UW In The News

Facebook Hires Former Attorney General Van Hollen To Lobby In Wisconsin

Quoted: Katy Culver, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches social media, said she has a hunch.”I would suspect it’s mainly issues of privacy law and data security,” she said.

Michael Wagner, also at UW-Madison,  said he thinks Facebook hired Van Hollen to handle lawsuits.

ALEC pushes for access to abuse-deterrent opioids | Politics and Elections | host.madison.com

Quoted: Joseph Glass, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in addiction and treatment, said expanding access to ADFs is not a panacea for the problem.

Creativity unchained: UW affiliated program teaches humanities to local inmates

Vergara was working with a unique demographic — his students ranged from 18 to more than 80-years-old. Instead of a UW classroom, they gathered in an all-male minimum security corrections facility. His students were inmates at the Oakhill Correctional Institute, about 30 minutes south of Madison.

At the time, Vergara was the program coordinator for the Oakhill Prison Humanities Project. It received its first major grant in 2013, giving numerous inmates at the Oakhill facility the chance to take classes in the humanities. About 20 UW graduate students and faculty teach courses in history, literature, art, drama, creative writing and philosophy.

Michel: We need another Carson Gulley

Unless you’ve eaten at Carson’s Market on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus or watched local cooking shows on television in the 1950s, you’re probably unfamiliar with the name Carson Gulley. Born the son of Arkansas sharecroppers in 1897, Gulley moved to Madison in 1926 and eventually became head chef of the UW residence halls. Among his many achievements was being the first African American to star in his own local TV program.

Enterprising brothers run inner city innovation technology workshops

Noted: Que El-Amin, 31, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an art degree and received a master’s degree in geography from Chicago State University. Khalif El-Amin, 29, has a sociology degree from the UW-Stevens Point.

Codman Academy inspires Zuckerbergs

Quoted: “Students living in poverty are not arriving to school in the morning on a level playing field,” said Seth Pollak, one of the study’s authors and a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison. “They are hungry, tired, stressed. No one is reading to them at home. The children we were studying didn’t even have crayons or Magic Markers at home.”

Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinic provided fetal tissue to UW-Madison

A Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinic in 2010 provided heart and brain tissues from aborted fetuses to University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers for studies aimed at understanding the growth of babies with and without birth defects.

UW students fire back at state Sen. Steve Nass over political correctness remarks

The United Council of University of Wisconsin Students fired back at a state senator Monday, saying the efforts to improve the climate on campus for students of color are important for all students … State Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, vice-chairman of the University and Technical Colleges Committee, last week criticized UW System President Ray Cross for acknowledging that UW campuses had work still to do to improve the experience of students, faculty and staff of color.

University of Wisconsin professor named in Forbes ’30 under 30′

Many would describe using science to defy the laws of physics as a rare feat. But for University of Wisconsin assistant professor Mikhail Kats, it’s just another day in the lab.

February Temperatures Expected To Be Above Normal, Experts Say

Looking ahead to February, temperatures are expected to be above normal in Wisconsin, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison meteorologist.

Bill provides ticket amnesty for UW System students who report sexual assault

Legislation being proposed at the Capitol provides “ticket amnesty” for underage drinkers who report sexual assaults on UW campuses. With sexual assault remaining the most under reported crime, Attorney General Brad Schimel backs the legislation.

UW Included In Cybersecurity Grant To Protect Scientific Data

Computer scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are tasked with protecting data from some of the nation’s most prolific science research programs, and they’ve just gotten a financial boost to bolster their efforts.

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.