Recent recognition of the �������� includes a Berkeley prize recognizing research on ancient galaxies, a 2026 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar Award for a doctoral student, and an NSF CAREER Award supporting research on the brain circuits that drive social behavior.

UW astronomer is part of team that receives Berkeley prize for study of ancient galaxies

, UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy, is part of a team of astronomers who received the 2027 Lancelot M. Berkeley–New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy.��

Khullar is one of 60 astronomers who make up the UNCOVER team, an international collaboration built to study tens of thousands of galaxies, black holes and star clusters. The Berkeley Prize recognized the UNCOVER team for its work using the to study galaxies behind “Pandora’s Cluster,” a massive galaxy cluster. The large mass of this cluster causes it to act as a powerful magnifying glass, bending the light from faraway background galaxies.��

Deep imaging and spectroscopy of this gravitational lens have enabled the UNCOVER project team to identify and characterize distant galaxies from some of the earliest stages of our universe.��

“This team award is a genuine recognition of the incredible work that this new collaboration has conducted, spearheaded by early career astronomers,” Khullar said. “I am fortunate to have played a small part in contributing to studying the first galaxies in the universe which have paused star formation — systems called quiescent galaxies.”

Awarded annually since 2011 by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Berkeley prize recognizes research that advances the field of astronomy. The prize includes a monetary award and an invitation to give the closing plenary lecture at the AAS winter meeting in January.

This story was adapted from a press release by AAS.

UW doctoral student receives 2026 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar Award��

, a doctoral student in the UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, was , which recognizes exceptional early-career researchers advancing the future of information and communications technology.��

A researcher in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering’s Mobile Intelligence Lab, Itani works with , a UW professor of computer science and engineering, to develop AI-powered�� devices that give users greater control over what they hear. The technology could allow someone wearing earbuds or hearing aids to amplify specific voices or sounds they want to focus on while reducing unwanted background noise.��

That ability could��make�� listening��more customizable, from following a conversation in a crowded restaurant to better distinguishing important sounds in noisy environments. Itani and his collaborators are currently advancing systems designed to enable this kind of real-time “superhuman” hearing on earbuds and hearing aids.��

“I feel like I’ve hit a niche that’s going to be so transformational,” Itani said, noting that the technology could eventually reach billions of devices. “It’s going to change the way we hear the world.”��

Because of that potential reach, Itani said he feels a responsibility to continue advancing the technology and its ability to��impact��people’s�� lives.��

Itani and his collaborators have also launched��Hearvana��AI to commercialize their research. He and his fellow honorees will be formally recognized at the Marconi Awards Gala & Institute Forums, held Nov. 4–6 in San Francisco.����

UW assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience receives NSF CAREER Award to study brain circuits driving social behaviors��

Sama Ahmed, UW assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, received a 2026 National Science Foundation CAREER Award of more than $1.4 million.��

The NSF CAREER Award is the agency’s most prestigious honor for early-career faculty, recognizing those with the potential to become academic leaders in both research and education.��

With the award, Ahmed and his team will study the brain circuits behind “proceptivity” — the active behaviors animals use to pursue and engage potential mates. Using fruit flies, the most complex organism with a fully mapped brain and a species with well-studied social behaviors, the researchers will use advanced genetic and imaging tools in the Ahmed Lab to watch how different neural networks in the brain talk to each other in real time.��

Instead of looking at how the brain does one thing at a time, Ahmed’s team tracks how the nervous system switches between responding to external social cues and actively generating social behaviors. Understanding how the brain juggles these competing choices helps researchers understand how more complex brains — including our own — prioritize information and decide when to act.��

“I’ve always wanted to understand how our brains generate and respond to social signals,” Ahmed said, adding that the CAREER Award opens a new way for his lab to investigate that question.��

The project will also provide research training opportunities for high school, undergraduate and graduate students and support the development of open-source computational tools and STEM modules focused on coding and automated behavioral tracking. The award will also allow Ahmed to create a new Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), where students will use technologies such as��connectomics��and optogenetics to investigate questions that, as Ahmed put it, “nobody has answered yet.”��

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Recent recognition of faculty and staff at the �������� includes France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Richard R. Ernst Prize for contributions to magnetic resonance, and a National Science Foundation CAREER award from the Division of Materials Research.

UW professor named CNRS��fellow-ambassador��

, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, was welcomed into the 2026 cohort of��fellow-ambassadors by France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Active across all scientific fields for more than 80 years, CNRS is Europe’s largest fundamental research agency.��

Launched in 2023, the CNRS Fellow-Ambassador program brings internationally recognized researchers to France to foster scientific collaboration. As one of nine members selected this year, Olden joins a group that includes Nobel laureates and other globally renowned researchers, with��nearly 30��active��fellow-ambassadors.��

As part of the program, Olden will spend time in France over the next three summers, collaborating with scientists on research aimed at addressing sustainability challenges facing freshwater ecosystems.��

The opportunity closely aligns with Olden’s broader research program, which focuses on advancing the science and practice of freshwater conservation. His work spans climate change, conservation biology, invasive species, and freshwater community ecology, with an emphasis on bridging fundamental research and practical conservation challenges through quantitative approaches.��

Olden��noted��that France has long been home to some of the world’s most talented scientists.����

“The opportunity to work alongside them—exchanging ideas, tackling shared challenges in freshwater sciences and building lasting research partnerships—is something I look forward to enormously,” Olden said.��

Chemistry professor receives 2026 Richard R. Ernst Prize for contributions to magnetic resonance

, UW professor of chemistry, was one of four researchers awarded the 2026 Richard R. Ernst Prize in Magnetic Resonance, presented at the EUROMAR 2026 conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.��The��annual prize recognizes scientific achievements that expand the capabilities and impact of magnetic resonance.��

Stoll was recognized for his contributions to electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) through widely adopted computational tools and data analysis methods, particularly��EasySpin, software developed and��maintained��by Stoll and colleagues. The software has become a standard resource in magnetic resonance laboratories, allowing researchers to simulate and analyze complex EPR spectra.��

EPR experiments produce signals that scientists use to learn about the structure and behavior of molecules and materials.��EasySpin��helps researchers interpret those signals by allowing them to model what an experiment should look like under different conditions and compare those simulations with real-world data. That capability supports research ranging from understanding how the structure and movement of proteins affect their function to studying molecular systems with potential applications in quantum sensing.��

For Stoll, the award also brings attention to a part of the scientific process that can��operate��behind the scenes: developing and��maintaining��the software researchers rely on to do their work. He noted that although scientific software is essential to many research pipelines and workflows, securing federal or foundation funding for its development can be difficult.��

“It’s very exciting for scientific software development to get some recognition,” Stoll said.��

Stoll��also credited the��EasySpin��user community with helping drive continued improvements to the software’s scope, performance,��accessibility��and usability.

UW professor of physics receives NSF CAREER Award to study electron interactions in quantum materials��

, UW assistant professor of physics, received a 2026 National Science Foundation CAREER Award of more than $600,000 from the Division of Materials Research.

The NSF CAREER Award is the agency’s most prestigious honor for early-career faculty, recognizing those with the potential to become academic leaders in both research and education.

With the award, Barnard and his team will study how interactions between electrons give rise to unusual forms of electronic order in two-dimensional quantum materials, including superconducting states and electronic crystals. The researchers will use a new measurement technique developed in Barnard’s Classical and Quantum Nanosystems Lab that allows them to deliberately change how electrons interact while simultaneously measuring how the material responds.

In other words, rather than only observing the properties of a quantum material, Barnard’s team can adjust one of the forces shaping those properties and watch what changes. Understanding how these interactions produce behaviors such as superconductivity could help researchers learn how to more precisely control the electronic properties of materials, foundational knowledge for the development of future electronic and quantum technologies.

Barnard said his lab has spent the past several years developing what he described as a “one-of-a-kind tool” to help researchers better understand how superconductivity and other phenomena emerge in atomically thin materials.

“Now, with NSF CAREER funding, we are beginning to put this tool to work and looking forward to what we will discover,” Barnard said.

The project will also provide research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and support the development of open-source hardware and STEM modules that offer hands-on experience with van der Waals material assembly and electronic measurements.

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UPDATE Aug. 20, 2026: This story has been updated to include a faculty member who was originally omitted.��

Twelve faculty members at the �������� have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. They are among 30 scientists and educators from across the state July 16 as new members. Election recognizes the new member’s “outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement and willingness to assist the Academy in providing the best available scientific information and technical understanding to inform complex policy decisions in Washington.”

New WSAS members are selected by current members or by their election to national science academies. All 11 UW faculty members were voted on by current WSAS members:��

, chair and PACCAR Endowed Professor of mechanical engineering and adjunct professor of neurological surgery and of aeronautics and astronautics, for “significant contributions to scientific understanding of multiphase and biomedical flows, including the role of fluid mechanics on arterial disease, heart failure, biomedical devices, and surgical planning for respiratory disease, through work combining rigorous experimentation and analysis that has influenced both engineering and clinical practice.”

, professor of materials science and engineering, for “pioneering research on structure–processing–property relationships and the aging of hard tissues that has shaped modern oral health science, and for influential contributions to advanced manufacturing, biomechanics, and bioinspired materials — coupled with exemplary educational leadership — that have made a lasting impact across disciplines and the STEM community.”

, professor of health economics and Stergachis Family Endowed Director of The CHOICE Institute, for “pioneering health economic methods — including causal estimation of personalized treatment effects, cost-effectiveness frameworks, and value-of-information analysis — that have shaped national drug pricing policies, international discussions on the economics of innovation, and the scientific foundations of the economics of precision medicine.”

, affiliate professor of health services and biostatistics and professor in the Public Health Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, for “pioneering statistical models that transformed cancer early detection and screening policy, reshaping national and global guidelines and advancing equitable public health decision‑making, and for exceptional leadership, cross‑disciplinary collaboration, and mentorship, influencing generations of scientists.”

, Charles O. Cressey Endowed Professor of social work and executive co-director of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, for “pioneering research across historical trauma, cultural buffers, and healing; substance use/misuse prevention; indigenous health disparities and family wellness; and youth health interventions.”

, Endowed Professor in Prevention in the School of Social Work and director of the Social Development Research Group, for “contributions to the economic assessment of prevention programs addressing substance abuse and mental health, and for advancing community-engaged research, and effective communication of findings to different audiences.”

, director of and research professor in the UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, for “leadership and contributions in ecosystem-based management, salmon conservation, urban ecology, and pioneering contributions to the development of social-ecological approaches to environmental problem solving.”

, research professor of epidemiology and associate director for public health sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for “integrating large‑scale genomic, environmental, and tumor data to advance colorectal cancer prevention and reduce population disparities, and for her leadership at Fred Hutch, shaping precision prevention and population health science.”

, affiliate professor of environmental engineering and chief scientist and laboratory fellow emeritus at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for “his seminal leadership and sustained contributions to soil and agricultural science and environmental geosciences, spanning basic and applied research, university-level teaching and mentoring, and exceptional service.”

, professor of bioengineering, the Dr. James B. Bassingthwaighte Endowed Faculty Fellow in Bioengineering, director of the Center for Translational Muscle Research, and�� associate chair of research and translation for the Department of Bioengineering, for “internationally recognized leadership in discovering the molecular mechanisms of contractile dysfunction with familial genetic mutations that lead to muscle dysfunction with disease, the design of novel, targeted therapies, and training the next generation of scientists and engineers to have further impact in understanding and treating heart failure and skeletal muscle diseases.”

Dr. , professor and chair of radiology in UW Medicine, for “contributions to the science and clinical practice of radiological imaging and for leadership in national programs and professional and scientific societies that advance academic radiology.”

, affiliate professor of civil and environmental engineering and chief scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for “pioneering the integration of climate science with power systems studies through computational, data-driven, experimental approaches, resulting in significant cost savings for energy customers and a safer, more reliable grid.”

Additionally, Dr. , professor emerita of global health and of medicine and epidemiology in the UW School of Medicine, was elected to the WSAS Board of Directors. Wassersheit has been a member of WSAS since 2008. An infectious disease physician and epidemiologist, Dr. Wasserheit played a central role in launching the UW Department of Global Health and served as chair from 2014-2022. She also served as co-director for the UW Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness. She was the founding chief of the U.S. National Institute of Health’s Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Research Branch, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STD/HIV Prevention Program and director of the FHCRC-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Her work on epidemiological synergy between HIV and sexually transmitted infections has shaped prevention policy worldwide.

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Recent recognition of the �������� includes American COuncil of Learned Societies Fellowship, Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship and Humboldt Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Assistant professor awarded 2026 ACLS Fellowship��

, assistant professor in the Department of Asian Languages & Literature at the UW, was awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. The fellowship recognizes excellence in humanities and social sciences research and supports scholars whose work is poised to make original and significant contributions to their fields.��Rominger��will be the 2026 ACLS Pauline Yu Fellow.����

“It means a great deal to hold a fellowship in Pauline Yu’s name,” Rominger said. “Her scholarship on Chinese poetics is part of why I do this work.”��

This year, the program awarded more than $3.5 million to 63 scholars selected from a pool of more than 2,000 applicants.��

Rominger specializes in early Chinese literary and intellectual history. His project, “Aurality and the Search for Sound and Meaning in Early Chinese Texts,” examines how sound-based patterning��shaped meaning in early Chinese��philosophical texts, particularly in��writings��from the Warring States period to the Han dynasty.����

Rominger’s research shows how early Chinese thinkers employed the sound of language not only for style but also to build arguments and express complex ideas. The project brings together close readings of ancient texts, historical reconstructions of Old Chinese pronunciation, and computational tools to offer new insight into the relationship between literary form and philosophical thought.

Postdoctoral scholar awarded Arnold O. Beckman Fellowship in Chemical Instrumentation��

, a UW postdoctoral scholar��in��chemistry, was awarded the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Instrumentation. The fellowship supports advanced research by postdoctoral scholars in fundamental chemistry and the development and construction of chemical instrumentation.��

The award provides two years of funding, along with an��additional��$200,000 budget to support instrumentation costs.��

With the fellowship, Rebstock will build a new vibrational spectroscopy instrument designed to��observe��chemical reactions as they happen at surfaces. The instrument will allow researchers to see how molecules move and interact in real time, offering insight into surface chemistry that could help improve technologies such as batteries and clean fuels.��

This fellowship provides Rebstock with a rare opportunity to combine instrument development with fundamental chemistry questions. “I’m excited to pursue both and to explore new ways of probing the chemistry that happens at interfaces.” Rebstock said.��

UW researcher receives Humboldt Research Award��

a UW professor of Earth and space sciences,��received a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award recognizes internationally leading researchers across all disciplines for their academic record and significant contributions to their fields.��

Each year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants up to 100 Humboldt Research Awards to researchers from abroad. Awardees receive personal award��money and��are invited to carry out research projects of their��choosing��in cooperation with specialist colleagues in Germany.��

Teng said he was deeply honored by the recognition and grateful to Professor��Harry��Becker, head��of the Geochemistry Group at��FU-Berlin, for��the nomination. The award will allow��Teng��to spend extended periods over the next few years conducting research at Freie University Berlin, beginning with his��sabbatical this��summer.��

“It is a wonderful opportunity to spend extended periods over the next few years conducting cutting-edge research at Freie University Berlin,” Teng said.��

The award will also enable Teng to develop new collaborations across Germany and become part of the Humboldt Foundation’s international network of distinguished researchers.��

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While soccer is the most popular sport globally, it wasn’t high on the list in Ron Krabill’s home state of Indiana. As a high schooler, Krabill’s soccer team often had to travel an hour and a half to find the nearest school with a team. Krabill still became a lifelong fan.

Now a professor in UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and director of the Global Sport Lab in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, Krabill never imagined soccer would become part of his academic work until he found himself conducting research in South Africa in 2010 when the country hosted the World Cup. He’s been intertwining sport and academics ever since.

With Seattle scheduled to host World Cup games from June 15 to July 6, Krabill is gearing up to co-lead this year’s UW Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities with , UW teaching professor of communication, and , doctoral student in the UW Jackson School of International Studies. This year’s theme, Seattle’s World Cup: Storytelling Through Community Mapping, will combine community mapping with other methodologies, including photo and video essays and journalistic reporting, to tell stories about Seattle’s experience with the World Cup.��

The mapping technology was developed by , associate professor of Urban Studies at UW Tacoma. Kelley is the director of the Action Mapping Project, which works to engage issues of livability, equity, and voice in marginalized neighborhoods through the use of participatory data collection, spatial data analysis, mapping and data visualization.

UW News talked with Krabill about his plans for participating students, his background in sports scholarship, what he’ll be watching during Seattle’s tournament games and more.

When did your love of soccer and your academic work first intersect and how have you continued that work?

Ron Krabill: I lived and worked in South Africa on and off between 1996 and 2010 doing research on South African media, the late Apartheid Era and the media’s impact on anti-Apartheid politics. And then South Africa hosted the World Cup. I had been to two Women’s World Cups, but never before to a Men’s World Cup and I thought, “I can’t be in South Africa when this happens and not go.” It just felt too big and too important. It was a momentous thing for South Africa as a nation.��

A lot of debates were happening from the time South Africa was awarded the World Cup about whether it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing and what it meant. My academic work was concerned with a state putting a lot of money into feel-good projects when�� it’s struggling to provide basic resources for its people. I around 2010 for Social Text, which is an academic journal that covers a wide range of social and cultural phenomena. The piece talked about the challenge for people who love soccer but also see all the problems with soccer, mega-events, the industry, and so on. In that piece, I also talked about loving South Africa, being deeply connected to South Africa and worrying about what the impact of the World Cup would be.

In 2010, I helped lead a UW study abroad program called My World Cup, which was funded in part by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the UW, the Seattle Sounders and Cape Town Community Television. We paired our UW students with University of Cape Town film students and media activists from the Media Workers Alliance to put together short segments on the impact of the World Cup locally. We then aired those during the World Cup on Cape Town Community Television.��

After that, the UW León Center in Spain approached me and I proposed a class about the politics of soccer in Spain and beyond that addresses questions of gender, race, nationalism and migration. For this year’s World Cup, I wanted to create an immersive course much like the study abroad program — something that students can really sink their teeth into.

How will your students study the World Cup and Seattle as a host city?

RK: developed the Action Mapping Project, a community mapping tool that we’re excited to use in the World Cup context. This tool will allow us to do both large and geographical analysis alongside more qualitative and traditional arts and humanities methods. We’ll be asking people outside the stadium, at fan zones and at watch parties to reflect on what stories Seattle tells about itself. How do their experiences in Seattle during the Cup — whether they’re from the area, elsewhere in the United States or an international visitor — relate to what they imagine Seattle to be? In other words, does their experience of World Cup Seattle match their expectations?

The first two weeks are going to be very intense. The games are only in town for three weeks and unfortunately, the first of those weeks is the break in between academic terms. So those first weeks, we’ll be introducing students to critical sport studies as a field and what it means to think about sports as a site of power and politics, at the same time as training them in research methods and fieldwork.��

Hopefully we’ll gather a lot of material to work with, and then we’ll have the rest of the summer to figure out what to do with it. The students will be working in collaborative research teams, looking at different angles of what it means for Seattle to host. They’ll work off whatever material they find really compelling.��

It will be tricky, because they’ll have to collect the data before they’ve decided exactly what they’re going to do with it. They won’t have had the theoretical background to really think about the meaning. That means the teaching team is going to have to be a little more direct about what kinds of research gathering we do on our field days. The first two weeks, we’ll have four pretty long field work days with students. We’re expecting to send teams of students out into different parts of the city and the region to see what the World Cup experience is like.

What are you most interested to observe in Seattle during those three weeks?��

RK: When South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010, the vibe was incredible. It’s not really clear how much Seattle is going to embrace that vibe. Is the whole city going to be all about the World Cup? Because it was definitely like that in Cape Town. The Women’s World Cup in Paris wasn’t like that. You could have easily been in Paris and not had any idea what was going on. I don’t know where Seattle will land. There have also been a lot of stories about the hotel industry downgrading their expectations. The thing about the economic impact is that it’s often named as one big number, but it’s not always very clear where that money’s going and if it’s staying in the city.

People like to say that we should keep politics out of sports. But when we start talking about where the money is going to flow to, who’s going to be able to afford games,�� or the pressures FIFA and the federal government is putting on local organizing committees, it’s not as hard for people to understand. We should be thinking about: What are the implications of this, and what are the actions that people can take to make it as beneficial as possible for the city and for the people who live in the city? How do you mitigate against the potential harms, and how do you take advantage of the potential benefits?

There is also a lot of evidence that the fan base is going to be more domestic and less international than expected from a World Cup, particularly because President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration will discourage a lot of people from traveling. I do think that’s going to impact Seattle more than most places because of our proximity to Canada. I think we would have had a lot of visitors, both from Canada and from other countries, because they could have gone to Vancouver and Seattle to see matches in both countries.

I’m also super interested in what the will look like. The local organizing committee is super committed to having it. The Seattle committee is also taking really seriously their responsibility to think about what it means to have the U.S. play on Juneteenth. That’s an opportunity to educate a worldwide audience about what Juneteenth is and why it’s necessary as a holiday.��

I’m following very closely, too. And not just because they’re coming to Seattle. I’m looking at what it means for modern society that two nations can be at war, and yet there is an expectation that one of them will travel to play in the other’s country in a tournament. The idea that that’s even a conversation says something about how detached we are in the United States from the idea of warfare.��

For more information, contact Krabill at rkrabill@uw.edu or globalsportlab@uw.edu.

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Recent recognition of the �������� includes the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Rosentiel Award for contributions to ocean science, and the 2026 Distinguished Community Engagement Award

Assistant professor of chemistry awarded 2026 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award��

, assistant��professor��of��chemistry��at the��UW, received��a 2026 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The award supports early-career faculty in the chemical sciences who have created an outstanding independent body of scholarship and��demonstrated��a strong commitment to education.����

Each Camille Dreyfus��teacher-scholar��receives an unrestricted research grant of $100,000. Golder was one of 17 scholars selected for the 2026 award.����

Golder’s research focuses on the design and reconstruction of plastics, with an emphasis on improving polymer integrity and sustainability. The work explores how chemical design can support stronger, more adaptable materials while addressing broader challenges in plastic waste and long-term environmental impact.��

Golder said the foundation’s support will give his group the flexibility to continue pursuing “the boldest and most exciting ideas” over the next five years.��The��recognition��also��reflects the hard work and creativity of his research group over the past six years, he said.��

Principal oceanographer receives Rosenstiel Award��

, principal oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory��and affiliate��assistant��professor��at the School of��Oceanography, received the��2026 Rosenstiel Award. The award, created in 1971 by the Rosenstiel Foundation, honors mid-career scientists whose work has made significant and growing impacts in their fields.����

The award is presented each year on a rotating basis across marine geosciences, atmospheric sciences, marine biology and ecology, ocean��sciences,��and environmental science policy. Whalen was invited to present a lecture at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine,��Atmospheric,��and Earth Science, where the award was presented in April.����

Whalen studies small-scale physics��in the ocean, including processes that generate turbulence��and mix the water, along with how these processes��interact with the dynamics of the water across ocean basins. Her work helps scientists better understand the physical drivers that shape climate and marine environments.��

Whalen said she was honored to receive the award and to join the ranks of oceanographers whose work she admires. Receiving the award also gave Whalen the opportunity to visit the Rosenstiel School, where she met with faculty and students and learned more about their work.

Professor receives Distinguished Community Engagement Award��

,��professor of ethnic, gender and labor studies and American Indian studies and adjunct professor of education at UW Tacoma��received the 2026 Distinguished Community Engagement Award in the project category. Montgomery is also an adjunct professor of bioethics and humanities at the UW School of Medicine.��The award recognizes her leadership of the Indigenous Speaker Series and Community Engagement: Promoting Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Multigenerational Community Learning.��

Through support for the Haida Sails Resurgence Project and the Northwest Maritime Center, Montgomery’s work has created meaningful opportunities for co-learning, cultural��exchange,��and the uplifting of Indigenous Knowledge Systems through place-based and multigenerational learning experiences.��

Montgomery’s community-engaged scholarship focuses on amplifying Indigenous voices, supporting dialogue around cultural and traditional lived experiences and strengthening partnerships that connect academic spaces with community knowledge. The Indigenous Speaker Series, which Montgomery created in 2015, has become a platform for sharing place-based Indigenous��knowledges��and expanding conversations across communities.����

“As a visitor to the Pacific Northwest, it is an honor to continue the responsibility to uplift place-based Indigenous��knowledges��and nurture the reciprocity of community partnerships,” Montgomery said.��

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grew up in the United Kingdom surrounded by soccer. He’s always loved sport, but his academic focus — he’s a �������� master’s student in South Asian Studies researching the history of memory in diaspora communities — is far removed from the playing field.

But Josan brought his passion for sport, particularly soccer — known as football to most of the world — with him to the United States. When packing for the move, he even found room in his suitcase for a prized soccer jersey he received as a Christmas present when he was 13. When Josan arrived at the UW, he started searching for ways to engage in sport scholarship.

“My interest comes from how sport creates identity and how much of our cultural connection comes from sport,” Josan said. “That obviously has good parts, but it also means sport becomes very politically loaded. We see both in the wider scale kind of conversations about sports and politics today.”

Josan found a way to nurture his combined interests when he took a course with , professor in UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and director of the in the Jackson School of International Studies. The two developed a relationship, which led Krabill to ask Josan to serve as the managing editor for a new website: .

Whether people are counting the days until the — games will be played in Seattle from June 19 through July 6 — or wondering what all the hype is about, the Global Sport Lab’s syllabus was created as a way for anyone to learn more about the history and politics of the tournament.

“Pavandeep is an incredibly talented, thoughtful guy,” said Krabill, who also served as the editor for the syllabus. “There is no way the project would have happened without him.”

The idea for the syllabus emerged from the creation of similar resources for social movements and newsworthy events. There is a Black Lives Matter syllabus, for example. And during the protests that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in 2014, a Georgetown University professor launched the.

“What those syllabi did really well was put current events into larger historical, cultural and political contexts,” Krabill said. “The idea was to do the same thing with the World Cup — imagining someone who is really interested in the politics and controversies around this event and wants to dig deeper and find more analysis.”

World Cup: The Syllabus is divided into seven sections: FIFA; migrations; protest and resistance; arts and culture; human rights; stadiums; and technology. Each page offers analysis written by experts, discussion questions and a suggested reading list.��

The website was curated by an editorial team of six leading experts in global football, including Krabill. Krabill and Josan had multiple, hours-long meetings with the other five academics, many of whom have sat on FIFA panels and produced some of the most widely read resources on global soccer.

“I’ve read a lot of what these experts have produced in the past, and I never thought I’d be chairing meetings with them,” Josan said. “It’s sometimes a bit surreal when you work with people that you’ve read before. It was exciting learning about their insights, not just from what they’ve studied and their research, but also from their lived experiences. That was fascinating to me.”

Krabill wrote the syllabus’ introduction, and , a UW student in visual communication design, designed the site.“There is no right or wrong way to engage with the syllabus, and we want people to engage however they see fit,” Josan said. “If there’s a particular category that speaks most to you, start with that one.”

The website is also structured to help guide readers who don’t have a preference or don’t know where to begin. In these cases, Josan recommends starting with the first section, which focuses broadly on FIFA. From there, the topics narrow down. The syllabus isn’t specific to this summer’s World Cup, either. The hope is for the resource to remain relevant for future events, including for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

“The Women’s World Cup has been gaining a lot of prominence, a lot of popularity,” Josan said. “Attendance numbers are higher than they’ve ever been for women’s sport across the board, and specifically for women’s football. So, we’re hoping this project doesn’t stop when the 2026 final is played. It’s something that will continue to be updated.”

Even people with no interest in soccer can find something in the syllabus worth exploring, Josan said.

“The syllabus is designed to cross the boundary between football and other topics that are of interest to our society,” he said. “I’d encourage anyone to engage with this, especially if you live in an area that’s going to host a World Cup game. There is going to be so much that you’ll learn, and you might be able to connect the dots when you see things play out in our local area.”

For more information, contact Lauren Kirschman at lkirsc@uw.edu.

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Three �������� faculty members��have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Their work spans environmental science,��computing��and engineering, addressing challenges ranging from climate resilience and ecosystem sustainability to artificial intelligence and accessible healthcare technologies.��

Founded in 1780, the����recognizes leaders across disciplines whose work advances research, public policy��and the common good. The Academy elects��roughly 250��members each year.��

,��UW��professor��in��the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, was��elected��for research on how climate change,��urbanization, and��land use affect freshwater ecosystems and fisheries.��

Schindler’s work focuses on salmon habitats, watershed health��and ecosystem resilience in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, helping scientists better understand how environmental change affects ecosystems, wildlife��and communities that rely on fisheries.��

“I’m deeply honored by the recognition,” Schindler said. “I’m also grateful for the colleagues and students at the UW whose��curiosity��and camaraderie have made our science impactful and genuinely fun.”��

,��professor of computer science and engineering and��director of the Allen��School,��was elected��for��contributions to data management and data science,��as well as her leadership roles at UW and nationally.��

Balazinska��develops data management systems and techniques��to help users across domains process complex and large datasets more efficiently and more easily, including tabular data, images and videos,��content��generated by��artificial intelligence,��and scientific datasets. Her work has included systems for cloud analytics, stream��processing, and video��analysis��among others.������

Balazinska��said joining the Academy��shows��how far science and engineering have come, while also��highlighting future��opportunities that will��arise as AI reshapes research and discovery.��

“AI has the potential to accelerate progress in ways I couldn’t have imagined at the start of my career,” she said.��

, professor in the��Allen School��and the��Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, was��elected��for research in ubiquitous computing, human-computer��interaction��and sensor-enabled systems.��

Patel develops technologies that use smartphones,��sensors��and machine learning to expand access to healthcare and improve sustainability. His work includes smartphone-based health screening tools designed to improve access to care, as well as technologies that help households��monitor��energy and water use more efficiently.��

Several technologies developed by Patel and his students have been commercialized through startups and later adopted by major companies, including Google.��

Patel said he was “humbled and honored” by the recognition and��wants it to encourage��broader thinking about the role of applied computing research.��

“I hope this serves as a catalyst for others to embrace a broader, more practical perspective on what computing can achieve for society,” he said.��

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As the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup inches closer, ’s schedule keeps getting busier.

“If I’m not teaching, I’m on a call dealing with the World Cup,” Ramasastry said.

Ramasastry, a professor of law at the ��������, is an expert in the convergence of business and human rights — a field she helped create. She was also an advisor to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the group that established standards to help governments regulate companies while also providing guidelines for�� those companies to navigate global human rights issues.

Her expertise led to work with , which launched a stronger commitment to human rights after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. included its reliance on migrant workers to build stadiums, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. As a large global sporting body bigger than most multinational corporations, FIFA accepted that, like those companies, it has corresponding human rights commitments.

In the wake of that tournament, Ramasastry was asked to join FIFA’s human rights subcommittee as its independent human rights advisor. The committee commissioned on Qatar, which found that many migrants were uncompensated for their work, and others died or suffered injuries.��

As a result, the 2026 World Cup marks the first time each host bid had to include a human rights component, including the United Bid submitted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.��

Once that bid was accepted, cities also had to vie to host matches. Ramasastry drafted the human rights action plan for Seattle. Because of her global and local expertise, she’s also chairing the human rights expert advisory group for FIFA 2026, headquartered in Miami. She worked on the 2026 World Cup’s human rights framework, which served as a baseline for cities to create their plans.

UW News caught up with Ramasastry to talk about the World Cup and human rights, Seattle’s action plan and more.

What is a human rights action plan and what potential issues do they address?

Anita Ramasastry: For every city that’s going to host the tournament, in every country, there are going to be human rights impacts. How do you identify harms and risks to unhoused people that are connected to the tournament? How do you ensure that people have the right to assemble and protest? Are workers being fairly paid?��

There are all kinds of issues that arise that are connected to these sporting events. In different countries, there are different issues. Qatar had issues with migrant labor. In Russia, it was LGBTQ+ rights and discrimination. The controversy around Qatar happened after the bid was already awarded. The world tuned into what was happening there and started thinking about human rights.��

The point of having a human rights action plan is that you anticipate the harms that arise from the tournament and you try to mitigate them. It’s been a bumpy ride because the issues we’re now dealing with are not the issues we originally thought we were going to be dealing with. Immigration issues are very different now. The issue of protests and counterprotests weren’t necessarily top of the list before, but they are now very much an issue for cities.��

FIFA and the host cities also have a commitment to what we call “access to remedy.” If someone is harmed, there should be a way for them to be provided with relief and remediation. FIFA is going to have a grievance portal where people will be able to raise an issue and then FIFA is going to screen it.��

This is the largest and most decentralized World Cup ever. FIFA says its role is to protect human rights in the stadium and to protect the human rights of athletes and workers in the stadium. It’s the cities’ job to deal with fan festivals or other events happening outside the FIFA zone. This has been a challenge because the cities don’t get extra money to deal with this. My job is to say we want to protect people — the fans, the workers, the communities — that may get impacted.

What issues are most pressing for Seattle and how did you identify them?

AR: For the Seattle bid, I consulted local stakeholders and they identified what they saw as the top salient risks. The main topics were human trafficking, issues related to unhoused populations, the right to protest, workers’ rights and discrimination against certain communities.��

Now one of the biggest issues — and it’s challenging to address — is the rights of immigrant communities. We at the UW hosted a roundtable on safeguarding immigrant communities. We’re also working on a peaceful assembly toolkit about the rights of protestors — how they can ensure they’re doing things peacefully and lawfully.

Part of the idea is that the practices and protocols that are created for Seattle now can be used in the future. I’d love for Seattle to have good ways of dealing with things. When the MLB All-Star Game came to Seattle in 2023, there were . Those are exactly the issues we don’t want to have happen. If there’s a protest, we don’t want people to be harmed. We want to allow dissent in a proper way. It’s really about the legacy of: Are there mechanisms in place to address issues or, if there is harm, to resolve complaints in a way that helps people?

Can you elaborate on past issues that led to this being the first World Cup to require human rights to be part of the bidding process?

AR: I think it’s a combination of several things. One is that there were the human rights standards that arose out of the United Nations. , a former Harvard professor, helped draft those. And he had such authority that he was then able to go to FIFA and advise on embedding human rights into its operations. FIFA was amenable to changing its governance standards, not only because it was called out because of questions about Qatar, but because it had been implicated. There were and a whole investigation by the Department of Justice. And so with FIFA being ensnared in the bribery and corruption charges, it was open to these other reforms. It was kind of a confluence of events.

At the same time, there was similar pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to do the same thing, so now the IOC also has its own commitment to human rights. It does work with host governments and they have ways in which human rights plans are mobilized. With the expertise we’ve developed at the UW, I’m going to keep moving forward with our students. The Women’s World Cup may be coming to the U.S. in 2031 and the Olympics are in Los Angeles in 2028. Those are other opportunities to ensure safe events.

Speaking of your students, how do they engage with this work?

AR: I just taught a seminar this winter on human rights and the World Cup, so they were able to trace the journey from Qatar all the way to Seattle and beyond. We had people speaking about the World Cup, the LA Olympics and what it means to think about the World Cup going to Saudi Arabia in 2034, which is its own kind of interesting issue. Every week, students were able to meet with insiders — either in-person or virtually. The human rights officer from FIFA Zurich talked to them, as did the leader of the Dignity 2026 Coalition, which is a network of labor and human rights organizations uniting to protect groups who are at risk of adverse effects from the World Cup. Other speakers included former Olympic soccer gold medalist , who is the CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights who worked on the United Bid, and , who graduated from the UW School of Law. She is the COO of the Seattle Reign and chaired the bid committee for Seattle. She now serves on the board of the Seattle 2026 Local Organizing Committee.

Students who want to do applied work helped write the Seattle bid. They were in the room for the roundtables we convened on immigration and peaceful protest, taking notes and writing summaries. My students have met with people who have dedicated their careers to human rights. For many of us, it’s about the people, right? No matter how much money is made, at the end of the day it should be made in a harm-free manner.

For more information, contact Lauren Kirschman at lkirsc@uw.edu.

Hear more from Anita Ramasastry

Anita Ramasastry will moderate “Workers’ Rights in Seattle during the World Cup,” a discussion with King County councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, on May 4 from 5-6:00 p.m.

The discussion is part of an ongoing speaker series from the UW Global Sport Lab where experts discuss the geopolitical, local and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Seattle. These sessions are free and open to all via livestream. Registration is required. Please follow to RSVP.

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once believed the focuses of her doctoral and postdoctoral work were completely different.��

She completed her doctorate in Botswana, studying how humans were changing large carnivore behavior. After earning her degree, she researched whale migration at the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But while Abrahms was with NOAA, a historic heat wave off the West Coast was associated with an unprecedented rise in whales getting tangled in fishing gear. The event reminded her of studying in Botswana, when an extreme drought led to predators killing more livestock.��

“It struck me as important that you have two really different systems, yet in both cases an extreme climate event led to a change in human-wildlife interactions,” said Abrahms, an associate professor of biology at the ��������.

Those experiences led Abrahms to study how climate change is affecting human-wildlife interactions and increasing conflict around the world — from polar bear attacks on people to elephant destruction of agricultural areas. Her areas of expertise made her the ideal choice for keynote speaker at the held in Botswana in January.

Abrahms offered a global perspective on how climate change is impacting human-wildlife conflict while also providing specific insight on southern Africa, since she has worked in Botswana since 2011. The roundtable was hosted by the National Assembly of Botswana in partnership with through its program.

“It was really gratifying,” Abrahms said. “As a scientist, we’re often putting papers out and not knowing what reach they will have. You never really know where they’re going to go, if they’re going to go anywhere. To be featured so prominently in this intergovernmental parliamentary workshop was a career highlight.”

The roundtable brought together parliamentarians from Botswana, other African nations, the European Union, and beyond, alongside government officials, civil society leaders, local community representatives, conservation experts and international partners. Attendees focused on identifying solutions to human-wildlife conflicts while ensuring that the interests of citizens, local communities, ecotourism operators and wildlife advocates are reflected in policy.

Abrahms’ speech addressed the global impacts of climate change on human-wildlife coexistence.

She discussed increasing news reports of human-animal conflict, like kangaroos mobbing areas in Australia during droughts, and increased alligator attacks due to hurricanes in South Carolina. Previous research from Abrahms and her team revealed that the warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts. Another of her studies found that the overlap between humans and animals will increase substantially across much of the planet in less than 50 years due to human population growth and climate change.��

“These issues are definitely getting more attention and when I gave this talk, it resonated,” Abrhams said. “Afterward, there was a panel featuring different parliament members and every single one of them had their own stories of climate increasing conflict in their countries, whether it was from a hurricane or a drought or a heat wave.”

Despite the wide variety of animal species and climate events — floods and hurricanes in Sri Lanka, droughts in Botswana and more — Abrahms was struck by how frequently climate change exacerbated these problems. She was heartened, though, by how many people from around the world came together to share experiences, success stories and challenges.

Some national-level policy recommendations that came out of the roundtable included predictable compensation and insurance mechanisms for when human-wildlife conflicts occur. Experts also suggested land-use planning that recognizes wildlife corridors as well as human needs. Among the other ideas: Investment in community resilience and climate-smart livelihoods, parliamentary oversight and a wildlife coexistence fund.��

Public outreach is also an important piece, Abrahms said.

“That would help people prepare and hopefully prevent some of these conflicts from occurring,” Abrahms said. “Governmental fiscal planning also could help by anticipating that there will be increased strain on a system and extra money could be put into a fund for use during extreme climate events.”

Abrahms left the roundtable impressed with how much the attendees genuinely cared about the environment, as well as their interest in learning from each other and about her work.

“It was a very grounding experience,” Abrahms said, “and it was nice to be part of a policy-oriented audience. There is a huge amount of money and resources and personnel and expertise aimed at alleviating these problems. In that respect, it was uplifting.”

For more information, contact Abrahms at abrahms@uw.edu.

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