Quoted: Alfonso Gutierrez, associate director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison E-Business Consortium.
RFID system aids hospital in tracking assets
Wisconsin Technology Network
Author: jplucas
Digital video leading to preserving more tribal history, events (Spooner Advocate)
Her name is Hsuan-Yun Pi, an incredibly knowledgeable doctoral student in the ever-evolving digital video communications field. Her recent visits to the St. Croix Reservation at Hertel and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) in Hayward gave the students and community members there hands-on practice with the latest equipment and spurred digitally preserving the two tribes� history, activities and events.
Her trip to Indian Country had been arranged by Susan Gooding, a Native American Studies adjunct professor at LCO College and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago. The project was funded by Richard Barrows, dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Former UW-Madison star wonders how many races she might have won
Duluth News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Suzy Favor Hamilton insists she carries no bitterness, but wonders how many races she lost because her leading rival was aided by performance-enhancing drugs.
Favor Hamilton, who turns 38 next month, spoke to reporters Wednesday at the opening of the NCAA track and field meet, where the former Wisconsin running star was honored as one of two outstanding student-athletes on the 25th anniversary of the women’s championships.
College Officials Worry That Justice Dept. May Require Records on Internet Use
Chronicle of Higher Education
A proposal by the U.S. Justice Department to require Internet-service providers to retain information about their clients’ online behavior has higher-education officials worried that colleges, too, could be forced to do so.
“We favor helping law enforcement,” said Rodney J. Petersen, a policy analyst at Educause, a higher-education technology group, “but our concern is when the help extends to information that we normally don’t retain.”
Maximum Pell Grant Would Increase in 2007 Under Bill Approved by House Subcommittee
Chronicle of Higher Education
An appropriations panel of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to raise the maximum Pell Grant next year by $100, to $4,150, but provide no increase for the National Institutes of Health.
The plan would restore funds for several education programs that President Bush had proposed eliminating in his budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which starts on October 1.
Among the programs that would be spared are Upward Bound and Talent Search, two of the TRIO college-preparation programs for disadvantaged students; and Gear Up, another college-preparation program, which focuses on needy middle-school students. Spending for all three programs would remain the same as in the current fiscal year.
Moo-ve Over Gas Guzzler! (WPR)
Wisconsin Public Radio
(MESA, ARIZONA) A group of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering students are out in the Arizona desert this week competing with 16 other universities to produce a new fuel-efficient SUV. The project is calls ââ?¬Å?Challenge X.ââ?¬Â
The contest is sponsored by General Motors and the Federal Department of Energy. It�s taking place in GM�s proving ground near the city of Mesa. The goal is to increase SUV fuel efficiency by 50 percent, reduce harmful emissions and still have a car that can carry a family pulling a boat on their vacation. (Third item.)
College kids rank what’s most popular
USA Today
That iPods are ââ?¬Å?inââ?¬Â on college campuses might not surprise you. That Apple’s portable music players are more popular than beer? Now that’s surprising. Beer traditionally has had the biggest buzz with college students: Seventy-five percent consider drinking beer ââ?¬Å?inââ?¬Â on their campuses, according to Student Monitor’s Lifestyle & Media Study.
Wisconsin Front And Center At Stem Cell Summit (WPR)
Wisconsin Public Radio
(UNDATED) Those who have a stake in stem cell research will gather in California this weekend. Scientists will sit alongside patient advocates as they listen to keynote speakers. One of them will be Wisconsin�s Governor; Jim Doyle has actively recruited biomedical companies to the state and vetoed legislation that some feared might inhibit stem cell research.
Making A Difference: Tess Arenas
WKOW-TV 27
A minority can face many challenges in life, from discrimination on their sexual orientation to racism.
Accused murderer Armstrong to face new trial
Wisconsin State Journal
Ralph Armstrong, the accused rapist and murderer of 19-year-old UW-Madison student Charise Kamps, will finally get what he’s been asking for since his 1981 conviction: a new trial.
UW-Madison’s Henry Mall tops latest endangered properties list
Wisconsin State Journal
One of the oldest parts of the UW-Madison campus tops the 2006 Ten Most Endangered Properties List by the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation.
Henry Mall was developed between 1903 and 1924 following design recommendations of the university’s first Master Plan in 1909. The trust says it is now the “only place on campus that retains the integrity of this crucial period in campus development.” The central rectangular space contains the Beaux-Arts Agricultural Hall built in 1909 and has architecturally similar structures from the same period to the west.
Harvard, Boston hospital to attempt embryo cloning
USA Today
Scientists at Harvard and Children’s Hospital Boston announced Tuesday they have the green light to clone human embryos that could generate stem cell lines for specific diseases.The researchers join a small cadre of scientists worldwide attempting to do what a South Korean scientist claimed to have done, only to have his work unravel when it was exposed as a fraud.
`Workhorse’ has get-tough stance on immigration (Chicago Tribune)
Duluth News
Quoted: David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Did UW-Stevens Point dancers step over line in risque pics? (Stevens Point Journal)
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Administrators are investigating whether members of a university dance team violated school policies after photos on an Internet Web site appeared to show underage drinking and sexually suggestive poses at a team “initiation party.”
Talk Swirls Over Great Lakes Windmills (AP)
San Francisco Chronicle
Government and industry officials are set to meet in Madison and Toledo, Ohio, this month to talk about the prospects for installing giant electricity-generating windmills out in the Great Lakes.
Oral Drops For Allergies (WFRV-TV)
(CBS News) MADISON, WI Researchers Here In Wisconsin.. Are Testing An Experimental Medicine.. That Could Change The Way Allergies Are Treated.
They’re Oral Allergy Shots.. Called Sublingual Immunotherapy.. Or Slit.. And Doctors At UW-Madison Are Studying It.
Student Loan Consolidation Deadline Approaching
NBC-15
Time is running out for students and graduates to consolidate their college loans. At the end of the month, interest rates on federal loans will be going up, some by more than two-percent. It is also the last time current students can consolidate before they finish school and there is a lot to consider.
Police Look For ‘Bad Heroin’ Link In Recent Overdose Deaths
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — A legal drug used to give fast pain relief has been linked to dozens of deaths and a drug called “bad heroin.”
In the last month, two people have died of heroin overdoses in Madison.
State Contract Selection Committee Member Tells Jury How Travel Contract was Chosen
WKOW-TV 27
Federal prosecutors called more witnesses against a state worker who faces charges of fraud. Georgia Thompson faces two felonies after a lower-scoring travel agency won a state travel contract.
That agency, Adelman Travel of Milwaukee, donated $20,000 to Governor Jim Doyle’s campaign around the time of the contract process.
Colleges Want More Rah, Rah From Magazines (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal
In five turbulent years as president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers has endured often brutal media coverage, with critics labeling him “patently ignorant,” “divisive” and in need of “diplomatic potty training.”
And that’s just in the pages of his school’s own alumni magazine.
‘Christecology’ takes root
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Rick Lindroth, a UW-Madison ecology professor who studies climate change and an elder at Blackhawk Evangelical Free Church in Madison.
Skype’s hype
Wisconsin State Journal
Paul Hanson uses a free online voice communication service to stay connected with his students and colleagues around the world. A research scientist at the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison, Hanson said sometimes e-mail just won’t do.
“There are times when you need to have a conversation,” said Hanson, who studies lakes, ponds and streams. “But a long-distance phone call to, say, Thailand can be just too expensive.”
To cut costs while reaching out to faraway scientists, Hanson uses Skype. With more than 100 million customers around the world, this free system is growing in popularity and is as simple to use as your home computer.
Free Tuition A Recruitment Tool
Wisconsin State Journal
It is with much trepidation and angst that I disagree with the May 29 editorial supporting the Wisconsin GI Bill. This bill gives veterans of the war in Iraq free tuition anywhere in the University of Wisconsin System and at any technical college in the state.
I acknowledge the horrors that our troops have endured. I understand that we want to do everything we can for our returning veterans. But I also know that the military is experiencing difficulty recruiting young people to join the effort to establish a pro-U.S. government in Iraq. Offering free tuition will simply aid the recruiters of these young people.
Wispolitics.com Stock Report
Wisconsin State Journal
6.8 PERCENT IN-STATE TUITION INCREASE SOUGHT
The UW Board of Regents are under fire again for a proposal that would raise tuition for in-state students 6.8 percent next fall. According to the plan, up for Regents review this week, the increases would translate to $382 more per year for students at UW-Madison, $374 more at UW-Milwaukee and $291 more at all other UW campuses. The plan would also lower out-of-state tuition at all campuses except UW-Madison as part of a plan to attract more students from other states.
Know Your Madisonian: Yolanda Garza
Wisconsin State Journal
Why is what you do important? I am able to help victims or survivors of various crimes and other students in crisis through a difficult time, providing services that assist them in succeeding in school and, hopefully, throughout their lives. I also have the opportunity to work with various student groups that are under-represented and help them find a voice on this rather large campus.
New Fund Aimed At Research Technology
Wisconsin State Journal
A new pot of money is about to become available to promising young technology businesses in Madison and around the Midwest.
Venture Investors, a Madison venture capital firm, has closed on $69 million in commitments for its new fund, Venture Investors Early Stage Fund IV Limited Partnership.
Study: Strict Parenting Could Lead To Overweight Children
WISC-TV 3
Quoted: Dr. Jeffrey Sleeth, a University of Wisconsin health pediatrician.
Native Americans Reach for the Stars (Voice of America)
Voice of America
The Native American perspective of the night sky isn’t widely known in the astronomy community, largely because so few Indians choose science as a career. But some Wisconsin professors are out to change that, by associating modern science with tribal traditions. (Audio.)
Cybercrime spurs college courses in digital forensics
USA Today
One of the hottest new courses on U.S. college campuses is a direct result of cybercrime.Classes in digital forensics ââ?¬â? the collection, examination and presentation of digitally stored evidence in criminal and civil investigations ââ?¬â? are cropping up as fast as the hackers and viruses that spawn them.
Duke Reinstates Men’s Lacrosse, With Warning That Party’s Over
New York Times
DURHAM, N.C., June 5 ââ?¬â? After two months in limbo, the Duke University men’s lacrosse team was given a second chance Monday.
The Duke president, Richard H. Brodhead, who in April canceled the team’s season after a woman accused three players of rape, said the men’s lacrosse team would be reinstated, with strict stipulations.
Supreme Court Will Hear Affirmative-Action Cases With Potentially Broad Meaning for Higher Education
Chronicle of Higher Education
Deciding once again to weigh in on the explosive debate over affirmative action, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take up the question of whether race can be a factor in assigning students to public schools.
UW Hospital Opens New ER
NBC-15
The UW Hospital on Monday unveiled yet a new addition that’s been five years in the making: it’s upgraded its Emergency Department.
At a cost of more than $15 million, UW’s new state-of-the-art ER is expected to pave the way for a new era in emergency medicine.
Educate, protect against AIDS
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin has the lowest rates of HIV in the nation, but that shouldn’t lull us into a false sense of security about the virus and the disease it causes.
AIDS remains the world’s No. 1 infectious disease, killing 3.1 million people each year. By the beginning of this year, an estimated 38.6 million people in the world were living with HIV infections or were ill with AIDS.
Half a million Americans have died of AIDS since 1981. There’s no cure, and an effective vaccine is at least a decade or more away, say UW-Madison researchers. This makes it even more imperative that people adopt protective behaviors.
Caution: High Yield Ahead
Chronicle of Higher Education
To some admissions officials, January seems like a long time ago. Then, a sharp increase in applications surprised many colleges, and enrollment experts assumed that high-school seniors had caused the inundation by applying to multiple institutions. The conventional wisdom was that a wave of “frivolous applicants” had hit academe.
Vast DNA databank pits policing against privacy (Washington Post)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Quoted: Michael Smith, a University of Wisconsin law professor who favors a national database of every American’s genetic ID.
Big babies (Wall Street Journal)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Quoted: Frank Greer, professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on nutrition.
Climate Change: The View From the Patio
New York Times
Quoted: Jonathan Patz, of the Nelson Institute and the department of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin.
Demand for CIOs rises in Big Ten (The Purdue Exponent)
Five Big Ten schools, including Purdue, are searching for chief information officers, a position one University official said is difficult to fill.
Steve Tally, spokesman for Information Technology at Purdue, said this position is fairly new and Purdue hired its first and current CIO, James Bottum, in 2001.
Microbes do vital work in human gut (The Scientist, UK)
The Scientist
Quoted: Jo Handelsman, of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who has performed metagenomic studies of microbial ecology in soil.
Deserts will inherit the Earth (Independent, UK)
Quoted: Jon Foley of the University of Wisconsin.
Trial set for state worker accused of steering contract to Doyle donor (AP)
Duluth News
MADISON, Wis. – Trial is scheduled to begin Monday for a state employee facing fraud charges for allegedly steering a lucrative travel contract to a company whose executives donated $20,000 to Gov. Jim Doyle’s re-election campaign.
Geneticist investigated for misconduct (The Scientist, UK)
The Scientist
An investigation into the work of Elizabeth Goodwin, a former associate professor of genetics and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found “several publications in which at least one figure was questionable,” according to William Mellon, the university’s associate dean for research policy, who commissioned the probe late last year.
Study sees rise in futile cancer treatment (AP)
Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
Quoted: Dr. Timothy Wassenaar of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Veterans warned of possible hazard from prostate exam (AP)
Times Argus (Vermont)
Quoted: Dennis Maki, an infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
States leading way to boost minimum pay (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Tribune
Quoted: Laura Dresser, associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bremer Wins Award For Licensing Work
Wisconsin State Journal
Howard Bremer, emeritus patent attorney with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, was honored Friday with the 2006 Jefferson Award by the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association. Bremer, a pioneer in university technology transfer and intellectual property law, was also founder of the Association of University Technology Managers and helped champion the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, giving universities and nonprofit groups the right to hold patents on their own inventions.
Know your Madisonian: Yolanda Garza
Wisconsin State Journal
Why is what you do important? I am able to help victims or survivors of various crimes and other students in crisis through a difficult time, providing services that assist them in succeeding in school and, hopefully, throughout their lives. I also have the opportunity to work with various student groups that are under-represented and help them find a voice on this rather large campus.
She’s a small fish, but only fish in net
Wisconsin State Journal
Frank Tuerkheimer, a UW- Madison Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said while he has seen defendants plead guilty on the eve of a trial, agreements to testify against others – what he calls “investigative plea bargains” – are usually reached far earlier in the process.
Harvard makes ambitious life sciences gamble (Reuters)
Yahoo! News
CAMBRIDGE, Mass (Reuters) – As Harvard University searches for a new leader, questions loom over its last president’s most ambitious project: turning America’s oldest university into the nation’s hub for life sciences.
American Society of Health Economists meets in Madison
Wisconsin State Journal
A high-level group of scholars and researchers is meeting in Madison this week – people who could have an impact on a wide variety of health-related issues facing many of us, from Medicaid coverage to obesity treatment.
The American Society of Health Economists, an organization formed two years ago, is holding its first conference, and UW-Madison is hosting the event.
Under watchful eyes
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
After you’ve buckled your seat belt and made sure your tray table is in the upright and locked position, you can feel pretty certain that for the most part your flight will be humdrum.
Nevertheless, there are atmospheric conditions that can make aviation hazardous – thunderstorms and volcanic ash are two. And researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and elsewhere are working to improve knowledge of these potentially flight-interrupting events by using data from weather satellites.
Editorial: Qualified and diverse are compatible
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin System is changing its admissions policy for all but the flagship campus Madison, which has long practiced the holistic approach to which the other campuses are switching.
A principle to guide the switch: UW campuses must enroll only students who qualify.
Surveillance cameras becoming part of everyday life (The Janesville Gazette)
Quoted: Robert Dreschel, a UW-Madison journalism professor specializing in media law.
University Square Demolition Begins
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — Demolition is under way to make room for a brand new University Square, which will change the Madison skyline.
Suicide on the Mind (Inside Higher Ed)
Inside Higher Education
While the annual American College Health Association conference in New York City was filled with many questions this year ââ?¬â?? where the profession is headed and how to assist mentally ill students looming large among them ââ?¬â?? the problem that is attracting ever more attention from many health professionals continues to be the ever-present risk of suicide on campus.
Solar Energy Often Makes Dollars And Sense
Wisconsin State Journal
Q: What’s the prognosis for solar power in the alternative energy market?
A: It looks bright. Solar power is available and, for certain uses, already economical, says William Beckman, director of the Solar Energy Laboratory at UW-Madison.
But is Wisconsin sunny enough?
“People ask that question no matter where they live, except maybe if they live in Phoenix,” says Beckman.
University Square plans a ‘green’ park-like rooftop
Wisconsin State Journal
Adding green space to a downtown structure can be a challenge, but Executive Management Inc. found just the spot for it – on the roof.
A “green” roof that will provide a small park-like environment and catch rainwater is the newest design element of the company’s $190 million University Square project, which began construction today.
It’s a bovine bonanza as CowParade debuts Downtown
Wisconsin State Journal
Dozens of flashy fiberglass cows will descend on Downtown Madison Saturday morning, covered in everything from the American flag to Georgia O’Keeffe paintings to picturesque vistas of the Wisconsin countryside.
It’s the beginning of CowParade Wisconsin, an international event that mixes community, charity, artistic creation and, of course, colorful cows.
The artsy herd coming to the Madison area consists of about 100 life-size cow sculptures, which state artists have designed and painted in recent months to represent facets of life in Wisconsin.
One of the cows, designed by UW-Madison senior Emily Gritt, wears a UW Marching Band uniform. Calling her design “Moo Rah Rah Wisconsin,” Gritt says her cow will be visible in front of the Kohl Center on Saturday.
US ‘falling behind’ in stem cell research (Guardian, UK)
Guardian (UK)
A lack of state support for stem cell research in the US has resulted in the country falling behind other nations in this area of science, a group of American politicians said today.
Gut reaction: Scientists get first good look at intestinal bacteria (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Quoted: Jo Handelsman, a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.