UW In The News

UW-Madison Introduces First Organic Agricultural Researcher

University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Bill Tracy has become the school’s first organic agriculture researcher, inaugurating an endowed professorship that could lead to new advances in a field that might not otherwise see university research.

UW-Madison picked as the site for first-ever organic research endowment

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is the recipient of the nation’s first endowed chair focused on plant breeding for organic crops, representatives of Organic Valley and Clif Bar & Company said today at a ceremony at the State Capitol. The endowment will be funded in perpetuity with a $1 million gift from the companies and matched by a $1 million gift from UW graduates John and Tashia Morgridge.

Breakup Science Says You Should Never, Ever, Ever Get Back Together

Noted: In the Journal of Adolescent Research, researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Bowling Green State University describe relationships as “intimate unions” that are “best conceived of as dynamic trajectories involving a heterogeneous and multi-directional array of transitions.” That’s academic for: you don’t really have a clue what’s going to happen. In a study of 792 young adults who were dating, about half of the respondents had tried to rekindle an old relationship; a few more, 57 percent, had at least had sex with an ex.

U.S. Supreme Court puts Obama’s climate plan on hold

Quoted: Addressing the decision during a climate change forum in Madison on Tuesday night, Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at UW-Madison, emphasized the health benefits of tackling climate change, such as preventing 6,600 asthma deaths. “It’s not just energy policy and dollars. We’re talking about lives. We’re talking about people dying,” Patz said.

UW task force advances ideas to fight campus sexual violence

UW-Madison University Health Services will spend an extra $400,000 next academic year for additional staffing and new or expanded programs aimed at reducing student-reported rates of campus sexual violence.

Michael Lehman named interim finance vice chancellor at UW

A UW-Madison alumnus and current board member of the UW Foundation has been selected to serve as interim vice chancellor for finance and administration. Michael Lehman, a 1974 graduate of the School of Business, will start work on March 7, the university said on Tuesday.

UW-Madison alumna and women’s equality advocate dies

Lorna Jorgenson Wendt, a UW-Madison alumna, who was a champion for women’s equality before, during and after marriage, died at the age of 72 on Thursday.

UW Health names UnityPoint Health executive as CEO

UW Health, a Madison health care system, said Tuesday that Dr. Alan Kaplan, executive vice president and chief clinical transformation officer for UnityPoint Health in West Des Moines, Iowa, has been named chief executive officer of UW Health.

Geography Plays Role in College Access

The college frenzy obsesses on key hurdles students must clear to snag a spot in a good college: taking tough courses and getting good grades, building an impressive list of extracurriculars, gathering the financial resources to pay the bills. But the simple fact of a student’s street address can be as big a hurdle as any.

Do Woodrow Wilson’s racist views negate his progressive accomplishments?

Quoted: John Milton Cooper, a Princeton alum and Wilson biographer who taught history at University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted in his essay that the former president also supported minority rights, albeit perhaps in less significant ways, such as speaking out against lynchings and opening university positions for Catholics, Jews, and poorer students.

Southern Door Students Explore Great World Texts

English students at Southern Door High School are beginning to experience a Chinese literary classic in advance of this year’s Great World Texts In Wisconsin Conference. More than 1,200 students statewide including those at Southern Door High School have begun reading Journey to the West, Wu Cheng’en’s novel of sixteenth-century China.

UW Health names new CEO

UW Health has named Dr. Alan S. Kaplan as its new chief executive officer. According to a release from UW Health, Kaplan is a nationally known health care leader with a track record of leading large-scale clinical and cultural transformation with a focus on care coordination.

Kaplan currently serves as executive vice president and chief clinical transformation officer for UnityPoint Health in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Strong U.S. dollar continues to hamper American exports

Quoted: “Even with the high value of the dollar, we are still exporting, but not as much as we were when the dollar was not quite so strong,” said Bruce Jones, an agricultural economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

There’s One Thing That Could Make the Zika Virus Much More Dangerous — Climate Change

Noted: Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that not only was 2015 the hottest year on record, but places like Brazil, where the disease began, and Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, where it’s now flourishing, saw record-breaking temperatures last year too.

‘Trumbo’ treasure stashed in Madison

There will be an inescapable irony in the unlikely event Bryan Cranston wins a best actor Oscar later this month for his portrayal of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

Staying Sober After Treatment Ends

Noted: Apps, by themselves, are not a continuing care program. But since they are used on phones, they are a logical tool to help people stay connected to their programs. David Gustafson, the University of Wisconsin professor who led A-Chess’s development, said that the evidence is that people in recovery need three things: social connection, motivation (“the desire to keep on keeping on”) and confidence that they know how to cope with their struggles. Apps can help with all three.

Team of UW-Madison researchers one of eight nationwide chosen for new concussion study

Hundreds of teams applied, but a team of UW-Madison researchers was one of only eight teams that were chosen in the Mind Matters Challenge co-sponsored by the NCAA and U.S Department of Defense.

Together these two entities have contributed more than $40 million towards the study of concussions. The UW-Madison team consists of Assistant Professor of Human Ecology Dee Warmath and Athletic Training and Kinesiology Professor Dr. Andrew Winterstein.

Over the next two years the team will work with some of the 2,500 student and club team athletes on UW-Madison campus. These students will help them test out new strategies for getting the word out on how dangerous ignoring a concussion can be.

How Much Should We Worry About Zika Virus?

The spread of mosquito-born Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in children of infected women, has led to travel advisories for pregnant women and, in some countries, advice that women delay pregnancy entirely. What is Zika, and how can countries fight it? Joy Cardin talks to UW-Madison’s Kristen Bernard about how Zika is spreading, the challenges it poses, and how big a problem it may become in the U.S.

Goodness gracious, fireballs in February

Hundreds of fireballs streak across Earth’s atmosphere every day, said Jim Lattis, an astronomer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but people witness few of them. The majority fly over uninhabited areas, and many also occur during daytime when the sun’s glare makes them hard to detect.

Cross acknowledges UW needs more diversity progress

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross says the system must do more to acknowledge and understand students of color.

Tech leaders say UW budget cuts are a ‘dark cloud’ on the state’s economy

Seven executives met for a recent roundtable discussion at Wisconsin State Journal offices, one year after they gathered for a similar exchange, to see if conditions in the area’s tech industry have improved or slid backward.

Darrell Bazzell on UW, race and 40 years in Madison

Capitol Times Editor Paul Fanlund’s interview with Darrell Bazzell, who is departing in April as UW’s vice chancellor for finance and administration to assume a similarly high-ranking post at the huge University of Texas campus in Austin.

Black History Month web series sharing stories ‘worth telling’

At 21 years old, Keven Stonewall, a Chicago Public Schools graduate, has already conducted lab research offering scientists worldwide a breakthrough in their fight to cure colon cancer.

Why You Should Never Buy Bagged Greens

Noted: Bagged greens are usually washed thoroughly (some packages boast that their contents are “triple-washed”) with a little bleach, but that unfortunately doesn’t make any difference if the produce carries disease-causing bacteria. “Listeria is a natural soil inhabitant, and spinach commonly comes in contact with the soil,” says Jeri Barak, associate professor of plant pathology and executive member of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Listeria, like Salmonella and E. coli, can’t be rinsed or washed from leaves even if the dirt is, she says.

Scientists Say Climate Change May Have Fueled Zika Outbreak

Noted: The Zika epidemic parallels the 1999 West Nile Virus outbreak in New York, according to Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both arrived during record-hot summers and involved the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which bite more frequently in hot weather.

Brazil’s sprawling favelas bear the brunt of Zika

Quoted: “It could be that Zika is causing [microcephaly] with another factor, which is definitely possible. There could be other environmental factors, there could be co-infections that cause the unfortunate microcephaly, and at this point there is just not enough evidence to say it is causing it,” said Kristin Bernard, a mosquito-borne virus researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What Lessons Will We Learn From Zika?

Quoted: Overall, infectious disease researchers are pushing toward a more interdisciplinary approach to predict outbreaks. Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at UW-Madison, is doing research to connect the dots between climate change and global health, offering a glimpse into the ways differing scientific fields can combine to build a proactive approach to mosquito-borne disease. His research has revealed a link between dramatic climactic shifts and the occurrence of viral outbreaks.

How a Medical Mystery in Brazil Led Doctors to Zika

Quoted: “The arrival of Zika virus in Brazil is not good news,” wrote Thomas M. Yuill, an emeritus professor of veterinary science and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Behind the Scenes at SpaceX’s Hyperloop Pod Competition

Noted: Badgerloop, the University of Wisconsin’s largely undergraduate team, laid claim to one of the event’s most impressive booths. Throughout the weekend, team members, who were clad in matching red-and-black polo shirts and khakis, built an Oculus Rift-like headset out of cardboard to help explain their pod’s unique technology to the steady throng around their eye-catching display.

Badgers honor Black History Month, former coach with retro jerseys

In honor of Black History Month and former Wisconsin head coach Bill Cofield, the Badgers will be wearing special throwback Adidas uniforms several times in the month of February. UW will be wearing the uniforms modeled after those worn in 1976, Cofield’s first year as head coach in Madison.