UW In The News

Refugee Politics: Angela Merkel Faces a Leadership Test in Germany

Noted: Politicians getting so far out ahead of public opinion is “pretty unusual,” said Barry Burden, a political-science professor and the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When we see examples of true leadership it’s usually on topics that matter only to a segment of the population, or that have a technical element that makes [the issue] difficult for most of the public to understand.”

Keeping the jobs in Madison after a tech acquisition not a sure thing

Madison tech companies that get acquired don’t need to close up shop if they can convince their buyers there’s more benefits from the acquisition than the technology itself, leaders of life sciences companies said at a WARF panel.

“Madison-don” takes over Lake Monona

Tim Browning was at it again Sunday morning near the Monona Terrace, putting together his latest display. This year he built a large, wooden sculpture he’s calling a “Madison-don”, a play on a mastodon on exhibit at a UW-Madison museum.

Requiem in Pink

Don Featherstone’s flamingos are forever linked to UW–Madison thanks to a couple pranksters, a columnist and an official ruling.

UW retail expert says proposed sales tax holiday would be boon for consumers

Quoted: Jerry O’Brien, director at UW’s Kohl’s Center for Retailing Excellence, said the proposal would benefit consumers.

“Consumers get more bang for their buck, retailers get an opportunity to draw more people into their store,” O’Brien said “It might be easier to plan sales, you know that’s going to be a big day.”

Investment Trends – Healthy U.S. consumers may be ready to spend

Quoted: Those consumers just might be one of the answers to investors’ woes, said David Silberman, who is pursuing a master’s degree in finance and participating in the Applied Security Analysis Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Parental debt can affect children’s sense of well-being, according to study led by profs at UW and Dartmouth

While past studies have examined the ways in which debts affect the mental health and well-being of adults, new research led by professors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Dartmouth College examines the problem from the child’s point of view.

TRIUMPH Students and Directors Discuss Importance of Improving Milwaukee Public Health System

On the afternoon of Friday, January 17, about 30 people filled the Walnut Way Conservation Corp. (2240 N 17th St) to discuss UW-Madison School of Medicine’s TRIUMPH programand showcase its accomplishments.

Recent Controversies Spark Discussion About Slavery Books

Noted: Tate and others say slavery books for children are an intricate art of communicating historical crimes that neither overwhelms nor misleads readers. “There’s no checklist for the right way to do this,” says Megan Schliesman, a librarian at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’re in the midst of a huge learning process.”

Monday with Authors: Doug Bradley and Craig Werner

It’s been almost 41 years since the fall of Saigon and, for many, one of the most powerful associations with Vietnam is the music of the period.

Food safety specialist talks about Chipotle closing stores to address food safety

(Video) Barbara Ingham, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and food safety specialist, talks about the implications of the food safety issues Chipotle has been dealing with.

UW students compete in global engineering contest

(Video) Last year, Space X and Tesla announced an exciting engineering competition for university students. The goal of the competition is to come up with a mode of transportation that is faster, safer, less expensive and more sustainable than planes, cars or trains. A team from the University of Wisconsin is in the competition this year.

Lily’s Luau raises money for epilepsy research on UW campus

(Video) Lily’s Luau is known for its tropical food, music and attire, but it’s all for a great cause. The event raising money for epilepsy research on the University of Wisconsin campus is this weekend. Quoted: Antoine Madar, research assistant in neuroscience; Mathew (Matt) Jones, associate professor of neuroscience.

UW students meet with Ray Cross, who admits there’s more to be done on race inclusion

After crossed signals scuttled efforts to talk last month, students advocating for a more inclusive racial environment on University of Wisconsin campuses sat down Thursday with UW System president Ray Cross. They emerged with a promise to meet, at least partially, the first in a list of student demands.

No homicide charges in Amish crash deaths

Quoted: The state statute for homicide by drunken driving defines it as causing the death of another while under the influence of an intoxicant, said David E. Schultz, law professor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. However, the law gives a defendant leeway if he or she can argue that the crash would have happened regardless of intoxication, Schultz said.

Wis. officials on alert after bird flu outbreak in Indiana

“Where [H5N2] was a Eurasian strain, this [H7N8] actually is of North American lineage. We think that it was present as a low pathogenicity strain in chickens and it actually mutated or changed,” said Dr. Keith Poulsen, an assistant professor at UW-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Madison east siders jolted by ‘ice quakes’

Emily Stanley, a UW limnology professor, said the cracking, sometimes known as lake thunder, is a common occurrence and so far this winter it hasn’t deviated from the norm.

Bipartisan Assembly group seeks about $2 million for Alzheimer’s, dementia care

The other bills include $500,000 to fund four dementia care specialists in counties with fewer than 150,000 people and a statewide specialist responsible for educating employers about dementia; $250,000 to train mobile crisis teams in how to care for those suffering from dementia; and $50,000 to fund research by UW-Madison’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

WARF’s Carl Gulbrandsen to get lifetime achievement award

Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF since 2000, has been named the recipient of In Business magazine’s lifetime achievement award.

Want to Be More Creative? Research Says You Should Procrastinate

Quoted: But one of his former students, Jihae Shin–who is now a professor herself at the University of Wisconsin–challenged him on his “pre-crastination” tendencies. The results of her research are quite promising (you know, if you ever get around to reading it).

Nuclear options

Quoted: The bill provides an “interesting opportunity” for bipartisan action, says Paul Wilson, a UW-Madison professor of nuclear engineering and interim chair of the Nelson Institute’s Energy Analysis and Policy certificate program. “There are a lot of different interests that kind of coalesce around nuclear energy,” he says.

What You Need To Know About The Zika Virus

There’s growing concern here in the United States over the possible spread of an unfamiliar virus called Zika. Dr. Jonathan Temte, chair of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and Professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health explains what you need to know about the virus.

Donald Trump is right about Putin’s popularity in Russia

“What Trump said is consistent with what we found,” said Scott Gehlbach, a co-author of the study and a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

‘Making A Murderer’ And The True Crime Allure

The Netflix docu-series “Making a Murderer” has become a lightning rod for criticism of the justice system and now of the documentary itself. Interviewed: Keith Findley of the Wisconsin Innocence Project.

Kids’ health a key to economic development

WAUSAU – Children live in families, said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria on Tuesday. It’s not a new revelation, he said, but it’s an important detail to remember as the county tries to tackle the challenges that face kids here.Navsaria spoke Tuesday morning to a full house at the Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County about the release of the 2015-2017 LIFE in Marathon County report.

MLK community dinner in Madison

The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior was alive and well on the UW-Madison campus Friday night.
The King Coalition hosted its 29th annual free community dinner at the Gordon Dining Center on campus.

Groups work to keep talent in Madison

Quoted: “The reason we formed was we noticed there was an absence of input from Black professionals and we wanted to help groom, recruit and retain Black professionals in this community,” says Dawn B. Crim, [Madison Network of Black Professionals] president for the 2016-18 term and associate dean for external relations in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Crim says Madison can be a transient place. People come here for school, graduate and decide to stay and enter the workforce. But for some African Americans, they become the one Black professional there. “So we thought it made sense to try to build a network across the city so professionals feel supported and connected as well as informed on what’s happening in the community.”

Also: Madison Magnet has partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to join its new graduate student resource fair.

Woman’s eyesight saved after nearly missing check-up

Noted: Once at UW Health, Klett was immediately put into emergency laser surgery to repair the tears.

“We were essentially spot-welding around a tear to create an adhesion,” explained her doctor, UW Health Ophthalmologist (and professor of ophthalmology) Michael Altaweel.

UW researchers find possible treatment for Alzheimer’s

University of Wisconsin researchers say they’ve found a treatment to clean up the plaques that form in the brain of mice with Alzheimer’s disease.

The research published in the journal Brain shows that compounds that inhibit two cellular proteins can help clean up the plaques found in the brain of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The proteins work inside the cell to remove toxic material.

Quoted: Luigi Puglielli, of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Campus entrepreneurism moves from fad to fixture for students, faculty

Tom Still column on campus innovation: “UW-Madison remains one of the nation’s research powerhouses and was ahead of the curve in offering pathways for entrepreneurs. But even that campus has experienced a post-2000 explosion in programs for students and faculty who want to convert ideas into businesses or other ventures. Across the rest of the UW System, most four-year campuses have committed to undergraduate research, industry connections and entrepreneurship training and built support systems to match. The same goes for many of Wisconsin’s private colleges and universities, notably many in the Milwaukee region, as well as the state technical college system.”