Today, the Allen School and University of Washington announced the conclusion of fundraising for the new Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering and the “topping out” of the building’s structure — two significant milestones in the school’s quest to expand its impact and educate more of Washington’s students to be the innovators and leaders of tomorrow.
Fundraising for the project was brought to a close thanks to a $15 million gift from Bill and Melinda Gates.… Read more →
Pascale Wallace Patterson: The inspirational student leader who aspires to change the world
After a brief hiatus, our popular feature highlighting the adventures and achievements of the Allen School’s amazing undergraduate students is back. This edition of the Undergrad Spotlight profiles recent bachelor’s alumna and Oregon native Pascale Wallace Patterson, who is currently a student in the Allen School’s fifth-year master’s program.
At the Allen School’s Women in Computing Reception in October, Patterson received the inaugural Lisa Simonyi Prize. The award was established with support from Charles and Lisa Simonyi to recognize… Read more →
Researchers create the first 3-D printed smart objects that communicate over WiFi
Researchers in the Allen School’s Networks & Mobile Systems Lab have created the first smart objects made entirely of 3D-printed parts that are capable of communicating over WiFi. The project, which builds upon team members’ pioneering work on backscatter communication, will enable new capabilities for the Internet of Things and smart-home applications without the need for batteries and other electronics.
“Our goal was to create something that just comes out of your 3-D printer at home,” Vikram Iyer, Ph.D.… Read more →
UW’s Sounding Board wins inaugural Amazon Alexa Prize
A team of students and faculty from the Allen School and the University of Washington Department of Electrical Engineering has won the inaugural Alexa Prize from Amazon for Sounding Board, a socialbot that interacts with users through engaging and informative conversation. Sounding Board was chosen from among three finalists as part of a worldwide university competition designed to advance the state of the art in conversational artificial intelligence.
The Sounding Board team was led by EE Ph.D. student Hao … Read more →
Siddhartha Srinivasa and Tao Xie named Fellows of the IEEE
Allen School professor Siddhartha “Sidd” Srinivasa, an expert in robotic manipulation and human-robot interaction, and alumnus Tao Xie, a faculty member at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who specializes in software testing and analytics, have been named Fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest technical professional organization focused on advancing technology in service to humanity. Srinivasa was selected for his “contributions to robotic manipulation and human-robot interaction,” and Xie was recognized… Read more →
Allen School and Madrona Venture Group celebrate student innovation at annual research day
Each year, the Allen School welcomes industry partners, alumni and friends to our Affiliates Research Day to learn about the latest work by our faculty and students and to explore the future of computing-related research. Yesterday, more than 200 people participated in our 2017 Research Day, which featured technical talks on core and emerging areas of the field, a luncheon keynote by professor Sidd Srinivasa on human-robot interaction, and our evening open house and poster session.
During the… Read more →
Hooray for Hollywood? New tool reveals gender bias in movie scripts
If, as Oscar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” then the art of film has a lot to answer for when it comes to the perpetuation of gender stereotypes. Thanks to researchers in the Allen School’s Natural Language Processing research group, we now have a way to measure the sometimes subtle biases in how men and women are portrayed on the big screen — and increase our understanding of how language shapes our perception… Read more →
Where the STEM Jobs Are (and Where They Aren’t)
The New York Times writes:
“What recent studies have made increasingly apparent is that the greatest number of high-paying STEM jobs are in the ‘T’ (specifically, computing). …
“‘There is a huge divide between the computing technology roles and the traditional sciences,’ said Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor’s chief economist.
“At LinkedIn, researchers identified the skills most in demand. The top 10 last year were all computer skills, including expertise in cloud computing, data mining and statistical analysis, and writing smartphone applications.”… Read more →
Fashion-forward: Allen School researchers invent smart fabric that stores data without electronics
Researchers in the Allen School’s Networks & Mobile Systems Lab have introduced a new kind of smart fabric imbued with computing and interaction capabilities — without the need for onboard electronics. Their work could redefine what we mean by “wearable” and usher in a fashionable new direction for computing.
Smart garments currently on the market typically pair conductive thread with electronic components, batteries, and sensors — elements that cannot be submerged under water or subjected to extreme temperatures. Allen School… Read more →
The Paul G. Allen School hosts Nancy Pelosi and Suzan DelBene
Today the Paul G. Allen School was honored to host a roundtable on “Women in 21st Century Jobs” with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene from Washington’s 1st Congressional District.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff explored a wide variety of issues with Pelosi and DelBene including:
the barriers that women face in the tech industry
policies to encourage more women in STEM
public-private partnerships to help close the skills gap
sexual harassment in society at… Read more →