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

Twelve faculty members at the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř 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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Political scientist Jack Turner co-edits volume on African American political theory

, UW associate professor of political science, has teamed with of Brown University to edit “.” The book is being published this month by University of Chicago Press.

The volume of essays features scholars’ reflections on prominent Black intellectuals of the past four centuries including W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Ida B. Wells, Toni Morrison, Malcolm X, Audre Lorde, Cornel West and others. Turner and UW political science professor both contributed chapters, and Turner penned the introduction with Rogers.

Publisher’s notes say the book offers “an unprecedented philosophical history” of Black thinkers “who have addressed the central issues of political life: democracy, race, violence, liberation, solidarity, and mass political action.”

For more information, contact Turner at jturner3@uw.edu.

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Ruth Etzioni co-authors new textbook on data science and health research

, UW affiliate professor of biostatistics and health services, has co-authored a new textbook on data science. “” was published in January by Springer.

Etzioni, who is also on the faculty of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, wrote the book with of Hebrew University and , also with the Fred Hutchinson center.

Publisher’s notes say the book, aimed at researchers familiar with the basics of statistical analysis, “brings together key statistical ideas that are foundational for contemporary investigators in health services, health outcomes and health policy.”

Read on the Department of Biostatistics website.

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Oxford Press offers free chapter of Michael Blake book, noting among its best philosophy volumes of 2020

Oxford University Press has made a chapter of UW philosophy professor book “” freely available for several weeks as the press highlights 20 of its .

Publisher’s notes say the book offers a new approach to such questions as: How should we understand the political morality of migration? Are travel bans, walls, or carrier sanctions every morally possible in a just society?

“Blake challenges the current global realities of migration which ensure open borders for a select few and closed borders for the majority, most often the most marginalized in society.”

He views the idea of mercy as key to a moral analysis of migration, “which leads to the conclusion that we ought to show mercy and justice in constructing migration policy as well as in public debate.” Read Blake’s chapter, “.”

For more information, contact Blake at miblake@uw.edu.

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