Category Employee News
Highlights start early in four-day Wisconsin Science Festival
You name it, and the fourth annual Wisconsin Science Festival has it all — dance, star-gazing, fossils, art, museum and stage shows — spread over four days and venues in 25 Wisconsin cities. While the curious of all ages are immersed in hands-on exploration, and visitors marvel at the research underway and specimens on display around campus and the state, several of the festival’s marquee events may be of interest to faculty and staff on campus. The festival runs from Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 16-19. Read More
Balancing birds and biofuels: Grasslands support more species than cornfields
In Wisconsin, bioenergy is for the birds. Really. In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists examined whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat. The research team found that where there are grasslands, there are birds. Grass-and-wildflower-dominated fields supported more than three times as many bird species as cornfields, including 10 imperiled species found only in the grasslands. Read More
Class of ’64 returns for half-century reunion
According to Joan Lappin, there were eight things women were allowed to be when she graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1964: school teacher, bank teller, secretary, stewardess, librarian, department store buyer, nurse and social worker. Read More
Company developing radio frequency technology to localize breast tumors
Breast cancer may inspire more public discussion, advocacy and charitable giving than almost any other disease besides HIV and AIDS. But people rarely talk about the specific experiences to which cancer patients are subjected. Read More
Subject experts to lead HR Design sessions
The fall 2014 HR Design informational sessions are slated for Oct. 30 and Nov. 3 and 4. Since the inception of HR Design, regular information sessions have been held to keep the UW–Madison campus community fully informed about innovations and progress on the HR Design project. Read More
New nonprofit supports women in science
Tracey Holloway was a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University in 2002, Ph.D. from Princeton University freshly in hand, when she and five colleagues teamed up to create an informal support network for other women in their field. Read More
Influenza researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka wins Breakthrough Award
The University of Wisconsin–Madison's Yoshihiro Kawaoka has been recognized as a 2014 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award recipient for his efforts to understand and prevent pandemic influenza. Read More
‘Bigger is better,’ Blank says in State of the University speech
After a year on campus, Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she has come to appreciate that the scope and breadth of the University of Wisconsin–Madison is what makes it a world-class university. Read More
New website promotes shared governance
Shared governance is one of the most important aspects of the University of Wisconsin System, with its principles specifically noted in state statute. Wisconsin Chapter 36 established the right to have this important voice and role on campus. Read More
With NIH New Innovator Award, engineer to study how ovarian cancer spreads
With approximately 22,000 diagnoses annually in the United States, ovarian cancer isn't among the most commonly occurring cancers. Yet, the mortality rate for women who have ovarian cancer hovers above 60 percent. Read More
Lubar gift innovates to diversify Law School research
A $3 million gift will allow the University of Wisconsin Law School to support top legal scholars in a new and creative way, Dean Margaret Raymond announced today. Read More
CIMSS Tropical Cyclones Group to receive AMS Special Award
The Tropical Cyclones Group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) has been selected for an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Special Award. Read More
Sigma-Aldrich employees partner with SCIENCountErs program
To provide more opportunities for young people to engage in science, the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) and Institute for Chemical Education (ICE) have partnered on a wide range of science outreach programs. The effort was recently bolstered by a new three-year partnership with Sigma-Aldrich, a global life sciences and technology company based out of St. Louis, Missouri, with facilities in Madison and Milwaukee. Read More
Employee Assistance Office to host open house
UW–Madison’s new Employee Assistance Director, Sherry Boeger, hopes that many in the campus community will take time out of their busy day to enjoy some light refreshments and meet her staff at an open house at the Lowell Center on November 7 from 3-5 p.m. Read More
New reports offer a statistical portrait of Wisconsin’s Latino population
Wisconsin's Latino population is 74 percent larger and significantly more homegrown today than it was at the beginning of the century, according to a report by University of Wisconsin–Madison demographers. Read More
Physicist turns smartphones into pocket cosmic ray detectors
Soon, the growing capability of your smart phone could be harnessed to detect cosmic rays in much the same way as high-end, multimillion-dollar observatories. With a simple app addition, Android phones, and likely other smartphone brands in the not-too-distant future, can be turned into detectors to capture the light particles created when cosmic rays crash into Earth’s atmosphere. Read More
Unique MOOC with in-person sessions offered for future and current college STEM faculty
A new MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) offering an in-person twist — local weekly facilitated meetings — debuts next week to help future and current college STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) faculty become better teachers. It is designed to be of special interest to grad students planning to teach professionally. Read More
UW-Madison joins consortium to improve digital teaching and learning
The University of Wisconsin–Madison announced today that it is joining Unizin, a consortium of like-minded universities that are developing a common set of improved digital tools for teaching and learning. Read More