Data Science

Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE

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 the UW eScience Institute, the Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence (Ai2) and the Bloedel Hearing Research Center.

Topics

Machine Learning

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

Faculty: Lillian Ratliff, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, Maryam Fazel, Mari Ostendorf, Eli Shlizerman, Jenq-Neng Hwang, Linda Shapiro, 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: Mari Ostendorf, Jenq-Neng Hwang

Speech and Natural Language Processing

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

Faculty: Mari Ostendorf, Jeffrey A. Bilmes

Computer Vision and Image Processing

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

Faculty: Jenq-Neng Hwang, Linda Shapiro, Jeffrey A. Bilmes, Radha Poovendran

Latest News

Elevating emerging engineers

The UW College of Engineering's Industry Capstone Program partners UW ECE students with sponsor organizations to devise innovative solutions to real-world problems.

UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for his pioneering contributions to computer science.

Two student speakers selected for UW ECE Graduation

UW ECE is proud to announce that Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) have been selected to speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony.

Jared K. Jordan of Capital One to speak at UW ECE Graduation

UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.

UW research team applies game theory to create a new framework for neural interface design

A research team led by UW ECE professors Amy Orsborn and Sam Burden has used game theory to create a new computational framework for neural interfaces that can adapt to the user — offering a new approach to improving human-machine interaction.

Professor Nathan Kutz named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list

UW ECE and Applied Mathematics Professor Nathan Kutz has been named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, a distinction that celebrates researchers whose work has shaped their fields.