Category Employee News
WARF Innovation Award winners offer a better oat, infection disrupter
A new oat offering tasty ways to lower cholesterol and compounds capable of disrupting serious bacterial infections earned top honors in this year's Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Innovation Awards program. Read More
Biomanufacturing center takes central role in developing stem-cell therapies
Developing a new drug takes enormous amounts of time, money and skill, but the bar is even higher for a promising stem-cell therapy. Many types of cells derived from these ultra-flexible parent cells are moving toward the market, but the very quality that makes stem cells so valuable also makes them a difficult source of therapeutics. Read More
Target of animal rights protests kicks off animal research ethics forum
Any research that includes animals presents ethical questions, but they are questions Dario Ringach believes we rarely address together. Read More
Ballots being mailed for first-ever classified staff election
Classified staff members will soon receive ballots for UW–Madison’s first-ever Classified Staff Executive Committee. Nine people will be elected from a field of 92 candidates, representing nearly 5,000 employees. Completed ballots must be returned or postmarked by Oct. 30. Read More
Ilona Kombrink, celebrated professor of voice, dies at 80
Every story about Ilona Kombrink had a sort of mythic quality. Her career as a University of Wisconsin–Madison voice professor was literally the stuff of legends, whispered down the halls of the Humanities Building in her wake. Read More
Growth industry: New faculty member supports local produce
When Julie Dawson starts making farm visits, she may face a problem many of her fellow University of Wisconsin–Madison agricultural extension specialists don’t: battling city traffic and finding a place to park. Read More
Microbiome meets big social science: What’s the potential?
Over the last decade or so, biologists have mustered an ever-growing appreciation for the essential role of microbial communities in a diversity of environments. Read More
Pink flamingos will ‘Fill the Hill’ again Wednesday
Flamingos have been native to Bascom Hill since 1979. They’ll be flocking to their grassy home once again, this time as part of Share the Wonderful, the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s annual campaign. Read More
From football to flies: lessons about traumatic brain injury
Faced with news of suicides and brain damage in former professional football players, geneticist Barry Ganetzky bemoaned the lack of model systems for studying the insidious and often delayed consequences linked to head injuries. Read More
First-year student remembered for love of music, nature
Cassidy Fritsch came to UW–Madison with a track record of academic success and a readiness to get involved. In just over six weeks on campus, she had already joined several organizations that spoke to her concern about the natural world: the Veterinary Science Club and the GreenHouse Residential Learning Community. Read More
WARF’s Bremer remembered as technology transfer legend
Sustained by a passion to improve people's lives, Howard Bremer's enduring commitment to innovation fueled his work and his life. Bremer, 90, a WWII U.S. Navy veteran and patent attorney with degrees in law and chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison passed away Friday, ending a remarkable career at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation that spanned 53 years. Read More
The chemistry of color: Energy researcher develops dye-based solar cells
University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers working at the intersection of basic and applied science focus on key factors like cost, environmental impacts ... and sometimes, color. Read More
Davis gift to Human Ecology to benefit design students
During her 30 years as a professor in the School of Human Ecology, Ruth Danielson Davis showcased student work in the rooms, hallways, and cabinets of the Human Ecology Building. Now, a $4.6 million gift from her estate to the School of Human Ecology will play a major role in getting student work even more exposure in the future. Read More
Hawkins named director of Chancellor’s Scholars
A familiar face will lead the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Chancellor’s and Powers-Knapp Scholarship Programs. Gloria Hawkins, assistant dean for multicultural affairs in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health since 1994, will move from the west end of campus to an office in Bascom Hall. She plans to begin her new position as an assistant vice provost and director of the programs on Dec. 1. Read More
UW’s bug-eating advocate had global impact
When Gene DeFoliart had his brainstorm in 1974, not even he thought his brainchild would be an easy sell. As a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, DeFoliart was focusing on how insects spread viral disease. Now he was captivated by an opposite proposition: using insects to foster human health — using them, to be specific, as food. Read More
Looking before you leap, failing fast, and the path to commercialization of technology
The QuickChip sounded like a killer idea: a gadget about one inch square that could, in just 15 minutes, identify bacteria, fungi, and viruses at a patient's bedside. Instead of sending samples to a lab and waiting hours or days, physicians would know immediately what they were dealing with and how best to treat it. Read More
Downtown streets to be closed for UW Homecoming Parade
Major downtown streets will be closed Friday, Oct. 11, for the annual UW Homecoming Parade presented by Lowe’s. Read More
Miron Livny: Collaborative spirit supports Nobel Prize-winning science
In 1964, François Englert and Peter Higgs theorized the existence of a subatomic particle that gives all other particles mass. Nearly 50 years later in 2012, a global team of researchers found evidence that supports the existence of the Higgs boson particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. Read More
New grant program to encourage statewide outreach
A new grant program designed to advance the Wisconsin Idea by fostering public engagement by university faculty, staff and students, is accepting applications. Read More
UW-Madison Statement in Response to Bill Maher Robocalls
It is no surprise that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) continues its opposition to biomedical science through their sustained efforts to draw attention to research to which they object. PETA has tried mightily to stop important work on hearing at UW–Madison by making repeated, unsubstantiated and false claims about the work and its conduct. Read More