黑料老司机 researchers are leading and collaborating on four research projects as part of Phase 1 in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) , a national initiative to build an AI-for-science ecosystem which accelerates breakthroughs in energy, discovery science and national security.?

The DOE awarded a total of 278 Genesis Mission awards for projects that involve more than 300 participating institutions, including DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratories, universities and companies. As part of the Genesis Mission, awardees will have access to the Genesis Mission Platform, which includes AI frameworks, advanced AI models from industry partners, and high-performance computing resources across DOE’s National Laboratories and partner facilities.?

“The Genesis Mission represents the kind of bold, collaborative approach needed to accelerate the complex scientific and technological breakthroughs required in our rapidly changing world,” said UW Vice Provost for Research . “Its emphasis on bringing together diverse expertise and cutting-edge technology with strategic partnerships highlights the important role universities play in driving innovation for the nation.”?

The UW-supported Genesis projects span disciplines including advanced sensing technologies, protein design for microelectronic applications, and astronomy data infrastructure, demonstrating the broad potential of AI to accelerate scientific discovery.?

, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a Genesis award to develop neuromorphic terahertz imaging technology for next-generation augmented reality systems. ?

“Neuromorphic terahertz imagers, or brain-inspired imaging in the terahertz band, give us superhuman vision to see through optically obscured media in real time by combining sensing and computation in a single piece of hardware. The Genesis Mission award supports our research in developing the hardware for the neuromorphic terahertz imager, as well as creating a digital twin of the entire system to train imaging models before implementing them on the actual hardware. This is an important step for future terahertz imaging systems on augmented reality hardware,” Naghavi said. ?

Building on research conducted in UW’s , the project brings together collaborators at Texas A&M University, the University of Utah, ChipNexus and NVIDIA to integrate sensing and computation directly within imaging hardware. By reducing the amount of data that must be transferred between sensors and processors, the technology could enable lightweight, low-cost augmented reality headsets capable of seeing through visually obscured materials in real time while operating with far lower power consumption than conventional systems.??

, director of the , and his colleagues are contributing to two Phase I Genesis Mission projects that apply advances in protein design and artificial intelligence to challenges beyond traditional biomedical applications.?

One project, BIND (Biophysics-Informed Learning of Coordination for Metalloprotein Design), led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, seeks to develop an AI framework for designing selective metal-binding proteins. The project leverages quantum chemistry, structural biology, machine learning and high-throughput experimentation to advance the computational design strategies of next-generation rare earth element binders. ?These advancements will catalyze change in critical mineral recovery, radionuclide management and environmental monitoring, while advancing DOE priorities in predictive biosystems design. ?

The second project, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will develop an AI-guided loop for the design, fabrication and evaluation of microelectronic devices. The team will leverage proteins designed to assemble on van der Waals substrates to modulate their properties and organize charge carriers within the synthesized hybrid materials, integrating deep-learning protein models with AI-guided material synthesis and characterization, device fabrication and measurements, and circuit-level performance evaluation to create an iterative design process that improves molecules, materials, and device design. ?

Both IPD projects demonstrate how UW-developed protein design technologies are expanding into new areas of chemistry, materials science, and advanced manufacturing. “The Genesis Mission award provides necessary support to develop data that will vastly improve our models, an essential next step in delivering advances for key global challenges,” Baker said.??

, director of the and founding director of the and , a researcher at DiRAC, are partnering with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to help develop infrastructure that will make it easier for astronomers to combine and analyze data from a wide range of observatories and scientific instruments. ?

Their project will expand data formats and analysis platforms to support images, spectra, data cubes and other forms of astronomical data while enabling seamless access to information distributed across cloud and high-performance computing systems. The goal is to remove technical barriers that often slow scientific discovery and make large, multimodal datasets more accessible for AI research. ?

“We want the plumbing to be boring so the astronomy can be spectacular,” Caplar said.?

Source

Most of the stars in sit neatly on a flat plane. But the space around our galaxy is much more chaotic. Rogue bands of stars called “” orbit the Milky Way much like planets in our solar system orbit the sun.

Astronomers have long been fascinated by the possibility that stellar streams could indirectly reveal the presence of , that mysterious theorized substance that doesn’t interact with light or normal matter — except via gravity. However, a new 黑料老司机 study casts doubt on a leading theory linking dark matter and stellar streams, and raises new questions about both galactic phenomena.

“Dark matter makes up most of the mass in the universe and forms the scaffolding that galaxies grow on, but we still don’t know what it is,” said co-author , a UW assistant professor of astronomy. “The Milky Way is one of the best laboratories we have for figuring that out, and stellar streams are one of the sharpest tools inside it.”

in The Astrophysical Journal.

A stellar stream forms when a group of stars crashes into a galaxy and becomes ensnared by its gravity. As the stars orbit the galaxy, its gravity stretches the cluster into a . Most galaxies host stellar streams, though the Milky Way’s are the most visible to astronomers. 

In our galaxy, most stellar streams we can see are irregular — gaps and kinks interrupt an otherwise uniform smear of stars. Many astronomers believe that those irregularities could signal the gravitational tug from small clumps of dark matter, called subhalos. If there are indeed subhalos sprinkled throughout the galaxy, studying the aberrations in stellar streams could teach us about the composition of dark matter.

The new study was an effort to understand the role that the host galaxy — rather than the dark matter clumps within it — plays in shaping stellar streams. Astronomers simulated four Milky Way-sized galaxies without any dark matter clumps, then peppered them with roughly 15,000 stellar streams. After five billion simulated years, the team observed irregularities in nearly every stellar stream.

“In our simulations, the host galaxies alone caused the same kinds of irregularities that we observe in real stellar streams,” said lead author , a UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy. “Now that we can predict what the host galaxy does on its own, we can start isolating the part that dark matter is responsible for.”

The cause of the irregularities was the structure of the galaxies themselves. In each simulated galaxy, stars were spread somewhat unevenly across the disc, creating areas of greater and lesser density to mimic the composition of a real galaxy like ours. As the simulated streams of stars passed through denser regions of space, they were bent and torn by the irregular gravitational landscape.

Arora expected the host galaxies to impart some irregularities on the streams, but the sheer number caught him off guard.

“We found that almost all of the streams had some sort of structural variation,” Arora said. “So this idea that streams are naturally thin and smooth wasn’t really necessarily true.”

The simulation generated wiggles, kinks, spurs, branches, gaps and clumps; some streams were totally torn apart by the gravitational froth of their host galaxies. Streams orbiting closer to the galactic core were thrown into dense clumpy regions of space more often, where they acquired more irregularities. Out of the 15,000 streams spread across the four host galaxies, only 70 remained perfectly smooth after five billion years. 

The results might seem disheartening, but the UW team believes they chart a clear and exciting course for the future of dark matter research. Arora wants to include dark matter clumps in the next simulation to see whether they produce stellar stream irregularities that are distinct from those caused by the host galaxy alone. 

There may also be opportunities to check simulations against new observations: the is , which will help astronomers build a taxonomy of stream features and — hopefully — discover fingerprints of dark matter.

“Sadly there’s no magic wand to reveal the structure of dark matter,” said , a research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW. “Streams are complex systems, but they’re still the most interesting way to study the dark matter close to home.” 

Co-authors from the UW astronomy department include , a postdoctoral fellow; , an undergraduate student; and and , graduate students.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

For more information, contact Arora at arora125@uw.edu.

Source

A new study using data from NASA’s found that star formation in the nearby Andromeda galaxy has undergone a 500-million-year decline, with an even steeper drop in the last 40 million years. Andromeda, a spiral galaxy comparable in size to our Milky Way, is close enough to be seen with the unaided eye from areas with dark skies. Located about 2.5 million light-years from Earth, practically our cosmic backyard, Andromeda is close enough for astronomers to examine its stellar populations in detail and learn about the past of galaxies like our own.

July 27 in .

To reach this conclusion, the researchers combined data from two Hubble surveys: the and the . Together, these two surveys mapped two-thirds of the disk of Andromeda in ultra-sharp detail. In total, the team measured about 200 million individual stars across the galaxy, giving them a detailed picture of Andromeda’s past activity.

“We need to measure the individual stars because they are the fossil record of the galaxy’s formation,” said , a research professor of astronomy at the 黑料老司机 and a co-author on the study. “Hubble is the only telescope that can give you high enough spatial resolution in the blue part of the spectrum over a large enough area to be able to do that in Andromeda.”

Massive stars are bluer and short-lived, while less massive stars are redder and longer-lived. As a result, areas that have experienced recent star formation tend to have a larger fraction of blue stars, while areas with less recent star formation typically have a redder population. The team divided the Andromeda images into thousands of squares, spanning 300 light-years on each side, and determined the history of star formation within each parcel to gain a comprehensive view of the galaxy’s past.

Previous research showed the Andromeda galaxy experienced a dramatic burst of star formation about 2 billion years ago, likely due to a past interaction or merger with another galaxy. Since that time, star formation has been steadily declining.

This movie, created from an analysis of data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, demonstrates how the rate of star formation in the Andromeda galaxy has declined over the past 500 million years. Brighter colors indicate where star formation was highest during a given time. Credit: Visualization: Tobin Wainer (UW); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI); Video: NASA, ESA, STScI, Gregory Bacon (STScI)

Astronomers measure the rate of star formation in terms of the mass, or amount of gas and dust, converted into stars per year. The researchers calculated that, 500 million years ago, Andromeda formed stars at a rate of about one solar mass per year. However, the formation rate dropped to about half that by 40 million years ago. The current rate has plummeted even farther, to about one-fifth the mass of our Sun per year.

The team also examined whether that decline was consistent across the galaxy or concentrated in certain areas. They found that much of the recent star formation has occurred in a star-forming ring located about 32,000 light-years from the galaxy’s center. As a result, much of the decline they measure is driven by decreasing activity within that ring.

The decline is likely to be a natural winding down from its previous, more active state.

“It’s just like after running a marathon, sometimes you’ve got to take a bit of a breather,” said lead author , a UW graduate student in astronomy.?

The team also investigated whether there was any connection between the decrease of activity in Andromeda and its proximity to the satellite galaxy Messier 32, or M32. The M32 galaxy is separated from Andromeda by about 16,000 light-years in the plane of the sky; however, its 3D location in space is uncertain. As a result, astronomers are unsure if or when it might have interacted with Andromeda in the past.

“One of the major motivations for this program was to probe potential interactions between M32 and Andromeda’s disk,” said co-author , a UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy.

Survey data from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury allowed the team to study the history of star formation in Andromeda near M32. They found that this area showed signs of decreased star formation compared with other regions. The timing of this decrease, which this study finds began roughly 60 million years ago, could help constrain when the M32 galaxy interacted with Andromeda’s disk.

“We can’t explicitly say that we are seeing a decrease in star formation because of M32. But it’s right there, and it’s definitely the most likely suspect,” Wainer said.

The team plans to continue analyzing the Hubble data and combine it with data from ground-based observatories to gain additional insights into the history of Andromeda.

“There’s a strong scientific value to this archival data,” said co-author , a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California Santa Cruz. “Andromeda is important because it’s a neighbor that is close enough that we can see it in great detail while also getting a global perspective.”?

An even greater global perspective is likely to come from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope after it launches as early as Sunday, Aug. 30. Roman’s gigantic field of view can cover at least 100 times as much area as Hubble at near-infrared wavelengths in a single observation. A newly approved will image the entirety of Andromeda’s disk and areas of its surrounding halo, allowing astronomers to measure hundreds of millions of stars and enabling groundbreaking new science.

Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.?

UW co-authors include , professor emerita of astronomy and , and , former UW graduate students in astronomy.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by NASA.

For more information, contact Wainer at tobinw@uw.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

Source

Researchers at the 黑料老司机 and partners at Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s on a new project to help scientists use artificial intelligence to better understand the universe.

Modern astronomy is producing more data than ever before. Powerful telescopes — like the — and other instruments around the world are collecting detailed information about billions of stars, galaxies and other cosmic objects. These observations help researchers investigate some of the biggest mysteries in science, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy, how the universe evolved over time and what it is made of.

But there is a challenge: Much of the data from those projects is stored in different formats, housed at different institutions and difficult to combine. As a result, scientists often spend significant time preparing data before they can begin analyzing it.

“The scientific opportunities and the data analysis challenges are incredible,” said , head of physics at Carnegie Mellon University.

The new effort, led by Mandelbaum and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s , will create a shared data service to allow researchers to seamlessly access and combine information from multiple astronomy experiments. Rather than moving massive datasets from one location to another, the system will allow the data to remain where it is stored while making it available through a central platform.

“A new generation of telescopes and surveys will each change the way we understand our universe,” said co-investigator , a UW professor of astronomy and director of the eScience Institute. “But it is when we bring these data together to look at the universe from a unified perspective that these discoveries will be truly transformative.”

The data infrastructure developed as part of this project will be available to the astronomical community at the SLAC-hosted Rubin Observatory’s U.S. Data Facility and via the American Science Cloud, which integrates the nation’s most advanced high-performance computing systems, scientific facilities, data resources and production capabilities into a single, coordinated AI-driven system. The project extends the UW’s investments in Rubin Observatory and the UW , which are supported by Charles and Lisa Simonyi and led by and .?

The infrastructure also will support a growing area of AI known as foundation models. These AI systems are trained on large and diverse datasets, enabling them to recognize patterns and connections that might otherwise go unnoticed.

In astronomy, foundation models could help researchers analyze many different types of observations at once, including images, measurements of light from distant objects and records of how those objects change over time. By bringing these data sources together, scientists hope to uncover new insights about the universe more quickly and efficiently.

Ultimately, the team hopes to transform the vast collections of astronomical data being gathered today into a long-lasting scientific resource, helping researchers answer some of humanity’s most fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and makeup of the universe.

Other UW co-investigators include , a research scientist and engineer in astronomy. Other co-investigators include , director of engineering for the LINCC project and , senior staff scientist at SLAC and at Stanford’s/SLAC’s Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology.

Additional modeling will be provided by Francois Lanusse of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Their work is an extension of the Schmidt Sciences-supported LINCC Frameworks program, a partnership led jointly by CMU and the UW.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

Source

Come curious. Leave inspired.

Wherever you are, the 黑料老司机 offers opportunities to learn and connect with the ideas, people, and research shaping our world. This summer, visit campus for the latest exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, or join us from anywhere through recorded lectures, podcasts, virtual experiences, and more. As a public university, we’re proud to share the knowledge, creativity, and discoveries of the UW with communities near and far.

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If You’re in Seattle:

SUMMER EVENTS:

July 7 | (Arboratum Foundation)
Meet Seattle-based author, journalist, and photographer Roddy Scheer and learn about his new book, Wild Seattle: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around the Emerald City.

July 11 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the 黑料老司机 for a day packed with labor history, organizing strategies, and labor research with the Seattle labor community. How are racism and capitalism related, and how have workers confronted them, past and present? Come ready to learn, discuss, and organize!

July 22 – 26 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Assembly is a new invitational contemporary art fair organized by a cohort of Seattle’s leading galleries. Founding members include Traver Gallery, led by School of Art + Art History + Design alum Sarah Traver (BFA ’02), and Greg Kucera Gallery. The fair’s inaugural edition will take place at the West Canal Yards. It will bring together galleries from across the Western US with their curatorial programs, artists, and collectors.

July 23 – 26 | ?(ArtsUW)
Seattle Art Fair, a one-of-a-kind showcase for the vibrant arts community of the Pacific Northwest, and a leading destination for the best in modern and contemporary art, returns for its tenth edition. The Fair brings together the region’s strong collector base, the Pacific Northwest’s top museums and institutions, and an array of innovative public programming.

Through July 24 – Book Club | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (UW Alumni Association)
Readers’ Choice! Bundle up for an historical mystery set in 18th-century Maine. The body of a local man is found in the frozen Kennebeck River. Martha Ballard, the local midwife, suspects that this death is not an accident — and her detailed diaries of local life are full of clues. Will she weather the scandals unleashed by her pursuit of the truth? Inspired by historic events!

July 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Walk around the 黑料老司机 campus with Dr. Susan Pavel to learn more about native plants and how you can use them to dye textiles. In this workshop, learn about the native plants around the Burke Museum and how they can be used. Hear about the dyeing process and see samples of native plant dyes. Leave this workshop with the information to do your own natural dyeing at home! Takeaways include: a sample card of a natural dye from a native plant.

August 6 |?(Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Admission to the Burke Museum is FREE, and the museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month. Get closer to the daily work happening in the Burke Museum’s visible collections storage, labs, and workrooms during Free First Thursday.

August 27 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Celebrate the opening of new exhibitions featuring newly acquired prints by Helen Frankenthaler, collection objects that explore the politics of the everyday, a solo exhibition by artist Joiri Minaya, and the unveiling of a new mural project! Plus music and drinks!

SEPTEMBER EVENTS:

September 14 | (Philosophy)
Drawing on care ethics and relational philosophy, Karen S. Emmerman develops relational vegan ecofeminism, a framework that takes animals’ moral standing seriously while also acknowledging the emotional, cultural, and familial stakes woven into human traditions. Rather than treating veganism as a simple matter of ethical prioritization, Emmerman shows that refusing a grandmother’s lovingly prepared chicken soup, or rejecting a family hunting tradition, carries profound relational weight. These moments produce “moral remainders” of lingering hurt, regret, or estrangement that persists even when we make the best ethical choice. Emmerman’s book is a ground-breaking exploration of what happens when caring deeply about animals places us in conflict with the people we love. She’ll be joined in conversation by Amy Reed-Sandoval.?Free.

September 16 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
In this event, David B. Williams will be in conversation with local journalist Mary Ann Gwinn, about his new book. Blending human and natural history into a vivid portrait of one of North America’s most dynamic landscapes, In the Range of Fire and Ice is a lively, groundbreaking exploration of Washington’s Cascade Range. Drawing on conversations with anthropologists, park rangers, ecologists, and climate scientists, as well as firsthand experience, award-winning author David B. Williams brings readers into the mountains to uncover stories etched in the landscape over millennia.

September 17 | (Philosophy)
UW Prof. Colin Marshall is joined by UW Assoc. Prof. José Jorge Mendoza for a lively conversation about Marshall’s new book, Just Hear Me Out. In Just Hear Me Out, Marshall describes a persuasive method that is both effective and ethical. Rather than share a flurry of tips on how to win friends and influence people, Marshall invites us to take up persuasion as fundamentally civil work, good for both our conscience and our communities. Real-world persuaders such as Jane Addams, Daryl Davis, and Fred Rogers show us an ethical route, he argues, to changing hearts through patience, respect, and compassion. Hosted at the University Bookstore. Free.

September 24 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Samuel Elwitt (1834-1919) was a prolific and highly accomplished Tsimshian carver from the Kitselas First Nation. Partially paralyzed from an early age, Elwitt worked as a full-time artist and relied on carving and painting as his primary source of income for his entire life. Despite a multitude of Elwitt’s spoons, model poles, bowls, and headdresses being present in some of the world’s most notable museums, including the British Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Canadian Museum of History, and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, most Northwest Coast scholars have never heard of this pivotal artist. This presentation by Vancouver-based museum anthropologist and writer Christopher W. Smith retraces his efforts over the last 18 years to untangle the historic intersectional discrimination and inconsistent museum cataloguing practices that led to this important artist being left out of the Northwest Coast art historical canon. In his presentation, Smith will share key biographical details on Elwitt, historic photos, notable works, and the defining features of Elwitt’s unique carving and painting styles with the audience. Smith will also discuss the important roles that formal attribution, archival research, and online museum databases have played in the return of this information back to Elwitt’s home community and descendants. Free.

September 24 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Every night for almost two decades, artist Clare Johnson has drawn and written on a post-it to save a small piece of each ending day. Currently including over 6,500 sticky notes and growing nightly, this sprawling yet deeply intimate work honors what normal communication can’t—all the separate times held within ourselves, endlessly overlapping, collapsing, and refocusing. As part of Art + Culture Week and in conjunction with the exhibition Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance, join Johnson at the Henry for a talk and hands-on activity exploring personal histories and practices of everyday making. Free.

September 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Join in for an introduction to a moving meditation called Qi Gong. Participants will learn a practice called T’ai Chi Chih, which is a series of 19 movements and one closing posture. Benefits of Qi Gong include improved balance, increased energy, and greater mental clarity. Free.

September 30 | (Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the 2026 MFA Show at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. The exhibition runs from September 30 through November 7. Free.

September 30 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Authors Spencer Greening and Rachel Greening discuss their new book, Gyetk: Coastal Fusion and Ancestral Knowledge from a Ts’msyen Kitchen.?Gyetk (pronounced gy-e-tk and meaning “to feed the people”) immerses readers into the rich food traditions, knowledge, and relationships that have sustained the Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) people for millennia along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Drawing from the authors’ lived experiences practicing a land-based lifestyle, as well as their backgrounds in Indigenous food sovereignty, health and well-being, and cultural research, Gyetk weaves together modern culinary fusion, traditional knowledge, and scholarly insight. Through 60 beautifully photographed recipes, the book follows the Ts’msyen seasonal round, weaving together ancestral foodways, traditional ecological knowledge, dietetic perspectives, and thoughtful harvesting practices — inviting readers to feast in relationship with the natural world.

(Biology)
Wednesdays, noon to 4 pm / 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 10 am – 2 pm
For nearly 70 years, the Biology Greenhouse at the 黑料老司机 has played a vital role in research and teaching. Whether focusing on plant-pollinator interactions, paleoclimatology, or other biological questions, the teaching collection has enhanced and inspired UW biological research. Visit the 4 Collection rooms and browse through an amazing diversity of plant species from around the world. Free.

EXHIBITIONS:

Opening July 5 | ?(Henry Art Gallery)

By the age of thirty-two, Helen Frankenthaler (1928—2011) had established herself in a white male-dominated art world as one of the leading American Abstract Expressionist painters of the twentieth century. Her distinctive “soak-stain” technique—applying thinned paint onto unprimed canvases on the floor to produce watercolor-like effects—introduced chance as an integral part of her artistic process. Printmaking, a technical process involving chemistry, collaboration, and repetition, might appear at odds with the spontaneity and physicality of her painting.

Opening July 11 |
(Henry Art Gallery)
This exhibition brings together contemporary artworks across media that explore the poetics and politics of everyday life. Using the day-to-day as both material and subject, these works explore how the ordinary and seemingly incidental can become a powerful source for artistic inquiry, critical reflection, and imagination.

Opening July 18 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Richard Learoyd’s (U.K., b. 1966)?large-scale photograph of a dead grey reef shark in the Henry’s permanent collection. This photograph draws from lineages of scientific photography and still life across media, resulting in a picture that surfaces entanglements between traditions of imaging and practices of extraction from land, people, and other living creatures. Reflections from members of the UW community across Art History, Anthropology, and Marine Biology will examine these intersecting histories and contexts.

Opening July 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Joiri Minaya (b.1990, New York City; raised in the Dominican Republic) is a multidisciplinary artist who examines the Tropics as a constructed place and identity. As both performer and saboteur, Minaya challenges misrepresentations that reduce tropical geographies and their inhabitants to imagined fantasies of the colonial imagination. In her work, she reclaims Afro-Indigenous narratives of resistance, ancestral knowledges, and regenerative practices—especially those rooted in plant and botanical traditions.

Through August 30 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Journey through the seasonal cycle of weaving, from gathering materials and spinning wool to dyeing with natural ingredients and weaving intricate designs. Along the way, learn firsthand from weavers and gain insight into the deep cultural and scientific knowledge embedded in every strand. Related Article by the Seattle Times:

As you enter the exhibit, you’ll see baskets, tumplines, and raw materials — all part of the first phase of the weaving process: gathering. Ancestral weavings — some on loan and returning to Coast Salish territory for the first time in a century — are displayed alongside contemporary creations by the co-curators.

(Henry Art Gallery)
ojo|-|o?l?? (pronounced oh-ho hol-ohn) is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by Diné artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na’nízhoozhí [Gallup, New Mexico]) that includes sculpture, textile, collage, and video, activated by moments of performance. Across this work, Riege combines customary Diné practices of weaving, silversmithing, and beading with contemporary cultural forms, exploring Diné cosmology, the history of Euro-American trading posts in and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, and the notion of “authenticity” as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft.

ART AROUND SEATTLE:

Volunteer Park: (Henry Art Gallery)
The title, Soft Services, is a phrase drawn from the artist’s research and interviews with members of the activist community, in reference to the care efforts made during the height of the AIDS crisis. At the time, the rare opportunity arose to use the Ryan White (CARE Act) monies towards “soft services”—aspects of support deemed assistive but not strictly necessary and as such not covered by traditional healthcare (massage, meal trains, dog walking, etc.) Through this installation, Bass explores the notion of what true care means, what we define as essential versus optional, and who has access to it, questions of heightened importance at this moment of crisis and recovery.

Judkins Park Sound Transit: ?(School of Art + Art History + Design)
“A Walk in the Neighborhood,” a public art installation by Barbara Earl Thomas, ’73, ’77, is the culmination of 12 years of creative development. It features illustrated glass panels that serve as dividers and windbreaks on the terminal platform. The imagery features people and elements from the neighborhood rendered in Thomas’s cut-paper style.

Through August 8 | ARTS at King Street Station: ?(School of Art + Art History + Design)
Vivian Cho is a visual designer and animator based in Seattle whose work includes themes of identity, nature, and digital nostalgia. Their practice is driven by curiosity and a love for experimentation, often exploring ways to synthesize 2D and 3D digital art with analog techniques. A recent graduate of the 黑料老司机’s Visual Communication Design program, Vivian has previously worked as a motion design intern at Netflix and a visual designer at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Currently, they are a staff designer at ARCADE NW Publishing, while also continuing to develop their independent practice and personal design and animation projects. Related article by 黑料老司机 Magazine: .

Engage with the 黑料老司机 from Anywhere:

SUMMER READS:

?(Department of English)
Discover the latest books and creative achievements from the Department of English faculty.

(Department of English)
From captivating novels and memoirs to poetry, scholarship, and more, this collection showcases the breadth of alumni publications.

PODCASTS:

(Communication)
Lost Credits is a podcast that emerged from a single question: what happened to all of the Black girls that used to occupy our screens? Each episode invites listeners into the quest of two friends to find answers. Hosts Dr. Timeka Tounsel (UW Communication associate professor) and Dr. Ashleigh Greene Wade (Digital Studies, University of Virginia) draw on their expertise as Black feminist media scholars to offer fascinating insights about popular culture and the inner workings of Hollywood. Together, they examine Black girls’ representation in late-twentieth-century and new-millennium entertainment media. With equal doses of fan criticism and educational content, Lost Credits is designed for Black culture enthusiasts as well as students and teachers.

(School of Art + Art History + Design)
UW Professor Karen Cheng joins host and Design alum Jason Tselentis (MFA 2004), Head of Design at Winthrop University, to discuss Working Girl (1988). They discuss the cinematography, Harrison Ford’s character, and other movies that would pair well with Working Girl for a potential double feature.

Ways of Knowing, Season 2 (College of Arts & Sciences)
Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are facilitating critical conversations in the classroom and the sound booth! The second season of “Ways of Knowing,” a podcast collaboration with The World According to Sound, spotlights eight Arts & Sciences faculty members whose research shapes our knowledge of the world in real time—from digital humanities to mathematics to AI.

(Astronomy)
Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have announced that they discovered a new subatomic particle. Roughly four times more massive than a standard proton, this short-lived piece of matter called Ξcc?(Xi-cc-plus) is like an extra-heavy proton, researchers say. Physicist Hassan Jawahery joins Host Flora Lichtman to unpack how the particle was found, and what its discovery means for theoretical physics. Then, astronomer Eric Bellm describes a new alert system that could flag potentially significant changes in the southern night sky in real time. On its first night of testing at the Rubin Observatory in Chile, the system fired off 800,000 alerts.

?(Jackson School of International Studies)
Launched in 2021 with UW Professor Daniel Bessner and writer Derek Davison, “American Prestige,” the winner of the 2025 Signal Awards “silver” medal, offers an in-depth analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, and has featured guests such as actor Morgan Spector and HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed.

(Biology)
This is a podcast centered around the humans who study the myriad biological processes that shape our world, specifically, the humans who are students and faculty in the Department of Biology at the 黑料老司机. They are scientists who study everything from the ways cells move through complex tissues to ancient communities of long-extinct mammals, from the ways plants interact with their surroundings to the ways bats fly and hummingbirds feed. Plunge into the vast world of biology, where students share paths to becoming scientists and the lessons they have learned along the way.

Podcast:??(School of Drama)
A lively and opinionated cultural history of the Broadway Musical that tells the extraordinary story of how Immigrants, Jews, Queers, African-Americans, and other outcasts invented the Broadway Musical, and how they changed America in the process. In Season One, host David Armstrong traces the evolution of American Musical Theater from its birth at the dawn of the 20th Century, through its mid-century “Golden Age”, and right up to its current 21st Century renaissance; and also explores how musicals have reflected and shaped our world — especially in regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, and equality.

STREAMING 2025-26 LECTURES AND PERFORMANCES:

The World (Cup) Comes to Seattle Lecture Series (Jackson School of International Studies)
The Global Sports Lab hosts an online series of talks and discussions featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle.

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  Presented by Sean Jacobs, Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School, and Martha Saavedra, former Associate Director of the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley.
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  Presented by César Wazen, Director of the International Affairs Office at Qatar University.
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  Presented by Mary V. Harvey, Chief Executive at the Center for Sport and Human Rights; Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, Board Member of the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee, Chief Business Officer of Seattle Reign Football Club, and Chief Operating Officer of Seattle Sounders Football Club; Leo Flor, Chief Legacy Officer of the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee; and Anita Ramasastry, Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the 黑料老司机 School of Law.
• 
  Presented by Niki Akhavan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Media and Communication Studies at The Catholic University of America.
• 
  Presented by Teresa Mosqueda, Councilmember of the Metropolitan King County Council, and Anita Ramasastry, Barer Chair and Professor of Law at the 黑料老司机.
• 
  Presented by Stéphane Mourlane, Senior Lecturer, Aix-Marseille University; Yvan Gastaut, Lecturer, University of C?te d’Azur; and Paul Dietschy, Professor, Marie and Louis Pasteur University.
• 
  Presented by Abdullah Al-Arian, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University in Qatar.
• 
  Presented by Jen Barnes, Co-Chair of the Pride+ Match Impact Committee with SEA2026 and founder and CEO of both Rough & Tumble Pub and Salmon Bay FC.

?(Physics)
Building on the Department’s longtime commitment to public scholarship, the lecture series brings renowned scientists to UW to offer free lectures on exciting advances in physics with the goal of fostering an appreciation of science and technology in our community:

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  Nobel laureate David?Baker discusses advanced protein design software and its use in developing molecules to address challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability.
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  Dr. John Martinis, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, presents “Prehistoric quantum bits: experiments testing the fundamental physics of superconducting quantum devices.”

?(History)
Incarceration is a hotly debated topic in the United States, a country that has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world. Looking at the practice from a historical perspective, what can incarceration teach us about who we were and who we are now? What might histories of incarceration, and the histories of those who have been incarcerated, tell us about power dynamics, belonging, exclusion, struggle, and hope across societies in the past and present? The 2026 History Lecture Series explores the practice of incarceration, tracing its evolution from antiquity to our modern world.

(Communication)
Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and the cofounder of the fact-checking site FactCheck.org and its science subsite, SciCheck. In this lecture, Dr. Jamieson argues that scientists and science communicators would be well served by using a “mental models” approach to simultaneously increase consequential knowledge and reduce public susceptibility to misconceptions about controversial climate and health findings. By engaging audiences with visual, verbal, or animated models, this approach fosters an understanding of science that audiences can draw on to recognize and reject consequential misconceptions.

(Department of English)
Nationally-acclaimed poet and critic Ange Mlinko lecture, “When Poets Say Nothing,” addresses the use of a negative mode in poetry, called apophasis or the apophatic. Her title itself is a clever pun that operates on several levels. Poets have always been accused of saying nothing much, of course. William Butler Yeats describes this accusation as a professional hazard; to be a poet is to “[b]e thought an idler by the noisy set / Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen / The martyrs call the world.” On a different level, though, it is equally true that poets themselves invoke the negative to create distinct artistic and intellectual effects from those of positive language. As Mlinko noted, the apophatic is historically connected to theology, with figures from the ancient world, such as Saint Augustine of Hippo, urging that a correct human understanding of God must always be tempered by humility. Humans cannot understand the divine, writes Augustine; if you think you understand something, you can be sure it is not God. Poets say nothing when nothing is precisely the thing that needs to be said.

(Department of Psychology)
Dr. Cynthia Berg presents a perspective on self- and social-regulation that guides her work across the lifespan. In addition to talking about transition points across the lifespan where coordination of self- and social-regulation are linked to diabetes outcomes — across adolescence, in young adulthood, and in late adulthood — she identifies interventions that help to optimize the coordination of self- and social-regulation.

(School of Art + Art History + Design)
Visual Communication Design faculty members Karen Cheng, Annabelle Gould, Chad P. Hall, and Kristine Matthews give a series of short presentations reflecting on the designers, projects, and ideas that have shaped their practices and design values—from their time as students through their early careers. Their selections ranged from foundational texts on typography to inventive works, such as annual reports that document a designer’s year through charts and graphs. Watch the presentation recording to learn from these creative influencers.

UW School of Music Performances
Performances and more from the 黑料老司机 School of Music.

Browse the full list of the UW School of Music’s

By bringing top minds from around the world to the 黑料老司机 to teach and speak to the public, the UW Graduate School’s Office of Public Lectures takes big ideas and discoveries into the community and brings the community into scholarly life.

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  This talk invites audiences to explore five distinct perspectives on the political and cultural impact of the tournament—offering a more nuanced, thought-provoking look at what the World Cup means for Seattle and the world.
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  From winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup championship to enduring a career-ending concussion that left her “temporarily totally disabled” and forced her to pawn her Olympic medals, Briana Scurry delivers a raw and inspiring account of resilience. With unflinching candor, she guides audiences through the soaring highs and devastating lows of her journey—sharing a story of triumph, adversity, and ultimate redemption. Along the way, Scurry reflects on soccer’s global influence and the enduring significance of the World Cup, offering a deeply personal perspective on the sport that shaped her life and legacy.
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  Based on Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ forthcoming book of poetic indexes, this interactive poetic lecture explores the life, teaching, and artwork of color theorist Alma Thomas. Engaging themes of audience, intimacy, abstract expressionist art, and the dynamic relationship between Black women’s creativity and the process of being Earth, the lecture invites participants into a rhythmic dialogue of form, meaning, and presence.
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  In the shadow of an empire, in a world on fire, what if we could imagine — and build — otherwise? Crip feminist technoscience teaches us how to wield disabled, mad, neuroexpansive, crip, sick people’s wisdom as a vital tool for surviving now and thriving then. Disabled people know intimately how to strategically leverage legal and policy tools and know precisely the limitations of these tools and frameworks.
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  While World War I is often framed as a European conflict, its most far-reaching consequences were profoundly felt far beyond Europe’s borders. In the Middle East, the war sparked a sweeping political crisis that ultimately led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In its wake, the European victors imposed new borders and mandates, carving the region into fragmented zones of imperial control and influence. But this was not merely a story of unchecked colonial dominance. In the postwar moment, a spectrum of fluid, intersecting anti-colonial movements emerged. Palestine became a key site in these struggles, as a racialized order of settler-colonial capitalism took shape under British rule. This talk locates those movements within the broader transition from British to American imperial ascendancy, contending that the political history of the region must be understood as integral to the global history of fossil capitalism. Moving beyond frameworks centered solely on empire, the talk examines how anti-colonial actors envisioned their futures within a rapidly transforming global system—even as new hierarchies of race, empire, and capital were being redefined.
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  This talk explores the idea that the endurance of the rule of law in the United States relies not solely on the provisions of the Constitution—its structural framework, the institutions it established, or the rights it enshrines—but fundamentally on the character of its citizens. Qualities such as public-spiritedness, tolerance, moderation, empathy, mutual respect, a sense of fair play, and, ultimately, intelligence, honor, and decency form the foundation of constitutional democracy.
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  Join this lecture on reviving MLK’s vision of the beloved community—where inclusion, cultural goodwill, and nonviolence expand democracy beyond voting. Discover how these values can bridge today’s deep divides and strengthen the soul of American civic life.
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  Healthcare can be challenging for anyone—but for older LGBTQ individuals, the barriers are often deeper and more complex. This engaging talk explores how thoughtful, inclusive communication can transform healthcare experiences, making every person feel truly seen, heard, and respected. Join us to learn how the words we choose and the ways we listen can foster trust, reduce disparities, and build a system that cares for everyone with dignity.
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  Is artificial intelligence on the brink of world domination? Have tech giants created autonomous thinking machines? Will AI render authors, artists, and other creatives obsolete? Are we entering an era where computers surpass humans in every way?
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  In this powerful and deeply personal talk, Dr. Uché Blackstock explores the legacies that have shaped her journey—both personal and institutional. She reflects on following in her mother’s footsteps to medical school, a path that made Dr. Blackstock and her twin sister the first Black mother-daughter legacy at the institution.

(Simpson Center for the Humanities)
The Katz Distinguished Lectures Playlist offers a rich, ever-growing archive to explore from anywhere, inviting you to engage with a wide range of thought-provoking topics.

• 
  Why do we turn to the past in order to confront the crises of the present? Michael Rothberg approaches this question from the perspective of “comparison controversies,” which occur when impassioned public debates emerge from provocative historical comparisons. Since October 7, 2023, political speeches, protests, magazine articles, and social media posts have generated controversy by connecting recent events in Israel and Gaza to the Holocaust. In this talk, Rothberg will consider post-October 7 examples in relation to a larger context of comparison controversies and a longer trajectory of Holocaust memory to reflect more generally on the possibilities and pitfalls of historical analogy.
• 
  The production and promotion of so-called “AI” technology involves dehumanization on many fronts: the computational metaphor valorizes one kind of cognitive activity as “intelligence,” devaluing many other aspects of human experience while taking an isolating, individualistic view of agency, ignoring the importance of communities and webs of relationships. Meanwhile, the purpose of humans is framed as labeling data or as interchangeable machine components. Data collected about people is understood as “ground truth” even while it lies about those people, especially marginalized people. In this talk, Bender will explore these processes of dehumanization and the vital role that the humanities have in resisting these trends by painting a deeper and richer picture of what it is to be human.

(Astronomy)
What will Rubin Observatory discover that no one’s expecting? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn and answer cosmic queries about the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and our next big tool to uncover more about the universe with Zeljko Ivezic, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction.

ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW—whether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).uw.edu).

Source

From a mountaintop in Chile, under clear dark skies, the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (). The 10-year survey will create the most comprehensive, cinematic record of the universe in history. Over the next decade, Rubin will observe the entire southern sky every few nights to create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of our universe.?

“The decision to officially begin the LSST was made after a period of system optimization and a careful operational review of technical readiness, data system performance and scientific validation,” said , a 黑料老司机 professor of astronomy and head of LSST. “The 黑料老司机 Rubin team played a central role in optimizing the observatory and helping prepare it for the start of full survey operations.”

The Simonyi Survey Telescope’s unique design combines enormous light-collecting power, the ability to move rapidly across the sky and a wide field of view. The attached 3,200-megapixel camera — the largest digital camera in the world — is now capturing a new, detailed image approximately every 40 seconds. Using a telescope with this speed and sensitivity, Rubin is capable of catching faint objects and fleeting events with reliability and consistency every night.

Over the next decade, Rubin will illuminate a treasure trove of discoveries: pulsating stars, supernova explosions, the fossil record of galaxies, clues to the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and entirely new phenomena we’ve never seen before. Some cosmic processes unfold slowly, unpredictably or incredibly rarely, which is why a 10-year survey is essential. By returning to each point in the sky about 800 times over a decade, Rubin data will provide the scientific community with deep, time-rich views needed to uncover subtle events, capture moving objects and study the accelerating expansion of the universe.

This milestone follows the Rubin First Look event that took place in June 2025, which was followed by final commissioning work, an operational readiness review and the beginning of the alert stream.

Each night, Rubin collects approximately 10 terabytes of data and produces as many as seven million alerts of changes in the night sky. These alerts stream to : automated systems that sort and classify these changes so scientists can act quickly. UW researchers led by , research associate professor of astronomy, developed the alert pipeline.

“Astronomers have already used Rubin’s public alerts to discover and follow up hundreds of transient phenomena during the early optimization period,” Bellm said. “We can expect many more exciting discoveries with the start of the full survey.”

Not only is Rubin helping to unlock the mysteries of the distant universe, it is also the most powerful solar system discovery machine ever built. By taking about a thousand images every night, Rubin is compiling a detailed census of our solar system, including millions of asteroids and comets. In just a month and a half, during early optimization surveys, Rubin discovered over 11,000 never-before-seen asteroids, including 33 near-Earth objects and 380 trans-Neptunian objects.

When the LSST is complete, the final dataset will contain billions of objects with trillions of measurements, all accessible through regular data releases. This is the first time so much astronomical data will be available to so many people, opening the door to new kinds of discovery by both scientists and the public. Rubin invites anyone in the world to engage with its data and explore the dynamic universe in ways never before possible.

“It is amazing and humbling to be here at this time and place as we start the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, after more than two decades of incredible work by our dedicated team,” said Bob Blum, director of Rubin Observatory at NSF NOIRLab. “Rubin Observatory is for everyone; the LSST will change how we do astronomy and astrophysics, allowing researchers anywhere to participate in cutting-edge science.”

Visit to follow the status of the LSST in real time.

Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC. Observatory operations?are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

For more information, contact Ivezi? at ivezic@astro.washington.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

Source

New images of cigar-shaped M82 galaxy capture millions of stars

The Messier 82 galaxy, known as M82 or the Cigar galaxy, has long fascinated researchers with its astronomical rate of star formation — approximately 10 times faster than the Milky Way. Researchers have pored over grainy, low-resolution, images taken by previous generations of telescopes, which weren’t powerful enough to see through the thick cloud of dust surrounding the galaxy. The , however, can pierce straight through with extremely sharp vision. That enabled a team of astronomers from multiple institutions, including NASA and the UW, to capture new high-resolution images. Posted June 23, the images include more than 16.5 million individual stars and provide the clearest look yet at M82’s , the flattened central hub that contains most of the galaxy’s stellar mass. That could help scientists understand how M82 formed and for how long it has been producing stars so prodigiously.

For more information, contact team member a UW research professor of astronomy, at benw1@uw.edu.

All images are included in NASA’s

New study maps pollution disparities by state and sector across almost 20 years

Air quality in the United States has improved markedly since the landmark Clean Air Act passed in 1970. However, the gains have not been equally shared: Today, communities of color and low-income communities are exposed to disproportionately more air pollution than the overall population. In in Science Advances, UW researchers created the first comprehensive map cataloging how air quality inequity has changed per state and economic sector from 2002 to 2019. The study confirmed that, despite improvements in overall air quality, pollution tends to be concentrated in Black, Hispanic and low-income communities. The findings include specific state-level opportunities for improvement across 11 sectors — for example, disparities in construction-related emissions in Florida increased significantly during the study period. The findings and resulting database could help policymakers across the country prioritize environmental justice projects.

For more information, contact senior author , UW professor of civil and environmental engineering at jdmarsh@uw.edu.

The other UW co-authors are , , and . A full list of co-authors is .?

Researchers observe ultrafast chemistry happening in real time

Molecules are not static. Instead, they are having little dance parties — their atoms wiggle and twist around in space. Occasionally, upon receiving a burst of energy, the bonds holding atoms together in a molecule can break and reform with the atoms in a different configuration. While the number of atoms stays the same, the orientation of these atoms determines a molecule’s chemical properties — an important part of its identity. In , a UW-led team witnessed firsthand, and for the first time, a molecule turning into its “alter ego.” The researchers observed a hydrogen atom, also known as a proton, jump to a new position by bonding to a different atom in the same molecule. This process, which happens within a few millionths of billionths of a second, is important for various fundamental processes, including photosynthesis, and when DNA acquires mutations. To understand why, and how, this happens so fast, the researchers developed a new tool that probes molecular structure on an ultrafast timescale. They were able to use this technology to detect how the molecule’s wiggles allowed the proton transfer to happen. These findings will help researchers test existing theories about these ultrafast chemical dynamics and develop new molecules for clean energy processes.

For more information, contact senior author , UW professor of chemistry, at mkhalil@uw.edu.???

Co-authors , and completed this work while at the UW. Funding information is .

Random events leave lasting signature on the atmospheric methane record, new study shows

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a complicated life cycle. It’s released into the atmosphere by both natural and industrial processes, and there are multiple pathways by which it’s broken down. Recently, atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs but the rate of accumulation has been somewhat inconsistent over time. To understand why, researchers are looking at climate records preceding the industrial era, via ice cores. These deep cylinders of glacial ice document slow swings in atmospheric methane levels spanning decades, or even centuries. This pattern is typically associated with gradual climate change, but in , UW researchers show that it doesn’t have to be. Instead, they reveal that short-term, random events, such as fires or changes in wetlands, can spark gradual shifts. Not only does this clarify the historical record, but it also adds nuance to modern trends.

For more information, contact senior author , UW doctoral student of atmospheric and climate science at emei@uw.edu.

The other UW co-authors are and . A full list of co-authors is .

Source

Sunbirds may look similar to hummingbirds — small, iridescent birds with thin bills — but it turns out the two are only distantly related. Sunbirds live primarily in Africa, Asia and Australia, and have a unique way to slurp up nectar. Unlike hummingbirds, which use minute movements in their bills to sip nectar, sunbirds use their tongues as a straw. published in Current Biology, a team led by researchers at the 黑料老司机 showed that these long-billed birds can change the pressure at the base of their tongues to create suction that moves nectar through their tongues and into their mouths, a novel mechanism never before seen in vertebrates. The researchers used multiple techniques — including high-speed video of sunbirds drinking red-dyed nectar from transparent artificial flowers — to demonstrate this phenomenon across multiple sunbird species as well as build a mathematical model that describes how it works. Sunbirds pollinate the flowers they drink from, and researchers are interested in understanding how different sunbird species’ plant preferences affect the plant-pollinator networks across continents.

For more information, contact lead author , who completed this research as a UW doctoral student in biology, at david_cuban@brown.edu.??

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is included . Related stories in and .?

Seattle Fault gets 5,000 more years of sleep?

Just over 1,100 years ago an on the Seattle fault rocked — and reshaped — the Puget Sound region. It lifted the sea floor and sent a powerful tsunami through the sound. Researchers have estimated that this fault, which runs east to west beneath the middle of the city, will produce a large earthquake every 5,000 years or so. However, , recently published in Geology, pushes that estimate back to 11,000 years. The researchers extended this window by scouring submerged shorelines for evidence of significant elevation changes. The geological record at these sites dates back 11,000 years, but they only found evidence of one major earthquake. This information could be useful to those making seismic hazard maps, which help people understand the risks associated with different regions. Although other regional faults and the imposing pose more imminent risks to residents, the main Seattle fault doesn’t appear to be ready for rupture anytime soon.

For more information, contact lead author , UW research scientist of Earth and space sciences, at edav@uw.edu.

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is included in the paper. Related story in .

The PNW has many rivers, but no system for gauging landslide dam risk

Scientists have a new tool for estimating lesser known hazards in the Pacific Northwest: and outburst floods. Landslides along rivers can block the flow of water downstream, creating a lake just above the slide area. Most landslide dams fail within 10 days, releasing trapped water in an outburst flood, which can be devastating. Last fall, 20 people died after in Taiwan. published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, UW researchers debut a mathematical approach to mapping landslide dam hazards based on valley width and projected slide size. When they applied the tool to a mountain range in Oregon, they found that roughly one-third of rivers in the study area were susceptible to landslide dams, with risk increasing in mountainous areas. If a landslide dam does form, alleviating pressure by for water to escape can help prevent flooding. Identifying high risk areas can help guide emergency response efforts following storms, earthquakes and other events that increase landslide risk.

For more information, contact lead author , UW doctoral student of Earth and space sciences, at pmmorgan@uw.edu.

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

Rubin observatory expected to spot many ‘imminent impactor’ asteroids

Small asteroids — those 1 to 20 meters in diameter —? hit the Earth 35-40 times per year, though they’re very rarely spotted by telescopes before impact. That could soon change: published in The Astrophysical Journal, UW astronomers calculate that the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory could discover one to two Earth-impacting asteroids annually , roughly doubling the number currently logged. The researchers expect Rubin to discover these asteroids an average of 1.5 days before impact, which is more warning time than ever before. Advance notice is extremely valuable in the case of larger asteroids that could be a threat to people or infrastructure. Because the Rubin Observatory is located in the Southern Hemisphere, it will likely discover many Earth impactors that existing asteroid surveys — concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere — miss.

For more information, contact lead author Ian Chow, a UW graduate student of astronomy, at chowian@uw.edu.

Other UW co-authors are Mario Juri?, Joachim Moeyens, Aren N. Heinze and Jacob A. Kurlander. A full list of co-authors is included .

Many marine microbes share a genetic toolbox for fixing supper at sea

Researchers have now identified a set of genes that allow some bacteria to process a compound, called homarine, that is abundant in the ocean and appears to play a key role in nutrient cycling. Phytoplankton produce loads of homarine, but scientists weren’t sure what became of it until now. In a recent study published in Nature Microbiology, researchers found a set of genes present in common and far-flung bacteria that convert homarine into glutamic acid, an essential building block for life. This suggests that homarine may be a vital and overlooked resource and highlights the importance of bacteria in stabilizing marine ecosystems. Previous studies also found that homarine serves as and helps small crabs . The UW team will continue studying homarine to better understand how it fits into the broader ecological landscape.

For more information, contact senior author , a UW professor of oceanography, at aingalls@uw.edu.?

The other UW co-authors are , , , , , and ? A full list of co-authors and funding is

Source

Come curious. Leave inspired.

The UW offers an exciting lineup of in-person and online events. From thought-provoking art and music to conversations on culture, history, and science, the UW community invites you to explore, learn, and connect across disciplines throughout the University.? And as May comes to a close, see what’s happening in June.

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ArtSci On Your Own Time:

Video | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Emily M. Bender’s talk on “AI” hype and resisting dehumanization, from a linguistic and humanities perspective, drew the largest crowd we have seen for a Katz Distinguished Lecture in years. For those who weren’t able to join us, and those who would like to revisit, you can now watch the full recording on our YouTube page. Free.

Podcast | (Biology)
This is a podcast centered around the humans who study the myriad biological processes that shape our world, specifically, the humans who are students and faculty in the Department of Biology at the 黑料老司机. They are scientists who study everything from the ways cells move through complex tissues to ancient communities of long-extinct mammals, from the ways plants interact with their surroundings to the ways bats fly and hummingbirds feed. Plunge into the vast world of biology, students sharing paths to becoming scientists and the lessons they have learned along the way. Free.

Online Events | See all events offered online.

EXHIBITIONS:

April 28 – June 5 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Opening nights: Group 1 – April 28, Group 2 – May 12, Honors – May 26. Free.

Through May 24 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Rodney McMillian (b. 1969, Columbia, South Carolina; based in Los Angeles, California) works with the social and political histories of the United States and how they shape our daily lives. Using existing texts and domestic materials—such as house paint on thrifted fabrics and bedsheets, or “post-consumer objects” as he calls them—he traces both the visible and invisible forces that shape civic life, particularly for the lives of African Americans. Inspired by the lush surroundings of the Henry, McMillian brings together sculpture, video, and painting that present an outdoor landscape overgrown with the lingering effects of physical, political, and social violence. Free.

Through May 30 |
UW School of Art + Art History + Design Instructional Technician Kim Van Someren’s solo exhibition Holding the Line is on view at J. Rinehart Gallery. As an artist and mother, Van Someren observes structural forms embedded in daily routines—objects and arrangements that may seem trivial but are imbued with deep meaning. The often-gendered domestic practice of sewing enters her practice, with the lines of thread echoing marks and forms she employs in her etching and printmaking practice. Through this new material, sewing and stitching, invisible threads are mended, connected, and reveal the line holding structures together, embracing imperfections and irregularities as generative forces. Free.

May 16 – June 14 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The Henry is pleased to present the 黑料老司机’s School of Art + Art History + Design Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design Thesis Exhibition. Throughout their programs, fine arts and design students work with advisers and other artists to develop advanced techniques, expand concepts, discuss critical issues, and emerge with a vision and direction for their own work. Henry staff conduct studio visits and work closely with the students to facilitate their projects and prepare them for exhibition at the museum. A digital publication will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition to highlight the students’ artistic endeavors and the Henry’s commitment to this exciting and important step in the students’ development as practicing artists and designers. Free.

Exhibition | (Henry Art Gallery)
ojo|-|o?l?? (pronounced oh-ho hol-ohn) is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by Diné artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na’nízhoozhí [Gallup, New Mexico]) that includes sculpture, textile, collage, and video, activated by moments of performance. Across this work, Riege combines customary Diné practices of weaving, silversmithing, and beading with contemporary cultural forms, exploring Diné cosmology, the history of Euro-American trading posts in and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, and the notion of “authenticity” as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft. Free.

April 27 – May 3

Online – April 27 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Niki Akhavan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Media and Communication Studies at The Catholic University of America. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

April 28 | ?(School of Music)
Students of Dr. Stephen Price present a UW Organ studio spring recital. Dr. Price teaches Organ performance, Church music, and Keyboard Harmony courses. In addition, he leads ongoing initiatives to develop and revitalize the UW program, continuing the legacy of his predecessor, Dr. Carole Terry. Free.

April 28 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Ways of Becoming is split into three shows between April 28 – June 5, 2026. Free.

April 28 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Stephanie LeMenager, Professor of English and Environmental Studies, considers the role of fiction as a form of resistant truth-telling in an era of lies, bullish*t, propaganda, GenAI fakes, and conspiracy theory, and in the shadow of the climate crisis. In our media atmosphere filled with falsehoods, fiction becomes a means of capturing messy realities unassimilable to propaganda. Moreover, the flexibility of fictional imagination allows for social responses to radical uncertainties, via new genres of storytelling that call climate-change publics into being. In this talk, we’ll consider stories of megafire. Free.

Online option – April 28 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
This panel features talks on conducting research in the Peruvian Amazon by Justin Perez (UCSC) and Amanda Smith (UCSC). Perez will present “Queer Emergent: Scandalous Stories from the Twilight of AIDS in Peru” and Smith will present, “Situating Mothering in a Geography of Digital Colonialism: The Digital Biblioteca Amazónica,” a project to create an open-access digital archive of materials housed at the Biblioteca Amazónica in Iquitos, Peru. Free.

April 29 | (Philosophy)
The idea of space as the stage on which physical events play out dates at least as far back as the 5th century BC. The twentieth century saw a shift from theorising about space and time separately to thinking about spacetime, but the metaphor of spacetime as a stage or arena has continued. Twenty-first century physics looks likely to render this untenable – theories of quantum gravity do not appear to postulate spacetime as a fundamental container for physical contents. This talk examines an alternative way of thinking about spacetime based on the role that it plays in our physical theories – spacetime philosophy should focus on what spacetime does, rather than what it is. Free.

April 29 | (Psychology)
Presented by Maureen Craig, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University. Free.

April 30 | (School of Music)
The Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band (Erin Bodnar, director) presents “Scenes and Portraits,” featuring music by Gustav Holst, Martin Ellerby, and others.

April 30 |(Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
What does it mean to live well as wildfire and smoke season becomes more a part of life in the Pacific Northwest and many other places around the world? As much as we focus on preparedness and reducing materials that fuel wildfires, we must also reckon with the human dimensions of fire, which shape how we interact with it. “Fire Humanities” is a book project and an emerging field of study that draws on the humanities and arts to center stories, representations, collaborations, and values that promote adaptation, resilience, and justice as we adapt to a world with more fire.

This program will feature a panel discussion with five contributors to the book, who will share their approaches to this emerging field of research. After the panel, you’ll be invited to share your stories of fire and smoke with each other, speak with the panelists, and participate in hands-on activities connected to the Fire Humanities project. Free.

April 30 | ?(Jackson School of International Studies)
Panel discussion featuring Wang Feng, University of California, Irvine, and Yong Cai, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with UW faculty James Lin and Sara Curran. Free.

May 1 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Writing history entails good editing—and accepting when material can’t make the final cut. Lengthy research projects require a command of sources but also analytical flexibility. Such flexibility can ensure rigor, sometimes at the expense of findings that, alas, must be shelved for some other future use. “The B-Sides of Unmaking Botany” will examine a set of sources that did not make it into the recently published monograph Unmaking Botany: Science and Vernacular in the Colonial Philippines (Duke University Press, 2025). The objectives of the talk are thus twofold: to provide a behind-the-scenes take on the production of a scholarly monograph and to offer a conceptual argument gleaned from the sources that nonetheless resonates with some of Unmaking Botany’s principal interventions. Free.

May 1 | (Political Science)
Presented by Rachel Krause, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Kansas. Free.

May 1-2 | (American Indian Studies)
Indigenous scholars, artists, community leaders, and practitioners come together to reflect on food sovereignty, wellness, cultural resurgence, and collective healing through land-based knowledge and practice. Keynote by Vina Brown (Haí?zaqv and Nuu-chah-nulth), a scholar, artist, and wellness advocate, whose work centers on Indigenous law, cultural healing, and community well-being. Raised in her Haí?zaqv homelands, Vina’s work is deeply grounded in cultural resurgence, ceremony, and Tribal Canoe Journeys. She is the founder of Copper Canoe Woman and co-founder of Rooted Resiliency, an Indigenous women-led nonprofit dedicated to community wellness, cultural healing, and reclamation. Across her work, Vina advocates for land, culture, and collective well-being, with particular attention to healing intergenerational and historical trauma through community, movement, and Indigenous knowledge systems.

Week of May 4

Online – May 4 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Teresa Mosqueda, Councilmember of the Metropolitan King County Council and Anita Ramasastry, Barer Chair and Professor of Law and the 黑料老司机. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

May 4 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
The foundation of the Abe consensus — the LDP, together with Komeito, governing with large, stable majorities to promote growth as part of the global economy and develop Japan’s military power and international partnerships under the aegis of US leadership — has crumbled after little more than a decade. The LDP has lost public trust, its relationship with Komeito, and its large majorities. The US is in retreat and no longer defending the international order from which Japan had benefited. This talk will look at how this order crumbled and where Japan’s politics goes from here. Free.

May 4 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Tina Turner’s (1939–2023) successful recording career and electrifying stage performances earned her the moniker of “Queen of Rock and Roll.” At the same time, Turner was perhaps one of the most famous Black Buddhist celebrities. In this talk, I will highlight the ways that Turner’s Buddhist practice combined her Afro-Protestant upbringing, the trans-Atlantic flow of metaphysical religious ideas, and SGI Nichiren Buddhism. The talk will show how Turner’s combinatory religious sensibilities are indicative of trends in Black Buddhism. Free.

May 4 | (Chemistry)
Presented by Professor Maksym Kovalenko, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich. Hosted by UW Professor David Ginger. Free.

May 5 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
It seems like two separate realms. One is occupied by acclaimed dancers from Brooklyn’s world-renowned Mark Morris Dance Group, the other by people with Parkinson’s disease. CAPTURING GRACE is about what happens when those two worlds intersect. Filmed over the course of a year, Dave Iverson’s remarkable documentary reveals the hopes, fears, and triumphs of this newly forged community as they work together to create a unique, life-changing performance. There will be a post-screening discussion with Shawn Roberts, a Dance for PD? teaching artist? and Dr. Pravin Khemani, MD, Medical Director of the Movement Disorders Clinic, Swedish Neuroscience Institute, Providence Health & Services. Free.

Online option – May 5 | (Physics)
Dr. John Martinis, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, presents “Prehistoric quantum bits: experiments testing the fundamental physics of superconducting quantum devices.” Quantum mechanics was developed to describe the physics of the small, for fundamental particles, atoms and molecules. But does it still work for macroscopic systems? Martinis’ PhD thesis experiment in 1985 tested this idea, showing the macroscopic current and voltages in a 1 cm chip obey the quantum phenomena of tunneling and energy-level quantization, proving that a superconducting circuit can behave as a single `artificial atom.’ Over the last four decades, many physicists around the world have continued research on quantum devices. The field has evolved from fundamental tests into a high-stakes effort to build quantum bits and a quantum computer. At Google, the ‘quantum supremacy’ experiment was the culmination of this system-level optimization, proving that a processor could outpace classical supercomputers by maintaining high-fidelity control over a huge computational (Hilbert) space. Now, at his startup Qolab, they are leveraging 300mm semiconductor fabrication to achieve the extreme uniformity and yield necessary to build a useful general-purpose quantum computer. Free.

May 6 | (History)
Presented by Angela Zimmerman, George Washington University. Zimmerman’s recent research has focused on the global history of the U.S. Civil War, Reconstruction, and the New South. She is the author of Alabama in Africa: Booker T. Washington, the German Empire, and the Globalization of the New South (Princeton, 2010) and the editor of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Civil War in the United States (International Publishers, 2016). Her first book, Anthropology and Antihumanism in Imperial Germany (Chicago, 2001), studied imperialism, science, and popular culture. Her next book, To Seek a Newer World, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2027. Free.

May 6 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
How do science writers and illustrators collect the data, information, and stories that inform their art? Join three Pacific Northwest artists — two writers and one illustrator — to learn how they distill their research on our local seabirds into engaging stories and compelling illustrations. You’ll hear stories from Madison Mayfield, a science illustrator, taxidermist, and Assistant Collections Manager of the Burke Museum’s ornithology collection. You’ll find out how author and community scientist, Maria Mudd Ruth, turned data — and a lack of data— into her new book on the Pigeon Guillemot, The Bird with Flaming Red Feet. Eric Wagner, author and professional scientist, will share secrets for collecting and interpreting data on nocturnal Rhinoceros Auklets for his new book, Seabirds as Sentinels.

May 7 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Move beyond the headlines and hot takes for a deeper conversation on labor and identity within women’s hoops with Dr. Courtney M. Cox, author of Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball (University of Illinois Press, 2025). In her book, she considers how athletes maneuver their lives and labor across leagues and borders, whether in the NCAA, WNBA, Athletes Unlimited, or overseas leagues. Cox is Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies (IRES) at the University of Oregon. She previously worked for ESPN, Longhorn Network, NPR-affiliate KPCC, and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Free.

May 7 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Artist Nour Mobarak shares an unscripted journey charting the varied media, material, and methods central to her work. With a practice spanning performance, sound, and sculpture, Mobarak explores the intersensory potential of language and the human voice. Recent presentations at MoMA and as part of the Whitney Biennial highlight Mobarak’s ongoing investigation into the sound and language moving across time and bodies, both human and mycological. This talk is co-presented with the UW School of Art + Art History + Design with an audience Q&A to follow. Free.

May 7 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Dredge Byung’chu Kang, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. The aesthetics of K-Pop flower boy masculinity, the narratives of K-Drama cross-gender characters, and imagined Korean lesbianism have refashioned contemporary tom (Thai butch lesbian) gender presentation, partnership patterns, and sexual roles. Many Thai youth are “ba kaoli” (crazed for all things Korean), including young lesbians. In this talk, Kang examines how Korean media, consumer goods, and cultural assets are mobilized to imagine, enact, and embody Asian cosmopolitan identities. Kang describes a case in which Thai tom become “tom-gay,” by coupling with another tom. This masculine homogender pairing was previously considered inconceivable when tom-dee relationships between a lesbian and a “normal” woman were the heterogender norm. Kang argues that tom participation in K-pop fandoms, adoption of soft masculine style, and identification with female leads playing male roles in K-drama have allowed for the emergence of new lesbian sexualities. Kang thus shows how Korean Wave media has shaped Thai gender and sexuality. Free.

May 7 | ?(Teaching@UW)
UW’s Five for Flourishing Initiative is a project designed to foster social connection and belonging among students in large enrollment courses. The project team will share the initiative’s 5 core strategies and preliminary data. UW faculty members who implemented the strategies will also report on their experiences. The UW Five for Flourishing Initiative is a collaboration between the UW Center for Teaching & Learning, the UW Resilience Lab, and UW Academic Strategy & Affairs. Free.

May 7 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presentations and discussions with:

• Raymond Jonas (UW History Dept), “France’s Five Republics and what they tell us about how republics are born and how they die”
• Terje Leiren (Emeritus, UW Scandinavian Studies), “From Royal Absolutism to Parliamentary Government: Political Transition in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden).”
• James Felak (UW History Dept), “The Perils of a Problematic Constitution: the Cases of Interwar Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.”

Free.

May 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Hidden for decades in a locked cabinet at the Center for Asia Minor Studies in Athens, Eva Palmer Sikelianos’s love letters (1900-1910)—personal, creative, and revealing networks of desire and kinship—challenge expectations about what belongs in Greece’s archival record.?These scattered, stuttering papers sat uneasily within an institute dedicated to Orthodox Christian refugee history, raising new questions about whose lives and stories find a place in official memory. What happens when a collection resists straightforward histories—when archiving itself becomes an act of negotiation, improvisation, and listening for what’s unsaid? What can these fragments teach us about the possibilities of cultural memory, and how listening to stutters and silences might open new ways of understanding the past? In this talk, Artemis Leontis (University of Michigan) explores the process of archiving Palmer’s collection: the hurdles, improvisations, and acts of care involved in bringing these materials from secrecy to public view. Inspired by Patricia Keller’s idea of the “stutter in the archive,” she shows how gaps, interruptions, and incomplete stories invite us to rethink what archives can do, and how they respond to lives lived beyond conventional narratives. Free.

May 7 – 9 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with Dances to American Music: Soul of America, a captivating performance by one of the country’s leading dance companies. Choreographed by the legendary Mark Morris, this program blends jazz, classical and folk music by iconic American composers, including George Gershwin, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, James P. Johnson and John Luther Adams. Morris brings his unique creativity and musical precision to life, fusing dance and live music to honor the vibrant spirit and diversity of America’s artistic heritage.

May 9 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Botanical illustrator Crystal Shin guides participants through the process of starting a sketch journal, showing what botanical features to observe and how to translate them into clear, expressive sketches. With hands-on guidance and time to explore the greenhouse collections, participants will practice drawing directly from living plants while developing stronger observational and sketching skills.

May 10 | ?(School of Music)
Performance by John-Carlos Perea, chair of UW Ethnomusicology and Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist. He is joined by guests Marc Seales, piano, Gary Hobbs, drums, and Michael Brockman, saxophone. Free.

Week of May 11

Online – May 11 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Stéphane Mourlane, Senior Lecturer, Aix-Marseille University; Yvan Gastaut, Lecturer, University of C?te d’Azur; and Paul Dietschy, Professor, Marie and Louis Pasteur University. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

May 11 | (Asian Languages & Literature)
What was the impact of colonialism on listening in nineteenth-century north India? How did conceptual vocabularies and explanations for emotional responses to music evolve? Did the way listeners processed their feelings about music dramatically change? In this lecture, Richard Williams, Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of Music and South Asian Studies at SOAS University of London, explores the place of music in the history of the emotions. Williams begins in the early modern period, and consider theories of embodied response and systems for visualizing music through painting and poetry. He then explores how colonial-era authors writing in vernacular languages drew these older theories into conversation with modern ontologies of music and emotion, often inspired by developments in European understandings of the physics of sound and psychological models of emotion. Despite these developments, he argues that nineteenth and twentieth-century sources show that older concepts continued to shape the discourse in Indian music studies, and were not simply overwritten by new, European theories. Free.

May 12 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Ways of Becoming is split into three shows between April 28 – June 5, 2026. Free.

May 12 – 14 | ?(Mathematics)
Richard W. Kenyon, Erastus L. DeForest Professor of Mathematics at Yale University, will give a series of three lectures on “Dimers and webs,”

• May 12 | Webs, multiwebs, traces. The main theorem statement
• May 13 | SL3 case: reduced webs, scaling limits. Connection to the 4-color theorem
• May 14 | Positive connections and generalizations

Kenyon received his PhD from Princeton University in 1990 under the direction of William Thurston. After a postdoc at IHES, he held positions at CNRS in Grenoble, Lyon, and Orsay and then became professor at UBC, Brown University and then Yale where he is currently Erastus L. Deforest Professor of Mathematics. He was awarded the CNRS bronze medal, the Rollo Davidson prize, the Loève prize, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Simons Investigator. His central mathematical contributions are in statistical mechanics and geometric probability. He established the first rigorous results on the dimer model, opening the door to recent spectacular advances in the Schramm–Loewner evolution theory. In his most recent work, he introduced new homotopic invariants of random structures on graphs, establishing an unforeseen connection between probability and representation theory. Free.

May 12 – 14 | (Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)

• May 12 | Did ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ Always Exist? What the Talmud Can Tell Us
• May 14 | Monsters, Hybrids, and Holy Images – Rethinking Bodies in Ancient Jewish Art

Rafael Neis is a scholar and artist. Neis is the Jean and Samuel Frankel Professor of Rabbinic Literature and is appointed in the Department of History and Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. As Faculty Director of Arts Learning at Michigan’s Arts initiative, Neis supports campus-wide art-integrated pedagogy. Their second book, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis & the Reproduction of Species, was published in 2023 by University of California Press. Their artwork has been featured in shows and in many publications. Free.

Online option – May 13 | My Greatest Save with Briana Scurry (Public Lectures)
From winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup championship to enduring a career-ending concussion that left her “temporarily totally disabled” and forced her to pawn her Olympic medals, Briana Scurry delivers a raw and inspiring account of resilience. With unflinching candor, she guides audiences through the soaring highs and devastating lows of her journey—sharing a story of triumph, adversity, and ultimate redemption. Along the way, Scurry reflects on the global influence of soccer and the enduring significance of the World Cup, offering a deeply personal perspective on the sport that shaped her life and legacy. Free.

May 14 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Seattle has one of the most diverse street tree programs in the country — double the diversity of the East Coast, and triple the diversity of the Midwest. Today, only 5% of the city’s trees in the public right-of-way are originally native to King County. Taha Ebrahimi, author and illustrator of Street Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide, discusses notable trees near the Burke Museum and their connections to our cultural history.

May 14 | ?(Political Science)
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published 250 years ago and illustrated how prosperity is created by an invisible hand (specialization, competition, and a well-governed society). Was it a coincidence that sustained economic progress began shortly thereafter? Smith’s framework and his spirit remain a wise guide to modern betterment and a powerful antidote against today’s reflex for control, protectionism, and political allocation. Join us for a discussion of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and its continued relevance. Free.

May 14 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Fu Pei-mei (1931-2004), Taiwan’s beloved and pioneering postwar cook book author and television celebrity, was often called the “Julia Child of Chinese cooking.” Fu appeared continuously on television for forty years, wrote dozens of best-selling Chinese cookbooks, owned a successful cooking school and traveled the world, teaching foreigners about Chinese food. Women in her generation, which included both housewives and career women, turned to Fu because she taught them how to cook an astounding range of unfamiliar Chinese regional dishes, in ways their own mothers and grandmothers never could. Her cookbook also represents the transpacific journeys of thousands of migrants, as they carried her recipes in their suitcases, traveling far from home. Fu’s story offers us a window onto not just food, but also family, gender roles, technology, media, foreign relations, and cultural identity. This is not a story of timeless culinary tradition, but one of modern transformation– of self and family, of cuisine and society. Free.

May 15 | (Undergraduate Academic Affairs)
More than 1,700 students from all three UW campuses and other local institutions will present their research in a wide range of disciplines, including oceanography, performing arts, physics, education, archeology, molecular biology and just about everything in between. The Symposium takes place on the UW campus in Seattle, with opening remarks from UW President Robert J. Jones and Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Ed Taylor. Free.

May 15 | (School of Music)
William Dougherty is an American composer, sound artist, educator, and writer who joined the 黑料老司机 faculty in January 2025. Dougherty’s works have been performed internationally by ensembles including BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Glasgow), The Sun Ra Arkestra (Philadelphia), Yarn/Wire (New York), Ensemble Phoenix (Basel), TILT Brass (New York), Ensemble for New Music Tallinn(Estonia), JACK Quartet (New York), and Talea Ensemble (New York). His music has been featured in festivals such as Tectonics Glasgow (2023), IRCAM’s ManiFeste (2019), musikprotokoll (2018), Donaueschingen Musiktage (2017), New Music Miami (2017), Tectonics Festival New York (2015), the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (2015), the 47th Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt (2014), the New York Philharmonic Biennale (2014), and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. THEME: A colloquium of UW faculty and students of Theory, History, Ethnomusicology, and Music Education held on select Friday afternoons during the academic year. Free.

May 15 | (School of Music)
Faculty pianist Craig Sheppard is joined by current and former UW students in this concert celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

May 15 | (Political Science)
Presented by Daniel Krcmaric, Associate Professor of Political Science and Law, Northwestern University. Free.

May 16 | ?(Biology)
Welcoming all families and science enthusiasts of all ages. The UW Department of Biology’s experts in the field whose research and teaching span cellular and molecular biology, global climate change, paleontology, and plant biology. Through experimentation and conversation, explore questions such as: How have penguins adapted to survive climate change? How is neuron fate decided during development? Why are mosquitoes attracted to us? Do plants really “defend” themselves against insect predators? How does the brain really work? And does the Greenhouse really have a stinky corpse plant and when will it bloom next? You’ll also be able to touch invertebrates, brains, fossils…and more! Free.

Online – May 16 |

May 16 | (Henry Art Gallery)
As part of the U District Street Fair, Meet Me at the Henry is a twice-a-year celebration of contemporary art and ideas. Explore new exhibitions, catch captivating performances, get hands-on with an all-ages art-making workshop and museum bingo, and discover rarely seen works from the Henry’s collection. Free.

May 14 – 17 | (Dance)
The MFA Dance Concert features original dances created by the current MFA Cohort, with over fifty undergraduate dancers. The artists explore humanity and community drawing from a variety of movement languages including contemporary modern, wh/aacking and punking, groove, body percussion, and more.

Week of May 18

Online – May 18 – rescheduled to June 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Jen Barnes, Co-Chair of the Pride+ Match Impact Committee with SEA2026 and founder and CEO of both Rough & Tumble Pub and Salmon Bay FC. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

May 18 | (School of Music)
UW music students perform music from the Baroque era under the direction of Tekla Cunningham. Free.

Online option – May 19 | Five Ways to Watch the World Cup with Ron Krabill (Public Lectures)
As Seattle gears up to host the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the city finds itself at the center of a heated debate: Is the tournament an economic catalyst or a misuse of public funds? A celebration of Seattle’s cultural vibrancy or a distraction from pressing regional challenges? A thrilling chance to witness the world’s greatest athletes—or a calculated profit grab by global elites? This talk invites audiences to explore five distinct perspectives on the political and cultural impact of the tournament—offering a more nuanced, thought-provoking look at what the World Cup means for Seattle and the world.?Free.

May 19 | (Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)
Visiting author and scholar Jacob Daniels will discuss his new book, The Jews of Edirne: The End of the Ottoman Europe and the Arrival of Borders. At the turn of the twentieth century, the city of Edirne was a bustling center linking Istanbul to Ottoman Europe. It was also the capital of Edirne Province—among the most religiously diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, the city had become a Turkish border town, and the province had lost much of its non-Muslim population. With this book, Jacob Daniels explores how one of the world’s largest Sephardi communities dealt with the encroachment of modern borders. Free.

May 19 | (School of Music)
UW voice students of Thomas Harper and Carrie Shaw perform art songs and arias from the vocal repertoire. Free.

May 19 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Thea Riofrancos is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. She is the author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (W.W. Norton, 2025) and Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020), and the coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). Free.

May 19 | (Astronomy)
Enjoy evening talks, interactive exhibits, and on clear nights, sky viewing through our historic 1895 telescope. Viewings are held on the first and third Tuesday evenings from April through September, rain or shine. A public talk followed by telescope viewing once the sky darkens. Explore the universe with the UW! Free.

May 20 |
Presenting an evening of electronic music showcasing works by Richard Karpen, Joseph Anderson and Juan Pampin. The works will be played through the DXARTS 3D audio system, a state-of-the-art, high-fidelity multi-channel system designed for immersive, spatial audio experiences. Free.

May 21 | (School of Music)
The master Javanese gamelan musician Heri Purwanto from Indonesia performs with his students in this evening of music from central Java, Indonesia.

May 21 – 31 | (School of Drama)
At “God’s” command, “Death” summons “Everybody” to go on the long and difficult journey to give a presentation to “God” on Everybody’s life and why they have lived it the way that they have. Everybody wants to bring along a friend, and Death says it’s fine if Everybody can find someone to volunteer. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins adapted the play from the 15th-century morality play Everyman. Professor Chi-wang Yang directs this production, in which each night the performers’ roles are determined by a lottery. Everybody reveals to us the value of our relationships and how to live with intention amid uncertainty. Two special on Sunday, May 24, and Saturday, May 30.

May 21 |
Hosted by the Seattle Art Museum, SAM Curator Aaron Rio and UW Assistant Professor Mimi Chusid discuss the key role of pictures in navigating the processes of death and dying in premodern Japan. Centering on paintings associated with the Pure Land sects of Buddhism from SAM’s renowned collection of Japanese art, we will examine visions of hells and paradise, as well as explore notions of the afterlife and salvation.

May 21 | (American Indian Studies)
Sacred Breath features Indigenous writers and storytellers sharing their craft at the beautiful w???b?altx? Intellectual House on the UW Seattle campus. Storytelling offers a spiritual connection, a sharing of sacred breath. Literature, similarly, preserves human experience and ideals. Both forms are durable and transmit power that teaches us how to live. Both storytelling and reading aloud can impact audiences through the power of presence, allowing for the experience of the transfer of sacred breath as audiences are immersed in the experience of being inside stories and works of literature. Free.

May 21 | ?(Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures)
Shawkat M. Toorawa is the Brand Blanshard Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University. He is a scholar, translator, and editor. He has published studies on the history of Arabic literature, translated the poetry of Adonis and the Quran, and he has been involved in numerous translation projects in his role as an executive editor for the Library of Arabic Literature. In this talk, Professor Toorawa will share his unique insights to his research and translations over the course of his long career. Free.

May 22 | (Undergraduate Academic Affairs)
From a former Gonzaga basketball player and current 黑料老司机 Dean and Vice Provost comes a memoir steeped in the universal truths and human pursuits of love, grace, forgiveness, and continued growth. Ed Taylor takes readers on a journey from Lompoc, California through a childhood marked with loss but grounded in the love and support of family and community, to a singular moment that changed everything for a boy set up by the system to be a cog in the machine.

But Taylor’s story is only beginning on the day Gonzaga University offers him a full ride: Faced with questions every young Black man on a basketball scholarship has heard—questions like “Do you even belong here?” and “Do you really think you can cut it?”—Taylor answers by examining himself, everything that brought him to this place, and all that he hopes to bring to the world, and by rising to the ever-increasing challenges he sets for himself.

In The Power of the River, Ed Taylor offers perspective on his journey as it relates to the larger, human one we’re all on together, inviting us to celebrate the many individuals—family members, teachers, coaches, colleagues, friends, and chance acquaintances—who lifted him up and taught him along the way and reminding us that even while we are responsible for our impacts on those in our lives, we all deserve some measure of grace.?Free.

May 22 | (School of Music)
Guitar students of Michael Partington present their quarterly studio recital. Michael Partington is one of the most engaging of the new generation of concert players. Praised by Classical Guitar Magazine for his “lyricism, intensity and clear technical command,” this award-winning British guitarist has performed internationally as a soloist and with ensemble to unanimous critical praise. Audiences are put at ease by his charming stage manner and captivated by his musical interpretations. His innate rhythmic understanding and sense for tonal colour combine to form some of the most memorable phrasing to be heard on the guitar. Free.

May 22 | (School of Music)
The UW’s graduate-student-led choral ensembles—the University Singers, UW Glee, and Treble Choir—present an eclectic year-end concert.

May 22 | ?(Political Science)
Presented by Valentina González-Rostani, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California. Free.

Through May 24 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Rodney McMillian (b. 1969, Columbia, South Carolina; based in Los Angeles, California) works with the social and political histories of the United States and how they shape our daily lives. Using existing texts and domestic materials—such as house paint on thrifted fabrics and bedsheets, or “post-consumer objects” as he calls them—he traces both the visible and invisible forces that shape civic life, particularly for the lives of African Americans. Inspired by the lush surroundings of the Henry, McMillian brings together sculpture, video, and painting that present an outdoor landscape overgrown with the lingering effects of physical, political, and social violence. Free.

Week of May 25

Through May 31 | (School of Drama)
At “God’s” command, “Death” summons “Everybody” to go on the long and difficult journey to give a presentation to “God” on Everybody’s life and why they have lived it the way that they have. Everybody wants to bring along a friend, and Death says it’s fine if Everybody can find someone to volunteer. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins adapted the play from the 15th-century morality play Everyman. Professor Chi-wang Yang directs this production, in which each night the performers’ roles are determined by a lottery. Everybody reveals to us the value of our relationships and how to live with intention amid uncertainty. Two special on Sunday, May 24, and Saturday, May 30.

May 26 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Ways of Becoming is split into three shows between April 28 – June 5, 2026. Free.

May 26 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
In a time marked by mounting challenges to the field of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (GWSS), as well as higher education at large, we gather to share appreciation for the folks that make what we do possible, and welcome new faces interested in the important scholarship and community work GWSS has and continues to undertake. Despite the precarities of the time, GWSS has much to celebrate: 55+ years of groundbreaking interdisciplinary scholarship, 20 years since the graduation of the very first doctoral student, and, most importantly, a continued commitment to building a strong intellectual community on campus and beyond.? Free.

Online – May 26 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
The last decade has seen a sharp rise in state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia in East Africa, including discriminatory legislation and religious condemnation, and many LGBTQI+ people have been forced to flee their homes. But East Africa is also a site of activism, community, and enterprise where the contexts of belonging are redefined. The 黑料老司机 African Studies Program and Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies are pleased to host a dialogue among the editors of the first book to explore these subjects—East African Queer and Trans Displacements—which features critiques and creative works by LGBTQI+ diasporic writers and artists from the region with first-hand experiences of displacement. Free.

May 26 | (School of Music)
The UW Percussion Ensemble (Bonnie Whiting, director) performs contemporary music of many genres composed for percussion ensembles ranging in size from trios to nonets and dectets. Free.

May 27 | (Chemistry)
Presented by Professor Benedetta Mennucci, Department of Chemistry, University of Pisa. Free.

Online Option – May 27 | Is A River Alive? Exploring the lives, deaths and rights of rivers with Robert Macfarlane (Public Lectures)
Across the globe, rivers are dying—choked by pollution, parched by drought, and shackled by dams. The prevailing narrative treats freshwater as a mere resource, water as a liquid asset, existing solely for human use. This lecture offers a different current: an ancient and urgent story in which rivers live, die, and even possess rights. It reimagines rivers as vital, sentient life-forces, intertwined with our own survival. Spanning Ecuador, India, Aotearoa New Zealand, northeastern Canada, and the speaker’s native southern England, the talk weaves together the voices of activists, artists, and lawmakers. Passionate and immersive, it promises to spark debate, shift perspectives, and invite listeners to recognize a profound truth: our fate has always flowed with the rivers. Free.

May 28 | (History)
Professor Matthew Sommer’s new book The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia UP, 2024) considers a range of transgender practices and paradigms in Late Imperial China, illuminating how certain forms of gender transgression were sanctioned in particular contexts and penalized in others. This talk will focus on the crime of “a male masquerading in female attire” (男扮女裝), which was prosecuted by applying the statute against “using deviant ways and heterodox principles to incite and deceive the common people” (左道異端煽惑人民). Anatomical males who presented as women sometimes took a conventionally female occupations such as midwife, faith healer, or even medium to a fox spirit — yet, suspected of sexual predation, they risked death for the crime of “masquerading in women’s attire,” even when they had lived peacefully in their communities for years. Free.

May 28 | (Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies)
Graduate and undergraduate students and Indigenous Knowledge Families present their original research in the field of Indigenous Studies. Free.

May 29 | (School of Music)
Students of John Popham present a chamber music showcase. Free.

May 29 | (School of Music)
The Modern Music Ensemble (Cristina Valdés, director) performs music from the mid-20th century and beyond, including world premieres of works by living composers. Free.

May 30 | (School of Music)
The Campus Philharmonia Orchestras (Robert Stahly, Zach Banks, conductors) present an end-of-quarter concert. Free.

Online Events

Online option – April 28 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
This panel features talks on conducting research in the Peruvian Amazon by Justin Perez (UCSC) and Amanda Smith (UCSC). Perez will present “Queer Emergent: Scandalous Stories from the Twilight of AIDS in Peru” and Smith will present, “Situating Mothering in a Geography of Digital Colonialism: The Digital Biblioteca Amazónica,” a project to create an open-access digital archive of materials housed at the Biblioteca Amazónica in Iquitos, Peru. Free.

May 5 | (Physics)
Dr. John Martinis, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, presents “Prehistoric quantum bits: experiments testing the fundamental physics of superconducting quantum devices.” Quantum mechanics was developed to describe the physics of the small, for fundamental particles, atoms and molecules. But does it still work for macroscopic systems? Martinis’ PhD thesis experiment in 1985 tested this idea, showing the macroscopic current and voltages in a 1 cm chip obey the quantum phenomena of tunneling and energy-level quantization, proving that a superconducting circuit can behave as a single `artificial atom.’ Over the last four decades, many physicists around the world have continued research on quantum devices. The field has evolved from fundamental tests into a high-stakes effort to build quantum bits and a quantum computer. At Google, the ‘quantum supremacy’ experiment was the culmination of this system-level optimization, proving that a processor could outpace classical supercomputers by maintaining high-fidelity control over a huge computational (Hilbert) space. Now, at his startup Qolab, they are leveraging 300mm semiconductor fabrication to achieve the extreme uniformity and yield necessary to build a useful general-purpose quantum computer. Free.

Live (not recorded) | (Jackson School of International Studies)
This lecture series is hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. Topics include:

• April 27 | Iran and Seattle’s World Cup
• May 4 | Workers’ Rights in Seattle during the World Cup
• May 11 | Seattle’s World Cup: The View from Europe
• May 18 | The Pride Match and LGBTQ+ Rights
• June 1 | Egypt Comes to Seattle

Free.

May 13 | My Greatest Save with Briana Scurry (Public Lectures)
From winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup championship to enduring a career-ending concussion that left her “temporarily totally disabled” and forced her to pawn her Olympic medals, Briana Scurry delivers a raw and inspiring account of resilience. With unflinching candor, she guides audiences through the soaring highs and devastating lows of her journey—sharing a story of triumph, adversity, and ultimate redemption. Along the way, Scurry reflects on the global influence of soccer and the enduring significance of the World Cup, offering a deeply personal perspective on the sport that shaped her life and legacy. Free.\

May 19 | Five Ways to Watch the World Cup with Ron Krabill (Public Lectures)
As Seattle gears up to host the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the city finds itself at the center of a heated debate: Is the tournament an economic catalyst or a misuse of public funds? A celebration of Seattle’s cultural vibrancy or a distraction from pressing regional challenges? A thrilling chance to witness the world’s greatest athletes—or a calculated profit grab by global elites? This talk invites audiences to explore five distinct perspectives on the tournament’s political and cultural impact—offering a more nuanced, thought-provoking look at what the World Cup means for Seattle and the world. Free.

May 26 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
The last decade has seen a sharp rise in state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia in East Africa, including discriminatory legislation and religious condemnation, and many LGBTQI+ people have been forced to flee their homes. But East Africa is also a site of activism, community, and enterprise where the contexts of belonging are redefined. The 黑料老司机 African Studies Program and Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies are pleased to host a dialogue among the editors of the first book to explore these subjects—East African Queer and Trans Displacements—which features critiques and creative works by LGBTQI+ diasporic writers and artists from the region with first-hand experiences of displacement. Free.

May 27 | Is A River Alive? Exploring the lives, deaths and rights of rivers with Robert Macfarlane (Public Lectures)
Across the globe, rivers are dying—choked by pollution, parched by drought, and shackled by dams. The prevailing narrative treats freshwater as a mere resource, water as a liquid asset, existing solely for human use. This lecture offers a different current: an ancient and urgent story in which rivers live, die, and even possess rights. It reimagines rivers as vital, sentient life-forces, intertwined with our own survival. Spanning Ecuador, India, Aotearoa New Zealand, northeastern Canada, and the speaker’s native southern England, the talk weaves together the voices of activists, artists, and lawmakers. Passionate and immersive, it promises to spark debate, shift perspectives, and invite listeners to recognize a profound truth: our fate has always flowed with the rivers. Free.

ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW—whether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).uw.edu).

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Using preliminary data from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids in our solar system. The findings were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (), and include hundreds of distant worlds beyond Neptune as well as 33 previously unknown near-Earth objects.

The discoveries — Rubin Observatory’s largest asteroid haul yet — were made using data from the observatory’s early optimization surveys and processed with software developed at the 黑料老司机’s . The new findings are a powerful preview of the observatory’s transformative impact on solar system science.

“This first large submission after is just the tip of the iceberg and shows that the observatory is ready,” said , a UW professor of astronomy and leader of Rubin’s solar system team, which is located at the UW. “What used to take years or decades to discover, Rubin will unearth in months. We are beginning to deliver on Rubin’s promise to fundamentally reshape our inventory of the solar system and open the door to discoveries we haven’t yet imagined.”

The submission to MPC comprises approximately 1 million observations, taken over the span of a month and a half, of over 11,000 new asteroids and more than 80,000 already known asteroids, including some that had previously been observed but were later “lost” because their orbits were too uncertain to predict their future locations. The new batch adds to roughly 1,500 asteroids previously discovered by Rubin as part of its First Look project.

The newly discovered near-Earth objects, or NEOs, are small asteroids and comets whose closest approach to the sun is less than 1.3 times the distance between Earth and the sun. None of the new NEOs pose a threat to Earth. Once in full operation, Rubin is expected to reveal an additional nearly 90,000 new NEOs, some of which may be potentially hazardous. By enabling early detection and continuous monitoring of these objects, Rubin will be a powerful tool for planetary defense.

The dataset also contains roughly 380 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) — icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune. Two of the newly discovered TNOs — provisionally named and — have been found to be on extremely large and elongated orbits. At their most distant points, these two objects reach roughly 1,000 times farther away from the sun than the Earth is, placing them among the 30 most distant known asteroids.

A total of 12,700 asteroids discovered with Rubin are shown here during the 1.6 years of observation. The discoveries come in three bursts: 73 were discovered during the first early test observations using Rubin’s Commissioning Camera in late 2024; 1,514 were discovered during First Look observations in April and May 2025; and the recent 11,000 asteroids were discovered in Rubin’s early optimization surveys in Summer 2025.

The discoveries were enabled by Rubin Observatory’s unique combination of a large mirror, the world’s most powerful astronomical digital camera, and highly sophisticated, software-driven pipelines developed at the UW that can detect faint, fast-moving objects against a crowded sky. These capabilities will allow Rubin to build the most detailed census of our solar system ever, and the resulting discoveries will help scientists work out the story of the solar system’s history.

“Rubin’s unique observing cadence required a whole new software architecture for asteroid discovery,” said , a UW research scientist of astronomy who, together with UW astronomy graduate student , built the software that detected them. “We built it, and it works. It seems pretty clear this observatory will revolutionize our knowledge of the asteroid belt.”

Particularly striking is the rapid growth of the TNO population. The 380 candidates discovered by Rubin in less than two months adds to the 5,000 discovered over the past three decades. As with less distant asteroids, finding the TNOs depended critically on developing new sophisticated algorithms.

“Searching for a TNO is like searching for a needle in a field of haystacks — out of millions of flickering sources in the sky, teaching a computer to sift through billions of combinations and identify those that are likely to be distant worlds in our solar system required novel algorithmic approaches,” said , a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and former director of the Minor Planet Center, who spearheaded the work on the TNO discovery pipeline.

“Objects like these offer a tantalizing probe of the solar system’s outermost reaches, from telling us how the planets moved early on in the solar system’s history, to whether a hitherto undiscovered ninth large planet may still be out there,” said , a research scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who, with Holman, developed the algorithms to detect distant solar system objects with Rubin data.

The verification of this large group of discoveries enables the entire global community to access the data, refine orbits and begin analysis immediately. And these 11,000-some asteroids are just the start. Once the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time () begins later this year, scientists expect Rubin to discover this many asteroids every two to three nights during the early years of the survey. This will ultimately triple the number of known asteroids and increase the number of known TNOs by nearly an order of magnitude.

Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

For more information, contact Juri? at mjuric@uw.edu.?

This story was adapted from a .

Operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Other team members include , a former DiRAC postdoctoral fellow at the UW, now at the Institute for Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of S?o Paulo; , a UW research software engineer and B612 Asteroid Institute team member who earned his doctorate in astronomy at the UW; , a former UW postdoctoral researcher in astronomy, now at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne; and at Princeton University.

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