When imagining the future of technology, sometimes all we need to do is look out the window — or into a microscope.
Our researchers take inspiration from nature to redefine what a computer can be, from data storage using synthetic DNA, to sensors modeled on insects and leaves. We also advance technologies to help solve biology’s biggest mysteries, such as computational approaches for understanding the mechanisms of disease and brain-computer interfaces that can restore or augment physical function and mobility.
Research Groups & Labs
Systems Neuroscience & AI Lab (SNAIL)
SNAIL develops computational models and algorithms for understanding how single-trial neural population activity drives our abilities to generate movements, make decisions, and learn from experience.
Mobile Intelligence Lab
The interdisciplinary Mobile Intelligence Lab builds intelligent systems and tools for tackling hard technical and societal problems, including battery-free computing, medical diagnostics, augmented human perception and more.
Faculty Members
Centers & Initiatives
The Institute for Medical Data Science (IMDS) is a joint effort among the Schools of Medicine and Public Health and the College of Engineering, including the Allen School to lead the development and implementation of cutting-edge AI and data science methods in medical data science. By harnessing the power of AI across diverse health determinants, IMDS aims to improve patient health, provider satisfaction, and healthcare operations, particularly in the Pacific Northwest region.
Computing for the Environment (CS4Env) at the University of Washington supports novel collaborations across the broad fields of environmental sciences and computer science & engineering. The initiative engages environmental scientists and engineers, computer scientists and engineers, and data scientists in using advanced technologies, methodologies and computing resources to accelerate research that addresses pressing societal challenges related to climate change, pollution, biodiversity and more.
Highlights
Allen School News
From a robotic arm that learns to pick up new objects in real time, to a model that converts 2D videos into 3D virtual reality, to a curious chatbot that adapts to users, to machine learning methods for decoding the brain, the 2025 Research Showcase and Open House had something for everyone.
UW News
In an article in Nature Reviews Bioengineering, members of the AIMS Lab led by Allen School professor Su-In Lee discuss how explainable AI techniques are essential for ensuring accuracy and trust in AI models used in clinical settings.
Allen School News
In a recent paper, a team of researchers led by professor Matt Golub designed a new machine learning technique to understand how different parts of the brain talk to each other even when some parts can’t be directly observed.