Quoted: Jonathan Martin, chairman of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
Meteorologists stick to forecast of milder winter
Wisconsin State Journal
Author: jplucas
Odyssey Project at a glance
Wisconsin State Journal
The UW-Madison Odyssey Project is a free, six-credit course taught by university faculty.
This weekend’s college graduation ceremonies
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison: All ceremonies are at the Kohl Center.
Wis. AG: Meetings law applies to UW student groups
Madison.com
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says student government groups on University of Wisconsin campuses are likely subject to the open meetings law. Van Hollen issued an informal opinion Thursday responding to an inquiry from a group of college reporters who wanted to know whether Wisconsinâ??s open records and meetings laws applied to UW System student government.
Her odyssey ends with a UW degree
Wisconsin State Journal
The Odyssey Project provides six free credits at UW-Madison to jump-start college coursework for people who have gotten sidetracked along the path to higher education. On Sunday, for the first time, a student who started in the 7-year-old program will see it to the idealized end — graduating from UW-Madison. Kegan Carter, a 32-year-old mother of three, participated in the programâ??s very first class in 2003.
UW gets $10 million for nanotechnology
Madison.com
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have won a $10 million federal grant for nanotechnology work. The five-year grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology will go toward using nanotechnology to create a new casting technology for commercial production of aluminum and magnesium nanocomposites.
Organizers hope NCAA tourney spikes interest in volleyball (Tampa Tribune)
Tampa Tribune
Quoted: “If this is your first exposure to womenâ??s volleyball at this level, I think youâ??re going to be in awe,” said University of Wisconsin associate athletic director Terry Gawlik, who serves as chairperson of the NCAA Division I Womenâ??s Volleyball Committee. “Itâ??s fast, itâ??s furious, itâ??s emotional and itâ??s played way above the net.
Regent make-up change vetoed by Gov. Doyle (New Richmond News)
The Wisconsin Legislature approved a bill that would have changed the make-up of the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s Board of Regents.It seemed like a good idea when the proposal was approved.
AG: Meetings law applies to UW student groups (AP)
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says student government groups on University of Wisconsin campuses are likely subject to the open meetings law. Van Hollen issued an informal opinion Thursday responding to an inquiry from a group of college reporters who wanted to know whether Wisconsinâ??s open records and meetings laws applied to UW System student government.
Badgers outnumber Minnesotans on Women’s Olympic hockey team
Star Tribune
She had been through all this before, sweating her way through an autumn of hockey with the promise of the Olympics in her mind. Yet when Jenny Potter was named to the U.S. Olympic womenâ??s team Thursday with her 8-year-old daughter, Madison, at her side, it felt just as emotional as ever.
Bacteria Can Transform Minerals Electrically (ScienceNow)
ScienceNOW
Quoted: The findings provide, â??finally, the hard-core biochemical information that explains how these kinds of metabolic reactions can take place,â? says geochemist Eric Roden of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It is “the full explanation that people in many disciplines have been waiting for,” he says.
Actuarial programs at Drake, U of I honored for excellence (The Des Moines Register)
Noted: In addition to Drake and the University of Iowa, other Centers of Actuarial Excellence are: University of Connecticut, Georgia State University, Illinois State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, St. Johnâ??s University, Temple University and University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, and the University of Manitoba, Université Laval and the University of Waterloo in Canada.
UW study finds combination of anti-smoking medicine appears effective (WPR)
A study done by UW Madison researchers shows combining certain anti-smoking medications works better than just the nicotine patch or lozenge. The Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention tracked 1,300 people who had told their doctor theyâ??d like to try and quit. The Centerâ??s Megan Piper says relying solely on primary care doctors for referrals to the study was a new twist.
Five-year UW grant to support castings industry (The Business Journal of Milwaukee)
Milwaukee Business Journal
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded a $10.1 million, five-year grant to an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineering professor Xiaochun Li.
UW gets $10 million for nanotechnology
Chicago Tribune
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have won a $10 million federal grant for nanotechnology work.
Eye on Google
Inside Higher Education
Three major library associations sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Justice Department asking it to keep a close eye on Google to make sure it does not exploit its position as the owner of the worldâ??s largest digital book database to gouge libraries with exorbitant licensing fees.
Freakfest cost Madison less this year
WKOW-TV 27
Madisonâ??s Mayor says Freakfest cost the city a lot less this year.Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Thursday said the cityâ??s net cost for the annual event is down 68% from 2008 and 88% from the eventâ??s first year in 2006. The cityâ??s net cost for 2009 dropped to $41,667.
State animal, state flower, now state… microbe?
WKOW-TV 27
A bill naming the bacterium that converts milk into cheese as the official state microbe passed easily Thursday with 7-1 vote.
Monsanto to Allow Use of Seed After Patent
New York Times
Quoted: â??This is a pretty big concession for Monsanto,â? said Shawn Conley, a soybean specialist at the University of Wisconsin, who said saving seed could save farmers a lot of money.
Shinya Yamanaka Crucial to Bay Areaâ??s Role in Stem Cell Research
New York Times
Quoted: â??Reprogramming is an incredibly important find,â? said Dr. James Thomson, the University of Wisconsin researcher who first cultured a line of stem cells from human embryos in 1998.
Obituary: Harold Martin Woolf
Madison.com
Harold Martin Woolf, age 69, died peacefully at his home on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. One of Hal’s most significant accomplishments was to develop software that processed data from weather satellites into a form usable by weather forecasters and scientists around the world. Hal most recently worked for the University of Wisconsin.
Madison man arrested for 4th offense OWI
WKOW-TV 27
A man is in the Dane County Jail after being arrested on several charges, including his fourth Operating while Intoxicated offense.
Handicapping the Big Ten’s possible expansion schools
Chicago Tribune
The latest and greatest reason for the Big Ten to expand from 11? The number 18.Thatâ??s how many millions of people watched CBSâ?? coverage of the Dec. 5 SEC title game. The exact figure of 17.969 million gave CBS the most-viewed college football telecast this season. By far.
Notre Dame isn’t interested in joining Big Ten
Chicago Tribune
During his 17 months as Notre Dameâ??s athletic director, Jack Swarbrick has asked university officials about what transpired in 1999, when the Irish declined an invitation to join the Big Ten.
Kay Plantes: Why not hire in-state architects?
Wisconsin State Journal
Why is Wisconsinâ??s Department of Administration hiring out-of-state contractors when our stateâ??s economy is in crisis? In addition to using a Michigan contractor to demolish Ogg Hall, Iâ??ve learned that design contracts for UW-Madisonâ??s new buildings have also been awarded to out-of-state architects.
Darald Hanusa: Outrage absent over domestic abuse
Wisconsin State Journal
Letter from professor Darald Hanusa, on behalf of UW-Madison School of Social Work, family violence class.
On Campus roundup: Coasties vs. Sconnies, song stirs controversy
Wisconsin State Journal
Itâ??s study day on the UW-Madison campus. Exams start tomorrow. Also, UW-Madison got a $10 million grant to research lighter-weight metals.
Doug Moe: Remembering musician Dale Kidd
Wisconsin State Journal
Since Dale Kiddâ??s death Saturday, at 55, from complications of the swine flu virus, it has become evident just how many people appreciated his music and spirit. Kidd, who served in the Navy, studied fire science at MATC and worked in fire safety at UW-Madison.
Shorewood Hills apartment plan divides village
Madison.com
A developer is asking Shorewood Hills, a lakeside village of mostly single-family homes just west of the UW-Madison campus, to rezone 2.4 acres on University Avenue to build apartments for lower-income renters. But some Shorewood Hills residents say the project would strain the villageâ??s modest police force and other municipal services and be detrimental to its character.
‘Princess and the Frog’ could do better
Green Bay Press-Gazette
As the mother of a royalty-worshipping little girl, my feelings about Disneyâ??s first black princess are mixed. From the media coverage of “The Princess and the Frog,” youâ??d think it was a historical moment akin to President Obamaâ??s election.
Author: Leslie Bow is a professor of English and Asian-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
University of Wisconsin guard Trevon Hughes reaches 1,000-point milestone
Appleton Post-Crescent
Trevon Hughes belongs to Wisconsinâ??s 1,000-point club. Badgers coach Bo Ryan says his guard deserves to be on the list for 1,000 good defensive plays as well.
Hearing Gives Hunters Chance To Sound Off On Deer Herd
WISC-TV 3
Quoted: Tim Van Deelen, of the Department Of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said hunters have been getting spoiled to a certain extent and they are angry now with population numbers where they should be.
Big three database vendors diverge on Hadoop (Computerworld)
Quoted: “Weâ??d never bring Hadoop code into one of our products,” said Microsoft technical fellow and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor David J. DeWitt.
KU law dean among finalists for job at University of Iowa (Lawrence Journal World)
Noted: Linda Greene, Evjue-Bascom professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is also a finalist for the position.
Editorial: Doyle’s regents rationale is flawed
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The 18-member University of Wisconsin Board of Regents has 14 members appointed by the governor. Currently 10 of those 14 appointees are from Milwaukee and Dane counties. Thatâ??s not enough representation from the rest of the state.
Editorial: Selecting regents for UW system deserves debate (Oshkosh Northwestern)
It is tempting to characterize legislation to change the composition of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents as a solution looking for a problem. But that glib analysis does not do justice to a bill vetoed this week by Gov. Doyle.
Just Did It
Inside Higher Education
On a campus that has been a hotbed of student protests against Nikeâ??s labor practices, Provost Phyllis Wiseâ??s recent decision to join the companyâ??s board of directors has been met with a mix of anger, consternation and some degree of hope. While protesters are understandably concerned that Wise has literally gotten on board with one of their least favorite corporations, there are some who buy Wiseâ??s argument that she can be a force for change in her new position.
Doug Moe: Remembering musician Dale Kidd
Wisconsin State Journal
Since Dale Kiddâ??s death Saturday, at 55, from complications of the swine flu virus, it has become evident just how many people appreciated his music and spirit. Tributes have poured into a website, www.dalekidd.com, that was quickly established by his colleagues and friends.
Kidd, who served in the Navy, studied fire science at MATC and worked in fire safety at UW-Madison. But as Burns said, he never stopped playing. It may be better to say he never stopped thinking about music, how to get better, how to hit the perfect note. There are several friends who fondly recall Kidd pulling up at their curb unannounced and insisting they jump in and hear his latest recording or guitar riff.
At Many Colleges, Early Applications Rise
New York Times
This was the year when the frenzy to gain early admission to the nationâ??s most selective colleges seemed likely to subside, at least in part because a student admitted under a binding early program cannot seek competing financial aid offers as leverage to negotiate a better package.
Iran Says It Tested Upgraded Missile
New York Times
Quoted: “This is the missile of greatest concern at this point,â? said Valerie Lincy, a senior associate at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a nonprofit organization working to stem the proliferation of unconventional weapons that operates under the auspices of the University of Wisconsin. â??So the fact that theyâ??re testing it now is worrisome in of itself and worrisome if you put it in the context of whatâ??s going on with the nuclear program.â?
Momentum seems to be on side of Big Ten expansion
Chicago Tribune
The statement is a mere 288 words, yet itâ??s difficult to get through the 13 tedious sentences without wondering: “Is this going to be on the test?”Then again, the Big Tenâ??s goal in its “statement on expansion” was not to entertain, but to inform. And it does provide insight into how the league will determine whether it will seek to add a 12th school.
Lorrie Moore is not inside your head
Chicago Tribune
You have to be willing to have only a few friends, Lorrie Moore said. Writers, if they are honest with themselves, cannot worry about offending or how many allies they have acquired in this world. Itâ??s an obnoxious position, hard to defend. But they do not work for the Chamber of Commerce; they are not examples to the community. They are there for their story, and if it sounds harsh…
Q&A with Jerry Frautschi
Capital Times
Jerry Frautschi says the Overture Center has helped UW-Madison’s School of Music because the center helps recruit top faculty or top graduate students that have an opportunity to play in our Madison Symphony or Chamber Orchestra.
Madison-area’s economy shows strength
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Don Nichols, professor emeritus of economics and public affairs at UW-Madison.
At one elementary school, an effort to help teachers understand race
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: UW-Madison education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings.
Give voters a choice this spring
Wisconsin State Journal
If you care about how Dane County grows and spends your money, consider running for the County Board. Only three out of 37 Dane County supervisors are planning to leave their seats this spring. One open seat is in the 5th, which covers the student-dominated UW-Madison campus area, and where Sup. Wyndham Manning is leaving after a single two-year term.
Big Ten, 11, 12? Conference eyes expansion
Madison.com
The Big Ten Conference is actively pursuing a 12th team, although the process is in the preliminary stages and could take up to 18 months before a school is identified and a recommendation is made.
Big Ten evaluating expansion to 12 teams
Madison.com
The Big Ten might be getting bigger. The league said Tuesday it will explore options over the next 12 to 18 months for expansion. Big Ten presidents and chancellors decided this month that the timing is right to study adding a 12th school.
‘Coastie Song’ stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus
Madison.com
When two students recorded their first rap song together, they wanted to have fun with a cultural icon unique to the University of Wisconsin-Madison: the coastie. The term is widely used here to describe out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes, come from wealthier families and live in more expensive private dormitories. They are teased by “sconnies,” the Wisconsin kids who make up a majority of the student body. The “Coastie Song” has launched the music careers of students Quincy Harrison and Cliff Grefe, itâ??s also raised complaints of anti-Semitism, shed more light on a cultural divide among students and renewed complaints about a long-standing housing policy.
Big Ten believes ‘timing is right’ for conference to explore expansion
USA Today
Expansion of the Big Ten Conference from 11 to 12 teams is once again a possibility, the league and its Council of Presidents/Chancellors announced Monday. A 12th team would allow the conference to form divisions in football and have a championship game â?? a scenario viewed as inevitable since Penn State was voted in as the 11th school in 1990.
Evidence of Ancient Maya Colonial Expansion (Science News)
U.S. News and World Report
A manâ??s skeleton found atop a stone slab at Copán, which was the capital of an ancient Maya state, contains clues to a colonial expansion that occurred more than 1,000 years before Spanish explorers reached the Americas.
The bones come from Kâ??inich Yax Kâ??ukâ?? Moâ??, or KYKM for short, the researchers report in an upcoming Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. KYKM was the first of 16 kings who ruled Copán and surrounding highlands of what is today northern Honduras for about 400 years, from 426 to 820, say archaeologist T. Douglas Price of the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison and his colleagues. KYKMâ??s bone chemistry indicates that he grew up in the central Maya lowlands, which are several hundred kilometers northwest of Copán.
Combo drug therapies best for helping smokers quit (Reuters Health)
Reuters
Nearly one in five smokers offered help in kicking the habit while visiting their doctorâ??s office for a check-up will make a serious attempt to quit, a new study shows. And in this “real world” setting, the most effective smoking cessation drug therapy was a combination of bupropion SR (a sustained-release form of Zyban) and nicotine lozenges, Dr. Stevens S. Smith of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison and colleagues found.
Regional regents idea rightfully removed
Racine Journal Times
Because it is subject to less externally imposed fiscal discipline, government is an easier place to form small empires and duplicate services. So we owe Gov. Jim Doyle a word of thanks for his veto of a bill that would have revamped how regents are chosen for the University of Wisconsin System.
Editorial: Regents must represent entire state (Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter)
City councils, state legislatures and Congress all are comprised of people who represent particular areas. The system works well because those represented know where to turn when they have issues of concern. The representatives, of course, also deal with matters of general interest, but they are sworn to focus first on their constituents.
Was British Teen’s Death Caused By Loud Music?
ABCNEWS.com
Quoted: “Any time someone in a setting of excitement has a sudden cardiac arrest, especially at a young age with a seemingly normal heart, you have to consider [an inherited condition] such as long QT,” said Dr. Richard Page, chair of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and president of the Heart Rhythm Society. “One of the genetic variants is especially predisposed to having an arrhythmia when exposed to loud sound.”
Jesse Russell: The problem with the “What’s A Coastie?” song (Dane101)
When I first moved to Madison seven years ago anyone who hailed from one of the coasts was, understandably, considered a “coastie.” Iâ??ve watched as over the past couple of years that term has morphed into a more direct stereotype.
Song written by UW students creating controversy
WKOW-TV 27
Itâ??s called the “coasties” song, and itâ??s drumming up controversy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The song, written by two UW students, pokes fun at some of their classmates, particularly out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes.
‘Coastie Song’ stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus (AP)
Chicago Tribune
When two students recorded their first rap song together, they wanted to have fun with a cultural icon unique to the University of Wisconsin-Madison: the coastie. The term is widely used here to describe out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes, come from wealthier families and live in more expensive private dormitories. They are teased by “sconnies,” the Wisconsin kids who make up a majority of the student body.
Can you teach a college kid to compost?
WKOW-TV 27
Itâ??s a hectic time for students on the University of Wisconsin campus, with finals the main focus. At the Capital Cafe in Grainger Hall, however, theyâ??re being tested at lunchtime as well.
Got gout?
Wisconsin Radio Network
A disease that many think has died out is actually on the rise. Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in men. Weight is not always an indicator of gout but the disease occurs more frequently in obese people which is on the rise says a clinical professor of family medicine at UW-Madison. â??As our waists have expanded our gout has also expanded,â? says Dr. Zorba Paster.