As judges across the United States face growing political pressure, public attacks and threats to their personal safety, the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý School of Law will host on April 17 and 18 to examine how to protect America’s independent federal judiciary and the rule of law.

The two-day symposium, “Neither Sword Nor Purse,” at the School of Law, is sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and planned in partnership with Keep Our Republic/Article 3 Coalition, the Society for the Rule of Law, and the Task Force for American Democracy. It convenes a slate of prominent judges, scholars and journalists who will examine the rule of law and the constitutional foundations of judicial independence.

“This symposium is designed to address a core constitutional concern,” said Toni Rembe Dean . “Attacks on an impartial and independent judiciary undermine public confidence in the courts, which weakens the foundation of the American legal system and its protections.”��

The U.S. judiciary system was designed to be independent precisely so it could uphold the rule of law, said , the UW School of Law jurist-in-residence and a retired member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

“At this moment, independence is under sustained challenges,” Henry said. “This symposium will confront those challenges directly.”

, School of Law associate dean emeritus, said the participation in the symposium of respected judges, scholars and journalists reflect a rising concern that the U.S. system is in peril.

“The extraordinary group of judges and scholars share a commitment not just to diagnosing the problem, but to identifying meaningful ways to address it,” Spitzer said.

The symposium begins on Friday, April 17 and continues through Saturday, April 18.

Since Ryan Calo joined ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý School of Law in 2012, he has become a leading expert on the law and emerging technology.����

Calo believes that few interesting questions — especially around technology — can be resolved by reference to a single discipline.��

Calo is a co-founder of the , and the . He is also a professor in the and an adjunct in the .��

Calo’s newest book, “,” published late last year, is a guide to a legal analysis of regulation and technology. Nearly a decade ago, Calo realized that the most recent book on the topic was published in the 1970s. He decided it was time for an updated resource reflecting current, rapidly evolving technology and the present regulatory environment.��

UW News spoke with Calo about the book and the current legal and policy climate in the United States.

Who is the intended audience for “Law and Technology”?

Ryan Calo: I wrote it primarily for new entrants to the field, be they junior scholars or students. I also hoped that the themes would resonate with more senior scholars and that it would be useful outside of academia for either analysis or instruction. Because ultimately, what the book does is proposes a methodology for analyzing technology from a legal perspective.��

I spent a lot of time interacting with policymakers, staffers on Capitol Hill, people who work for senators and members of Congress. A legislator might come to a staffer and say,�� “Hey, my constituents are really worried about augmented reality or AI. They’re really worried about deep fakes.” That staff member doesn’t really have a place to start, and they end up just calling up experts, reading New York Times articles, talking to industry, but not in any kind of methodical way. This book is designed to help them figure out what’s going on.��

I also hope that this book would be of use to people who are in practice and want to be more methodical about analyzing a given technology.��

Technology evolves fast. How should the legal system and policymakers prepare to navigate the relationship between law and emerging technologies?

RC: Many of us have an expectation that technology is just going to change. It’s just going to evolve, and our job as lawyers or judges or policymakers, is to kind of scramble and accommodate the resulting disruption, and perhaps try to restore the status quo. Part of what I hope to see is legal scholars and policymakers acknowledging that the disruption isn’t inevitable.

We need to empower independent researchers to figure out what’s going on with new technology. Right now researchers are disempowered because they don’t have access to the relevant data and platforms. And many times when they try to get that data, they get served with a cease and desist letter.��

We need to protect whistleblowers and make sure there’s adequate, truly top-notch expertise within government. If you have those things, then you’re much more likely to be able to figure out what could go wrong with these technologies without having to observe the harm unfold over a long period of time, as we have with the internet and now with AI.

You mentioned the School of Law’s leadership in tech policy. How is the UW positioned nationally in this space?

RC: We are really among the leaders in this area.��

The School of Law has a lot of tech policy offerings, including a . Many faculty have contributed to scholarship over the years. We have lots of faculty writing about law and technology.��

We also have been really a model for impactful interdisciplinary collaboration. Law students can work in the clinic or the Tech Policy Lab. I’m one of the founders of the Center for an Informed Public, which bridges human centered and design engineering as well as the Information School and dozens of other departments including psychology, education and even geography.��

A third important example is the . We did a whole year of work mapping out who was doing work in the space — all the centers, all the labs, all the initiatives — all the people on the three campuses identified as working at this intersection.��

We’re leaders across the country at the law school in terms of our student offerings in our research, but we are also part of that interstitial glue. People think of the iSchool, which they should. They think of computer science, which they should. But they also should think about who else is in the center of this, who else is at the heart of it, and the School of Law is a big part of that.

There’s been a lot of news lately about states trying to regulate AI and the federal government pushing back. What’s your perspective?

RC: If I were trying to sabotage the innovation edge of the United States, I would do at least two things, maybe three.��

First, I would divest in basic research. The United States has had an innovation edge over the rest of the world in large part because of decisions made in the 1950s and beyond to invest in basic research. I would dismantle that, and I would try to make it really hard for universities to do research, either by spending less, disrupting the relationships, or messing with overhead in ways that makes research impossible.��

The second thing I would do is make it really hostile for outside innovators to come in and participate in knowledge production here. I would, whether xenophobically or not, try to make it really hard for people with ideas and talent and knowledge to come here to the United States to work on teams with other Americans, to stay here and teach in our schools, to found companies. The second enormous advantage the United States has had is that the country has become attractive because of its commitment to the rule of law and its robust higher ed system, and that’s built on its innovation and investment in research. People from all over the world come here to try and make the next Google and Amazon, or are teaching in our schools and contributing to our ecosystem.��

The third thing I would do in this hypothetical situation is remove non-existent hurdles to transformative technologies like AI. What do I mean? Federal leaders are currently talking about getting out of the way of AI, but there aren’t any regulations about AI, really. There are some state laws that have a kind of European flavor of risk management, like and . There are specific things that states are worried about, including deep fakes and labeling online social media accounts that are automated. There’s almost nothing standing in the way of AI innovation in terms of regulation.��

The way that our system is structured is that the individual states, under our concept of federalism, are supposed to be laboratories of ideas, experimenting with legislation, and showing that it works or it doesn’t. Pretending that you’re pro-innovation because you’re trying to stamp out the very few regulatory hurdles that companies have to have to abide by all in the name of competing with China, which has AI laws, is just senseless. We’re much better off following the wisdom of the founders, who said, “Hey, if you have something new in society, let the states serve as laboratories for different laws, and we can all learn from each other about how that’s going.” That’s classic federalism and it used to be a pillar of conservative thinking.��

The President doesn’t have the power to boss the states around in terms of their legislative capacities. And Congress has taken up the question of whether to try to preempt AI laws, and they resignedly declined. I just want to comment that the overall strategy of the administration has been deeply anti-innovation in its impact, even though it is vociferously proinnovation in its rhetoric.

Any final thoughts?

RC: We have an environment in the U.S. that promotes innovation, sometimes through laws, such as laws that protect intellectual property, and laws that make people feel safe enough to use products and services that companies can sell them to us. There’s not, and never has been, a one-to-one correlation between regulation and promoting innovation. It’s really important that we acknowledge, as a society and community, that sometimes laws are written in the service of innovation. What you want is a favorable regulatory environment, not a complete absence of the rule of law.

For more information, contact Calo at rcalo@uw.edu.��

The gift, which will be realized over the next 10 years, cements the School of Law’s global reputation in the fields of technology and intellectual property (IP) law.��

“Our��students and faculty are enriched by the generosity of Jay Shidler and his commitment to��supporting innovations in the area of��technology��and��intellectual property��law,”��said Tamara��F.��Lawson,��the Toni��Rembe��Dean��of the��School of Law.��“UW Law is uniquely situated��in a region known throughout the world for��technology and innovation.��These resources will support our community��and keep us��competitive��in this��environment.”����

With this gift,��Shidler��— a philanthropist and��investor in educational infrastructure��who has��owned��interests in��more than 2,000 properties worldwide��—��continues a tradition��he’s established��of��honoring��his uncle,��Roger Shidler, a 1924 graduate of the UW School of Law��who��was��an early��trailblazer��in technology law��alongside��William Gates, Sr.��

The gift will allow the School of Law to:��

• Establish a Shidler Endowed Chair who will lead the��Technology and Intellectual��Property��Law programs, while also covering adjacent needs including torts and contracts.����

• Recruit a full-time scholar-in-residence to manage and��grow��the existing Shidler Lecture Series.��

• Support scholarships and fellowships awarded to students focused on Technology and Intellectual Property Law. The first year will support three students in the J.D. program with a $50,000 award for each. ��

“We are honored to steward Jay Shidler’s transformative investment in the critical intersection of technology and law,” said UW President Robert J. Jones. “His generous gift will help the UW School of Law attract the most talented faculty and students at a moment when expertise in IP and Technology law is urgently needed. We are thrilled to be able to expand our global reach in this important field.” ��

“I am very fortunate to be able to financially support universities and colleges on the West Coast and in Hawaii. UW Law has had a special place in my family’s lore for almost 100 years,” Shidler said.��

The��gift builds��upon��previous��gifts from Jay Shidler��to the UW, including��an��ownership interest in��a 2.6-acre property in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood,��which was celebrated��in 2018.��Half��of the ownership of the land and buildings will be transferred to the UW��in 2115��to be divided equally between UW Medicine and the UW School of Law. The other half goes to Shidler’s alma mater, now called the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.����

Shidler also contributed��$600,000��to the School of Law in��2016��for the creation of the��lecture series honoring Roger Shidler.����

The UW recognized Jay Shidler and his wife, Wallette, as Presidential Laureates upon having generously contributed more than $10 million to the UW in 2017.

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Seattle is well-known as a space industrial hub. In 2024, launched into space were designed or built in the Greater Seattle area. Washington state manufactured more than half of the satellites currently orbiting earth, and more than 75% of the world’s satellites.

, a ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý professor of international studies, believes the city can expand its reach even further by also becoming a hub for space diplomacy. This mission led her to start the annual at the UW in 2023.

The SDS — co-sponsored by the Space Law, Data and Policy Program (SPACE LDP) in the UW School of Law and the Program on Strategy, Policy, and Diplomacy Research in the UW Jackson School of International Studies (SPDR) — aims to center diplomacy in civilian, commercial and military space activities.

“I want the world, not just our nation, to pay attention to what’s going on in Seattle’s industry,” said Pekkanen, who is the founding director of SPACE LDP and SPDR. “Seattle is becoming the leading hub for satellites and , but we’re also trying to become the place for regulatory policy and building diplomatic collaborations. All of this serves the interests not just of educators, but also our community. Seattle can lead the way for what space diplomacy might look like.”

There is no shortage of space technology in the world, Pekkanen said, but it’s dialogue and diplomacy that makes it grow.��

“It’s important to have capabilities, but it’s also important to position those capabilities in a very fiercely competitive international system,” she said. “How can we advance those capabilities in a way that’s good for our community and that’s good for whoever may be interested in buying them?”

This year’s SDS keynote speaker is the James H. Binger senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations. Brimmer will reflect on the role of diplomacy in international space relations while also raising awareness of essential space-related topics. Brimmer directed the Council of Foreign Relation’s report, “,” on which Pekkanen served as a task force member.��

Symposium panelists will include representatives from the Cabinet Office of Japan, the U.S. Space Force, the Space Law Council of Australia and New Zealand, and Harvard Medical School.

Pekkanen had three major motivations for establishing the SDS.

“The first one was, nobody else was doing it,” she said. “So now we are the only ones in the world. The UW has a standing platform.”

Secondly, she said, the symposium gives UW and the Seattle area an opportunity to draw attention to the next generation of regulatory, policy and diplomatic challenges.��

Finally, Pekkanen said, universities have a remarkable, but siloed, ecosystem. The SDS helps bridge the gap by gathering thought leaders from across academic departments.

“We have so many people at the UW with different competencies that are at the cutting edge of where space is going,” Pekkanen said. “We need to come together to begin building the sort of policy and diplomatic foundation for what matters.”

The SDS started as a way to bring together experts and build community. But as the event grows, Pekkanen also views it as a way to bring special topics to the table.

“It’s fiction that space has nothing to do with war, or that it only has to do with prosperity,” she said. “This is a dual-use technology that cuts across both. This year, for the first time, we have more specific themes.”

, a UW assistant teaching professor of international studies and lead of the Jackson School’s Cybersecurity Initiative, will preside over a military space diplomacy panel that will focus on cybersecurity.��

A key topic on the civil space diplomacy side will be megaconstellations —�� large groups of satellites that work together to provide a service. , a UW research assistant professor of astronomy and associate director of the UW Institute for Data-intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DiRAC) will host the panel.

The commercial diplomacy panel will be moderated by , an associate professor of bioethics and humanities in the UW School of Medicine. One key topic for these experts will be the medical and biological challenges of sustaining humanity in space.

“It’s space!” Pekkanen said. “Who is not interested? It’s a hopeful vision. It gives people hope that we can build something and sustain something good not just for our community, but also nationally and internationally.”

For more information, contact Pekkanen at smp1@uw.edu.

The ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý on Tuesday announced a transformational gift from the estate of Stan and Alta Barer to the School of Law, expanding the couple’s namesake institute: The Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development. The gift will support the recruitment of additional international fellows, increase scholarships, endow faculty positions and create more global impact.

The $45 million gift, one of the largest bequests in UW history, will cement the UW School of Law’s reputation and impact as an internationally known center for excellence in global sustainable development. The gift will allow the Barer Institute to expand its work with mid-career attorneys from developing countries, enabling them to come to Washington state and then return to their homes to improve health outcomes, advocate for law and justice, boost education and spur economic development. Building on previous gifts the Barers made to the School of Law, the total endowment for the Institute is more than $50 million. The gift also renames the Institute, formerly known as the Barer Institute for Law & Global Human Services.

“We are honored to extend Stan and Alta’s inspiring legacy of global leadership development with the help of this transformative investment,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “The work of the Barer Institute to cultivate talented mid-career attorneys for the benefit of their home countries and the world is one of our law school’s most innovative and effective programs, and we are delighted to be able to expand its reach.”

Since its founding in 2010, the Barer Institute has contributed to the UW’s commitment to global engagement and impact, and upheld the University’s core value of educating a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders.

In 2008, the Barers gave $4 million to establish an institute that would improve outcomes in governance and multi-dimensional development in low and lower-middle income countries and countries in political transition. Each year, the Institute brings three to four fellows to the UW — there have been nearly 50 fellows since inception — where they earn a Master of Laws degree in Sustainable International Development.

“Receiving this gift during the School of Law’s 125th anniversary is special as we celebrate the transformative power of our graduates,” said Tamara Lawson, the Toni Rembe Dean of the School of Law. “Thanks to Stan and Alta’s generosity, the Institute will continue robust engagement and meaningful collaboration. UW Law is furthering the life’s work of Stan Barer and his aim to impact law around the world.”

The new gift will build upon the Barer Institute’s original mission in several ways, including:

• Increasing support for fellowships and scholarships to recruit more students to the Institute and hire post-doctoral research fellows focused on human rights, global business and climate issues.��The gift also will help pay for international travel to support the fellows and other Institute participants.
• Funding to recruit Juris Doctor students to the Barer Fellows Program.
• Reinforcing UW School of Law’s impact on sustainable development while expanding its work on the rule of law, the global climate challenge and sustainable business in a changing world.
• Endowing a faculty appointment for a Barer Chair to lead the Institute and participate in cross-disciplinary and global conferences, symposia and networking events. Anita Ramasastry will be the inaugural chair.
• Providing critical program and operating support to develop the Institute into a robust and renowned hub known internationally for promoting global leadership and the rule of law. This will include hiring an executive director to develop and implement programming, as well as an assistant director to help manage programming, and recruit and provide support to the students interested in careers focused on global issues in government, public service and sustainable business.��Jennifer Lenga-Long was tapped to serve in the inaugural executive director role.

“Stan’s impact on our state, region and the world cannot be overstated. One of his significant contributions as a leader was his work re-opening trade between the U.S. and China, and his dedication to finding shared values and connection in our global world. Stan’s lifelong work will continue to be felt around the world as this generous gift will empower global leaders and citizens to find innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems,” said former U.S. Ambassador to China and former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a friend and colleague of Barer’s.

Stanley H. Barer, who went by Stan, was a world-renowned Seattle attorney, UW Regent and UW alumnus (Class of 1963), who died in 2021. He received the 2021 Gates Volunteer Service Award, the University’s highest honor for volunteer service, prior to his passing. His wife, Alta, preceded him in death in 2019.

The son of immigrants, Stan Barer grew up in Walla Walla before attending the UW, where he earned his undergraduate degree and then his Juris Doctor. Barer experienced bigotry, antisemitism and discrimination growing up and in the workplace when law firms wouldn’t hire Jews. He went to Washington, D.C., to work for Washington Sen. Warren G. Magnuson, eventually becoming his chief of staff. Barer learned that he could combat prejudice using the power of the law and he served as the U.S. Senate lawyer for the enactment the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, helping to write the legislation. He also discovered that he needn’t be constrained by national borders, and that he could craft policy that supported global development. Barer was instrumental in re-establishing trade with China in 1979 and securing Seattle as a significant port-of-call.

Barer brought his years of experience to the UW’s highest levels of volunteer leadership, serving as a Regent from 2004 to 2012 and as a member of the UW Foundation Board. He also held volunteer roles with UW Law, UW Medicine and the Burke Museum. Alta Barer also advocated for the transformative power of education and research. At the UW, she served on the Law Committee during a UW fundraising campaign and, together with her husband, hosted numerous events at their home.

“This bequest exemplifies Stan and Alta’s belief in the power of education, the rule of law, and in the critical importance of focusing on what we have in common across cultures instead of what separates us,” said their daughter Leigh K. Barer. “We look forward to seeing the Institute expand and flourish because of their visionary gift.”

Together, Stan and Alta Barer left a decades-long legacy of philanthropy at the UW. They played central roles in the construction of William H. Gates Hall, the School of Law’s home. Across campus, the couple also endowed faculty positions in the College of the Environment, sponsored cancer research at UW Medicine and supported graduate education in the sciences.

“The expanded Barer Institute will serve as a hub for graduate students interested in international careers in service of the global common good, including the advancement of human rights, global justice and the rule of law, and indigenous people’s rights. True to Stan’s vision, it will recognize and build upon multidisciplinary approaches to tackling the world’s greatest challenges by engaging with scholars and practitioners within and beyond the UW,” said Anita Ramasastry, director of the Barer Institute and the Henry M. Jackson Endowed Professor of Law.

For more information about The Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development, click .

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

As part of the History Colloquium, Professor La Tasha Levy will discuss “Black 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 |��

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 Valdés straddle the worlds of contemporary classical music and free improvisation, premiering works for trumpet and piano by Oliver Schneller, Wang Lu, and Skúli 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.��

This event is part of��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’s 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 Valdés 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’s most communicative and persuasive artists. McCabe’s involvement and musical sensibilities have delighted audiences across the globe.

Pianist Cristina Valdés presents innovative concerts of standard and experimental repertoire, and is known to “play a mean piano.” 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��for a chance to perform with the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý 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 “Big Read.”

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��Dr. Emily M. Bender, UW Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Master’s 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’s Meany Center in February, “Small Island Big Song” 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 “Small Island Big Song” 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 — including artists — 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).

Bloomberg recognizes UW Tech Policy Lab as ‘Top Legal Innovation Program’

The UW Tech Policy Lab was recently recognized by Bloomberg as a in 2022 due to its unique cross-discipline approach. The award is given to pioneering schools making an impact in the legal field.

Founded in 2013 by faculty from the UW School of Law, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and the Information School, the lab bridges the gap between technologists and policymakers to help generate wiser, more inclusive tech policy.

“The students and community members who interact with the lab come away with the understanding that collaborating and bringing a variety of perspectives together is the key to working through contemporary challenges,” said , professor of law at the UW and co-director of the Tech Policy Lab. Bloomberg’s Law School Innovation Program seeks to recognize and connect law school faculty, staff and administrators who are education innovators. Submissions to the program were scored based on impact on students, ability to advance the legal industry and replicability. In its submission, the UW Tech Lab demonstrated the model’s unique blend of immersive experiences, opportunities for relationship-building and interdisciplinary approaches.

“Rather than try to work with every student, we offer programming open to all and work closely with a small handful of law students whom we place on interdisciplinary teams to work on consequential issues of tech policy,” Calo said. “They often go on to work in the field and get a unique perspective and experience working across disciplines.”

This was the inaugural year of the awards.

UW professor wins 2023 Seattle Aquarium Conservation Research Award

Vera Trainer, affiliate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the UW, was selected as the winner for her work on harmful algal blooms, or HABs, which are proliferations of algae that cause environmental and economic damage.

The Conversation Research Award has honored leaders and innovators in marine conservation research since 2004, focusing on climate change, plastic pollution, sustainable fisheries and tourism, marine protected areas and socioeconomics.

“This award is not only for what has been accomplished, but what will be accomplished in the future,” said Trainer, a former NOAA oceanographer and current research lead for the .

Trainer’s HABs research has provided a foundation for understanding the effects climate change has had on coastal ecosystems and highlights the need for inclusion of impacted communities in decision-making.

Trainer is also co-founder of the program and founder of , a partnership that monitors HABs in the Puget Sound. These unique community collaborations provide advance warning of HABs that threaten seafood safety as well as ecosystem and human health, ultimately ensuring safe, sustainable shellfish harvests.

Astronomy professor awarded for stellar physics textbook

The American Astronomy Society awarded , associate professor of astronomy at the UW, and her co-author Henny J.G.L.M.��Lamers the for their graduate textbook “Understanding Stellar Evolution.”

The Chambliss Award recognizes astronomy writing geared towards the upper-division undergraduate or graduate level, a rarely recognized category.

“It’s great to see the importance of stellar physics recognized,” said Levesque. “Henny Lamers spent more than a decade developing amazing lecture notes for our course on stellar structure and evolution, and it was great to work with him on turning these into a textbook.”

Split into three parts, the book first delves into the physics of how stars work. It then describes the evolution of stars from formation to death and explores some complicating factors of stellar evolution. The book was produced using years of lecture notes for an astronomy class at the UW.

“We spent a lot of time expanding and fleshing out roughly outlined ideas from lecture notes so that they could stand alone as complete explanations in the textbook,” said Levesque. “It was interesting to be teaching the course and writing the book at the same time in the spring of 2016. It helped alert us to a topic or detail that would spark discussion or follow-up questions in class and encouraged us to expand on the topic in the text.”

Against the backdrop of a longtime conflict among Western states over water in the Colorado River Basin, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 20 will take up the case of another significant – but often overlooked – claimant: the Navajo Nation.

The case, , pits the treaty rights of the largest Native American reservation in the United States against water-rights claims by the state in which much of the reservation is located.

, professor of law at the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý and director of the UW’s Native American Law Center, co-authored an on behalf of 37 tribal nations, the Affiliated Tribes of the Northwest, the San Luis Rey Indian Water Authority and the National Congress of American Indians.

The brief, which Mills co-wrote with attorneys for the Native American Rights Fund and faculty from the University of Arizona and the University of Idaho, hinges on the Winters Doctrine, a 1908 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that recognized that the establishment of a tribal reservation also reserved water necessary to fulfill the purposes of that reservation – even if water rights were not explicitly mentioned in the treaty.

“Based on Winters, tribal nations have legal rights to water for their homelands, with a priority date of the creation of the reservation, which often means that tribal rights are quite senior compared to those of other water users,” Mills said. “Although the development of water resources and infrastructure across the West throughout the 1900s often overlooked or ignored tribal rights,��the assertion of Winters rights by tribes (and the U.S. on tribes’ behalf) over the��last half-century has helped resolve uncertainties based on the existence of those rights while ensuring many tribes could secure water for actual use, so-called ‘wet’ water rights, in addition the ‘paper’ rights guaranteed by the Winters �ٴdz��ٰ����Ա�.”

Mills discussed the current case with UW News.

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Q: States in the Colorado River Basin have been grappling with water supply and their own competing demands. How does this case fit into that context?

Monte Mills: The current conflict over water in the Colorado River Basin is the result of dwindling supply and the historical establishment of rights to water that overestimated the amount of water that might be available. Like the many other tribal nations in the Basin, the water rights of the Navajo Nation were largely overlooked in those negotiations and, therefore, rights were allocated among the Basin states with little thought given to the rights that the tribes would need. While other tribal rights in the Basin have been identified and resolved, the Navajo Nation continues to seek protection for its legal rights to water, particularly in the current era of scarcity. This case is part of those efforts.

Q: While this case specifically involves the Navajo Nation, there are implications for other tribes, as well. Please explain.

MM: The core of the Nation’s claim is that the United States has a duty to identify and protect the Nation’s as-yet unquantified and unadjudicated rights to water in the Colorado River Basin. That claim is rooted in the centuries-old recognition that – based on treaties, rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court, and acts of Congress – the United States has a trust relationship with tribal nations. Over the course of the evolution of federal Indian law, that trust relationship has come to define the federal-tribal relationship and is a critical component of the modern era of tribal self-determination. Here, the Navajo Nation is seeking to enforce those trust duties by asking a court to order the United States to take certain steps to protect the Nation’s rights to water.

While the facts and context of this case are unique to the Navajo Nation, a decision by the Supreme Court in this case could help inform the scope and enforceability of the Indian trust doctrine.����

Q: A series of court rulings, as well as statements and policies by presidential administrations of both parties, have referenced the importance of treaty obligations. Is there reason to believe this time is different?

MM: It is hard to overstate the importance of treaties and the promises made therein, both to tribal nations and the United States. Those time-honored agreements are the backbone of federal Indian law and have been the basis on which the federal government has identified and fulfilled its duties to tribes. In addition, treaties provide a critical, quasi-constitutional connection between tribal sovereigns and their federal and state counterparts by providing a consensual basis on which tribal governments can base their intergovernmental relationships. It is no wonder, therefore, that the U.S. Constitution confirms that treaties are the “supreme law of the land,” and that the U.S. Supreme Court has established specific rules guiding the interpretation and enforcement of treaty promises.

Like many other tribal claimants before them, the Navajo Nation is asking the federal judiciary to interpret and enforce the terms of its historical agreements with the United States in accordance with those rules and standards. But,��notwithstanding their importance, treaty obligations have often been set aside, ignored, overlooked, or outright abrogated by the United States, often in deference to other, non-tribal interests.

This case presents yet another opportunity for the United States Supreme Court to weigh the word and bond of the United States, pledged in treaties with the Navajo Nation, along with the rights and duties that flow from those guarantees, in light of their place in the Constitution, the Court’s precedent, and the competing claims and interpretations offered by those countering the Navajo Nation’s position.

For more information, contact Mills at mtmills@uw.edu.

was in a parent-child music class with his daughter when he decided to pursue a long-dormant passion.

Nicolas joined the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý School of Law in 2000, and he’s nationally known as an expert in constitutional law, evidence, sexual orientation law and intellectual property. Now Nicolas has combined his legal training with his growing academic interest in the study of music. His new class, , is open to students in the law school and in the School of Music, where Nicolas is currently a post-baccalaureate student as well as an adjunct professor.

Nicolas’ formal music training began just six years ago, not long after he enrolled his daughter in a class designed to awaken a love of music in children. The course did more than just that. It also inspired Nicolas, who has always loved music, to pursue a new path.

During one of the classes, Nicolas noticed a flyer for a free 30-minute music lesson and decided to take a chance. That lesson turned into continued private instruction in voice and piano and then a spot in a church choir.

Soon, Nicolas started taking classes at Shoreline Community College, where in 2021 he earned a degree in music performance. Still eager to learn more, he applied to the UW School of Music and auditioned as a vocalist. Now a music history major with a focus on vocal performance, Nicolas expects to earn his second bachelor’s degree this year.

With his music education underway, Nicolas decided to combine his interests. Music Law & Policy launched this quarter as an interdisciplinary course, at the same time Nicolas was named the director of the law school’s graduate program in intellectual property.

“I think going back to school made me a better teacher,” Nicolas said. “By the time all is said and done, I probably will have experienced the equivalent of four full years of taking classes with very different types of professors. There are a lot of things I’ve learned about how they do things that I’ve incorporated into my teaching.”

Music Law & Policy covers legal issues in the music industry, including intellectual property law as it relates to music and musicians. After building a fundamental understanding of music theory and copyright law, Nicolas asks students to examine court decisions that purport to rely upon principles of music theory. The class also covers subjects like trademark law and the right of personality and publicity.

“One of the things this experience taught me is that what music students go through in their field has more in common than people realize with what law students have to do to be successful,” Nicolas said. “There’s a lot in this course — technical reading and analysis — that music students must do when dealing with theory. Music history has a lot in common with the historical documents law students study. The ability to get up and perform in front of people is something that lawyers and musicians both must do.”

While other universities offer courses that teach music and law, Nicolas said his class is unique because he incorporates music principles into the learning process. Nearly all the music and law students are expected to perform an excerpt from one of the cases being studied. Law students with musical backgrounds can do solo performances, and those without musical backgrounds can engage in group-based musical performances. Students also complete a paper in groups consisting of both law and music students.

“People were very skeptical when I said I was going to teach a class to law students where they have to do music — not just at the superficial level, but to really know and understand it,” Nicolas said. “There is a reason for it. To some extent, the law sometimes comes to incorrect decisions because the people making the decisions don’t understand how music works.

“If we can bring these two disciplines together through teaching and scholarship, we can likely get better outcomes. When these disputes are decided, we can know what is unique about this particular song, that somebody shouldn’t be able to use without permission, and what about it is a basic building block of music, that anyone is free to use.”

Nicolas prides himself on teaching students with varying educational backgrounds. In the past, he taught an interdisciplinary course in forensic nursing to those in the UW School of Law and the School of Nursing. He’s also currently teaching a course on sexual orientation law that is cross-listed in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, where Nicolas also is an adjunct professor.

For music students, the Music Law & Policy course introduces potential copyright issues and the legalities of performing or filming a certain composer’s music. The law students enrolled in the course tend to be a combination of those generally interested in intellectual property law and others with a musical background.

“I’m viewing this in the long term as a good possible partnership,” Nicolas said. “Maybe some of the students who are undergraduates in music can go into the field of law and find a way to blend those two interests in the way I’ve tried to do myself.”

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For more information, contact Nicolas at pnicolas@uw.edu.

On Monday, the Court agreed to hear his two latest, Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, both of which concern tech companies’ liability. Schnapper is representing the individuals in both, on which the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled. He offered the following comments on the cases, which are expected to be heard this winter.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases on which you filed writs of certiorari. Can you please sum up the cases and what you want the court to review in both?

Eric Schnapper: The first case, , concerns section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.�� Section 230 bars lawsuits against social media companies because they permitted others to post things (e.g., libel) on their websites.�� The question is whether it protects social media companies that recommend things others have posted.

The second case, , concerns when a company can be liable for aiding and abetting terrorism.�� Twitter and other social media companies permitted ISIS to post recruiting and fundraising stuff.

This is the first time the court is taking up Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, itself a 26-year-old law. Why is Section 230 important, and what makes it pertinent now?

ES: What Section 230 does and does not protect is important because it affects whether a social media site has a legal incentive to keep dangerous posts, videos, etc. off their websites. It has been obviously very important for several years.

[In these two cases], judges in lower courts had disagreed about the issues, and the issues are very important.

For more information, contact Schnapper at schnapp@uw.edu.