Data Science

Overview

Data Sciences are fundamentally transforming nearly every area of engineering, science, and society. The University of Washington’s Electrical & Computer Engineering faculty are making fundamental contributions to many different areas of data sciences, including machine learning, AI, optimization, information theory, computer vision, and speech and natural language processing. Many of our data sciences faculty hold secondary appointments in applied mathematics, computer science and engineering, bioengineering, and other departments, and are active participants in cross-disciplinary institutes such as UW’s eScience Institute, the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and the Bloedel Hearing Research Center.

Topics

Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence (AI), mathematical optimization and information theory.

Faculty: Lillian Ratliff, Katrin Kirchhoff, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, Les Atlas, Maryam Fazel, Sreeram Kannan, Mari Ostendorf, Ming-Ting Sun, Eli Shlizerman, Jenq-Neng Hwang, Linda Shapiro, Hannaneh Hajishirzi, Shwetak Patel, Radha Poovendran

Statistical Signal Processing

Theory, algorithms, signal processing systems and signal processing applications (i.e. biomedical, geophysical signals and synthetic signals).

Faculty: Ming-Ting Sun, Les Atlas, Mari Ostendorf, Brian A. Nelson, Jenq-Neng Hwang

Speech and Natural Language Processing

Speech recognition, natural language understanding, computational linguistics and web-based language techniques.

Faculty: Mari Ostendorf, Katrin Kirchhoff, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, Hannaneh Hajishirzi, Les Atlas

Computer Vision and Image Processing

Video analysis, surveillance, object recognition, activity recognition, medical image analysis and video compression

Faculty: Ming-Ting Sun, Jenq-Neng Hwang, Linda Shapiro, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, Eve Riskin, Radha Poovendran

Quantum Information

Quantum information systems, quantum algorithms for complex systems, quantum hardware

Faculty: Rahul Trivedi

Latest News

UW ECE welcomes six new faculty members

Beginning this fall and extending through autumn quarter 2025, UW ECE is welcoming six new faculty members who will bring a wide breadth of knowledge and technical expertise to the Department.

Arpita Ghosh Dacy — tech leader, mentor, and Mrs. Universe America

After almost a decade developing products built on artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning, UW ECE alumna Arpita Ghosh Dacy (BSEE '10) was introduced to beauty pageants, which led her down an unexpected road that culminated in being crowned Mrs. Universe America 2023–24.

UW ECE Certificate Program in GPU-Accelerated Computing & Visualization to be offered this fall

This Certificate Program is designed for working professionals and graduate students. The three-quarter, online course of study takes students on a deep dive into the graphics processing unit, or GPU, a critical piece of modern computer architecture.

Congratulations to the 2024 UW ECE Awards recipients!

The UW ECE Awards recognize exceptional teaching, research, and entrepreneurship efforts in the Department as well as outstanding mentorship, student impact, and collaborative work.

‘The best chance for the biggest impact’: Shwetak Patel inducted into SIGCHI Academy for advancing health, sustainability and interaction research

UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently inducted into the SIGCHI Academy for his contributions in health, sustainability and interaction research. Patel explores how technology can be incorporated with medicine that utilizes sustainable resources.

UPWARDS for the Future

The University of Washington is at the forefront of an international effort to innovate the semiconductor industry while building a skilled U.S.-based workforce to design and manufacture chip technology. UW ECE and Physics Professor Mo Li is leading the UW's contribution to this effort.