Researchers win fellowship to study new frontier in tech education

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A decade ago, teaching kids to code might have seemed far-fetched to some, but now coding curriculum is being widely adopted across the country. Recently researchers have turned their eye to the next wave of technology: artificial intelligence. As AI makes a growing impact on our lives, can kids benefit from learning how it works? A three-year, $150,000 award from the Jacobs Foundation Research Fellowship Program will help answer that question. The fellowship awarded to Jason Yip, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Information School, will allow a team of researcher

Ph.D. students explore top tech companies through internships

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

iSchool Ph.D. students are taking their research expertise beyond the academic arena and into some of the world’s most influential tech companies. This past summer, several students completed internships at places such as Apple and Microsoft, engaging in projects to advance the information and technology field. Several students focusing on human-computer interaction (HCI) honed their skills and knowledge while on industry research teams. Rachel Franz, who worked with the Ability Team at Microsoft Research, helped to make virtual reality accessible for individuals with limited head

Students share supply-chain expertise with Starbucks

Monday, January 13, 2020

Some of the world’s best coffee grows in forested, mountainous areas along the equator in Central America, Africa and Asia. Starbucks buys its beans from nearly 400,000 mainly small farms in more than two dozen countries in these regions. The Seattle-headquartered company now has launched what it calls a bean-to-cup initiative to pull back the curtain on this side of its supply chain. This ensures that the best, most ethical practices are used growing and harvesting the coffee beans. The initiative also could potentially share the stories of the people growing the beans with the people bu

Biomedical and Health Informatics degree option now available

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Starting this academic year, Biomedical & Health Informatics (BHI) will be the newest transcriptable degree option within Informatics, joining Data Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, and Information Assurance and Cybersecurity. BHI students will learn how to leverage their data, design and development skills to impact biology, medicine, and personal health or wellness. Approved courses explore the unique context of information challenges due to patient privacy regulations, unconscious bias, ethical considerations, and other factors. While most Informatics

iSchool adds second Informatics admissions cycle

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Students wishing to major in Informatics now have two opportunities each year to apply to the University of Washington Information School’s program. The iSchool has added a second annual round of admissions beginning with the spring 2020 cycle. The second admissions cycle will give transfer applicants and current UW students greater ability to complete the prerequisite courses and receive decisions on their applications in a timely manner. It does not, however, increase the total number of students admitted to the program each year. Upcoming Informatics application deadlines are April

Chirag Shah wins grant to develop effective, transparent search recommendations

Friday, January 3, 2020

It’s uncanny, and sometimes maybe a little creepy. When you search for something on Amazon or Netflix, the search engine seems to know you — or at least know enough about you to recommend the right brand of tube socks or the right movie. Something is going on behind the scenes to make that happen, but how much do you know about how those results are generated? And how much do you want to know? Chirag Shah, an associate professor at the University of Washington Information School, will explore such questions in a three-year research project on explainable recommendation systems. S