Leaders from Wisconsin’s top universities, including University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, urged Congress to reverse federal research funding cuts at a press conference Wednesday at the UW-Madison’s Health Sciences Learning Center.
March 7, 2025
Top Stories
Democratic lawmakers introduce new bill to address gaps from federal funding freeze
Wisconsin receives roughly $654 million per year in National Institutes of Health grants, which supports more than 7,700 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic activity, according to United for Medical Research.
Without additional funds from elsewhere, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said the capping of indirect costs would have a “ripple effect” on the state’s economy.
Universities of Wisconsin System president talks potential impact of NIH funding cuts
Thursday afternoon, University of Wisconsin staff and various members of the scientific community gathered to address concerns of cuts in medical research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
‘It’s gut-wrenching’: life-saving neurological research on line with NIH funding cuts, UW leaders say
Life-saving work in biomedical research is on the line, University of Wisconsin System and UW-Madison administrators said, if the National Institutes of Health makes cuts to its funding to the system.
“Taking a meat cleaver to this funding is simply wrong,” Universities of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman said Thursday.
UW leaders, Wisconsin medical researchers defend NIH funds amid uncertainty
Researchers at the Universities of Wisconsin defended their work in medical research on Thursday as they face uncertainty amidst federal funding cuts.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin warned of the danger of “indiscriminate reductions in research funding,” and medical and scientific researchers argued that funding from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is critical to their work.
He studies Alzheimer’s. Federal cuts could cripple his search for treatments
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Sterling Johnson leads one of the world’s largest and longest-running studies of people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. His team aims to diagnose the disease years before people even develop symptoms and identify ways to slow its progression. He finds his work meaningful and rewarding.
But over the past seven weeks, as President Donald Trump’s administration proposes deep cuts to biomedical research, Johnson has encountered a new feeling. Something he’s never felt since he started studying studying Alzheimer’s in 1997.
Research
New fossil discovery reveals surprising insights into prehistoric human behavior
In a press release, Professor Pickering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates that “this individual, probably a female, was only about a meter tall and 27 kg (60 lbs) when it died, making it even smaller than adults from other diminutive early human species, including those represented by the famous ‘Lucy.’”
Amid nationwide immigration crackdown, Wisconsin farmer worries about impact on the industry
An estimated 70% of the labor on dairy farms in Wisconsin are carried out by unauthorized immigrants, according to a 2023 survey from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers.
Madison teachers wary as district notifies principals of staff cuts
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have projected overall enrollment declines at Madison schools next year, according to the district’s long-range facilities plan. However, in advocating for the referendum last year, district leaders and school advocates said those predictions were imperfect. They said the district defied projections this year and anticipated future enrollment increases, citing expected growth in the city of Madison and new housing developments.
Campus life
UW-Madison announces new police chief
The UW Police Department has named its interim leader, Brent Plisch, as its permanent police chief, its third in more than three decades.
UW Police Department names new chief
University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department announced its new police chief Thursday. Brent Plisch will officially become chief March 16.
UWPD investigating attempted bike robbery outside Sellery Hall
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) is investigating an attempted strong-armed robbery outside Sellery Residence Hall that allegedly occurred on Saturday, according to a UWPD crime warning email sent to UW-Madison students and faculty on Thursday.
Voters sue after Madison failed to count their absentee ballots
The Madison city clerk’s office first informed the public on Dec. 26 about the unprocessed ballots from three wards near downtown and the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. That disclosure was six weeks after a first batch of 68 ballots was found in a tabulator machine, sealed in an envelope inside a sealed courier bag.
Trigger warnings in the classroom: Helping or hindering students? UW professor weighs in
Halverson-Bascom and Douglas Kelly professor of French Jan Miernowski said he began placing trigger warnings in his course syllabi for two reasons.
For one, Miernowski observed his students placing content warnings in their assigned essays when there is explicit content present. The second reason is that his students reached out saying they were extremely affected by the content of his course books.
UWPD investigating attempted bike theft outside Sellery Hall
The UW-Madison Police Department is investigating an attempted strong-armed robbery which occurred March 1 and was reported March 5, according to a Crime Warning emailed to University of Wisconsin students Thursday afternoon.
Brent Plisch named UW–Madison’s new police chief
Brent Plisch has been named the new chief of police for the University of Wisconsin–Madison Police Department. He will officially assume his role on March 16.
UW-Madison Police Department announces next police chief
The interim police chief of the UW-Madison Police Department has been selected to lead the department permanently.
The University of Wisconsin- Madison announced Thursday that Brent Plisch has been named UWPD chief of police, starting on March 16.
Brent Plisch named chief of UWPD
Current interim University of Wisconsin–Madison Police Department (UWPD) Chief Brent Plisch was named chief of police, UWPD announced Thursday.
Madison voters to sue over uncounted absentee ballots in 2024 presidential election
“Many of these uncounted votes belonged to University of Wisconsin students in downtown Madison. The students were voting in their very first presidential election and perhaps one of the most consequential elections of their lives,” Jeff Mandell, general counsel of Law Forward, said in a statement.
State news
How attack ads in elections for judges can affect sentencing
“There is a lot of evidence that when judges are approaching an election, they sentence people more harshly than they do in other points in their term, said Zoe Engberg, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“And there’s also a lot of evidence that shows that negative campaign ads, in particular, have a large impact on how judges make decisions in cases,” she added.
Agriculture
Got problems in the garden? Meet two experts from Garden & Green Living Expo
PBS Wisconsin spoke with two plant specialists — Lisa Johnson, Dane County Horticulture Educator, and Brian Hudelson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic — to explore resources that are available to gardeners year-round.
UW Experts in the News
First national analysis finds America’s butterflies are disappearing at ‘catastrophic’ rate
“I’m probably most worried about the species that couldn’t even be included in the analyses” because they were so rare, said University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist Karen Oberhauser, who wasn’t part of the research.
UW-Madison Related
Wisconsin federal ag workers feeling whiplash after mass firings, apparent call-backs
Reynolds, who had been hired by the USDA in August, was one of two and a half administrative and support positions at the Soil Health Alliance for Research and Engagement in Madison. The alliance is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, UW-Madison, and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.