UW In The News
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Way outside the classroom conference set at UW-Madison
UW-Madison has been in the forefront of distance education, offering the world’s first correspondence course in 1891, and the leadership by the state’s flagship university continues to this day, with a three-day conference in August.
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The ‘Maker’ Movement Is Coming to K-12: Can Schools Get It Right?
Academics have consistently found that making “gives kids agency” over their learning in ways that traditional classes often don’t, said Erica Halverson, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There’s also mounting evidence that making is a good way to teach academic content. “The fear out there is that schools have to choose between making and academic work, but empirically that turns out not to be true,” Halverson said.
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Therapists say very few people need to see them for more than a few months
Quoted: “The research is indicating that you don’t need extended, long-term therapy for most kinds of problems,” said Bruce Wampold, a psychologist specializing in counseling at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Though some patients may seek therapy to help manage chronic conditions like depression, many seek treatment for problems that can be overcome relatively easily, like conflicts at work or in relationships. Therapy should be like seeing any other kind of doctor: You make an appointment, work to gain the tools you need to manage your problems, and eventually discontinue your time together.
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Three startup leaders explain why they chose Wisconsin
Alex Kubicek, a UW-Madison grad, moved Understory back to Madison weeks ago after developing it with his team in Boston. The company’s hardware tracks weather events to provide better data for companies, and it’s returned after closing a $7.5 million fundraising round that included Monsanto’s venture capital arm. The lead investor, Wisconsin fund 4490 Ventures, had asked Kubicek whether they’d be willing to come back to Madison.
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Smartphones Won’t Make Your Kids Dumb. We Think.
“The extent to which parents are tied up with these devices in ways that disrupt the interactions with the child has potential for a far bigger impact,” says Heather Kirkorian, who heads up the Cognitive Development & Media Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If I’m on the floor with a child but checking my phone every five minutes, what message does that send?”
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The Cruel Information Economy: The U.S. Cities Winning In This Critical Sector
While most smaller cities may never become information hubs, some clearly will. For the most part these will be either university towns such as Chapel Hill (home to the University of North Carolina), Provo-Orem (Brigham Young) and Madison (University of Wisconsin).
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From Tax Geek To World’s Fastest Triathlete: A Q&A With Olympic Gold Medal Favorite Gwen Jorgensen
If you’re not familiar with Gwen Jorgensen, you will be soon. The two-time reigning ITU World Triathlon Champion, Jorgensen promises to become a household name during this summer’s Olympics, where she will be the heavy favorite to bring home the gold in Rio.
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Underwater sensor may detect deadly rip currents
University of Wisconsin researchers this week installed an underwater wave pressure sensor along Duluth’s Park Point beach that could help detect deadly rip currents.
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Jury Out on Effectiveness as Some States Make Voting Easier
Quoted: “Most studies show that election reforms don’t affect turnout very much, and when they do, the people who turn out look a lot like the people who are already voting,” said Barry C. Burden, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center.
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Vector biologist Matthew Aliota looks at the Zika virus in Wisconsin
UW-Madison vector biologist Matthew Aliota joined Steve Ketelaar on Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News to look at the latest case of the Zika virus in Wisconsin, if it could start to spread locally, and if athletes should be concerned about it in Rio for the Olympics.
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UW-Madison drama school ranked as one of the best in the world
For aspiring thespians, the coasts typically offer the best opportunities in both training and job prospects.
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Wisconsin 101: Our History in Objects
Consider the stories a bowling pin from Antigo’s Vulcan Corporation might have to tell. While the average person might think in terms of the confines of a single bowling alley, another might consider its role in Wisconsin’s lumber industry, Milwaukee’s former title as “The Bowling Capital of America,” and Japan’s mid-20th century bowling boom.
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UW-Madison grad called hero after saving man from New York’s East River
A UW-Madison graduate is one of three people being called a hero after jumping into New York’s East River to save a man.
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Hacker Lexicon: What Is Fuzzing?
Fuzzing’s method of using random data tweaks to dig up bugs was itself an accident. In 1987, University of Wisconsin at Madison professor Barton Miller was trying to use the desktop VAX computer in his office via a terminal in his home. But he was connecting to that UNIX machine over a phone line using an old-fashioned modem without error correction, and a thunderstorm kept introducing noise into the commands he was typing.
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Medical Student Says Her Mental Health Issues Will Make Her A Better Doctor
At first Giselle wasn’t sure what to put on her medical school application. She wanted to be a doctor, but she also wanted people to know about her own health: years of depression, anxiety and a suicide attempt. (We’re using only her first name in this story, out of concern for her future career.)
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The simple math that helped mathematicians solve a vexing problem in the kids’ card game “Set”
Noted: “The fact that the cap set problem finally yielded to such a simple technique is humbling,” Jordan Ellenberg, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin, Madison told Quanta Magazine. “It makes you wonder what else is actually easy.”
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Professor talks about science to traveling, airport lines
Believe it or not, there is a science to airport lines and some logistics that can help travelers. Laura Albert Mclay, an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about it on Live at Four.
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Crystal clear: Winners emerge in crystal-growing contest
A high school student from Fond du Lac and a team of middle school students from Berlin grew the best overall crystals in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s third annual crystal-growing contest.
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This ‘Smart Skin’ Can Monitor Your Health Or Even Control Your Home
world’s fastest stretchable, wearable circuit that could become the foundation for the next generation of wearable gadgets.This ‘smart skin’ could do everything from monitor your vitals, control your music, track your runs or even let you control your own home – all wirelessly.
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Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism
Quoted: “It seems to me in developed and semideveloped countries there is emerging a new kind of politics for which maybe the best taxonomic category would be right-wing populist nationalism,” said Stanley Payne, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We are seeing a new kind of phenomenon which is different from what you had” in the 20th century.
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UW-Madison Professor Says School’s Faculty Should Stay
Despite the budget cuts, weakened tenure protections and the general acrimony between state lawmakers and University of Wisconsin System staff, a UW-Madison professor is making the case for why faculty should stay at the school.
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UW-Madison Professor: Why I’m Staying
Amid budget cuts, weakened tenure protections, and a chilly atmosphere between UW faculty and staff and Governor Walker, some of the UW System’s faculty have been looking for jobs elsewhere or receiving offers from other universities. We hear from a professor and department chair who makes the case for staying at the UW.
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Doctors Test Tools to Predict Your Odds of a Disease
Noted: Some resistance to using the predictive model stems from “click fatigue” as doctors deal with a wealth of electronic information, such as best-practice recommendations for treatment, that increasingly pops up on their computer screens, says David Feldstein, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
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New Wearable Tech Can Make Hospital Visits More Comfortable
In the age of the Internet, you can do almost anything wirelessly. This is especially intriguing in the health care field where professionals can monitor the data of patients without having to be in the room.
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Joe Pavelski leads Sharks to Cup Final
PITTSBURGH — The decision to affix the “C” on Joe Pavelski’s jersey was an easy one.
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Johnson Controls expands battery research partnership with UW-Madison
Expanding its research collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Johnson Controls Inc. is funding projects in Madison that will research improving fuel efficiency for both start-stop and battery-electric vehicles.
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Goldwater Foundation awards 252 scholarships to STEM undergrads
In addition to Maryland, the only other universities receiving the maximum of four Goldwater awards are Cornell University, Stanford University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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People dump AI advisors that give bad advice, while they forgive humans for doing the same
We accept that to err is human. Not so with machines. When our electronic counterparts fail us—whether its baggage screening software or the latest artificial intelligence—we are quick to shun their advice in the future. That has big implications as machines infiltrate the workplace, offering services once provided by human colleagues.University of Wisconsin researchers recently sought to test how we might get along with our future AI coworkers.
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Hoosier speller among 10 best in nation
Since winning his regional bee in March, Jashun has been studying with Jeff Kirsch, a Spanish professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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How UW System Contributes To State Economic Development
Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still explains how budget cuts will continue to affect the University of Wisconsin System’s ability to contribute to economic growth in Wisconsin. Still says a bipartisan effort is necessary in order for both the state economy and UW System to thrive.
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