UW-Madison student Lydia Nyachieo applied to study abroad in the spring 2021 semester. COVID-19, of course, canceled those plans.
East High graduate and UW-Madison student selected for prestigious Marshall Scholarship
Wisconsin State Journal
December 13, 2021
Top Stories
Research
China’s Quest for Space Power Starts With Moon Dust
Wall Street Journal
The theory that the moon might have abundant reserves of helium-3 goes back several decades. In 1986, scientists at the University of Wisconsin estimated that lunar soil could contain a million tons of the isotope, also known as He3.
Madison proposal would ban breeding, selling animals for experimentation purposes
Wisconsin State Journal
Aproposed Madison ordinance would ban businesses in the city from breeding or selling animals for “the purpose of medical, surgical or chemical experimentation,” but the law would not apply to UW-Madison, which uses animals for research and does some of its own breeding.
UW partners with the NFL to research sport-related concussions
NBC-15
Whether it’s an NFL player of someone who’s just getting started in the sport, every time an athlete steps onto the football field they’re taking a risk. While rules and practices have changed some over time, sport-related concussion is still a prominent issue in American football and there’s still a lot to learn about how it happens.
Higher Education/System
UW System recommends pay raises for top executives amid hiring searches
Wisconsin Public Radio
As the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents works to fill two top leadership positions, market data suggest current salary ranges for UW executives are well below those at peer institutions.
UW Regents weigh salary range increases and other perks for top leaders
Wisconsin State Journal
Ahead of hiring a new University of Wisconsin System president and UW-Madison chancellor, the UW Board of Regents is weighing whether to increase salary ranges for those positions by between 6% and 10% and whether other perks should be added to compensation packages.
UW Regents OK out-of-state, graduate tuition increases
Associated Press
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved tuition increases Friday for out-of-state undergraduates and graduate students at seven campuses.
Test-optional admissions extended at UW-Madison, other UW campuses through 2024-25
Wisconsin State Journal
Freshman applicants to University of Wisconsin System schools can skip sending standardized test scores for another two years under a policy extension approved Friday by the UW Board of Regents.
Campus life
The Wisconsin volleyball team sweeps Minnesota to advance to its third straight Final Four
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Minnesota football team may have laid claim to Paul Bunyan’s Axe two weeks ago, but the University of Wisconsin women’s volleyball team came to the rematch wielding a broom.
For the third straight year, the Badgers are headed to the NCAA Final Four in volleyball after sweeping past the Golden Gophers, 25-18, 26-24, 25-22, Saturday night before an electric crowd at the UW Field House. Wisconsin will meet No. 1-ranked and undefeated Louisville in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday.
Food used to flout UW mask mandate — Stephen D. Morton
Wisconsin State Journal
Letter to the editor: But some fans use a large bag of popcorn or a large drink that is very slowly consumed as an excuse to not wear the mask at all during the entire contest. I feel this is not in the spirit of the mask requirement.
‘I’ve just been in awe’: UW basketball player Chris Vogt helps raise thousands for his ravaged hometown
WKOW-TV 27
When Wisconsin center Chris Vogt heard news that his hometown had been decimated by a tornado Friday, he knew he had to do something to help out.
State news
Most Wisconsin school districts joined state COVID-19 testing program, but parents say testing still comes with challenges
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Greg DeMuri is a pediatric epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has also been advising the Madison Metropolitan School District on its testing program. He said it took some time to get the program up and running, but it’s starting to work well.
“It is very, very useful,” he said. “They are seeing cases there, and detecting cases, and they’re able to keep (sick) kids out of school because of it, so it’s a big asset to the schools and to the community.”
Ron Johnson says mouthwash can kill COVID-19. Manufacturer of Listerine, medical experts say there’s no evidence yet to prove that.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said no one is discouraging the use of the remedies Johnson is proposing but the public should know they are not proven to be effective in protecting against COVID-19 infection.
“Things like home remedies, vitamins and supplements, new diets have been advertised to and used by people in our society for decades, centuries even, for all sorts of ailments. No one is discouraging their use, but they do not provide tangible benefit against Covid, and they are not a substitute for vaccination,” Sethi said.
Patrick Remington, a former epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s preventive medicine residency program, said the NIH relies on proven treatments.
“Simply put, the NIH and other researchers set a high bar for proving that a treatment is effective. Studies done in the lab or in animals, or clinical anecdotes play an important part in the research process, and lead to hypotheses that are then tested in rigorous, controlled trials,” Remington said.
Athletics
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh has ‘100%’ confidence in Paul Chryst and Tony Granato
Wisconsin State Journal
Chris McIntosh is closing in on six months on the job, and it’s been a whirlwind for the University of Wisconsin athletic director.
How Wisconsin basketball’s Chris Vogt is helping after tornado devastated his hometown
Wisconsin State Journal
Vogt was raised in Mayfield and played his first two collegiate seasons at Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights. His social media feeds were flooded with pictures and videos of the wreckage in his city. Even national news outlets were covering the destruction in the small town of just 10,000 people.
Wisconsin volleyball team advances to its third straight final four
Wisconsin State Journal
The No. 4 seed Badgers advanced to the national semifinals for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in program history by sweeping Big Ten Conference rival Minnesota 25-18, 26-24, 25-22 Saturday night before a sellout crowd at the UW Field House.
Opinion
Tanzania must face up to calls for reform if it wants to keep the peace
The Conversation
The emerging partisan politics and the polarisation it creates is a new threat. It does not provide space for democratic contestation, as opposition parties are restricted from political activities. If unaddressed, the polarisation and increasing grievances could destabilise the country. The future of politics in Tanzania depends on the ability of the policy makers and politicians to take advantage of a more enlightened 2021 citizenry as compared to 1961.
Aikande Clement Kwayu is an Independent researcher & Honorary Research Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ion Meyn: What the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict means for carrying open firearms in Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
Column by Ion Meyn, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Business/Technology
With $14M award, Madison companies join forces to create mobile COVID test
Wisconsin State Journal
The Flambeau test, rather than needing a swab from inside a patient’s nose, is saliva-based, said Dave Beebe, who is also a biomedical engineering professor at UW-Madison. That makes the test less invasive, and therefore more rapid than traditional ones.
UW Experts in the News
Redeeming Justice
C-SPAN.org
Attorney Jarrett Adams discussed his criminal conviction and exoneration as well as the path to his current legal career. He spoke at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison. (With Steven Wright)
Is the urban-rural divide a myth?
The Hill
The results of the 2020 presidential election suggest that the divide increased further due to differences in views about the COVID-19 pandemic. An NPR report quoted Kathy Cramer of the University of Wisconsin saying, “There’s this sense that decisions about the pandemic are being made in cities and kind of imposed on rural spaces.”
COVID-19 pandemic: Scientists focus on virus’ animal origins
AP
The economics of concert tickets and how Adele strained the vinyl supply chain
Planet Money
Now, we knew Charli XCX was going to sell out within minutes of going on sale. And Alan Sorensen, an economist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that this suggests that the $54 that she was charging was way too low.
Southeast Asians are underrepresented in STEM, but still boxed out
NPR
When Kao Lee Yang received a nomination from her university for the Gilliam Fellowship by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math, she was thrilled. She’s spent years working toward her doctorate in Alzheimer’s research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As medicine aims to close diversity gaps, orthopedic surgery is an outlier
STAT News
The lack of diversity is painfully obvious to patients as well. When one of her family members needed a serious operation recently, Angela Byars-Winston, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin who is Black, scoured the internet looking for expert orthopedic surgeons who could provide a second opinion. She was struck that nearly all of them were white. “Really,” she told STAT, “there’s hardly anyone that looks like us? In the whole country?”