In 1999....


"New UW class aims to help students become fluent in basic computer usage" (December 1999)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer profiles UW CSE Professor Larry Snyder's course "Fluency with Information Technology." Snyder recently chaired the National Research Council committee that defined "FITness." The course web includes digital video lecture materials and the slides from a Saturday Seminar presentation describing the FITness concept.

KCPQ features UW CSE Chair Ed Lazowska on "Northwest Week" (December 1999)

A half hour discussion of information technology research and education issues, with UW CSE Chair Ed Lazowska and "Northwest Week" host C.R. Douglas.


UW, Microsoft, NCSA, and DARPA/NTON set new Internet speed records (November 1999)

At SC99, UW, Microsoft, NCSA, DARPA/NTON, and other partners demonstrated a sustained 2.4gbps, from the Microsoft and UW campuses, through the UW-led Pacific Northwest GigaPoP, down to Portland over the DARPA NTON testbed, and then to the Oregon Convention Center floor. UW Computing & Communications worked with NTON and its partners to create the network infrastructure. Microsoft and NCSA showed 1.2gbps between two desktop PCs running Windows 2000. UW and Sony showed 5 concurrent 200+mpbs HDTV-over-IP streams. All streams ran concurrently, achieving an aggregate 2.4gbps sustained, through "semi-production" infrastructure. This demonstration heralds true "gigabit-to-the-desktop" networking.

Stanford, UW students sweep ACM Pacific Northwest Regional Programming Contest (November 1999)

The two teams from Stanford and the two teams from UW captured the top four positions in the 61-team 1999 ACM Pacific Northwest Regional Programming Contest. UW's "Purple" team and Stanford's cleverly-named "Stanford 1" team will represent the region in the World Finals. Members of the UW Purple team were Brett Allen, Justin Huff, and Michael Vargas. Members of the UW Gold team were Kevin Zatloukal, Ryan Sturgell, and Vassili Sukharev.

"Build the Future" (October 1999)

An overview of the UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering, featuring student projects and interviews with regional technology and education leaders. UW CSE is embarking on an ambitious fund-raising effort to construct a new facility, as the University of Washington's top capital priority.


(October 1999)

A Seattle Post-Intelligencer article on digital libraries features UW CSE professors Brian Curless, Oren Etzioni, and Dan Weld.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation endows two chairs in CSE (October 1999)

The University of Washington will receive $3 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish two endowed chairs in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. "The Bill and Melinda Gates Chairs in Computer Science will dramatically enhance our ability to recruit and retain distinguished faculty," says Professor Ed Lazowska, head of the department. "We're grateful to Bill and Melinda Gates, and to the Foundation, for this important investment in our future."

UW CSE sophomore Jennifer Lee Zeman featured in University Week (October 1999)

Jennifer is conducting undergraduate research under the NASA Space Grant Program, with UW CSE faculty member Ira Kalet.

"Media Metrix to Acquire AdRelevance" (October 1999)

AdRelevance, co-founded by UW CSE Professor Dan Weld, specializes in the automated retrieval and delivery of online advertising data.

Ford donates $1.8M for embedded systems, data mining (October 1999)

Ford Motor Company has donated $3.85M to the University of Washington. $1.5M of this will support educational programs in embedded systems, joint between CSE and EE. $0.3M will support educational programs in data mining, joint between CSE, Atmospheric Sciences, and Statistics.

"Tech fluency for the nontechy" (September 1999)

University Week article regarding UW CSE Professor Larry Snyder's "Information Technology Fluency" course, an outgrowth of Snyder's leadership of a National

"XML marks the spot at Nimble.com" (September 1999)

The Eastside Journal reports on the launching of Nimble.com, a data integration startup founded by UW CSE faculty members Alon Levy and Dan Weld.

TechNet/CRA Press Conference on Federal Support for Computing Research (September 1999)

"We're in this together: The University of Washington's partnership with public schools" (August 1999)
Seattle Times op-ed piece by UW President Richard L. McCormick.

"Wireless in Seattle" (August 1999)

Wired article on MobiCom 99 discusses UW CSE's Portolano "invisible computing" project.

"Web advertisers can track the competition" (August 1999)

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer profiles AdRelevance, founded by UW CSE Professor Dan Weld. "A new Internet search tool, developed by the same folks who brought the world the Netbot comparison shopping service and the MetaCrawler Internet search engine, will be unveiled today by Seattle start-up AdRelevance ... Developed by University of Washington computer science professor Dan Weld and a team of former Netbot programmers, the ad-tracking technology mines the Internet 24 hours a day ..."

"A World of Sensors" (August 1999)

ABCNews.com features the UW/Microsoft Summer Research Institute on "Invisible Computing." This first of two 1999 UW/Microsoft Summer Research Institutes contemplates a world in which your clock, your refrigerator, and your telephone can cooperate to order pizza behind your back.

UW/Microsoft Summer Research Institute on "Invisible Computing" also featured in Seattle PI (July 1999)

CSE wins inaugural Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence (June 1999)

The Brotman Award for Instructional Excellence is a department-level distinguished teaching award, created this year through the vision and generosity of Jeff and Susan Brotman. Computer Science & Engineering is one of three recipients of the inaugural Brotman Award, as reported in this University Week article. See also the "Reflective Statement" prepared after we became a finalist for the award.

"Digital David" (May 1999)

Don Porter from KING-5 News interviews UW CSE faculty member Brian Curless .


"UW professor helping create digital replicas of Michelangelo's sculptures" (April 1999)

UW press release concerning Professor Brian Curless's three month trip to Florence, Italy, to participate in the Digital Michelangelo project.

Alon Levy receives 1999 Sloan Research Fellowship (April 1999)

UW CSE Assistant Professor Alon Levy is one of ten North American computer scientists selected to receive prestigious 1999 Sloan Research Fellowships.

"State of the art technology" (May 1999)

UW Daily article concerning Professor Brian Curless's participation in the Digital Michelangelo project in Florence, Italy.

UW CSE/Business "Software Entrepreneurship" course profiled in Seattle Times (May 1999)

This course has been taught for the past two years by Brian Bershad from CSE and Emer Dooley from Business Administration, to teams of graduate students from the two departments.

"Go2Net Hires Dr. Oren Etzioni as Chief Technology Officer" (May 1999)

Oren Etzioni has taken a one-year leave of absence from UW CSE to serve as CTO of Go2Net. Go2Net, a network of websites, acquired Etzioni's MetaCrawler from Netbot in 1997, and Etzioni has served on its Board of Directors since 1998. As CTO, Etzioni will help drive Go2Net's move into broadband content and its emerging relationship with Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, Inc.

"Digital David" (April 1999)

John Yeager from Q13 News interviews UW CSE faculty member Brian Curless

"UW professor helping create digital replicas of Michelangelo's sculptures" (April 1999)

UW press release concerning Professor Brian Curless's three month trip to Florence, Italy, to participate in the Digital Michelangelo project.

"Computer Scientist wins coveted Sloan Fellowship" (April 1999)

University Week article concerning Assistant Professor Alon Levy's Sloan Research Fellowship, the third received by UW CSE faculty.

"UW makes bid for top computer students" (April 1999)

Seattle Post Intelligencer article describing UW CSE's new "Early Decision" program, under which a small number of high school seniors will be admitted directly to the Computer Science and Computer Engineering undergraduate major programs, prior to completing their university-level prerequisites.

US News again ranks UW CSE among the nation's top ten for Computer Science (including subfields) and Computer Engineering (March 1999)

Results of the periodic graduate program beauty contest conducted by US News and World Report.

"Seattle's GigaPoP Brings the Next Generation of the Internet to the Northwest" (Spring 1999)

The inaugural issue of Northwest Science & Technology features the Pacific NW GigaPoP, including UW CSE's involvement.

"UW is helping pioneer the Internet of the future" (March 1999

Seattle Post Intelligencer article describing UW's Internet2 GigaPoP efforts, an undertaking of UW Computing & Communications in partnership with UW CSE.

"Company recruiters eagerly court high-tech graduates" (March 1999)

The Seattle Times features the hot market for UW CSE graduates in a front page article.

"Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain: Building Powerful New Computers that Think Like Us" (March 1999)

The March 1999 cover story of Popular Science features the August 1998 UW/Microsoft Summer Research Institute on "Intelligent Systems: Biological and Computational Perspectives". For further information on this Summer Institute, see here.

CNN Coverage of Internet2 Abilene network rollout features UW C&C and CSE (February 1999)

At the February 24th Internet2 Abilene network rollout at Washington DC's Union Station, UW Computing & Communications ran a continuous demonstration of multiple transcontinental MPEG2 video streams. CNN's coverage of the event led off with UW's contribution -- a clip from CSE's The Art of Survival student animation, followed by an interview with Letcher Ross from C&C. (See the video footage attached to the CNN article.)

NSF Director Rita Colwell discusses UW CSE in New York Times interview (February 1999)

The National Science Foundation is targeted as the lead agency in the $366 million "IT2 Initiative," a response to the report of the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee. NSF Director Rita Colwell discu

Chris Diorio wins PECASE Award (February 1999)

At a White House ceremony on February 10, UW CSE Assistant Professor Chris Diorio was honored as one of 20 NSF-sponsored recipients of the 1998 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. NSF's PECASE nominees were selected from the more than 300 recipients of last year's already-highly-competitive CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) Awards. (NSF press release.)

"But not everyone is stupid" (February 1999)

The Stranger picks up on Diorio's PECASE Award!

"Alistair Holden: UW professor pioneered artificial intelligence" (February 1999)

The Seattle Times eulogizes UW CSE Emeritus Professor Alistair D.C. Holden, who passed away on February 3 at age 70.

"Creating a digital archive of Michelangelo's sculptures" (January 1999)

The Seattle Times profiles CSE faculty member Brian Curless's participation in the Digital Michelangelo project. Supported by Paul Allen and Interval Research, and headed by Brian's Stanford Ph.D. advisor Marc Levoy, the Digital Michelangelo project will construct 3D CAD models of Michelangelo's most famous sculptures, based upon high-resolution laser scanning.

"Best of the Sound, '98" (January 1999)

The Seattle Times recognizes UW CSE chair Ed Lazowska: "Every New Year's Day, the Seattle Times editorial-page staff recognizes remarkable people - as individuals or members of a group - who added measurably to the quality of life in the Puget Sound region. Some were gentle and some tough enough for a difficult task, but all have something in common - good work that shows an enthusiastic investment in the future."