Appointments and awardees Appointments and awardees Appointments and awardees

From professors stepping into new leadership appointments to award-winning faculty pursuing international research projects, the UW celebrates the service and accomplishments of our academic community and their contributions to excellence in their fields.

College of Arts & Sciences

The College of Arts & Sciences has announced two leadership appointments. Candice Rai, UW professor of English and faculty coordinator of the UW in the High School writing program, has been appointed Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. Anis Bawarshi, the Thomas L. & Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Professor of English, has been appointed director of the Center for 21st Century Liberal Learning program.

Fulbright Scholars

Two faculty from the Information School were named Fulbright Scholars. Professor Chirag Shah’s research focuses on human-centered information-seeking and responsible AI. Shah will use his Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at RMIT University in Australia to study how agentic AI can responsibly power entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems. Associate professor Tanushree Mitra’s work draws on human-computer interaction, machine learning, natural language processing and social science to understand how people and AI interact in large-scale online systems. She will use her Fulbright to collaborate with researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology.

Fang-Zhen Teng

Humboldt Research Award

Fang-Zhen Teng, 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. The award will allow Teng to spend extended periods over the next few years conducting research at Freie University Berlin.

Shwetak Patel

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Shwetak Patel, professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Patel, who received a MacArthur “genius” award in 2001, develops technologies that use smartphones, sensors and machine learning to expand access to health care and improve sustainability. Several technologies developed by Patel and his students have been commercialized through startups and later adopted by major companies like Google.