While the weekend saw Seattle preparing for snowpocalypse, it’s hard to ignore that when it comes to making it through winter weather, we usually have it easier than others. Even in places like the Arctic where the ocean freezes over and winds can whip with the strength of a hurricane, there are still those who call this extreme part of the world home.

More often than not, we all need a helping hand in our lives. Someday in the future, that hand might be a robot's. While the actual robots in use today are rarely found outside of warehouses and manufacturing centers, Dieter Fox, UW professor of computer science and engineering and senior director of robotics research at NVIDIA, envisions that the next generation of robots will have a place alongside human beings.

In March 2018, the UW Speech and Hearing Sciences (SPHS) department announced the closure of its Doctor of Audiology program over the next three years. The program had been ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2016. Its scheduled closure came as a shock not only to students, but to the surrounding community of professionals and researchers involved in hearing science and health care.

The process of getting involved in research for the first time can be overwhelming and mysterious, but of the eight students who shared their research experiences, all of them started out not knowing how to do any of the work they’re a part of now. Each of them said they initially felt nervous about finding an opportunity to do research on campus.

1.3 million Washingtonians joined an earthquake drill happening around the world Thursday morning. Thousands of UW students, faculty, and staff prepared themselves for the next big quake.

When Phillip Thurtle was given a full ride to a graduate program at Stanford, he shared the news with his mother in excitement. Her response was, “What do you want to do that for?” This opposition may have been prompted by the abrupt change Thurtle was making in his career. 

Once a week, associate professor Rick Bonus meets with students for a few hours through Pacific Islander Partnerships in Education (P.I.P.E.) to eat, study, and talk. As Bonus put it, “it’s not this triumphant scene,” but having a place on campus where people can get to know each other can help ease the social isolation that Pacific Islander students experience in college. Though now a professor in the American ethnic studies department, when Bonus was in graduate school, he was the sole student of color in his department and connecting with other Filipino students only happened by chance.

The best part of spring quarter, besides the sunshine and the plants coming to life around campus, might just be that now’s finally time to make “it” happen. Maybe it’s starting a new job or joining an intramural that actually meets outside. It could even be renewing the fight in classes. Whatever “it” might be, the beauty and power of spring quarter still leaves the nagging question that lingered from winter, “what if this doesn’t work out?” Sometimes the biggest challenge we face isn’t actual failure but our fear of failure.

“I was just sobbing in my room like ‘why am I doing this to myself?,’” Bryant said. “Why didn’t I just go to an easier college?”

If you haven’t had the chance to read the November Seattle Times article on Pacific County and the impact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has had there, read it now. With the vibrant photos of Pacific Ocean waters and the county’s shellfish industry, the article is a moving picture of what it means for a small Washington community to lose many of its immigrant members. That is why it is so disheartening to think that anyone, whether ICE or another Washingtonian, read that article and took it as an opportunity to identify people for deportation. How is this the way we treat our neighbors?

As the month of November rolls into December, so begins the prime time for the gift giver within you to dream. This year, you’ll find the perfect gifts for all the people you love. While everyone hopes to give those they cherish something special, what better way is there to show you care than taking the time to make memorable gifts yourself? Between studying and finals in the next couple weeks, it might be easy to forget that the clock is ticking. To help ensure that you have a special gift for those who matter to you, here are a few simple tutorials.

On Tuesday evening, the Ceramic and Metal Arts Building gallery was transformed by soft lighting, leafy plants, and a humble garden bed lined with plywood. Throughout the room, 3-Dimensional Forum (3D4M) student Nick Phillips displayed a collection of his glasswork; some pieces resembled a teapot or a goblet, another held a swirling vortex of water that was continually filled and emptied.

At the University Temple United Methodist Church on Friday night, just about every hand shot up in response to the question “Who here has a cat?” 

The fall season is normally the time for Washington’s tennis teams to get back into practice and build up their skills for the next year. For the women’s team’s sole freshman, Vanessa Wong, practice has already paid off as she beat out many experienced players at the Jack Kramer Club Invitational over the weekend to win the tournament’s title.

The Washington men and women’s tennis teams are will play in the Jack Kramer Club Invitational this weekend Nov. 3-5 in California. For both teams the competition will be the last of the 2016-17 season, and players will not return to the courts until the new season begins in January with regular competition.  

On Sunday, Washington women’s tennis team wrapped up three days of competition at the Kansas Invitational, in what was a weekend full of tough matchups for the players. Overall the team came out 6-12 in singles and 5-4 in doubles.

In its second tournament of the fall season, the Washington women’s tennis team will be heading to Lawrence, Kansas, for the Kansas Invitational to be held from Oct. 27-29. Several players are still out as they recover from injuries, but among the players attending will be those who competed in the Husky Invite competition earlier this month.

Over the weekend the Washington men’s tennis team competed in the ITA Regional Championships in Stockton, California where over a hundred players met in one main draw for the tournament’s title. Several UW players took part across the singles and doubles matches, including sophomore Amit Batta and freshmen Jack Davis who played into the round of 32 in their respective singles matches.

The Washington men’s tennis team is heading to the ITA Regional Championships in California over the weekend where several players will compete in a single draw for a spot at the top. The majority of the players attending already had their first competition of the fall earlier this month at the USCB Classic including junior Enzo Sommer who won the doubles title for the tournament with junior Kawika Lam.