From lakes to labs: Explore some of UW’s fascinating summer classes
Each summer, thousands of Badgers enroll in Summer Term courses to make progress on degree requirements, get hands-on training or even try something new. This year was no different. From mid-May to early August, students flexed their minds and their muscles with a variety of unique classes ranging from chemistry and engineering to the arts.
Katie Bollini, a graduate student in the Water Resources Management program, holds up a string attached to a Secchi disk, which is used to measure the turbidity (clarity) of water, during Environmental Studies 719, a Water Resources Management Summer Practicum in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The practicum, hosted by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, connects an interdisciplinary team of students and staff to work with a citizen group on the analysis of a contemporary, problem-oriented water resource issue. This year’s cohort partnered with the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association and the Beaver Dam Lake District to improve water quality on Beaver Dam Lake. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonEamon Peterson (left) and Lexi Guzman (right) survey a farmer’s shoreline for erosion and runoff into Beaver Dam Lake as part of the Water Resources Management Summer Practicum. After identifying any erosion or runoff concerns, the students will look into possible solutions, including evaluating which properties would be good candidates for native planting grants. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonSummer classes, like Mechanical Engineering 201 (Introduction to Mechanical Engineering), can also give incoming first-year undergraduate students a head start before their first fall semester begins. Joshua Won (left) and Matthew Jordan (center), both incoming students, participate in a motor measurements lab that investigates the voltage-speed relationship and torque-speed curve. Won says that his favorite part of taking summer classes at UW is getting to enjoy the beautiful campus. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonMason Nuesse (left) and Wyatt Glaymon (right) are also incoming first-year undergraduate students looking to lighten their fall course load by taking Mechanical Engineering 201 during Summer Term. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonChristian Ulloa, a second-year graduate student in the sculpture program, crafts his neon sculpture during Art 454 (Neon: Light as a Sculpture), a Summer Term class, in UW–Madison’s Art Lofts. Christian says that he took the class to learn a niche skill that isn’t available most places and says that he feels privileged to work with a medium that most artists never get to touch. UW–Madison is one of only a handful of schools in the country that has a full-service facility for creating neon art. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonStudents learn how to make neon sculptures from start to finish, designing their pieces with sketches and bringing them to life through physical creation. The skillful dance between art and science begins with simple clear tubing. Students learn to heat and melt the glass tube, as shown here, before bending and reinflating it with a hose into the desired shape. Electrodes are attached to energize the gas particles inside the tube, then students “bombard” their creations to remove impurities like moisture, and fill them with neon and argon gas to make plasma that emits the characteristic neon glow. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonLecturer Kelsey Macomber uses an expanding ball and a model skeleton to instruct her students on lung function during Dance 135, Pilates Mat I, in Lathrop Hall. Kelsey says that her favorite part of teaching the class is “seeing transformation of student bodies and awareness.” Pilates is a physical conditioning program that creates balance, improves posture, decompresses joints and creates elongated, toned muscles. The exercises focus on core strength, breath, and a flexible spine. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonMacomber supports student Marvin Yang and offers suggestions to improve his form. Kelsey says that the smaller summer classes are a great opportunity to give a lot of good attention to each student. In the normal academic year, Pilates Mat I has three to four sections that are capped at 50 students. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonStudents filter a solution through a funnel during a zinc and iodine lab in Chemistry 103 (General Chemistry I) in UW–Madison’s Chemistry Building. This course and Chemistry 104 are the traditional introductory classes that the majority of students needing chemistry will take. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–MadisonStudents use a 9-volt battery and electrodes to pass electricity through the zinc iodine solution and decompose it into its elements by the process of electrolysis. Photo: Taylor Wolfram / UW–Madison
Shane Hoffman will become the first graduate of a UW School of Medicine and Public Health program that reduces the time it takes to train doctors interested in serving rural parts of the state.
