In college, Keegan Cook knew he wanted to do two things in life: teach and compete. A math major at St. Mary’s College in his home state of California, Cook planned to teach math and coach high school volleyball after getting his degree, but the closer he came to graduation day, the more wary he [...]

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Food brings people together. In the case of the academic collaboration between Jennifer Otten and Branden Born, so did food policy. Otten, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and core faculty in the Nutritional Sciences Program within the School of Public Health (first from left above), met Born, an [...]

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As one of the world’s most innovative universities, the University of Washington is proud to deliver on its mission of education, discovery and public service—both here in Washington and across every continent. That’s why, for the first time, the UW is celebrating UW Global Month throughout November by highlighting the University’s global impact, network, and [...]

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Kate Norako is a scholar, a mother, a hula dancer, and a third-degree black belt in karate. This fall, the Hawaii-born assistant professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Washington added another title to the list of things she is: published poet. When not working on academic projects—including a forthcoming monograph on late medieval [...]

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Devin Naar is a natural storyteller. In order to relate the rich yet fragmented history of the tens of thousands of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and their descendants, you have to be. It’s a story spanning centuries and continents—from the ancient port city of Salonica in what is now Greece to Seattle [...]

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“The Ugly Duckling.” “The Little Mermaid.” “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” If you haven’t read one of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, you likely have seen one adapted on film or heard one of the titles invoked in everyday conversation. Since they began appearing in the 1830s, Andersen’s tales quickly became known the world over–translated from their [...]

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Growing up in Idaho Falls, Kevin O’Brien felt surrounded by science. With thousands of residents employed at the nearby Idaho National Laboratories, the high desert community cultivated an air of intellectualism and sophistication manifest in a community symphony and opera. Occupations ran the gamut. Whereas O’Brien’s paternal grandparents farmed potatoes and his maternal grandparents ran [...]

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A riot of blue and subtle umber, the painting on the wall of Thomas Hawn’s office might easily be mistaken for an abstract effort. But where some see abstract shapes, Hawn knows exactly what he’s looking at: a depiction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis approaching a macrophage white blood cell. In most cases, macrophage immune cells are [...]

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Most people spend summer enjoying the bright, warm weather. Charity Urbanski spent hers hunting monsters. “Mostly my summer has been devoted to monsters—dragons, revenants, werewolves, that sort of thing,” says Urbanski, a senior lecturer in the University of Washington Department of History specializing in France and England in the 12th century. As she prepares to [...]

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Growing up, Kristi Morgansen dreamed of becoming an astronaut—of unknown worlds and the engineering feats that would allow her to explore them. Today, as chair of the UW Department of Astronautics and Aeronautics, she does all that and more. She didn’t become an astronaut, but she does have her own school of robotic fish, so [...]

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As a playwright, Holly Arsenault writes mostly comedies, but she takes her work as director of engagement for the UW School of Drama very seriously. “For me, next season has already started,” she says, referring to all the public shows the UW School of Drama will present in the 2019 and 2020 academic year. In [...]

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When you think about the tools of police work, handheld radios, flashlights, and firearms might spring to mind. But two officers with the University of Washington Police Department have found success utilizing a different device—handling their duties as part of the UW Seattle campus constabulary not with handcuffs, but with a healthy dose of humor. [...]

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