A lead researcher on the study, Sarah Halpern-Meekin, who’s a professor in the School of Human Ecology and director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said at the end of the day, people want to feel like the work they’re doing is meaningful.
January 6, 2025
Research
Microbes can colonize space, produce drugs and create energy − researchers are simulating their inner workings to harness how
Written by ostdoctoral Research Associate in Microbial Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW-Madison to study ketamine for teens with PTSD
UW-Madison researchers evaluating the potential of psychedelic drugs to ease mental health conditions plan to launch a new kind of study: examining the potential for ketamine to treat teens with post-traumatic stress disorder.
UW-Madison research is $1.7B operation ready to grow, new leader says
Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska wasn’t looking for a new job when a search firm asked if she’d be interested in leading research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Grejner-Brzezinska had spent about 28 years at Ohio State University, studying GPS uses and directing the school’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise, among other roles. She was tempted, though, by UW-Madison’s national reputation as a research powerhouse.
Higher Education/System
UW system president wants more authority to pick top leaders
The new language also would eliminate the limit of three years for which a person can serve in an interim capacity for UW system senior leadership. The changes essentially would formalize what already has been happening in practice.
5 things to watch with Universities of Wisconsin in 2025
A new (odd-numbered) year brings a new state budget.
Universities of Wisconsin reviews guaranteed transfer policy
There appears to be new eligibility requirements for transferring now listed on UW-Madison’s transfer agreement page
Health
Even small amounts of alcohol can cause cancer, Surgeon General says
“From a strictly cancer perspective, there is no safe amount of alcohol,” says Dr. Noelle LoConte, associate professor of hematology, medical oncology, and palliative care at the University of Wisconsin who authored the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s policy statement on alcohol and cancer.
Business/Technology
Why you shouldn’t ‘heat up’ your car’s engine in cold weather
In 2016, Business Insider spoke with former drag racer Stephen Ciatti to get to the bottom of this widespread myth. Ciatti has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has worked on combustion engines for nearly 30 years, so he knows a thing or two about how to best treat your car. According to Ciatti, idling your machine in the cold only leads to a shorter lifespan for your engine.
UW Experts in the News
Fact check: Poll shows Trump won 18-24 year-olds in Wisconsin voting, but there’s a caveat
Barry C. Burden, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of political science and director of the university’s Elections Research Center, said there is not sufficiently reliable data to conclude which candidate got more votes among young people — or any other age group – in Wisconsin.
“Exit polls such as the one Gagnon references are the most immediate source for understanding how groups voted in the election, so they are widely used to explore voting patterns,” Burden said in an email. “But exit polls are known to have systematic errors, especially for estimating vote choices in subgroups such as 18-24 year olds, who make up a small share of the sample and can be a difficult group to survey. There is also a margin of error to consider, as in any other survey. As a result, it is not reasonable to conclude at this point that Trump won over young voters in Wisconsin.”
UW-Madison Related
First Foxconn, now Microsoft: Wisconsin town dissed by big tech
Whether the pause will affect employment in the area isn’t clear either. Microsoft did say that goodwill projects in the area, like the “AI Co-Innovation Lab” the tech giant is building with the University of Wisconsin, will continue.
They’re Adorable. And endangered. Meet the world’s smallest monkey: the Pygmy Marmoset
When de la Torre began her doctoral work in the mid-1990s, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the renowned primatologist Charles Snowdon, she thought she would study how tamarin habitats affect their vocalizations, but she soon switched to pygmy marmosets. Their smaller home ranges—often less than 2.5 acres—made it easier to collect data.