Richard Ladner, professor emeritus at the Allen School and a nationally recognized leader in accessibility research and advocacy, has been recognized with the Strache Leadership Award from the Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge. Each year, the center honors an individual who has made a significant and lasting impact through education and research in the area of assistive technology with the Strache Leadership Award, which is named for CSUN’s former Vice President for Student Affairs Fred Strache.… Read more →
UW and Allen Institute researchers develop new method for large-scale analysis of gene activity to advance disease research
A team of researchers at the University of Washington and the Allen Institute have come up with a highly efficient, scalable approach for measuring gene activity at the cellular level that could aid the fight against potentially devastating diseases. The researchers described their novel technique — called SPLiT-seq, short for Split Pool Ligation-based Transcriptome sequencing — in a paper published this week in the journal Science.
SPLiT-seq enables scientists to identify the cellular origin of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, which… Read more →
Celebrating our first year of innovation as the Paul G. Allen School
On March 9th, 2017, the University of Washington Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in recognition of our increasing prominence and impact on campus, in our region, and around the world — and to honor Paul Allen’s many contributions to our university, to science and innovation, and to society.
Today, Allen marked the one-year anniversary of our founding by highlighting 10 exciting innovations from the Allen School that are… Read more →
Allen School undergrad Christine Betts is geeking out and giving back
An avid runner, reader, writer, crafter, and scholar — computer science major Christine Betts exemplifies the creativity and academic excellence that are the hallmarks of Allen School students. She also embodies a commitment to service: she has embraced the role of peer adviser, eager to help her fellow CSE students succeed, and also volunteers her time and talents working with kids through non-profit organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Betts’ achievements have not gone unnoticed in the local… Read more →
New wireless charging system from UW researchers uses a laser to beam power to your cellphone
Mobile devices and WiFi have given people the freedom to access information and accomplish tasks on the move, but there is still one area in which we remain tethered to the old way of doing things: the power cord. No matter what fancy features or sleek designs are built into the latest devices, they still run on a battery — which means they have to be plugged into the wall to recharge. But that could change thanks to a team… Read more →
UW and Microsoft researchers achieve random access in large-scale DNA data storage
University of Washington and Microsoft researchers revealed today that they have taken a significant step forward in their quest to develop a DNA-based storage system for digital data. In a paper published in Nature Biotechnology, the members of the Molecular Information Systems Laboratory (MISL) describe the science behind their world record-setting achievement of 200 megabytes stored in synthetic DNA. They also present their system for random access — that is, the selective retrieval of individual data files encoded in… Read more →
Maya Cakmak named 2018 Sloan Research Fellow
Professor Maya Cakmak, director of the Allen School’s Human-Centered Robotics Lab, has earned a 2018 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowship recognizes Cakmak as one of the most outstanding young researchers in North America and a future scientific leader. Cakmak is among 16 computer scientists to receive a 2018 fellowship, out of 126 fellows overall drawn from more than 50 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.
“The Sloan Research Fellows… Read more →
Professor Michael Ernst honored for extraordinary contributions to student mentorship
Allen School professor Michael Ernst has earned the 2018 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award from the Computing Research Association. The award recognizes faculty who provide exceptional mentorship and support to student researchers. Ernst is a member of the Allen School’s Programming Languages & Software Engineering (PLSE) group.
Recipients of the CRA-E mentorship award are chosen based on their track record of providing a high-quality, rewarding research experience to aspiring computer scientists. The CRA cited Ernst’s combination of research accomplishments… Read more →
Allen School undergraduates earn national recognition for research excellence
In keeping with the Allen School’s commitment to provide an unparalleled educational experience to students, many undergraduates participate in leading-edge research in our labs. Undergraduate researchers work alongside faculty, postdocs, and graduate students and often submit their work to major academic research conferences and scientific journals. This year, three of these talented student researchers — Kimberly Ruth, Preston Jiang, and Deric Pang — were recognized as part of the Computing Research Association’s 2018 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards, which highlight… Read more →
Yin Tat Lee wins NSF CAREER Award to develop new, efficient algorithms for convex optimization
Professor Yin Tat Lee of the Allen School’s Theory of Computation research group has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to develop faster, more efficient algorithms for solving convex and other optimization problems. The outcome of Lee’s research, which seeks to increase the scientific community’s understanding of the relationship between convex geometry and optimization algorithms and improve upon current techniques drawn from continuous and discrete optimization, will have broad impact across the sciences and beyond.
Convex optimization… Read more →