the 1960s. Researchers began monitoring the trees in 2012 and referenced newspaper archives to estimate peak bloom dates for the preceding years.

鈥淲ith the climate warming more rapidly in the spring, I expected to see the flowers blooming earlier,鈥� said lead author , a recent doctoral graduate from the UW school of environmental and forest sciences. 鈥淏ut as we dove into the literature and examined the data, we saw a delay in bloom, as a result of winter warming in Seattle.鈥�

The study focused on the Somei-yoshino, or Yoshino, cherry tree cultivar. These trees, sometimes called the Japanese flowering cherry, are found throughout Japan. They also line the National Mall in Washington D.C. and paint many Seattle neighborhoods pink in the springtime.

The bloom delay Maust observed applies only to Yoshino cherry trees in Seattle. In colder climates, such as Washington D.C., the trees have ample time to accrue chilling units. Still, the two populations are quite similar, genetically.

Propagation, or breeding more trees, occurs by grafting one tree onto another. This process limits genetic variability in favor of consistency. Because all Yoshino cherry trees are sterile clones of one another, they do not produce fruits or seeds, but they do reliably bloom in beautiful pink hues each spring.

For more information on bloom time, contact Theil at mtheil@uw.edu or Maust at聽 amaust@uw.edu. For information about the Yoshino Genome Project, contact Steinbrenner at astein10@uw.edu.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is unusually quiet for a megathrust fault. Spanning more than 600 miles from Canada to California, the fault marks the convergence of the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. While other subduction zones produce sporadic rumblings as the plates scrape past each other, Cascadia , fueling assumptions that the plates are locked together by friction.

The subduction zone 鈥� miles offshore and deep underwater 鈥� is difficult to observe. Most data collection is based onshore, which limits the breadth and quality of results. The lack of earthquakes further complicates efforts to understand its behavior and structure.

In a new study, the first to monitor strain offshore for an extended period of time, 天美影视传媒 researchers report that the plates may not be fully locked. Based on 13 years of ground motion data from sensors in different regions, the study shows the northern portion of the fault is locked and quiet, but the central region appears to be more active. There, researchers observed signs of a shallow, slow-motion earthquake and detected pulses of fluid flowing through subterranean channels, which may relieve pressure from the fault.

The findings, , may alter expectations of how this area will respond to a large earthquake. Similar features in other places have stopped a rupture that might have otherwise continued along the entire fault line.

鈥淚t鈥檚 preliminary, but we think that variable fluid pathways in Cascadia will change the behavior of large earthquakes on the fault,鈥� said co-author , a UW associate professor of Earth and space science.

The Juan de Fuca plate is advancing toward the North American plate at a rate of . But because the plates are stuck together, that motion generates pressure. Eventually, the building tension will exceed what the plates can tolerate. When they eventually slip free, an earthquake will spread along the boundary.

Megathrust earthquakes, which occur at boundaries where one plate slides beneath another, rock the Pacific Northwest every 500 or so years. one to 1700, and estimates suggest a 10 to 15% chance that the entire fault will rupture, producing an earthquake that could exceed magnitude 9, within the next fifty years. The results from this study do not alter those odds, but the dynamics captured might influence the severity of the eventual earthquake.

A recent survey of the seafloor found that into at least four geologically distinct segments. Each one may be insulated from a rupture in another region. In this study, the researchers took a closer look at two of the regions by analyzing data from three monitoring stations, one near Vancouver Island and two off the coast of Oregon.

鈥淲e wanted to understand strain changes in different regions offshore,鈥� said lead author , a UW doctoral student of oceanography. 鈥淲e used the seismometers to measure how the seismic velocity varies underneath each station.鈥�

Seismic velocity is a term used to describe the rate at which ambient noise travels through a material. Because the speed of sound depends on what it is moving through, tracking seismic velocity can give researchers a window into processes occurring beneath the ocean floor.

鈥淲hen you compact something, you can expect the sound waves to move through it faster,鈥� said Kidiwela.

The steady increase in seismic velocity observed at the northern site told the researchers the rock was compacting, which supports the theory that the two plates are locked in place.

The central region displayed a different pattern. For two months in 2016, seismic velocity decreased. The researchers attribute this drop to a slow-motion earthquake on the shallow edge of the oceanic plate that relieved some of the pressure at the fault.

Other drops in seismic velocity, recorded between 2017 and 2022, were linked to fluid dynamics. Subduction squeezes liquid out of rocks and pushes it toward the surface. The study found that other faults, running perpendicular to the subduction zone, may act as pathways for letting trapped fluid out.

鈥淒uring a megathrust rupture, one of the ways that an earthquake propagates is through fluid pressure. If you have a way to release these fluids, it could help improve the stability of the fault, and potentially impact how the region behaves during a large earthquake,鈥� Kidiwela said.

Pulling data from just three sites, the researchers observed complex dynamics that may have gone overlooked. Future work will greatly expand this effort. in 2023 to build an underwater observatory in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

鈥淔inding this link between fluids coming to the shallow subduction zone is pretty unique, as is the evidence that the fault is not completely locked,鈥� said co-author , a UW professor of oceanography and one of the scientists involved with the observatory. 鈥淚t suggests that we need more instruments there, because there may be more going on than people have been able to figure out before.鈥�

Additional co-authors include from the University of Utah.听

This study was funded by the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair in Sensor Networks at the 天美影视传媒 and the National Science Foundation.听

For more information, contact Kidiwela at seismic@uw.edu.

Five 天美影视传媒 faculty members have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 17, are , an assistant professor of physics, , an assistant professor of chemistry, and , an assistant professor of biology, all in the College of Arts & Sciences; , an assistant professor of computer science in the College of Engineering; and , an assistant professor of oceanography in the College of the Environment.听

Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, and including this year鈥檚 fellows, 136 faculty from 天美影视传媒 have received a Sloan Research Fellowship, according to the Sloan Foundation.听

Sloan Fellowships are open to scholars in seven scientific and technical fields 鈥� chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience and physics 鈥� and honor early-career researchers whose achievements mark them among the next generation of scientific leaders.听

The 126鈥疭loan Fellows for 2026鈥痺ere selected by researchers and faculty in the scientific community. Candidates are nominated by their peers, and fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars based on each candidate鈥檚 research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in their field. Each fellow will receive $75,000 to apply toward research endeavors.听

This year鈥檚 fellows come from 44 institutions across the United States and Canada.听

Maria 鈥淢asha鈥� Baryakhtar

叠补谤测补办丑迟补谤鈥檚 research in the Department of Physics focuses on theories beyond the established Standard Model of particle physics and on creating new ideas and directions for testing these theories. Such theories address outstanding puzzles in our existing understanding and often predict new, ultralight, feebly interacting particles beyond those we have discovered so far. The existence of these particles can be tested through exquisitely precise experiments in the lab or by observing extreme objects in the sky like black holes and neutron stars.

鈥淢y research program aims to search high and low for new, as yet hidden particles and forces. Because of their nature, these particles require a range of creative search strategies. The directions I am establishing use new technologies and data from the sky to the lab and may be the only way to shed light on the truly dark elements of our universe.鈥�

Matthew R. Golder

骋辞濒诲别谤鈥檚 research in the Department of Chemistry addresses the omnipresent “plastics problems” from two different vantage points. First, the team thinks about new ways to prolong the useful lifetime of commodity materials. The researchers use molecular engineering to keep plastics in use longer before discarding. The Golder Research Group also develops new methods to make and repurpose plastics, with an emphasis on green chemistry and making plastics more recyclable.

“Plastics are paramount to daily life, so there are numerous opportunities to improve performance and mitigate waste. We operate at the interface of fundamental organic chemistry and applied materials science to enhance plastic integrity and sustainability. By doing so, my students really take this mission to heart and constantly dream up new ways to creatively (re)design commodity plastic materials.”聽

Vikram Iyer

滨测别谤鈥檚 research in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering seeks to address sustainability challenges across the full computing stack from creating recyclable polymers to reimagining the way we build computing hardware by designing AI systems to and . In particular, the group鈥檚 work goes beyond simply reducing energy consumption to quantify and tackle the environmental impacts of materials and manufacturing.听

鈥�My group both leverages innovations from outside of computing like chemistry and material science to drive sustainability and applies computing techniques from AI to programming languages to fundamentally advance environmental sciences. This work is highly interdisciplinary and takes some extra effort at the beginning for each of us to understand the technologies and methods developed by our collaborators. By doing this, we can come up with completely new ideas that have real world impact like enabling carbon reduction at major companies like Amazon, and creating systems like battery-free robots that push the boundaries of technology.鈥�

Willem Laursen

尝补耻谤蝉别苍鈥檚 research in the Department of Biology is focused on understanding how animals detect and respond to sensory cues in their environment. Using genetic manipulation, neurophysiology and behavioral analyses, the lab’s current focus is to understand how disease vector mosquitoes use sensory cues to locate hosts, mates and egg-laying sites.

“It is an honor to be selected as a Sloan Fellow. This award will support our lab鈥檚 research on the role of the mosquito gustatory, or taste, system in critical behaviors, such as blood feeding. While mosquitoes use all of their senses to efficiently locate hosts, their taste system is surprisingly understudied. By examining the gustatory systems of blood-feeding insects, we hope to better understand how taste cues on the skin and in the blood are detected and used to guide their specialized behaviors, lines of inquiry that could ultimately identify new targets for controlling the spread of disease.”

Frankie Pavia

笔补惫颈补鈥檚 research in the School of Oceanography develops and applies new isotopic techniques to study feedbacks in the Earth system. His work spans the oceanic, atmospheric, lithospheric, and human domains, on timescales ranging from minutes to millennia.

鈥淭he oceans are a repository and reactor for materials originating on land, in the atmosphere, in Earth鈥檚 interior and from outer space. Chemical fingerprints of oceanic interactions with these reservoirs can be unlocked using unique analytical chemistry techniques, especially those involving the precise measurement of isotope ratios. My current research aims to discover new interactions between the oceans and the Earth system in the past, present and future, by pioneering interdisciplinary studies that use measurements of stable and radioactive isotopes to determine how much and how fast the Earth system changes. Current projects involve using cosmic dust to reconstruct sea-ice coverage, sensitively detecting human-derived carbon in the oceans, and understanding the past and future impacts of oceanic calcium carbonate dissolution on storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide.鈥澛�

Contact Baryakhtar at mbaryakh@uw.edu, Golder at goldermr@uw.edu, Iyer at vsiyer@cs.washington.edu, Laursen at wlaursen@uw.edu, and Pavia at fjpavia@uw.edu.

NASA last week that both the 天美影视传媒 STRIVE team and the UW-affiliated EDGE team were selected to lead satellite missions to better understand Earth and improve capabilities to foresee environmental events and mitigate disasters.

STRIVE and EDGE were among four finalists as part of the agency鈥檚 Earth System Explorers Program, which conducts principal investigator-led space science missions as recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space.

The total estimated cost of each mission, not including launch, will not exceed $355 million with a mission launch date of no earlier than 2030, stated NASA.

鈥淭his was fantastic news. We have been working on this concept for a few years now, and for many of us it is a dream come true. To be able to observe the atmosphere at this level of detail is a tremendous opportunity,鈥� said , a UW professor of atmospheric and climate science, who is leading the STRIVE mission.

Stratosphere-Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-resolved light Explorer

, which stands for Stratosphere-Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-resolved light Explorer, will examine the regions of the atmosphere where weather forms and the ozone layer sits, yielding new insights into temperature and trace gases in the atmosphere that affect aviation, long-range transport of volcanic smoke and air pollution.

The STRIVE instruments, compact enough to fit into the trunk of a midsize SUV, can make more than 400,000 observations each day. Instead of looking straight down at the Earth, like other missions, the STRIVE instruments angle sideways towards Earth鈥檚 surface to capture the atmosphere in greater detail.

鈥淲ith these observations, we won鈥檛 just get measurements of ozone but rather all the chemical species that affect ozone in the stratosphere,鈥� Jaegl茅 said.

The ozone layer, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation, after severe depletion in the early 2000s, but still requires careful monitoring.

STRIVE represents a technological and scientific quantum leap that will help researchers understand how air pollution circulates following a wildfire or volcanic eruption, for example. Importantly, STRIVE will also aid weather forecasting efforts beyond the typical 10-day window to give people time to prepare for extreme weather events.

鈥淚f we can see something propagating from high up 鈥� such as large shifts in winds 鈥斅爐hen we will know that several weeks later it will impact Earth鈥檚 surface. Our current weather models cannot predict this connection very well because we don鈥檛 really know what is going on at the interface of the stratosphere and troposphere,” Jaegl茅 added.

The national-scale team includes partners from academia, industry and federal science labs. at the University of Iowa is the deputy principal investigator of STRIVE, and at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center is the project scientist. Several NASA Goddard scientists are also involved. Other UW members of STRIVE are professor , assistant professor and affiliate faculty member , all in the UW Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science.

The Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer聽

, or Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer, uses lasers to observe the three dimensional structure of Earth鈥檚 surface 鈥� including forests, glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice 鈥� as it changes. , a senior principal physicist and , a senior research scientist both at the UW and , a UW associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, are part of the EDGE team, led by from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

EDGE will be the first global satellite imaging laser altimeter system, according to . The system captures surface detail in high resolution by firing laser pulses at the Earth and recording how long it takes for them to return, making over 150,000 measurements each second. It can also precisely track changes in surface elevation over time to capture how ice sheets and glaciers are responding to climate change over seasonal and longer-term timescales.

“What’s really exciting about EDGE is the level of detail it will measure. Older laser altimetry measurements sample a coarse grid of points on the ground, but with the EDGE data we will be able to see individual trees around Seattle, and small cracks in glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. Often, it’s the fine-scale processes that drive how the large-scale system changes,” Smith said.

Although the effort will focus on polar regions, forests and coastlines, EDGE is an 鈥渆verything mission,鈥� Shean said.

鈥淭hese precise surface elevation change measurements are essential for so many pressing scientific and engineering applications,鈥� he added. 鈥淭he EDGE data will have implications for sea level rise, natural hazards monitoring, water resource and forest management, and wildfire response. This is also a major milestone for UW, as it formalizes UW leadership and involvement on not one, but two NASA Earth Observation missions. I鈥檓 excited to bring students onto the EDGE team and train the next generation of UW researchers who will do amazing things with EDGE data in the coming decades.鈥�

For more information on STRIVE, contact Jaegl茅 at jaegle@uw.edu.