Tag Research
No easy path, Mailick eager to take on one of university’s toughest jobs
If Marsha Mailick is at all intimidated by the prospect of taking on one of the hardest jobs on the UW–Madison campus, there is no hint of it in her demeanor, as she navigates the familiar territory of Bascom Hall. Read More
UW center teams up with five states to address asphalt issues
More than 80 percent of major roads in the United States are still surfaced with asphaltic mixtures - and the liquid asphalt, a byproduct of oil refining, remains a bit of a chemical mess, an inconsistent, complex mix of hydrocarbons. So to understand how different kinds of asphalt will hold up under the weight of vehicles and the punishment of the elements, road engineers must use physical methods, from ovens to hydraulic testing devices, to inflict stress and extreme temperatures upon the mixtures. Read More
UW-Madison chosen for federally funded cloud computing research
Cloud computing, which allows users of technology to tap into remote, shared infrastructure and services, is a major facet of today’s world. Whether or not we realize it, countless aspects of our daily lives — from social media to drug discovery — are now enabled by cloud computing. The University of Wisconsin–Madison has been chosen to be part of a National Science Foundation-funded project called CloudLab — a joint effort of university and industry teams for the development of cloud infrastructure and fostering the high-level research that it supports. Read More
No one-size-fits-all approach in a changing climate, changing land
As climate change alters habitats for birds and bees and everything in between, so too does the way humans decide to use land. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Aarhus University in Denmark have, for the first time, found a way to determine the potential combined impacts of both climate and land-use change on plants, animals and ecosystems across the country. Read More
Grants fund UW technology projects on the road to commercialization
An exercise machine that helps stroke victims walk. An advanced technology for assessing the progress of prostate cancer. A faster process for making neural stem cells to investigate new treatments for injury and disease. A cheaper, more beautiful LED light bulb. A game to teach meditation. These projects, and a dozen more, are beneficiaries of the first round of awards by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Discovery to Product, or D2P, program, which began operating in March. Read More
New analysis links tree height to climate
What limits the height of trees? Is it the fraction of their photosynthetic energy they devote to productive new leaves? Or is it their ability to hoist water hundreds of feet into the air, supplying the green, solar-powered sugar factories in those leaves? Read More
Fall Competition aims to set standard for research excellence
UW–Madison researchers are being encouraged to apply for competitive funding through the Fall Competition sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (VCRGE). Read More
Two faculty members named Steenbock Professors
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty members Jin-Yi Cai and Robert Hamers have been named Steenbock Professors. Read More
Climate conundrum: Conflicting indicators on what preceded human-driven warming
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently requested a figure for its annual report, to show global temperature trends over the last 10,000 years, the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Zhengyu Liu knew that was going to be a problem. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science today, Liu and colleagues describe a consistent global warming trend over the course of the Holocene, our current geological epoch, counter to a study published last year that described a period of global cooling before human influence. Read More
Water’s reaction with metal oxides opens doors for researchers
A multi-institutional team has resolved a long-unanswered question about how two of the world’s most common substances interact. In a paper published recently in the journal Nature Communications, Manos Mavrikakis, professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his collaborators report fundamental discoveries about how water reacts with metal oxides Read More
Fundamental plant chemicals trace back to bacteria
A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red. Read More
Mining bacterial blueprints yields novel process for creation of fuel and chemical compounds
A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has identified the genes and enzymes that create a promising compound — the 19 carbon furan-containing fatty acid (19Fu-FA). The compound has a variety of potential uses as a biological alternative for compounds currently derived from fossil fuels. Read More
Tricking plants to see the light may control the most important twitch on Earth
Copious corn growing in tiny backyard plots? Roses blooming in December? Thanks to technology that the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Richard Vierstra has been developing for years, these things may soon be possible. And now, new findings out of the genetics professor’s lab promise to advance that technology even further. Read More
Wisconsin plastics industry has roots in modest, multitalented UW–Madison professor
“The Graduate” is a running joke in the plastics industry. In that 1967 Dustin Hoffman movie, a character famously — and accurately — summarized the future in one word: “Plastics.” The movie may have been influential, but Tom Mohs, founder of the Madison plastics manufacturer Placon, says he owes nothing to it. “I was already buying my second thermoforming machine when the movie came out,” says Mohs. “No, I owe it to Ron Daggett.” Read More