Digital Accessibility course project showcase
Digital Accessibility (CSE443)invites you to its final project showcase. The students have created a great set of projects: Accessibility-Preserving Presentation-to-HTML: PDF slide converter to annotated and structured doc , SlideAssist AI: Chrome extension designed to improve lecture slide accessibility for visually impaired students , ChronicA11y: Multi-agent medical research and community engagement tool , Competency Based Grading: Tool to simplify competency-based grading systems for students and faculty , Low Stim Browser Extension: Extension to reduce motion, visual clutter, and dynamic distractions , MapIt: Crowdsourced data on in-building accessibility resources around campus , SpeakIt: Tool to interpret, repair, and restructure AI transcripts of spoken lectures , TableTop Game Accessibility: Accessible learning for the game Pandemic , VsCode Audits: Lightweight developer tool for image accessibility for web development.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering (CSE). Campus room: Ground floor atrium. Accessibility Contact: jmankoff@cs.washington.edu. Event Types: Academics. Diversity Equity Inclusion. Exhibits. Student Activities. Target Audience: Students, faculty, and staff interested in student work in accessibility.
Monday, March 16, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit courses.cs.washington.edu. HCDE Course Showcase: Directed Research Group - Co-Creating Solutions for FIFA World Cup Transportation Challenges
Join the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering for our end-of-quarter course showcases and view projects by current students. Light refreshments will be provided.
Find additional Winter 2026 Course Showcases on the HCDE calendar. Course Showcase: Co-Creation for Enhanced Collaborative Operations of Diverse Stakeholders Addressing Large, Complex Problems | an HCDE Directed Research Group, Instructor: Mark Haselkorn
Join HCDE for final presentations from this Directed Research Group, where two student teams will share proposals developed for Sound Transit to address transportation challenges during the FIFA World Cup. See how students collaborate with external partners and stakeholders to co-create solutions for large-scale, real-world infrastructure needs.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Sieg Building (SIG). Campus room: SIG 420. Accessibility Contact: hcdehelp@uw.edu. Event Types: Exhibits. Special Events. Target Audience: HCDE community, prospective students, and friends of the department.
Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
MS in Technology Innovation Info Session
Attend a virtual information session to learn more about the full-time Master of Science in Technology Innovation. Join us to learn about the program, projects, and curriculum, as well as how to apply, application requirements, and best practices.
Event interval: Single day event. Online Meeting Link: https://engrwashington.event451.sites.451.io/event/1064635. Accessibility Contact: msti@uw.edu. Event Types: Information Sessions. Target Audience: Prospective Graduate Students.
Thursday, March 19, 2026, 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM.
For more info visit www.gix.uw.edu. MSE Seminar: Yun Hang Hu
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, March 30, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
Information Session: Bachelor of Science in HCDE
Are you a prospective student interested in learning about the undergraduate program in Human Centered Design & Engineering? Join our undergraduate peer advisors for an overview of the program, curriculum, and application process.
Bring your questions and join us!
Note: You will need to be logged into a Zoom account and will need to register using the Zoom URL above to join this event.
Event interval: Single day event. Online Meeting Link: https://washington.zoom.us/meeting/register/upZjzxYbR9aW3sUBmaXIQA. Campus room: Virtual. Accessibility Contact: Meghan Oxley, what@uw.edu. Event Types: Academics. Information Sessions. Student Activities. Target Audience: Prospective students interested in learning more about applying to the HCDE BS program.
Monday, March 30, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
MSE Seminar: Fang Liu
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, April 6, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
ChemE Graduate Seminar Series: Ying Diao
Unexpected “Twist” in Conjugated Polymers Opens a “Wonderland” of Chiral Electronics
Ying Diao
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
4-5 p.m.
PAA A102
Abstract
Chiral assemblies are ubiquitous and intimately related to the evolution of life on Earth. Chiral assemblies of pi-conjugated molecules are particularly fascinating, which Nature uses to efficiently transfer electrons and transduce energies leveraging their electronic conductivity, redox activity as well as the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect. To date, the intriguing properties of chiral assemblies remain largely unexplored and unknown in synthetic electronic systems such as p-conjugated polymers. This is largely due to the synthetic bottleneck to develop chiral semiconducting molecules that exhibit both high performance in terms of charge, exciton or spin transport and exceptional chiral optical properties – the ability to twist light. Further, it is widely believed that the spin-orbit coupling is weak in organic…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Physics-Astronomy Auditorium (PAA). Campus room: PAA A102. Accessibility Contact: dso@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
“Intersection of Engineering and Art” Community Lecture
Human expression sits at the center of human endeavor and world-class engineering is often required to support it. Meet professional sculptor and Burges Visiting Professor Richard Rhodes as he shares highlights from his professional practice. While working at the limits of stone and its expression, Rhodes illuminates one of the primary building materials of our world.
Richard Rhodes is a professional sculptor, Master stonemason, and scholar of stonework worldwide. His book, Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery (Princeton Architectural Press, June 2025) looks at the last 5000 years of stone architecture and works to decode the design principles. As the first non-Italian admitted into Siena’s medieval masonic guild in 726 years (operative branch of the Freemason’s, heirs to the cathedral builders of Europe), he is known throughout the sculpture and stone community as the “last apprentice” since the guild collapsed in the mid-1990’s. During Rhodes’ UW appointment, he hopes to engage students and faculty with…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Alder Hall (ALD). Campus room: Alder Auditorium. Accessibility Contact: Jon Emard, jmemard@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, April 9, 2026, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM.
MSE Seminar: Jun Xiao
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, April 13, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
ChemE Graduate Seminar Series: John Frostad
Advances in the characterization of soft matter
John Frostad
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering and Food Science
University of British Colmbia
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
4-5 p.m.
PAA A102
Abstract
Soft matter is a broad class of materials that includes things like polymers, gels, foams, emulsions, and suspensions. These materials are ubiquitous and understanding them is often key to the optimization of many products and processes. As such, the ability to characterize them is critical to making new breakthroughs. My lab specializes in pioneering new experimental techniques for advancing this understanding, with a recent focus on foams and soft microparticles. In this talk I will introduce two of the instruments that we have developed: a Cantilevered-Capillary Force Apparatus and an Interfacial Dilational Rheometer. The Cantilevered-Capillary Force Apparatus is capable of measuring and/or applying forces from 1 nN to 1 mN on particles on the order of 100 microns in diameter and is highly versatile for…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Physics-Astronomy Auditorium (PAA). Campus room: PAA A102. Accessibility Contact: dso@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Distinguished Lecture Series: Mike Dodds - What Happens to Software When Proof is Cheap?
Abstract
In July 2025, three AI systems independently achieved gold-medal standard at the International Math Olympiad. One of them, Harmonic's Aristotle, did it by constructing formal proofs in the Lean proof assistant. Six months later, several AIs working together used Lean to solve an open problem posed by Paul Erdős. We may soon live in a strange world where AI is better at math than any human expert.
Lean and tools like it bridge two worlds: mathematicians use them to formalise theorems, but engineers use them to prove that code behaves correctly. This second use, formal verification, has a long history and a few notable successes in cryptography, operating systems, and parser security. But these successes have always been limited by the sheer difficulty of the mathematical reasoning they require.
Now, AI may be changing this picture. If mathematical reasoning is cheap, we could eliminate entire classes of bugs from systems at scale, guarantee that safety-critical code behaves as intended, or verify au…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus room: Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon Auditorium. Accessibility Contact: dso@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, April 16, 2026, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM.
Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon Auditorium.
For more info visit www.cs.washington.edu. MSE Seminar: Timothy Hebrink
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, April 20, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
ChemE Graduate Seminar Series: Stephanie Wettstein
Solvent effects and data-driven strategies for 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid production from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Stephanie Wettstein
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Montana State University
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
4-5 p.m.
PAA A102
Abstract
The transition to renewable carbon sources requires new catalytic and separation strategies for
producing polymer precursors from biomass. Polyethylene furanoate (PEF) is a biobased plastic that can be produced from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). One promising pathway is the oxidation of 5 hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a key monomer for the bio-based plastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF). However, FDCA production is often limited by low solubility in aqueous systems and reduced yields over traditional oxidation catalysts.
Recent work has shown that organic solvents can significantly improve FDCA solubility and reaction performance, yet solvent selection has largely relied on empirical “guess-and-check”…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Physics-Astronomy Auditorium (PAA). Campus room: PAA A102. Accessibility Contact: dso@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Digital Accessibility Liaisons' Meeting
Join us as we welcome new and existing Digital Accessibility Liaisons members to our third Community of Practice meeting of the 2025-2026 academic year! We are still fine-tuning our agenda, but stay tuned for more details closer to our meeting date.
Agenda TBD
To become a Digital Accessibility Liaison, please visit the Digital Accessibility Liaisons webpage.
The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or e-mail at dso@uw.edu.
Event interval: Single day event. Online Meeting Link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/96052250328. Accessibility Contact: ats-events@uw.edu. Event Types: Meetings. Target Audience: Digital Accessibility Liaisons.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
Human Centered Design & Engineering Research Showcase
The HCDE Research Showcase highlights ongoing work by faculty, research scientists, postdocs, PhD students, and undergraduates. The event is designed to build community around HCDE research and create space for conversation across our community of students, alumni, friends, and the broader UW community.
Attendees will explore posters and interactive project demos and have the opportunity to speak directly with researchers across HCDE’s research clusters and topic areas.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: University of Washington Club (Faculty Center) (FAC). Accessibility Contact: welliver@uw.edu. Event Types: Exhibits. Special Events.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM.
For more info visit hcde.uw.edu. MSE Seminar: Chenhao Jin
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, May 4, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
Distinguished Lecture Series: Kevin Weil - Accelerating Science with AI
Abstract is forthcoming. BIO:
Kevin Weil is VP of OpenAI for Science, focused on building the next great scientific instrument: an AI-powered platform that accelerates scientific discovery. Previously, Kevin served as the Chief Product Officer at OpenAI, where he led the teams turning frontier models into products like ChatGPT, Codex, and the OpenAI API.
Before joining OpenAI, Kevin was the President, Product and Business at Planet Labs. He was previously the co-founder of the Libra cryptocurrency and VP of Product for Novi at Facebook, VP of Product at Instagram and SVP of Product at Twitter. Earlier in his career, Kevin held software engineering and data science roles at Cooliris, Tropos Networks, Microsoft Research and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
Kevin graduated summa cum laude in physics and mathematics from Harvard University and has an M.S. in physics from Stanford University. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and serves on the boards of Cisco and The Nature Co…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus room: Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon Auditorium. Accessibility Contact: dso@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Thursday, May 7, 2026, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM.
Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon Auditorium.
For more info visit www.cs.washington.edu. MSE Seminar: TBD
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, May 11, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
MSE Seminar: Robert Hickey
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, May 18, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
UW GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) 2026
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion. This will be a hybrid event. Registration is required as the in-person space available is limited.
The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or e-mail at dso@uw.edu.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: ats-events@uw.edu. Event Types: Meetings. Target Audience: UW.
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Memorial Day
Holidays
No classes. Most University offices and buildings are closed. Check with specific offices to confirm.
Event interval: Single day event. Year: 2026. Quarter: Spring. Event Types: Academics.
Monday, May 25, 2026.
For more info visit www.washington.edu. CREATE Community Day
CREATE Community Day is an annual half-day forum for discussing the concerns about and approaches to sustainable accessibility research and a showcase of research led by CREATE and HuskyADAPT. Student researchers highlight their work and showcase a variety of individual and team projects.
We are currently making plans for Community Day 2026. Details available in spring.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering (CSE2). Campus room: Zillow Commons. Accessibility Contact: oliviapb@uw.edu. Event Types: Academics. Diversity Equity Inclusion. Exhibits. Information Sessions. Meetings. Special Events. Target Audience: Anyone interested in research on accessible technology & making the world accessible through tech.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit create.uw.edu. MSE Seminar: Joe Falson
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, June 1, 2026, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
HCDE Capstone Showcase
Join the University of Washington's Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering for our 2026 Capstone Showcase.
Student teams solve real-world problems through a human-centered lens. Projects are proposed by industry sponsors or driven by an interest from the students on the team. Details about projects will be added as the showcase nears.
Questions? Contact Melissa Ewing at mewing3@uw.edu.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Student Union Building (HUB). Campus room: HUB Ballroom. Accessibility Contact: mewing3@uw.edu. Event Types: Exhibits. Special Events.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
For more info visit www.hcde.washington.edu.