From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this June.

ArtSci on the Go

Looking for more ways to get more out of Arts & Sciences? Check out these resources to take ArtSci wherever you go!

Zev J. Handel, “Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese” ()

Black Composers Project engages the School of Music faculty and students ()

Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC Professor Canan Bolel ()

Back to School Podcast  with Liz Copland ()

Featured Podcast: “Ways of Knowing” (College of Arts & Sciences)

This podcast highlights how studies of the humanities can reflect everyday life. Through a partnership between and the 91̽��, each episode features a faculty member from the 91̽��College of Arts & Sciences, who discusses the work that inspires them and suggests resources to learn more about the topic.

Episode 1: Digital Humanities with assistant professor of English and data science, Anna Preus.

Episode 2: Paratext with associate professor of French, Richard Watts.

Episode 3: Ge’ez with associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, Hamza Zafer.

Closing Exhibits

Week of June 2

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ONLINE ONLY: (Jackson School)

Join the Jackson School for Trump in the World 2.0, a series of talks and discussions on the international impact of the second Trump presidency.

This week: Daniel Bessner; Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | (Jackson School)

This talk discusses the unconventional forms of care that emerge out of Kurdish resistance in Turkey, where mothering becomes a powerful response against necropolitical state violence. By centering the stories of two Kurdish mothers who had to care for their dead children and mother beyond life under the violent state of emergency regime declared in 2015; the talk examines how Kurdish mothers “rescue the dead” (Antoon, 2021) from the necropolitical state and create their necropolitical power through a radical embrace of death and decoupling of mothering from the corporeal link between the mother and the child.

Monday, June 2, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies)

Why do some protests in autocracies attract popular participation while others do not? Masaaki Higashijima’s, University of Tokyo, paper argues that when opposition elites and the masses have divergent motivations for protesting, anti-regime mobilization struggles to gain momentum. Moreover, this weak elite-mass linkage is further exacerbated when autocrats selectively repress protests led by opposition elites while making concessions to those organized by ordinary citizens.

Tuesday, June 3, 5:00 – 6:30 pm | (Communications)

A conversation with local public media leaders about current challenges–including federal funding cuts–and pathways forward for sustaining public service journalism.

Speakers include:

Rob Dunlop, President and CEO, Cascade PBS
David Fischer, President and General Manager, KNKX
Tina Pamintuan, incoming President and CEO, KUOW
Matthew Powers, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy

Wednesday, June 4, 3:30 – 4:30 pm | (Psychology)

Cognitive biases — such as attentional biases toward aversive cues, distorted expectations of negative events, and biased interpretations of ambiguity — are central features of many forms of psychopathology. Gaining a deeper understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these biases is crucial for advancing theoretical models and clinical interventions.

In this talk, Prof. Hadas Okon-Singer will present a series of studies exploring emotional biases in both healthy individuals and participants diagnosed with social anxiety, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Wednesday, June 4, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | (Center for Statistics & Social Sciences)

Many statistical analyses, in both observational data and randomized control trials, ask: how does the outcome of interest vary with combinations of observable covariates? How do various drug combinations affect health outcomes, or how does technology adoption depend on incentives and demographics? Tyler McCormick’s, Professor, Statistics & Sociology, 91̽��, goal is to partition this factorial space into “pools” of covariate combinations where the outcome differs across the pools (but not within a pool).

Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

David Alexander Rahbee leads the 91̽��Symphony in a program of concerto excerpts by York Bowen, Keiko Abe, and Camille Saint-Saëns, performed with winners of the 2024-25 School of Music Concerto Competitions: Flora Cummings, viola; Kaisho Barnhill, marimba; and Sandy Huang, piano. Also on the program, works by Mikhail Glinka, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday, June 7 & Sunday, June 8, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | (Burke Museum)

Stewart Wong will share knowledge and personal experiences about working with Broussonetia Papyrifera. He will talk about the history, uses, and cultivation of the paper mulberry plant. In addition, Stewart plans on dyeing, drawing on, and printing kapa. Stewart will have printed information and material samples to supplement the talk.

Saturday, June 7, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | On Our Terms with Wakulima USA (Burke Museum)

Join the Burke Museum for a short screening from “,” plus a conversation with co-producer Aaron McCanna and Wakulima USA’s David Bulindah and Maura Kizito about food sovereignty and community building.

Additional Events

June 2 | (Music)

June 2 | (Asian Languages & Literature)

June 2 – June 6 | (Astronomy)

June 3 | (Music)

June 4 | (Music)

June 4 | (Psychology)

June 5 | (Music)

June 5 | (Speech & Hearing)

June 5 | (Labor Studies)

June 5 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 6 | (Dance)

June 6 | (Geography)

June 7 | (Music)

Week of June 9

Wednesday, June 11 to Friday, June 27 | (Jacob Lawrence Gallery)

At the end of the spring quarter, the academic year culminates in comprehensive exhibitions of design work created by graduating students. The 91̽��Design Show 2025, showcasing the capstone projects of graduating BDes students, will be held from June 11 to June 27 in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Additional Events

June 11 | (Henry Art Gallery)

June 11 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 12 & June 13 | (DXARTS)

June 13 | (Art + Art History + Design)

Events for the week of June 23

June 24 | (Information Sessions)

June 25 | (Information Sessions)

June 26 | (Information Sessions)

June 27 | (Information Sessions)

Commencement

June marks the end of many College of Arts & Sciences students’ undergraduate experience. Interested in attending a graduation ceremony? Click here to find information on ceremonies across campus.

The 91̽�� rose from No. 7 to No. 6 on the , released on Tuesday. The 91̽��maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.

U.S. News also ranked several subjects, and the 91̽��placed in the top 10 in 10 subject areas, including immunology (No. 4), molecular biology and genetics (No. 5) and clinical medicine (No. 6).

In another ranking out this week, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by Subject, six subject areas at the 91̽��placed in the top 25.

“As a global public research university, the UW’s mission is to create and accelerate change for the public good,” 91̽��President Ana Mari Cauce said. “I’m proud that these rankings reflect the outstanding and wide-ranging work of our faculty, staff and students to expand knowledge and discovery that is changing people’s lives for the better, particularly in the health sciences.”

The U.S. News ranking —  based on Web of Science data and metrics provided by Clarivate Analytics InCites — weighs factors that measure a university’s global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall rankings, this includes bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations and international collaboration.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking, now in its ninth year, encompasses the top 2,000 institutions spread across 90 countries, according to U.S. News. American universities make up eight of the top 10 spots.

Here are all the top 10 91̽��rankings in U.S. News’ subject rankings:

• Immunology – No. 4
• Molecular biology and genetics – No. 5
• Clinical medicine – No. 6
• Geosciences – No. 7
• Infectious diseases – No. 7
• Public, environmental and occupational health – No. 7
• Social sciences and public health – No. 7
• Biology and biochemistry – No. 8
• Microbiology – No. 10

In the rankings, UW’s programs in these areas placed in the top 25:

• : No. 15
• (includes agriculture and forestry, biological sciences, veterinary science and sport science): No. 16
• (includes medicine, dentistry and other health subjects): No. 17
• (includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies — including development studies, sociology and geography): No. 18
• (includes mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and Earth and marine sciences): No. 19
• (includes education, teacher training, and academic studies in education): No. 23

The subject tables employ the same used in the overall ; however, the methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

The 91̽��’s , or CSDE, along with partners in the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences and the , is among eight awardees across the country selected to develop training programs in advanced data analytics for population health through the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

This five-year, $1.8 million training program at the 91̽��will fund 25 academic-year graduate fellowships, develop a new training curriculum and contribute to methodological advances in health research at the intersection of demography and data science.

The new training program will be led by , assistant professor of sociology, and will build on CSDE’s graduate certificate in demographic methods by integrating training in advanced statistics and computational methods.

The inaugural cohort will begin the program in October and is composed of graduate students Ian Kennedy, Neal Marquez and Crystal Yu, all in sociology; Emily Pollock in anthropology; and Aja Sutton in geography.

“Our faculty are at the forefront of research programs grounded in advanced data analytics,” said Robert Stacey, dean of the UW’s College of Arts and Sciences. “This grant recognizes the important interdisciplinary work happening across the UW, and particularly in the social sciences, to build this knowledge into much-needed education and training programs.”

, associate professor of sociology and statistics, and , professor of statistics and biostatistics, led the grant application with support from , director of the CSDE and a professor of international studies, public policy and sociology, along with faculty affiliated with CSDE, CSSS and the eScience Institute.

The NIH review praised UW’s plans. “The leadership team has well-established credentials, complementary expertise, and a strong track record and the proposed program builds on an existing program with demonstrable record of success,” noted reviewers. “The curriculum – which offers coursework in statistical methods, machine learning, coding, databases, data visualization and data ethics – is well-thought-out and will provide trainees with numerous immersive opportunities.”

This funding was designed to fill educational gaps and needs in the behavioral and social sciences research community that are not being addressed by existing educational opportunities, according to the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The other institutions awarded similar grants include Emory University; Johns Hopkins University; Stanford University; University of Arkansas Medical Center; the University of California, Berkeley; UC San Diego; and UC San Francisco. More information about the national initiative can be found .

For more information, contact Curran at scurran@uw.edu or Almquist at zalmquist@uw.edu.

Adapted from information provided by the 91̽��Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology.

Their work, this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides population projections for all countries worldwide — and challenges the existing predictions for some, particularly the United States and Germany.

“It turns out that for quite a few countries, migration is the single biggest source of uncertainty for population projections,” said principal investigator , a 91̽��professor of statistics and sociology.

For the first time, the researchers used a “probabilistic” model that draws on migration rates in each country and worldwide over the past 65 years, along with patterns of fertility and mortality, to project population around the world. The findings were most striking for Germany, whose bureau of statistics has called population decline “” as the country’s populace ages.

But the 91̽��model predicts that when migration is factored in, Germany’s population decline could be offset by the arrival of more than 1 million immigrants every five years for most of the next century. The data in the study was collected before the influx of more than 965,000 migrants and refugees into the country in 2015, so the near-term difference could be even more dramatic.

“Our model could change the perception of the future of Germany from a country that goes into decline for the rest of the century to one that may not, if its policy of accepting migrants continues,” said Raftery, also a faculty affiliate for the 91̽�� and the 91̽��.

The researchers also predict that France and the United Kingdom are likely to have bigger populations than Germany by 2060, given both countries’ higher fertility rates.

They also predict that the U.S. population has a 10 percent chance of exceeding 610 million over the next 85 years — nearly double the current population — when migration is factored in, versus a projected high of 510 million if it isn’t. While that likelihood is small, it has large ramifications, said lead author , a doctoral student in the 91̽��Department of Statistics.

“If you think about planning for social welfare programs, sometimes the biggest issues arise when these unexpected events occur,” he said. “Countries need to be prepared for the possibility.”

But migration is a difficult force to predict, driven by factors ranging from war to economic crises, employment opportunity, family dynamics and even migration policy, which can themselves be difficult — if not impossible — to foresee. To come up with their projections, the researchers looked at past migration patterns in each country to determine a range of probability for future outcomes, reasoning that recent history creates an environment that is likely to create similar migration patterns going forward.

“A lot of the influences that have produced migration levels in the recent past are baked in and likely to continue to play a role in the future,” Raftery said. “It’s almost impossible to tease out all factors, but using current levels of migration, this is the best we can do.”

The researchers then incorporated global migration patterns to build a statistical model and make population projections for each country. Some regional patterns emerged. Smaller European countries that have experienced broad swings in migration over the past half-century are more likely to be impacted by migration uncertainty than countries like India and China, where migration rates are smaller relative to their large populations.

In some African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, migration uncertainty is expected to be less of a factor in population change than fluctuations in mortality and fertility rates. And projections were adjusted for Gulf countries that in past decades have had large influxes of oil industry workers, since in-migration is expected to decline as the sector cools off in that region.

The researchers’ model contrasts with the traditional “deterministic” approach that projects current mortality, fertility and migration rates into the future to estimate population size. But migration rates vary considerably in many countries and fluctuate over time, Raftery said, making for unreliable estimates.

Leaving migration out of the equation can lead to long-term challenges for nations in planning for social programs, the researchers said. Many European countries are cutting education funding in anticipation of declines in school-aged populations, Azose said, which could lead to school closures and fewer trained teachers.

“If the school-age population turns out to be larger than the space allocated for them, there can be huge costs associated with opening or reopening schools and finding teachers to staff them,” he said. “International migration, and especially refugee migration, typically includes large numbers of school-aged children.”

The new research stems from a collaboration between Raftery and his colleagues and the that started 10 years ago. The team was enlisted by the U.N. to incorporate uncertainty about fertility and mortality to develop more accurate population prediction models. But migration remained a critical, and unaccounted for, determinant. Raftery hopes the new model may eventually be incorporated into U.N. projections.

“Including migration uncertainty in population projections could make a substantial difference in how we understand population changes,” he said. “As far as we know, nobody has done this before.”

, a senior research scientist at the 91̽��Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, co-authored the paper. The work was supported by NIH grants R01 HD54511 and R01 HD70936.

For more information, contact Raftery at 206 543-4505 or raftery@uw.edu or jonazose@uw.edu.

The UW, along with the University of California, Berkeley, and New York University, are partners in a new five-year, $37.8 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that aims to accelerate the growth of data-intensive discovery across many fields.

“All across our campus, the process of discovery will increasingly rely on researchers’ ability to extract knowledge from vast amounts of data,” said 91̽��project lead , a professor of computer science and engineering and director of the .

“To remain at the forefront, the 91̽��must be a leader in advancing the methodologies of data science and putting them to work in the broadest imaginable range of fields.”

The new initiative was announced Tuesday (Nov. 12) as a featured talk at a event highlighting public-private partnerships that support big data research.

The UW’s award with UC Berkeley and NYU builds upon existing investments in the eScience Institute – created in 2008 to focus on data-intensive discovery across campus – and the , now almost 15 years old. More than a dozen faculty members are working to implement the initiative at the UW.

At the UW, the grant will mainly fund salaries for new research positions, including five data scientists who specialize in software and will work with researchers across campus, four postdoctoral data science fellows pursuing interdisciplinary research and four partially funded research scientists stationed in other departments and centers. A dedicated “data science studio” on campus will have meeting areas and drop-in workspaces to encourage collaboration across the UW’s colleges and schools.

These new resources will allow faculty members to submit short-term project proposals that require data science expertise, which could include analyzing a large dataset, accessing cloud resources or scaling up a statistical method, said , co-lead of the new effort and a 91̽��affiliate assistant professor of computer science and engineering. A social scientist could, for example, learn how to mine data from social media channels to help with a research project. Or, a geographer might want to know how weather data affect a landscape in real-time.

Faculty participants in the program would send a graduate student or research staff member to physically relocate for a period to work directly with the data scientists. The idea behind this embedded approach is to learn techniques, collaborate and then bring that knowledge back to individual labs and departments.

“We see enormous potential in the cross-pollination that happens by having participants co-locate in the data science studio,” Howe said. “These projects will help expose common problems and enable collaboration as we continue to scale up our investment in data science expertise.”

The 91̽��also has received a $2.8 million Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship grant from the National Science Foundation. Together, the two grants will fund several dozen graduate students from a variety of departments to learn how to tackle big data in their research fields. The need to analyze vast amounts of data now touches nearly every department and discipline, and both grants will boost the university’s ability to prepare students.

Faculty members see this initiative as advancing the capacity for data-intensive scientific research and boosting Seattle’s leadership in data science, while attracting more top talent back to universities at a time when big data is more pervasive than ever before.

“These data scientists are coveted in industry as well as in academia,” Howe said. “One of the missions we have in this effort is to provide competitive career paths and roles that allow these experts the freedom to apply their skills to the most important problems in science.”

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For more information, contact Lazowska at lazowska@cs.washington.edu or 206-543-4755 and Howe at billhowe@cs.washington.edu or 206-221-9261.