New faculty books from the 天美影视传媒 include those from Asian languages and literature, applied mathematics and the Jackson School of International Studies.

Charting a new genealogy of yoga

and , both professors in the Jackson School of International Studies, collaborated to publish 鈥�.鈥�

Yoga has an enormous range of meanings, though it most often refers to philosophy or methods to control the mind or body. Kale and Novetzke argue for a wider understanding, writing that yoga has long expressed political thought and practice.

“This is a book about yoga, but it is not about that听yoga. Our book does not center the yoga you鈥檒l find in a modern yoga studio,鈥� they write in the opening. 鈥淚nstead, the yoga of this book is the yoga of poets and kings, warriors and heroes, princes and revolutionaries. It is the yoga of leaders finding ways to govern and of insurgents rising from under the weight of colonialism.鈥�

The authors chart a new genealogy of yoga, beginning with uses of the term in some of India鈥檚 ancient texts like the Rig Veda, the Mah膩bh膩rata, the Bhagavad G墨t膩 and the Artha艣膩stra. In the world of these texts, yoga names everything from war and battle strategy to good governance, espionage, taxation and welfare.

This path leads to the modern period, where Kale and Novetzke examine the writings and speeches of nationalist-era political figures like Gandhi, Aurobindo, Ambedkar and the Raja of Aundh. Their interpretation of yoga embraces its long-standing political conceptualization and sheds light on South Asian political thought and history.

They write: 鈥淭he yoga that we study here echoes from the ancient past in a way that resonates forcefully in the political present. This is a book about the yoga that names what people do to hold sway over other people, things, concepts and political structures. This is a book about the yoga of power.鈥�

For more information, contact Kale at kale@uw.edu and Novetzke at novetzke@uw.edu.

History and development of the Chinese script

, professor of Asian languages and literature, recently published 鈥�.鈥�

The book explores the history of the Chinese script, particularly how it鈥檚 been changed and adapted over 2,000 years for use in non-Chinese languages. In tracing these developments, Handel explores misconceptions and myths about Chinese writing, notions that Chinese could be a universal script and the future of Chinese characters.

鈥淭his book presents the fascinating story of the millennia-long history of Chinese writing,鈥� Handel said. 鈥淭hrough lively anecdotes, examples and images, it demystifies Chinese writing and invites the reader to gain new insights and perspectives on the relationship between written and spoken language.鈥�

The book is written in a non-technical style meant to be accessible to readers who don鈥檛 have any background knowledge of Chinese.

鈥淚 am proud and excited to be able to present material that has engaged me throughout my scholarly career in a style that invites everyone to share my fascination,鈥� Handel said.

For more information, contact Handel at zhandel@uw.edu.

Latest edition of 鈥淜orean for Dummies鈥�

, UW teaching professor of Asian languages and literature, served as the primary co-author for the second edition of 鈥�.鈥�

The newly released edition features 20 thematically organized chapters that explore a wide range of everyday topics, including Hangeul, Korean grammar, travel, shopping, work and dining out.

Each chapter is designed to introduce practical expressions, essential vocabulary, cultural insights and helpful language tips, equipping learners with the tools to communicate effectively and confidently in various real-life situations. The book offers language support that is relevant and accessible.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a traditional language textbook filled with dense grammar explanations,鈥� Won said. 鈥淚nstead, it serves as a practical reference guide for learners who want to start conversing in Korean with ease.鈥�

The book focuses on real-life scenarios, such as ordering food, shopping at local markets or making travel arrangements, while offering cultural notes that enhance understanding of Korean norms and etiquette.

Ideal for beginners, the book supports pronunciation practice, conversation strategies and the use of polite language in context. It also serves as a valuable resource for anyone seeking to deepen their appreciation of Korean culture through language.

鈥淭his book is brimming with cultural gems and practical tips that help learners grasp the essentials of Korean,鈥� Won said.

The project is a collaborative effort between Won and Jeongyi Lee of Kennesaw State University.

For more information, contact Won at woney@uw.edu.

A stochastic control approach to dynamic futures trading

鈥溾�� is a recent book by , professor of applied mathematics.

Futures play an integral role in financial markets; millions of contracts are traded on futures exchanges around the globe every day. In recent years, futures have been incorporated into a wide array of financial securities and have become the driving force behind their price dynamics.

Multiple stochastic models are designed to capture the salient features of various market regimes and dynamics. They are useful for pricing futures contracts and building futures portfolios.

In this book, Leung and his co-author , who graduated from UW with a doctoral degree in applied mathematics, analyze the mathematical problems associated with futures trading problems in different market environments. The book presents a series of numerical examples to illustrate the optimal trading strategies.

鈥淭his book was motivated by a series of research projects on futures pricing and trading,鈥� said Leung, who is the Boeing Endowed Professor of Applied Mathematics and the computational finance and risk management, or CFRM,听program.

鈥淯W graduate students in applied mathematics and in the CFRM program participated in our lectures on dynamic futures portfolio optimization, while others took part in the early reading of the drafts of various chapters,鈥� Leung said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful for this vibrant research environment.鈥�

For more information, contact Leung at timleung@uw.edu.

Highlighting concept-based language instruction

鈥溾�� showcases how concept-based language instruction can be effectively integrated into foreign language instruction.

Published in January, the book was co-authored by , UW professor of Asian languages and literature, , UW lecturer of Japanese, and Kyoko Masuda of Georgia Tech.

Concept-based language instruction is grounded in the relationship between theory, research and practice. The method uses visual aids called SCOBAs 鈥� or schemas for a complete orientating basis of action 鈥� to teach accurate scientific concepts.

鈥淭his is one of the first books in an emerging research area, and the first related to Japanese,鈥� Ohta said. 鈥淲e are excited to see it in print, and hope that it provides inspiration for researchers and foreign language teachers.鈥�

For more information, contact Ohta at aohta@uw.edu.

• , professor of neurobiology and biophysics, and adjunct professor of applied mathematics
• , Arthur B. McDonald Professor of Physics and director at the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics

Fairhall and Hertzog are among 120 new members and 30 international members elected 鈥渋n recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,鈥� . Chartered in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences provides policy advice and input to governmental, nonprofit and private organizations.

develops theoretical approaches to understand how nervous systems process information. She collaborates with experimental labs across the UW, examining information processing in systems that range from single neurons 鈥� nerve cells that receive and conduct signals 鈥� to neural networks. She鈥檚 studied how mosquitoes use heat and chemical cues to forage, and how neural inputs drive muscle activation and biomechanics in hydra 鈥� tiny, tentacled invertebrates that live in water.

Fairhall grew up in Australia. She completed her master鈥檚 and Ph.D. in physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Princeton University before joining the UW School of Medicine faculty in 2004. Among Fairhall鈥檚 honors and awards are a Sloan Fellowship, a Burroughs Wellcome 鈥淐areers at the Scientific Interface鈥� Fellowship and a McKnight Scholar Award. She was named an Allen Institute Distinguished Investigator. In 2022, she was Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair at the 脡cole Normale Sup茅rieure in Paris.

Hertzog leads the UW , a research group that has designed and constructed detectors for high-precision experiments with muons 鈥� similar to electrons, but about 200 times more massive 鈥� conducted at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. The UW team also has led efforts to analyze the massive amounts of data produced in that experiment, known as the听.

The overarching goal is to test the 鈥� a theory to describe how the universe works at its most fundamental level.听Studying the behavior of muons may help determine whether muons are interacting solely with known particles and forces, or if unknown particles or forces exist.

Hertzog completed his Ph.D. in physics at The College of William & Mary. Following time at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Illinois, he joined the UW as a professor in 2010. He鈥檚 served on numerous scientific advisory committees and panels and is coauthor of more than 200 papers and technical reports. He has mentored or co-mentored more than 20 Ph.D. students and 15 postdoctoral researchers.

With this year鈥檚 additions, the National Academy of Sciences now has 2,662 active members and 556 international members.

From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this June.

ArtSci on the Go

Looking for more ways to get more out of Arts & Sciences? Check out these resources to take ArtSci wherever you go!

Zev J. Handel, “Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese”听()

Black Composers Project engages the School of Music faculty and students ()

Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC Professor Canan Bolel ()

Back to School Podcast 听with Liz Copland ()

Featured Podcast: “Ways of Knowing” (College of Arts & Sciences)

This podcast highlights how studies of the humanities can reflect everyday life. Through a partnership between and the 天美影视传媒, each episode features a faculty member from the UW College of Arts & Sciences, who discusses the work that inspires them and suggests resources to learn more about the topic.

Episode 1: Digital Humanities with assistant professor of English and data science, Anna Preus.

Episode 2: Paratext with associate professor of French, Richard Watts.

Episode 3: Ge’ez with听associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, Hamza Zafer.

Closing Exhibits

Week of June 2

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ONLINE ONLY: (Jackson School)

Join the Jackson School for Trump in the World 2.0, a series of talks and discussions on the international impact of the second Trump presidency.

This week: Daniel Bessner; Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | (Jackson School)

This talk discusses the unconventional forms of care that emerge out of Kurdish resistance in Turkey, where mothering becomes a powerful response against necropolitical state violence. By centering the stories of two Kurdish mothers who had to care for their dead children and mother beyond life under the violent state of emergency regime declared in 2015; the talk examines how Kurdish mothers 鈥渞escue the dead鈥� (Antoon, 2021) from the necropolitical state and create their necropolitical power through a radical embrace of death and decoupling of mothering from the corporeal link between the mother and the child.

Monday, June 2, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies)

Why do some protests in autocracies attract popular participation while others do not? Masaaki Higashijima’s, University of Tokyo, paper argues that when opposition elites and the masses have divergent motivations for protesting, anti-regime mobilization struggles to gain momentum. Moreover, this weak elite-mass linkage is further exacerbated when autocrats selectively repress protests led by opposition elites while making concessions to those organized by ordinary citizens.

Tuesday, June 3, 5:00 – 6:30 pm | (Communications)

A conversation with local public media leaders about current challenges–including federal funding cuts–and pathways forward for sustaining public service journalism.

Speakers include:

Rob Dunlop, President and CEO, Cascade PBS
David Fischer, President and General Manager, KNKX
Tina Pamintuan, incoming President and CEO, KUOW
Matthew Powers, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy

Wednesday, June 4, 3:30 – 4:30 pm | (Psychology)

Cognitive biases 鈥� such as attentional biases toward aversive cues, distorted expectations of negative events, and biased interpretations of ambiguity 鈥� are central features of many forms of psychopathology. Gaining a deeper understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these biases is crucial for advancing theoretical models and clinical interventions.

In this talk, Prof. Hadas Okon-Singer will present a series of studies exploring emotional biases in both healthy individuals and participants diagnosed with social anxiety, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Wednesday, June 4, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | (Center for Statistics & Social Sciences)

Many statistical analyses, in both observational data and randomized control trials, ask: how does the outcome of interest vary with combinations of observable covariates? How do various drug combinations affect health outcomes, or how does technology adoption depend on incentives and demographics? Tyler McCormick’s, Professor, Statistics & Sociology, 天美影视传媒, goal is to partition this factorial space into “pools” of covariate combinations where the outcome differs across the pools (but not within a pool).

Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

David Alexander Rahbee leads the UW Symphony in a program of concerto excerpts by York Bowen, Keiko Abe, and Camille Saint-Sa毛ns, performed with winners of the 2024-25 School of Music Concerto Competitions: Flora Cummings, viola; Kaisho Barnhill, marimba; and Sandy Huang, piano. Also on the program, works by Mikhail Glinka, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday, June 7 & Sunday, June 8, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | (Burke Museum)

Stewart Wong will share knowledge and personal experiences about working with Broussonetia Papyrifera. He will talk about the history, uses, and cultivation of the paper mulberry plant. In addition, Stewart plans on dyeing, drawing on, and printing kapa. Stewart will have printed information and material samples to supplement the talk.

Saturday, June 7, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | On Our Terms with Wakulima USA (Burke Museum)

Join the Burke Museum for a short screening from “,” plus a conversation with co-producer Aaron McCanna and Wakulima USA’s David Bulindah and Maura Kizito about food sovereignty and community building.

Additional Events

June 2 | (Music)

June 2 | (Asian Languages & Literature)

June 2 – June 6 | (Astronomy)

June 3 | (Music)

June 4 | (Music)

June 4 | (Psychology)

June 5 | (Music)

June 5 | (Speech & Hearing)

June 5 | (Labor Studies)

June 5 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 6 | (Dance)

June 6 | (Geography)

June 7 | (Music)

Week of June 9

Wednesday, June 11 to Friday, June 27 | (Jacob Lawrence Gallery)

At the end of the spring quarter, the academic year culminates in comprehensive exhibitions of design work created by graduating students. The UW Design Show 2025, showcasing the capstone projects of graduating BDes students, will be held from June 11 to June 27 in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Additional Events

June 11 | (Henry Art Gallery)

June 11 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 12 & June 13 | (DXARTS)

June 13 | (Art + Art History + Design)

Events for the week of June 23

June 24 | (Information Sessions)

June 25 | (Information Sessions)

June 26 | (Information Sessions)

June 27 | (Information Sessions)

Commencement

June marks the end of many College of Arts & Sciences students’ undergraduate experience. Interested in attending a graduation ceremony? Click here to find information on ceremonies across campus.

From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this May.

February 12, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | 听Smith Hall

As part of the History Colloquium, Professor La Tasha Levy will discuss 鈥淏lack Soldiers and the Racial Debilitation of Slavery and the Civil War.” Levy is a Black Studies scholar who currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Ethnic Studies

The History Colloquium aims to encourage greater intellectual exchange within the UW community by discussing works in progress from faculty members and graduate students.

Free |听

February 12, 5:30 – 7:30 pm | Thomson Hall

Join the Department of Asian Languages & Literature for a series of films exploring diversity and inclusion in Japanese society. “Whole” is a short drama created by Writer Usman Kawazoe and Director Bilal Kawazoe depicting Haruki, a biracial student who decides to quit college and travel to Japan, and Makoto, a construction worker raised in the projects of Kansai who is also biracial. Haruki and Makoto grow closer and begin their journey from “Half” to “Whole.”

The film is in Japanese with English subtitles and will be followed by a brief discussion.

Free |

February 12, 7:30 pm | Meany Hall

Dynamic duo Cuong Vu and Cristina Vald茅s straddle the worlds of contemporary classical music and free improvisation, premiering works for trumpet and piano by Oliver Schneller, Wang Lu, and Sk煤li Sverrisson, and performing music by Huck Hodge and Eva-Maria Houben.

Tickets |

February 13, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | Architecture Hall

Join the Jackson School of International Studies for a Middle East Lecture Series with Marc Lynch, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University, on Regional Repercussions of the War.听

This event is part of听War in the Middle East, a series of talks and discussions on the aftermath of October 7, the war in Gaza, and responses worldwide.

Recordings of past lectures are available on the .

Free |

February 13, 6:30 pm | Building Scyborgs. An evening on decolonization, Town Hall Seattle & Livestream

Join scholar, organizer, and co-conspirator K. Wayne Yang as he shares stories about decolonizing endeavors from past, present, future, and speculative somewheres. Yang will discuss monsters, machines, mortals, and how people are the objects of colonization and agents of decolonization.

Free | More info & Registration

February 14 & 15, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm | Husky Union Building Street/Lyceum

February 15, 6:00 – 8:30 pm | Kane Hall

The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute is joined by the Departments of Applied Mathematics, Mathematics, and Statistics for the film screening of Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Forging Resilience.

The film, by George Csicsery, traces the cultural evolution of Black scholars, scientists, and educators. Follow the stories of prominent pioneers, and the challenges and accomplishments reflected in today’s working Black mathematicians. Their mathematical descendants are now present day college and K-12 students across the US, learning they belong in mathematics and STEM.

The screening will follow with a Q&A with Director George Csicsery.

Free |

February 15 – 17, 8:00 pm | Meany Hall

A symphony of acrobatics, sound, and light, Humans 2.0 is next level circus by the Australian contemporary circus group Circa. Ten bodies appear in a flash of light. They move in harmony for a fleeting moment and then descend into a sinuous trance. Created by circus visionary Yaron Lifschitz, with pulsing music by composer Ori Lichtik and dramatic lighting by Paul Jackson, Humans 2.0 is intimate, primal, and deeply engaged with the challenge of being human.

Tickets |

February 15, 4:00 – 5:30 pm | Thomson Hall

The UW South Asia Center invites Elora Shehabuddin, professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and Global Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, to present a unique and engaging history of feminism as a story of colonial and postcolonial interactions between Western and Muslim societies.

Stretching from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment era to the War on Terror present, Sisters in the Mirror shows how changes in women鈥檚 lives and feminist strategies have consistently reflected wider changes in national and global politics and economics.

Free |

February 15, 7:30 pm | Brechemin Auditorium

Craig Sheppard, Robin McCabe, and Cristina Vald茅s lead students from the UW piano studios to perform works from the piano repertoire.

Craig Sheppard is Professor of Piano and Head of Keyboard at the UW School of Music. He is also Professor of the Advanced Innovation Center at the China Conservatory in Beijing.

Celebrated pianist Robin McCabe has established herself as one of America鈥檚 most communicative and persuasive artists. McCabe鈥檚 involvement and musical sensibilities have delighted audiences across the globe.

Pianist Cristina Vald茅s presents innovative concerts of standard and experimental repertoire, and is known to 鈥減lay a mean piano.鈥� A fierce advocate for new music, she has premiered countless works, including many written for her.

Free |

February 16, 3:00 pm | Brechemin Auditorium

UW Strings students perform concerto movements for outside judges, competing听for a chance to perform with the 天美影视传媒 Symphony.

Free |

February 20, 1:00 pm | Husky Union Building South Ballroom

The College of Arts & Sciences welcomes the UW community of faculty, staff, and students to participate in the second annual 鈥淏ig Read.鈥�

Tune into the conversation with Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League and author of Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What is Human in a World of Machines and听Dr. Emily M. Bender, UW Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Master鈥檚 Program in Computational Linguistics.

Free |

February 22, 4:00 pm | Climate Crisis: Our Response as Artivists, Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall

Appearing onstage at the UW鈥檚 Meany Center in February, 鈥�Small Island Big Song鈥� is an immersive concert experience that celebrates the seafaring cultures of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and features Indigenous musicians from the frontline of the climate crisis.

The UWAA and Meany Center are excited to gather a UW College of the Environment alumna, a current student (Majoring in geography) and creators of 鈥淪mall Island Big Song鈥� to talk about issues of climate change, advocacy, art and culture. Our panelists each come to these topics from different vantage points and will share their reflections on how these topics all impact one another.

As the climate crisis quickly rises to the top of world concerns, different sectors 鈥� including artists 鈥� scramble to figure out ways to respond to its impending pressures. We all have a vital role to play. Join the conversation as we explore ways we can use our voices to push the needle on political, economic, social and cultural questions at the root of this global concern.

UWAA hosted reception to follow.

Free | More info & Registration

Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).

Joyce Yen honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring

On Feb. 8, President Joe Biden Joyce Yen and 14 other individuals and organizations as recipients of the (PAESMEM). is the director of the UW鈥檚 , a program that works to eliminate underrepresentation of women faculty in STEM at the UW and beyond.

Established in 1995, PAESMEM recognizes the critical roles mentors play outside the traditional classroom in the academic and professional development of the future STEM workforce.

鈥淭his award not only validates the importance of mentoring, but it also elevates the intersection of excellence and diversity and those pushing the STEM ecosystem to be better,鈥� Yen said. 鈥淚 truly love the work I do fostering communities and cultures in STEM that support and advance inclusion and belonging.鈥�

In March, Yen was about the award, the work of the ADVANCE Center and the challenges of increasing women鈥檚 participation in STEM academic fields. Launched in 2001 with funding from the National Science Foundation, the center partners with faculty, chairs and leadership across campus to remove barriers for women faculty and develop accountability for institutional change.

Yen is following in the footsteps of two of her mentors, and , as PAESMEM awardees. Denton, the original principal investigator of the ADVANCE IT grant, was honored in 2003, and Riskin, the faculty director of the center, was honored in 2020.

Riskin nominated Yen for the award.

鈥淛oyce鈥檚 impact on the careers of so many faculty in STEM at UW and across the country has been profound,鈥� Riskin said. 鈥淪o many people are in rewarding careers thanks to Joyce鈥檚 efforts and support. I am so thrilled she was selected for this honor.鈥�

The National Science Foundation, which manages PAESMEM on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, provides each recipient $10,000.听 Award recipients also receive a certificate signed by President Joe Biden.

The White House has invited the awardees from 2020 and 2021 to Washington, D.C. from May 24 to 26 for events that will include professional development activities as well as an awards ceremony and dinner. Both Yen and Riskin are planning to attend.

Professor Nathan Kutz elected SIAM fellow

, UW professor of applied mathematics, has been elected as a 2022 fellow of the (SIAM). Fellows are chosen for their exemplary and outstanding service to the community.

Kutz was recognized for his innovative contributions across many disciplines of applied mathematics. Most recently, he has pioneered contributions that integrate modern machine learning methods with traditional dynamical systems modeling. These innovations have paved the way for emerging methods to be applied to complex systems where many traditional applied mathematical methods have failed.

鈥淚 believe this award ultimately is a reflection of the exceptional graduate students and postdocs I have mentored in my time at the UW,鈥� Kutz said. 鈥淭hey have been the driving force and inspiration behind all the years of progressive developments leading to new paradigms and innovations in applied mathematics. I am truly thankful for the time I have had with each one of them in my journey of exploration.鈥�

Kutz joins the UW鈥檚 Anne Greenbaum, Randy LeVeque, Robert O鈥橫alley and Fred Wan as SIAM fellows.

鈥淭he department is honored to welcome a fifth SIAM Fellow among its ranks with the recent recognition of Professor Nathan Kutz,鈥� said , professor and chair of the Applied Math department. 鈥淩ecognitions like these reflect the outstanding quality present in the department, in these and many other areas of research.鈥�

Alexina Kublu wins 2022 Inuit Language Recognition Award

, an instructor in the UW , is one of three people to receive the 2022 . Kublu teaches Inuktitut, the Inuit language of Canada.

The award is given out by the Inuit Uqausinginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit board, the language authority created by the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. Nunavut is a territory of northern Canada that stretches across 4 million square kilometers of the Canadian Arctic, and Inuktitut is one of its official languages.

Kublu, the former Languages Commissioner of Nunavut, teaches at the Nunavut Arctic College and the UW remotely from her home in Iqaluit, the capital of the territory. In December 2021, she taught classes to aspiring teachers as part of the Nunavut Arctic College鈥檚 teacher education program, which prepares students to become classroom teachers in the territory鈥檚 schools. The students in those classes nominated her for the award.

Kublu once lost her native language, so teaching it to others is personally meaningful for her.
Starting in the early 20th century, the Canadian government established racially segregated hospitals to treat Indigenous people for infections like tuberculosis. Children and adults received treatment, , for months or years at a time. Sent to one of these hospitals as a child, Kublu forgot how to speak Inuktitut while she was away.

But she learned her language again, thanks to her grandmother. That experience shaped how she teaches the language.

鈥淚 think I’m more able to see my language from an analytical point of view,鈥� Kublu said, 鈥渞ather than just something I speak.鈥�

Kublu teaches Inuktitut for the UW as a part of the , offered through the Canadian Studies Center. The fellowship supports students as they acquire a foreign language and conduct research related to Canada. In 2004, the Canadian Studies Center got its first fellowship application to learn Inuktitut. Since then, they鈥檝e awarded 38 of these fellowships to 17 students. Many of the students are conducting research in the Arctic, where the language is spoken.

The UW is the only institution in the U.S. offering students the chance to learn Canadian Inuit languages and the only institution in the U.S. awarding the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship in Indigenous languages.

Nadine Fabbi, managing director of the Canadian Studies Center, says that Kublu鈥檚 award shows the high caliber of training fellows are receiving.

鈥淭his award just proves that Kublu is not only one of the foremost linguists in Inuktitut in Canada, but she鈥檚 also a good teacher,鈥� Fabbi said. 鈥淚’m just proud that this is a caliber of teaching that’s occurring for these fellowships. It鈥檚 a boon to the program to see that our language teachers are also the top of their field.鈥�

The U.S. National Science Foundation today 11 new artificial-intelligence research institutes, including one led by the 天美影视传媒. These institutes are part of a $220 million investment spanning seven research areas in AI. Each institute will receive about $20 million over five years.

The will focus on fundamental AI and machine learning theory, algorithms and applications for real-time learning and control of complex dynamic systems, which describe chaotic situations where conditions are constantly shifting and hard to predict.

“The engineering sciences are undergoing a revolution that is aided by machine learning and AI algorithms,” said institute director , a UW professor of applied mathematics. “This institute brings together a world-class team of engineers, scientists and mathematicians who aim to integrate fundamental developments in AI with applications in critical and emerging technological applications.”

Researchers know the basic physics principles behind dynamic systems, which include situations such as turbulence or how the body recovers from an injury. But these scenarios are often happening on multiple timescales at once and can be a combination of many types of physics, making it hard for researchers to understand exactly what’s going on.

“My favorite dynamic system is turbulence,” said institute associate director , a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering. “We literally live and breathe inside of a working fluid, and so do nearly all of our machines. But because of the multiscale complexity of the fluid, which involves a cascade of increasingly smaller eddies, we still have an incredibly hard time predicting what fluids will do outside of idealized and controlled settings.”

The overall goal of this institute is to integrate physics-based models with AI and machine learning approaches to develop data-enabled efficient and explainable solutions for challenges across science and engineering.

“Some of our specific questions include: Can we develop better machine-learning technologies by baking in and enforcing known physics, such as conservation laws, symmetries, etc.?” Brunton said. “Similarly, in complex systems where we only have partially known or unknown physics 鈥� such as neuroscience or epidemiology 鈥� can we use machine learning to learn the ‘physics’ of these systems?”

In addition to research, the institute will be focused on training future researchers in this field throughout the education pipeline. Some examples include: partnering with high school programs that focus on AI-related projects and creating a post-baccalaureate program that will actively recruit and support recent college graduates from underrepresented groups, United States veterans and first-generation college students with the goal of helping them attend graduate school.

“The institute will provide massive open-source educational materials that include lectures, data and code packages for advancing and empowering AI,” Kutz said. “Importantly, we will provide AI ethics training for all involved in the institute. We will also make this training available to the community at large, thus enforcing a disciplined approach to thinking about AI and its implications for our emerging societal concerns around data, data privacy and the ethical application of AI algorithms.”

For this institute, the UW is partnering with several regional institutions 鈥� the University of Hawaii at M膩noa, Montana State University, the University of Nevada Reno, Boise State University, the University of Alaska Anchorage and Portland State University 鈥� as well as with Harvard University and Columbia University.

“We are so excited to bring together a critical mass of amazing and innovative researchers from across the U.S. to really move the needle in developing machine learning technology for physical and engineering dynamic systems,” Brunton said. “We also have a deep connection with industry partners, such as Boeing, which provides us with an incredible opportunity to make sure that we are focused on important and relevant problems and that our technology will actually be used.”

Additional UW researchers who are part of this institute are lead researcher , assistant professor of mechanical engineering; , professor of electrical and computer engineering; , professor of biostatistics; and , a research associate professor of chemical engineering.

“I’m glad to see this substantial investment going to one of our state’s premier research institutions,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “As the 天美影视传媒 and other research institutions in our state continue to lead on artificial intelligence, this investment will be critical to ensuring that the state of Washington remains a leader in innovation, research and scientific achievement. I’ll keep fighting for important federal investments like this one to move this work forward.”

The UW is also , the AI EDGE Institute, which is led by Ohio State University. The goal of this institute is to design future generations of wireless edge networks that are highly efficient, reliable, robust and secure.

These 11 new AI institutes are building on the first round of seven AI institutes funded in 2020, and expand the reach of these institutes to include a total of 40 states and Washington D.C.听In addition to the UW-led institute, the state of Washington will also house the , led by Washington State University. The institute鈥檚 goal is to use AI to tackle some of agriculture鈥檚 biggest challenges related to labor, water, weather and climate change.

“The state of Washington is already a leader in artificial intelligence,鈥� said U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “From the 天美影视传媒’s Tech Policy Lab that studies the grand challenges around artificial intelligence to Washington State University’s work in precision agriculture, we are more than ready for these two grants to help us understand more artificial intelligence applications.听The UW will work in the area of complex systems to improve fields like manufacturing, and WSU will work on improvements in farming.”

The AI Institute for Dynamic Systems is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

For more information, contact Kutz at kutz@uw.edu and Brunton at sbrunton@uw.edu.

Twenty scientists and engineers at the 天美影视传媒 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 . New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥�

Current academy members selected 29 of the new members. An additional nine were elected by virtue of joining one of the National Academies.

New UW members who were elected by current academy members are:

• , professor and Port of Tacoma Chair in Environmental Science at UW Tacoma, director of the and science director of the , 鈥渇or foundational work on the environmental fate, behavior and toxicity of PCBs.鈥�
• , professor of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions in research on racial and gender inequality that has influenced practices in education, government, and business鈥� and 鈥渇or shifting the explanation for inequality away from individual deficiencies and examining how societal stereotypes and structures cause inequalities.鈥�
• , professor of chemistry and member faculty at the , 鈥渇or leadership in the innovative synthesis and chemical modification of nanoscale materials for application in light emission and catalysis.鈥�
• , professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences, and founding director of the , 鈥渇or work on the health impacts of climate change, on climate impact forecasting, on adaptation to climate change and on climate policy to protect health.鈥�
• , professor of environmental and forest sciences and dean emeritus of the College of the Environment, 鈥渇or foundational studies of regional paleoenvironmental history and sustained excellence in academic leadership to catalyze and sustain transformative research and educational initiatives.鈥� Graumlich is also president-elect of the American Geophysical Union.
• Dr. , the Joseph W. Eschbach Endowed Chair in Kidney Research and co-director of the , 鈥渇or pioneering contributions and outstanding achievements in the development of the novel wearable artificial kidney, as well as numerous investigator-initiated clinical trials and multi-center collaborative studies.鈥�
• , professor of environmental chemistry and chair of the Physical Sciences Division at UW Bothell, 鈥渇or leadership in monitoring and understanding the global transport of atmospheric pollutants from energy production, wildfire, and other sources, as well as science communication and service that has informed citizens and enhanced public policy.鈥�
• , professor and chair of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions demonstrating how psychological science can inform long-standing issues about racial and gender discrimination鈥� and 鈥渇or research that has deep and penetrating implications for the law and societal efforts to remedy social inequities with evidence-based programs and actions.鈥�
• , the Leon C. Johnson Professor of Chemistry, member faculty at the and chair of the Department of Chemistry, 鈥渇or developing new spectroscopy tools for measuring energy flow in molecules and materials with high spatial and temporal resolution.鈥�
• , professor of astronomy, 鈥渇or founding the and leading the decades-long development of the interdisciplinary modeling framework and community needed to establish the science of exoplanet astrobiology鈥� and 鈥渇or training the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who will search for life beyond Earth.鈥�
• , professor and chair of aeronautics and astronautics, 鈥渇or leadership and significant advances in nonlinear methods for integrated sensing and control in engineered, bioinspired and biological flight systems鈥� and 鈥渇or leadership in cross-disciplinary aerospace workforce development.鈥�
• , associate professor of chemistry and member faculty with the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, 鈥渇or exceptional contributions to the development of synthetic polymers and nanomaterials for self-assembly and advanced manufacturing with application in sustainability, medicine and microelectronics.鈥�
• Dr. , Associate Dean of Medical Technology Innovation in the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, the Graham and Brenda Siddall Endowed Chair in Cornea Research, and medical director of the UW Eye Institute, 鈥渇or developing and providing first class clinical treatment of severe corneal blindness to hundreds of people, for establishing the world premier artificial cornea program in Washington, and for leading collaborative research to translate innovative engineering technologies into creative clinical solution.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of medicine and director of the , 鈥渇or global recognition as an authority on drug and vaccine development for viral and parasitic diseases through work as an infectious disease physician and immunologist.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of pediatrics and of anesthesiology and pain medicine, and director of the , 鈥渇or outstanding leadership in pediatric anesthesiology and in the care of children with traumatic brain injury鈥� and 鈥渇or internationally recognized expertise in traumatic brain injury and direction of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center for the last decade as an exceptional mentor and visionary leader.鈥�

UW members who will join the Washington State Academy of Sciences by virtue of their election to one of the National Academies are:

• , professor of biostatistics, 鈥渇or the development of novel statistical models for longitudinal data to better diagnose disease, track its trajectory, and predict its outcomes鈥� and 鈥渇or revolutionizing how dynamic predictors are judged by their discrimination and calibration and has significantly advanced methods for randomized controlled trials.鈥� Heagerty was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
• , the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering, 鈥渇or foundational contributions to the mathematics of computer systems and of the internet, as well as to the design and probabilistic analysis of algorithms, especially on-line algorithms, and algorithmic mechanism design and game theory.鈥� Karlin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor emeritus of applied mathematics and data science fellow at the , 鈥渇or inventing key algorithms for hyperbolic conservation laws and transforming them into powerful numerical technologies鈥� and 鈥渇or creating the Clawpack package, which underpins a wide range of application codes in everyday use, such as for hazard assessment due to tsunamis and other geophysical phenomena.鈥� LeVeque was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , the Benjamin D. Hall Endowed Chair in Basic Life Sciences and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 鈥渇or advancing our physical understanding of cell motility and growth in animals and bacteria鈥� and 鈥渇or discovering how the pathogen Listeria uses actin polymerization to move inside human cells, how crawling animal cells coordinate actomyosin dynamics and the mechanical basis of size control and daughter cell separation in bacteria.鈥� Theriot was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor and chair of biological structure, 鈥渇or elucidating cellular transformations through which neurons pattern their dendrites, and the interplay of activity-dependent and -independent mechanisms leading to assembly of stereotyped circuits鈥� and 鈥渇or revelations regarding the fundamental principles of neuronal development through the application of an elegant combination of in vivo imaging, physiology, ultrastructure and genetics to the vertebrate retina.鈥� Wong was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

New members to the Washington State Academy of Sciences are scheduled to be inducted at a meeting in September.

Five faculty members and one affiliate professor at the 天美影视传媒 are among 120 new members and 30 international members elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The new members include 59 women, the most chosen in a single year, according to an April 26 by the academy.

• , professor of computer science and engineering
• , professor of biochemistry
• , professor emeritus of applied mathematics
• , professor of biology
• , professor of biological structure

In addition, , a professor of human biology and of public health sciences at the , was elected to the academy. Overbaugh is an affiliate UW professor of microbiology.

,听who holds the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, works听in听theoretical computer science. She earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in applied mathematics and a doctoral degree in computer science at Stanford University. Before joining the UW faculty in 1994, she worked for five years at what was then the Digital Equipment Corporation’s Systems Research Center. At the UW, Karlin is a member of the听听group in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Her research centers on designing and analyzing certain types of algorithms 鈥� such as听probabilistic algorithms, which incorporate a degree of chance or randomness, and听online algorithms, which can handle input delivered in a step-by-step manner. Karlin also works in algorithmic game theory, a field that merges algorithm design with considerations of strategic behavior. Her studies have also intersected听other disciplines, including economics and data mining. In 2016, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

, who holds the Edmond H. Fischer-Washington Research Foundation Endowed Chair in Biochemistry, studies molecular recognition, particularly how proteins interact in human diseases. One of her laboratory鈥檚 efforts is to study the large, multifunctional protein produced by the BRCA1 gene, which when carrying certain mutations can predispose people to inherited forms of breast and other cancers. Klevit鈥檚 group also studies small heat shock proteins, which are implicated in certain muscle wasting diseases and some cancers. Cells manufacture these under stress due to heat, lack of oxygen and changes in acidity or alkalinity. Klevit鈥檚 team uses different nuclear magnetic resonance approaches to understand the structure and functions of these proteins, which have been difficult to solve. Klevit and her team also use NMR to study a sensor enzyme critical to bacterial virulence. This enzyme responds to environmental signals, such as the presence of antimicrobials, by turning on or off genes involved in infection. Klevit won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1978 鈥� a year after the program was open to women 鈥� to study at Oxford University, where she earned a doctoral degree in chemistry in 1981.

, who earned a doctoral degree in computer science at Stanford University, came to the UW in 1985 after postdoctoral positions at New York University and the University of California, Los Angeles. While at UW, he was also briefly a faculty member at ETH Z眉rich. LeVeque鈥檚 mathematical research has spanned a variety of topics related to numerical algorithms for solving the partial differential equations that model wave propagation phenomena. He has also developed extensive open source software based on this research. LeVeque鈥檚 mathematical and computational studies have impacted fields ranging from biophysics to astrophysics. Much of his recent work has focused on modeling geological hazards, particularly tsunamis, and he is part of an interdisciplinary team performing hazard assessments for the coast of the Pacific Northwest. LeVeque has also taught extensively and authored several textbooks. He is a data science fellow at the , and was previously elected a fellow of both the American Mathematical Society and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

, who holds the Benjamin D. Hall Endowed Chair in Basic Life Sciences and is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, came to the UW in 2018 after 21 years as a faculty member at Stanford University. She earned a doctoral degree in cell biology from the University of California, San Francisco, and was a fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research before heading to Stanford. Theriot鈥檚 research centers on the dynamic world within cells. Her work explores how cells self-organize to perform tasks 鈥� like change shape, move, respond to stimuli, and shuttle items through their interiors. Theriot has investigated these questions in a variety of biological settings, such as how white blood cells crawl through our bodies and engulf invading microbes, how fish skin heals wounds, and how the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes rearranges the proteins of the human cell鈥檚 鈥渟keleton.鈥� She employs many types of experimental approaches, from mathematical modeling to video-based analyses of cellular movements. Theriot has received fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

, who is chair of the Department of Biological Structure, studies how the circuitries of nerve cells develop, break and reassemble. Her research model is the vertebrate retina, the part of the eye that receives light and converts it into signals sent to the brain. Her team applies a diversity of methods to investigate the structure and connectivity of nerve cells in normal and altered retinas, such as tracking changes in zebrafish retinal neurons from the time they first appear until they form circuits and investigating how retinal neurons rewire during cellular regeneration. In addition, Wong鈥檚 team constructs detailed connectivity maps of neurons in the inner and outer retina, and researches how the transmission of nerve signals helps establish and maintain connectivity between retinal neurons. She is collaborating to study how the eyes encode a visual scene. Wong earned her doctoral degree from the Australian National University, and serves on the steering committee for the National Eye Institute鈥檚 , which seeks to restore vision lost from damage to the retina and optic nerve.

With these new members, the National Academy of Sciences now has 2,461 active members, as well as 511 international members, who are nonvoting and hold citizenship outside of the U.S.

Anyone who’s been to a concert knows that something magical happens between the performers and their instruments. It transforms music from being just 鈥渘otes on a page鈥� to a satisfying experience.

A 天美影视传媒 team wondered if artificial intelligence could recreate that delight using only visual cues 鈥� a silent, top-down video of someone playing the piano. The researchers used machine learning to create a system, called Audeo, that creates audio from silent piano performances. When the group tested the music Audeo created with music-recognition apps, such as SoundHound, the apps correctly identified the piece Audeo played about 86% of the time. For comparison, these apps identified the piece in the audio tracks from the source videos 93% of the time.

The researchers Dec. 8 at the NeurIPS 2020 conference.

“To create music that sounds like it could be played in a musical performance was previously believed to be impossible,” said senior author , an assistant professor in both the applied mathematics and the electrical and computer engineering departments. “An algorithm needs to figure out the cues, or ‘features,’ in the video frames that are related to generating music, and it needs to ‘imagine’ the sound that’s happening in between the video frames. It requires a system that is both precise and imaginative. The fact that we achieved music that sounded pretty good was a surprise.”

Audeo uses a series of steps to decode what’s happening in the video and then translate it into music. First, it has to detect which keys are pressed in each video frame to create a diagram over time. Then it needs to translate that diagram into something that a music synthesizer would actually recognize as a sound a piano would make. This second step cleans up the data and adds in more information, such as how strongly each key is pressed and for how long.

“If we attempt to synthesize music from the first step alone, we would find the quality of the music to be unsatisfactory,” Shlizerman said. “The second step is like how a teacher goes over a student composer’s music and helps enhance it.”

The researchers trained and tested the system using YouTube videos of the . The training consisted of about 172,000 video frames of Barton playing music from well-known classical composers, such as Bach and Mozart. Then they tested Audeo with almost 19,000 frames of Barton playing different music from these composers and others, such as .

A video from Paul Barton’s YouTube channel with the sound removed.

The video from above with sound generated by Audeo.

Once Audeo has generated a transcript of the music, it’s time to give it to a synthesizer that can translate it into sound. Every synthesizer will make the music sound a little different 鈥� this is similar to changing the “instrument” setting on an electric keyboard. For this study, the researchers used two different synthesizers.

“Fluidsynth makes synthesizer piano sounds that we are familiar with. These are somewhat mechanical-sounding but pretty accurate,” Shlizerman said. “We also used PerfNet, a new AI synthesizer that generates richer and more expressive music. But it also generates more noise.”

Paul Barton playing Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.” The sound was generated using Audeo with FluidSynth as the synthesizer.

Paul Barton playing Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.” The sound was generated using Audeo with PerfNet as the synthesizer.

Audeo was trained and tested only on Paul Barton’s piano videos. Future research is needed to see how well it could transcribe music for any musician or piano, Shlizerman said.

“The goal of this study was to see if artificial intelligence could generate music that was played by a pianist in a video recording 鈥� though we were not aiming to replicate Paul Barton because he is such a virtuoso,” Shlizerman said. “We hope that our study enables novel ways to interact with music. For example, one future application is that Audeo can be extended to a virtual piano with a camera recording just a person鈥檚 hands. Also, by placing a camera on top of a real piano, Audeo could potentially assist in new ways of teaching students how to play.”

and , both doctoral students in electrical and computer engineering, are co-authors on this paper. This research was funded by the Washington Research Foundation Innovation Fund as well as the applied mathematics and electrical and computer engineering departments.

For more information, contact Shlizerman at shlizee@uw.edu.