University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: faculty

New $3M distinguished chair at UW-Madison honors influential alumnus

A newly established professorship will allow the University of Wisconsin-Madison to hire new faculty to build upon its widely recognized leadership in chemical and biological engineering. Supported by a $3 million commitment from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the Ernest Micek Distinguished Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering will honor a UW-Madison graduate with a long record of service to UW-Madison.

Save power, make power: UW chemist confronts ambitious agenda with a brash laugh

Trisha Andrew, a UW assistant professor of chemistry, holds a solar cell that her research group printed on paper last year. She’s currently working to invent ways to convert light into electricity, using dyes rather than silicon devices. Photo: Matt Wisniewski/Wisconsin Energy Institute Trisha Andrew wants to save billions of watt hours by revolutionizing, well, …

Wisconsin’s new ‘bug guy,’ insect detective arrives on campus

His favorite insect is one he has actually never seen alive in the wild. It lives on snowfields and glaciers in the American West, aptly named an ice crawler. But PJ Liesch, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new “bug guy,” continues to search for it. “I’ve been out West looking for them a couple of times and haven’t had any luck, so they’re kind of one I have on my bucket list, just to see one of those out in the wild,” says Liesch. The insect specialist officially took over as manager of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab this summer.

After 26 years in flight, Murdoch lands with UW Naval ROTC

Capt. Christopher Murdoch, who spent 26 years on active duty in some of the world’s major trouble spots as an aviator in the U.S. Navy, has taken command of the UW-Madison Naval ROTC unit. During a July ceremony, Murdoch took over for Capt. Russ Haas, who retired after three years as Wisconsin ROTC’s commanding officer.

Electronic Lab Notebooks now available

Researchers have long relied on the venerable and trusted paper lab notebook for keeping an orderly record of research data, notes and experimental procedures. Soon, researchers on the UW-Madison campus will have a new option to store and organize these activities in the form of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) software services under a new UW contract with LabArchives.

Mainstay clerk celebrates 50 years of reliability at UW Hospital

The Neurosciences ICU on the fourth floor of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is normally a hushed and darkened spot. It’s kept that way for the comfort of patients, who have recently survived brain surgery, stroke or some manner of head trauma. But on a Thursday in May, there was an uncharacteristic party going in the employee break room. It was a celebration of health unit clerk Sharon Dickey’s 50th anniversary at the hospital.

New director right at home — literally — in University Housing

The mission statement of University Housing really resonated with Jeff Novak: “Be the place where everyone wants to live” — to the point where “everyone” includes Novak himself. Novak has been on campus for just a few weeks, but he is already feeling at home in his new position as director of University Housing for UW-Madison.

Legend in genetics at forefront of book about heroism during 20th century’s darkest hours

Waclaw Szybalski, 92, a genius of genetics who has been repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, grew up as an aspiring scientist during World War II in the eastern part of Poland. Many of Szybalski’s most significant wartime roles concerned a decidedly applied type of science: He cooked TNT so the Polish resistance could sabotage rail lines. He participated in smuggling typhus vaccine to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. And he fed lice and supervised “louse feeders.”