As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by 窪蹋勛圖厙 News during 2020 a year that will be largely defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the many ways it impacted our lives and work.


As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by 窪蹋勛圖厙 News during 2020 a year that will be largely defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the many ways it impacted our lives and work.

Antarcticas next deep ice core, a 1.5-mile core reaching back to 130,000-year-old ice, will be carried out by a multi-institutional U.S. team led by 窪蹋勛圖厙’s Eric Steig. The site hundreds of miles from todays coastline could provide clues to the most recent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

A team led by the 窪蹋勛圖厙 has developed Smellicopter: an autonomous drone that uses a live antenna from a moth to navigate toward smells. Smellicopter can also sense and avoid obstacles as it travels through the air.

A team led by researchers at 窪蹋勛圖厙 Tacoma, 窪蹋勛圖厙 and Washington State University Puyallup has discovered a chemical that kills coho salmon in urban streams before the fish can spawn.

The Husky Coronavirus Testing program, powered by the Seattle Flu Study, launched on Sept. 24 and now has more than 12,500 members of the 窪蹋勛圖厙 community enrolled and has conducted more than 10,000 tests.

This fall, about three dozen people signed up to help count the salmon in their local streams and creeks. Recruited by 窪蹋勛圖厙 Bothellteaching professor Jeff Jensen, these volunteers agree to observe a stream location forat least halfanhourperweek (while taking coronavirus precautions) to gather vital information about salmoninstreams that flow into Lake Washington and the Sammamish River.

窪蹋勛圖厙 President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her annual address to the community Oct. 12 at w伎baltx妢 Intellectual House on the 窪蹋勛圖厙 campus. Highlights of the speech are reflected in this video. The audience was entirely virtual this year in accordance with public health guidelines.

As the city of Seattle shut down in March 2020 to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, a group of 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers decided to track how the city would react.

窪蹋勛圖厙 faculty member Ian Schnee, associate teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy, was the featured speaker at the 窪蹋勛圖厙s 37thannual New Student Convocation. The virtual ceremony was held Sept. 27 and was livestreamed to audiences around the world. A recording is available here.

Chanhee Choi is creating a digital art game called “Pandemic,” a vehicle for her thoughts and experiences since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

Around 4,000 students are moving into the residence halls at the 窪蹋勛圖厙 this week. This number is less than half the 窪蹋勛圖厙s normal residence hall capacity. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of special precautions are being taken to ensure minimal contact and proper physical distancing during the move-in process.

With wildfire smoke blanketing most of the western U.S. this week, public health experts suggest staying inside as much as possible to protect yourself from smoky air. If you don’t have air conditioning or an air purifier in your home, it’s possible to make your own inexpensive purifier. Here’s how.

Agencies that are well practiced in putting out wildfires are now learning a new skill: how to set the spark and fan the flames. That’s the case for the state Department of Natural Resources, which is starting to use prescribed burning as part of its strategy for fighting wildfires.

The future of our health and the health of the communities we live in relies, in many ways, on students in the health sciences. The education and experiences that future doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, social workers and public health experts receive will to a large degree shape how those professionals work and work together when solving problems affecting our health. And while the 窪蹋勛圖厙s highly ranked health sciences schools have long focused on interdisciplinary education and training students…

Seattles new hockey team is named for a legendary creature of the sea, and thats a perfect fit, according to octopus researchers at the 窪蹋勛圖厙.

Face coverings will continue to be an important and effective tool in combating the spread of COVID-19.

With the nation debating its response to COVID-19 and witnessing protests against racial injustice and police violence, undergraduate students enrolled in Visual Anthropology of Protest Music examined how communities use music to share their lived experiences and confront oppression.

Fitness, dance and mindfulness instructors are teaching virtual classes in light of COVID-19 closures, part of 窪蹋勛圖厙 Recreation’s effort to make its activities accessible while people are physically distancing during the pandemic.

More than 18,000 new 窪蹋勛圖厙 graduates were recognized in a first-ever online ceremony Saturday, June 13. All three 窪蹋勛圖厙 campuses held a joint event that was broadcast around the globe and watched by thousands of graduates and their families in more than 40 countries.

Thousands of doctors, nurses, health care workers and public health experts from the 窪蹋勛圖厙and other medical institutions turned out in downtown Seattle on June 6 to demand an end to systemic racism and calling for policereform.

The dean of the 窪蹋勛圖厙 School of Public Health shares information about using face coverings, including what kinds of masks are appropriate to wear and how they protect people.

The 窪蹋勛圖厙s large research vessel, the RV Thomas G. Thompson, returned May 8 to its home port after more than two years exploring the worlds oceans. A scheduled cruise in Tahiti has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the return is roughly two months earlier than planned.

New research led by the 窪蹋勛圖厙 finds that sleep problems in a babys first 12 months may not only precede an autism diagnosis, but also may be associated with altered growth trajectory in a key part of the brain, the hippocampus.

A team of staff and students are sewing masks and offering them for free to 窪蹋勛圖厙 housing, custodial, dining and food service workers.

In light of stay-at-home orders, 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers say studies show there is much to be gained from nature close to home, whether in a yard, on neighborhood walks or even indoors.

When the 窪蹋勛圖厙 announced it was moving its spring quarter 2020 classes entirely online to combat the novel coronavirus, instructors across campus faced a new, uncharted challenge.

窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers are beginning a national study to help families discover technology that helps them both successfully navigate home-based learning and combat social isolation.

When the first U.S. COVID-19 patient emerged in Washington, 窪蹋勛圖厙 Medicine, as the states foremost provider of advanced medical care, was thrust into the role of trailblazer. Its clinicians and researchers have since mustered a speedy and sometimes ingenious response.

On a typical day, Julianne Dalcanton is an astrophysicist, studying the far reaches of the universe.
These arent typical days. Across the 窪蹋勛圖厙, faculty, staff, clinicians and students are stepping forward in a variety of ways to support the COVID-19 response, particularly efforts to help front-line medical personnel.

With the universitys spring quarter beginning Monday, 窪蹋勛圖厙 staff and student workers in the Student Technology Loan Program spent the week-long spring break gathering, checking and cleaning some 300 laptops and tablets for distribution and, for the first time, shipping many of those devices to the homes of 窪蹋勛圖厙 students across the country.

When the 窪蹋勛圖厙 moved to online instruction March 9, 窪蹋勛圖厙 Facilities Services developed a three-week disinfection plan. Custodial staff are now working through more than 500 classrooms, lecture halls, libraries, auditoriums and shared spaces, with similar efforts under way in Bothell and Tacoma.

This wasnt how LaShawnDa Pittman expected to give her final exam review: At her kitchen table, laptop open, coffee cup at the ready, her 12-year-old Chihuahua named Espresso by her side. But as the first week of the 窪蹋勛圖厙s shift to online classes drew to a close, Pittman, an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies, was talking with her students over the conferencing platform Zoom, first to answer logistical questions about the upcoming exam, then to provide a…

Rick Mohler, associate professor of architecture, meets with his Research Design Studio students online. Normally a hands-on class with poster-size drawings and tabletop scale models, Mohler’s design studio has shifted to the small screen.

窪蹋勛圖厙 President Ana Mari Cauce sat down with Vice President of Student Life Denzil Suite for a candid conversation about how COVID-19 is affecting campus operations, why classes will no longer meet in person for the rest of the quarter and whether a student-led petition had an impact on the decision.

The 窪蹋勛圖厙 held a press conference at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, 2020 to address the decision to move classes online in an effort to limit the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, and address the 窪蹋勛圖厙 staff member who received a presumptive positive test result.

窪蹋勛圖厙 President Ana Mari Cauce, joined by Dr. Geoff Gottlieb, head of the 窪蹋勛圖厙s Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases, met with the members of the AS窪蹋勛圖厙 Student Senate on March 3 to share the most current information and take questions about the Universitys response and preparations for the novel coronavirus.

Premera Blue Cross, a leading health plan in the Pacific Northwest, today announced a $4.7 million grant to the 窪蹋勛圖厙 to establish the Rural Nursing Health Initiative to place current students in rural practices in Washington state.

Throughout the month of November 2019, a team of 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers chased storms in the Arctic Ocean. The project, Coastal Ocean Dynamics in the Arctic, or CODA, is looking at how water currents shift and waves hit the coast with more open water, to provide better forecasts and predictions for the regions future.

The 窪蹋勛圖厙 has long boasted one of the country’s top programs in atmospheric sciences. Now, the 窪蹋勛圖厙 is also teaching undergraduates how to share that knowledge online and on TV as a broadcast meteorologist.

On a recent Saturday evening, a dozen women gathered around a table at a community room in the White Center neighborhood of Seattle, settling in with snacks and conversation. The evenings program would be more education than entertainment, an opportunity to discuss topics so sensitive that, without the group of women assembled that night, might not be discussed at all. Against one wall of the room, a model of the female reproductive system. Standing before them, a doula, one of…