Last winter’s deep freeze shut down most of UW-Madison, flooded academic floors and led to a long list of maintenance requests.
Last winter’s ‘polar vortex’ cost UW-Madison estimated $4.9 million in flood damage
Wisconsin State Journal
August 27, 2019
Top Stories
Research
New Study Shows Declining Racial Gaps in Criminal Sentencing Since the 1990s
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
According to new research from Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, racial and ethnic gaps in criminal sentencing have declined significantly since the mid-1990s.
Should You Let Your Kid Play Football? Experts Weigh In
Parents
Quoted: Despite the publicity of CTE, doctors cannot predict whether a child will have it later on, says Julie Stamm, Ph.D., LAT, ATC, who researched the issue at the Boston University CTE Center. “We do not understand why one person gets it and the other does not get it,” adds Dr. Stamm, also a clinical assistant professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Should Schools Teach the Scientific Method? New Book Says Maybe Not
EdSurge
Think back to what you still remember from science class. No, there’s no need to strain your brain recalling the particulars of cellular mitosis or the periodic table. Instead, consider the idea that spanned any science class from biology to physics: the scientific method, the five-step process for analyzing problems, collecting data and coming to a well-supported conclusion.
But what if the scientific method is actually inaccurate—or at best reductive? What if spending so much time on this framework is giving students the wrong idea about how rigorous work is done by scientists?
That’s the unusual hypothesis being made by John Rudolph, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “How We Teach Science: What’s Changed, and Why It Matters.”
The History Of Food Safety With Deborah Blum
WORT FM
Deborah Blum is a science writer and the director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. Prior to that, she was a professor of journalism at UW–Madison from 1997 to 2015. She is the author of many books, including The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (Penguin, 2010) and The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Penguin, 2018).
The Existential Consequences of Lab Errors
Slate
Noted: In 2010 and 2011, the labs of Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands separately announced that they had succeeded in making the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus more transmissible through genetic engineering. Since it first spilled over from poultry to human beings in Hong Kong in 1997, H5N1 has infected and killed hundreds of people in sporadic outbreaks, mostly in Asia. The virus has a roughly 60 percent fatality rate among confirmed cases, but fortunately, H5N1 almost never spreads from person to person. Nearly every infection is due to close contact with infected poultry.
Five ways parents can help their kids transition smoothly to middle school
Washington Post
Quoted: If a new sixth-grader has no one to sit with in the lunchroom one day or bombs a test, “they may start to question whether they fit in socially or can succeed academically,” notes Geoffrey Borman, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Borman and Rozek conducted research to see whether it was possible to bolster kids’ sense of belonging by underscoring that all students have difficulty at the start of middle school but eventually feel better.
Biased Evaluation Committees Promote Fewer Women
The Scientist
Noted: Régner suggests that a “habit-breaking intervention,” such as that described by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Patricia Devine and colleagues, might help to facilitate gender equity at academic institutions. In these sessions, participants are made aware of their implicit biases and learn strategies to counter them. This year, the CNRS began offering training sessions on gender stereotypes to evaluation committee members and each committee has appointed a reference person in charge of gender equality issues. Raymond tells The Scientist this self-evaluation and corrective action should take place at all academic institutions, but may be a long time coming.
How Climate Change Will Kill Your Internet
Vice
Noted: A study published by researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin-Madison looked at fiber optic cables in low-lying regions, and how they’d hold up as sea levels start to rise. Based on the prediction that ocean levels would rise by a foot in the next 15 years, they said at least 6,400 km of fiber optic cable in just the US would be permanently submerged, affecting network connections from New York to New Mexico. Which means your precious Instagram scrolling hours could very well have a deadline.
Do trees and grass affect the weather? UW researchers are looking for the answer in the Northwoods.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: “We know that most cities on average are warmer than rural areas. Trees tend to humidify the air,” said Ankur Desai, UW professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.
Higher Education/System
33,000 UNC system employees would get access to paid parental leave under plan
Charlotte Observer
Noted: A coastal economic specialist, Harrison has worked at other universities that have paid parental leave programs, including The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Campus life
Colleges Would Rather Freshmen Not Choose Their Roommates
Atlantic Monthly
In 1926, the University of Wisconsin published a brochure advertising its new men’s dormitories. “Here … the man from the well-to-do home and the man who tends furnaces to buy his text-books will learn respect for each other across a common table,” the booklet read, “and the son of banker and farmer will find mutual understanding, of a winter’s evening, in give and take to the crackling of logs in a wide fireplace.”
A job with UW Dining could be the perfect fit for you
WKOW-TV 27
The UW Dining and Culinary Services team is hiring! Peter Testory, director of dining and culinary services – housing division, joined us to share a little more about the fast-paced, friendly work environment.
State news
US Rep. Sean Duffy says he’s leaving Congress in September
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at UW-Madison, said while Duffy’s district heavily leans Republican, it’s not impossible for Democrats to win it in a special election.
He said before the 2011 map making that redrew the district in Republicans’ favor, former President Barack Obama won the district by 13 points in 2008 when he won Wisconsin by 14 points. In 2012 — after the new maps were drawn — Obama lost the district by 3 points, Burden said.
GOP Congressman Sean Duffy To Resign From Office
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the district tends to favor Republicans.
“It really is a combination of the drawing of the district lines in a way that was intentional to favor Duffy and Republicans who were in charge of that process, but also just really migration of that district in the Republican direction,” he said.
Community
Madison mayor selects final deputy mayor, Christie Baumel
WISC-TV 3
Baumel has a master’s degree from the University of Washington in urban planning and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in natural resources.
Health
Want to live longer? Be an optimist, study says
CNN.com
Quoted: “Optimism is one important psychological dimension that has emerged as showing some really interesting associations with health,” said neuroscientist Richard Davidson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds.
“And I would add other positive attributes, such as mindfulness, compassion, kindness, and having a strong sense of purpose in life,” Davidson added.
Psychologist: Back-To-School Jitters Are Common. But Talk To Your Kids About Them
Wisconsin Public Radio
New pencils, notebooks and backpacks may be on the checklist as the summer winds down and kids gear up for a new school year, but Dr. Shilagh Mirgain says it’s also an important time of year to check in with kids on how they’re feeling about heading back to school.
“We spend a lot of time preparing our kids for school by buying them school supplies or back-to-school clothes, but our families should equally spend time preparing kids mentally for the start of the school year and pre-school jitters and anxiety,” said Mirgain, a clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
Athletics
UW Volleyball tabbed as Big Ten preseason favorite
NBC-15
Big Ten coaches have picked the Badgers as the favorites to win the Big Ten Conference in volleyball for the 2019 season. UW finished 3rd in 2018.
Business/Technology
AIQ Solutions of Madison raises $3.2 million for cancer treatment assessment software
Wisconsin State Journal
AIQ Solutions, which is based on technology developed at UW Carbone Cancer Center, raised $3.2 million in equity financing, the company announced this month. Capital Midwest Fund led the round, which also involved Rock River Capital Partners, 30Ventures and Wisconsin Investment Partners.
UW Experts in the News
How do we improve forensics?
Washington Post
Noted: Keith A. Findley, Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, University of Wisconsin Law School
Easiest reforms:
If forensic science wants to claim the mantle of “science,” it must follow fundamental scientific principles, like double-blind testing. Systems should be created to at least shield analysts from domain-irrelevant but contextually biasing information. This can be complicated at times, but it can be done without disclosing the vast array of information that analysts routinely receive today. Proper case management and intake systems can ensure that analysts receive only the information they need, and only when they need it.
Who to recruit to win Congress: Former pro athletes
Washington Examiner
Noted: As political scientist and University of Wisconsin professor David Canon points out, athletes garner more media coverage than traditional candidates, which is especially advantageous when running against an incumbent, according to the Dallas Morning News. Typically incumbents dominate the media coverage, as one July 2004 study concluded, so a background in professional athletics can be a major boost for a challenger.
Expert shares how to make transition back to school as smooth as possible
NBC-15
Quoted: Beth Graue, Director at the Center for Research on Early Childhood Education at UW-Madison, said it’s important for parents to realize that it’s not only students who go through a transition.
As Amazon Wildfires Blaze, Deforestation May Be to Blame
The Great Courses Daily
Quoted: “Deforestation was a well-known problem in the classical world,” said Dr. Paul Robbins, Director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “For example, the historian Strabo wrote in the 1st century B.C.E. that the lowland areas of the island of Cyprus were once covered with forests that prevented cultivation, but these had all given way to farming and other activities.”
Want to live longer? Be an optimist, study says
cnn
Quoted: “Optimism is one important psychological dimension that has emerged as showing some really interesting associations with health,” said neuroscientist Richard Davidson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds.
Congressman Sean Duffy to resign in September, cites family reasons
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said “it’s not impossible” for a Democrat to win, but that structural factors, particularly the way the district was drawn in 2011, favor Republicans.
UW-Madison Related
The Quiet Endurance of Marcy Kaptur
Washington Post
Kaptur was born in Toledo in 1946, the granddaughter of Polish immigrants. Her father ran the family grocery store and her mother worked for auto-parts maker Champion Spark Plug, a company that helped build Toledo but dissolved its last operations there in 2010. The first person in her family to go to college, Kaptur graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1968 and returned to Toledo to work in city planning.
The Gift-Card Budget Strapped for cash, state governments are plugging holes using unspent gift cards. Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.
Atlantic Monthly
Brenda Mayrack never intended to become an unclaimed-property czar. Even among legal specialties, the field is particularly obscure: During law school at the University of Wisconsin, she remembers hearing only a 10-minute lecture introducing the topic at the end of her trusts-and-estates class. But as the director of Delaware’s unclaimed-property office, Mayrack now oversees a fund of $540 million a year, forgotten by people from Paris to San Francisco and then held temporarily by the state.