WARF holds Discovery Challenge spring event

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is holding the third annual Discovery Challenge, a research competition for UW–Madison graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from all departments and fields of study.

One of this year’s marquee events, the spring research symposium, will be held Wednesday, May 21, in the Town Center at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, 330 N. Orchard St. The event is free and open to the public.

The symposium features two poster sessions and cash prizes. The noon keynote address, “The National Science Foundation: How? Why? What next?” will be led by Fleming Crim, UW–Madison chemistry professor and assistant director of the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.

Described as a “primordial soup of ideas,” the Discovery Challenge invites researchers from across campus to present their work and seek new collaborators. Past symposiums have attracted more than 125 graduate students and post-docs from computer science to horticulture, engineering and the humanities. WARF hopes this year’s event will inspire an even larger crop of young researchers to cross-pollinate, learn and compete.

The first phase of the Discovery Challenge kicked off last semester with a series of workshops on developing collaborative research programs and improving communication skills. Activities wrap up in autumn with the research award competition, which is open to original research ideas proposed by interdisciplinary teams.

All spring symposium presenters and participants — not just the prize winners — will be eligible to compete for mini-grants of up to $7,500 at the fall event.

Register for the upcoming symposium by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14. For more information, click here.