Syndicated to: Wisc.edu
‘Kindness curriculum’ boosts school success in preschoolers
Watch Richard Davidson discuss this project at the 2015 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Over the course of 12 weeks, twice… Read More
Calculating the future of solar-fuel refineries
A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers has developed a new tool to help plot the future of solar fuels. In a paper recently published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, a team led by chemical and biological engineering Professors Christos Maravelias and George Huber outlined a tool to help engineers better gauge the overall yield, efficiency and costs associated with scaling solar-fuel production processes up into large-scale refineries. Read More
Study shows Brazil’s Soy Moratorium still needed to preserve Amazon
Today, fewer chicken nuggets can trace their roots to cleared Amazon rain forest. Read More
UW–Madison offers free Leopold’s land ethic online course and February event
The University of Wisconsin–Madison will offer its next round of six Massive Open Online Courses beginning Jan. 26 with “The Land Ethic Reclaimed: Perceptive Hunting, Aldo Leopold and Conservation.” MOOCs are free online, noncredit learning experiences that allow people from around the globe to participate. Participants watch educational videos, engage in discussion forums, read articles and often take quizzes or complete educational activities. More than 135,000 registrants from approximately 140 countries and all 50 states signed up for UW–Madison’s previous phase one pilot of four courses. Read More
Rare neurological disease shines light on health of essential nerve cells
Ian Duncan is a Scotsman with the iron discipline and stamina of a competitive marathoner, triathlete and cross-country skier. As a neuroscientist at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he's applied his tenacity to a rare genetic disorder. Read More
Doing it for the team: Business study tests motivational techniques
Noah Lim, an associate marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business, is shedding light on sales incentives that could help managers devise incentive programs with better returns on investment. Read More
Multicultural Student Center welcomes conversation
UW-Madison, like many communities, is grappling with how to promote such a dialogue in the wake of events in Ferguson, Staten Island and elsewhere. And the Multicultural Student Center offers a safe place to have those complicated conversations, says director Joshua Moon Johnson. Read More
Chancellor Blank to receive 2015 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize
University of Wisconsin–Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank was named the 2015 winner of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize by the American Academy of Political and Social Science on Tuesday. Named after the late senator, the Moynihan Prize honors individuals who use sound analysis and social science research to inform public policy while also contributing to the public discourse on society’s most pressing issues. Read More
UW computer scientists enhance robotic manufacturing
Some industrial robots are hulking, highly specialized pieces of machinery that are cordoned off by cages from human factory workers. Read More
UW experts forecasting 2015 Wisconsin agriculture trends
In 2014, the total net farm income in Wisconsin reached an all-time high of more than $4 billion, but agricultural experts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are predicting some changes in 2015. Bruce Jones, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will be among a handful of UW–Madison and UW-Extension experts to recap the status of Wisconsin’s agricultural enterprise in 2014 and discuss trends developing for 2015 at the Wisconsin Agricultural Economic Outlook Forum on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Read More
$1.3M in grants, gifts fund creation of animal shelter medicine program
Each year, shelters across the country take in anywhere from 4 million to 8 million animals, and each year, 2 million to 5 million of those animals die, according to the most recent estimates from the Humane Society of the United States. Many of these deaths occur despite the efforts of well-meaning animal lovers, often due to lack of information — a problem Newbury is working to address in her role as director of the new SVM Shelter Medicine Program, which was created after the school raised more than $1.3 million in grants, outright gifts and pledges to help fund it into the future. Read More
New research project funded by Department of Defense will enable faster, better coding
Pliny, a new research project for writing more error-free, secure code, is being funded by a four-year, $11 million grant recently announced by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense. UW–Madison computer scientists will collaborate with their counterparts at Rice University in Houston (which will lead the project), the University of Texas at Austin, and the company GrammaTech. Read More
UW-Madison language learning resource preparing to support bilingual preschoolers nationwide
Preschool teachers who work with bilingual or multilingual children in five states across the country, and as many as 13 additional states, soon will begin using new learning tools and receiving specialized training developed and provided by WIDA, an international nonprofit specializing in English and Spanish language development based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More
Humanity has exceeded 4 of 9 ‘planetary boundaries,’ according to researchers
An international team of researchers says climate change, the loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, and altered biogeochemical cycles like phosphorus and nitrogen runoff have all passed beyond levels that put humanity in a “safe operating space.” Civilization has crossed four of nine so-called planetary boundaries as the result of human activity, according to a report published today in Science by the 18-member research team. Among them is Steve Carpenter, director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Limnology and the only U.S.-based researcher on the study. Read More
UW-Madison scientists find how many cancers may evade treatment
Xiaojun Tan, a graduate student in Richard A. Anderson’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, made an unexpected observation while studying the locations inside cells where the epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR, can be found. His subsequent investigation revealed how cancer was evading treatment drugs: by sneaking through the cellular back door. Read More
Go Big Read seeks books focused on inequality in America
For the 2015-16 year, the selection committee for Go Big Read, UW–Madison's common-reading program, is seeking a book that addresses this theme of inequality in America. Both fiction and nonfiction titles are encouraged for submission by students, faculty, staff and members of the community. Read More
Carbon nanotube finding could lead to flexible electronics with longer battery life
University of Wisconsin–Madison materials engineers have made a significant leap toward creating higher-performance electronics with improved battery life — and the ability to flex and stretch. Led by materials science Associate Professor Michael Arnold and Professor Padma Gopalan, the team has reported the highest-performing carbon nanotube transistors ever demonstrated. In addition to paving the way for improved consumer electronics, this technology could also have specific uses in industrial and military applications. Read More
UW-Madison students take less debt than national average
The percentage of undergraduates at UW–Madison who use student loans and the amount they borrow rose slightly from last year but remain below national averages, according to a report from the Office of Student Financial Aid. Read More