University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers are working with Madison-area manufacturers on medical face shields for healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients.
UW engineers, local manufacturers work to produce medical face shields
NBC-15
Category: Business/Technology
Coronavirus will affect everyone, even if you never get sick. But some people will be hit harder than others.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: A 2015 study of influenza and credit card and mortgage defaults in 83 metro areas found the largest effects were for 90-day defaults, suggesting a flu outbreak has a “disproportionate impact on vulnerable borrowers who are already behind on their payments.”
“And that’s just a regular flu, not a pandemic where you actually are having people sent home before they’re sick,” said J. Michael Collins, one of the study’s authors and professor and director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Before coronavirus, Milwaukee service workers could work more hours to get more money. Now, everything is closed — and they’re in trouble.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: One in five Wisconsin workers holds “a poverty wage job with few benefits,” according to a 2018 report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Social distancing would be a lot less inequality promoting if we had the infrastructure of strong medical care, insurance and housing supports for low-wage workers, but we don’t,” said Laura Dresser, a labor economist and the associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. “That means that this crisis tends to push the inequality along, instead of the crisis showing how connected we are and pulling us closer together.”
Know Your Madisonian: Small Business Development Center director enjoys challenges of launching companies
Wisconsin State Journal
Michelle Somes-Booher had been helping entrepreneurs and small business owners get their companies off the ground long before she became director of the Small Business Development Center in Madison … The center is based in Grainger Hall on the UW-Madison campus and is open to anyone in Dane, Columbia and Sauk counties.
What Does the Covid-19 Economy Look Like? Chicken Prices Might Hold a Clue.
Wall Street Journal
The outbreak could cut the country’s annual gross-domestic-product growth by half, said Ian Coxhead, an economist who studies Asian economies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he cautioned that making such projections is difficult.
What Are The Telltale Signs Of A Department Layoff?
HuffPost Life
If you want to know if your job is in jeopardy, consider whether management has laid people off recently, said Charlie Trevor, a professor of management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin–Madison school of business.
Biotech company makes new discovery in hormone imbalance research
Badger Herald
Startup company JangoBio develops organoid therapy for hormone imbalances.
Fox Valley Manufacturer Cuts Quarterly Earnings Projection Due To COVID-19-Related Disruptions
Wisconsin Public Radio
COVID-19 is expected to have a major impact on the global economy. Projections have become increasingly pessimistic in recent weeks as the virus has continued to spread, said Ian Coxhead, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor. He noted some forecasts predict negative economic growth in the U.S. during the second quarter or even over the whole year.
Hidden Cave Cidery moves beyond traditional ciders with innovative flavors
Madison Magazine
As a graduate of Middleton High School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Fanning’s local roots are an important part of his business model and larger mission.
Despite application decline, new UW business school dean is committed to MBA degrees
Wisconsin State Journal
Despite receiving fewer applications and enrolling its smallest class in at least a decade, UW-Madison’s traditional, full-time graduate business program won’t be shuttered anytime soon.
Fox Valley Manufacturer Cuts Quarterly Earnings Projection Due To COVID-19-Related Disruptions
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: COVID-19 is expected to have a major impact on the global economy. Projections have become increasingly pessimistic in recent weeks as the virus has continued to spread, said Ian Coxhead, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor. He noted some forecasts predict negative economic growth in the U.S. during the second quarter or even over the whole year.
“The fortunes of any company in the state or in the U.S. are going to be, first of all, determined by the macroeconomic health of the U.S. economy,” Coxhead said.
Newell Brands Is Investigated by SEC
Wall Street Journal
Quoted: “The goodwill impairment test is one of the most second guessed of the accounting tests that exist,” said Thomas Linsmeier, professor of accounting and law, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Business schools scramble as demand grows for online MBAs
Financial Times
Yet the tuition fee of $74,520 for the 54 credit hours required to complete the course is comparable with that for a residential MBA at a school such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison or Texas A&M.
The Feeling You Get After Surviving Layoffs Has A Name
HuffPost Life
After a layoff, “employees see less of an obligation to be loyal to the company, resulting in more of a free agent mentality,” said Charlie Trevor, a professor of management and human resources in the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “With this mentality comes the freedom to actively seek another job where, hopefully, one’s future will be less tenuous.”
Starting Up: Company started at UW-Madison hopes to make paint production greener
Wisconsin State Journal
Barnett discovered the plant-based method while working on his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at UW-Madison in professor George Huber’s lab.
After a turbulent end to 2019, Wisconsin manufacturers are optimistic. Cautiously optimistic.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Noah Williams is the founding director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He expects automation to have a more prominent role in Wisconsin manufacturing as companies continue to face worker shortages.
Thompson leadership center allocates $1 million for public policy research, conferences
Badger Herald
Grant will bring prominent speakers to UW System campus.
Pier 1 Imports Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Wall Street Journal
Quoted: Those rivals have increasingly moved into selling home furnishings and merchandise that were once virtually the exclusive domain of Pier 1, according to Hart Posen, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin.
“You’d see something in someone’s house—a wicker-rattan chair or an elephant-themed umbrella holder—and know it came from Pier 1,” Mr. Posen said. “You could buy it at Pier 1 or nowhere, but that’s just not the case anymore.”
Pier 1 Imports, the Struggling Home Goods Retailer, Files for Bankruptcy
The New York Times
“Twenty years ago, you could look at a product and you would really know that it came from Pier 1,” said Hart Posen, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin School of Business who studies corporate decision-making during technological change. “They were really the only big national firm with that kind of unique identity.”
Madison startup developing drugs based on bones, teeth has new WARF license
Wisconsin State Journal
The technology stems from research by Bill Murphy, a UW-Madison biomedical engineer who is the company’s co-founder and chief scientific officer. It is based in part on archaeological studies that showed proteins in fossils could remain stable for centuries if associated with calcium-based minerals.
Madison company’s surgery imaging device approved by FDA
Wisconsin State Journal
The technology is based on research at UW-Madison’s Morgridge Institute for Research … Surgeons at UW Hospital are expected to be among the first to use the device, within the next two months, before a nationwide launch later this year, said Adam Uselmann, CEO.
MBA programs want STEM designations to attract foreign students
Quartz at Work
In 2016, the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Madison became the first business school to win STEM classifications from DHS.
UW business grad aims to change diabetics’ lives with a piece of plastic
The Capital Times
The business major was sitting in his entrepreneurship class when his instructor told the class to “focus on problems that you have yourself and try to solve them.” Michels thought of the medical problems he could have avoided if he’d been better able to rotate injections sites, and he thought of the millions of American insulin users who face the same limitations.
Regulators Probe Potential Dean Foods Merger
Wall Street Journal
Quoted: Absorbing Dean’s operations could give DFA more than 60% share of fluid-milk sales in upper Midwestern markets like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, said Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin Madison law professor emeritus and former antitrust attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jeffrey Sommers: Wisconsin needs another Dane County — and Milwaukee’s research institutions can help
The Capital Times
Column: As one of just over 100 Tier 1 institutions in all the U.S., UW-Milwaukee could be our state’s second driver of enterprise and innovation. The problem is UW-Milwaukee is underfunded by any reasonable metric.
More signs emerge that the pace of Foxconn’s Wisconsin project is falling short of expectations
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Plans for the institute surfaced in August 2018 as part of the unveiling of Foxconn’s partnership with UW-Madison, a partnership best known for the company’s pledge of $100 million to the university.
Foxconn’s donations to date stand at the previously reported $700,000, university spokesman John Lucas said Tuesday by email. He directed questions about the research institute to Foxconn.
‘They want to just keep playing:’ UW-Madison student invents new tailgate-type game |
FOX6Now.com
A University of Wisconsin student is changing the tailgate game — literally.
CEO Turnover: Why CEOs Are Bailing Out In Droves
Investor's Business Daily
Many CEOs are at or nearing traditional retirement age, says Fabio Gaertner, associate professor at the Wisconsin School of Business at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Generational change is creating more churn,” he said. The average age of S&P 500 CEOs is 58, a point at which many CEOs, especially if successful, might think about packing it in.
The Incredible Shrinking Corporate Tax Rate Continues to Hit New Lows for These Business Giants
Fortune
Some experts have said that trying to follow the ITEP analysis was difficult. “It was hard to tie their numbers to the financial statements I looked at,” says Mary Vernon, a PhD candidate and tax researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business who is part of a research team currently looking at effective tax rates.
Retailers hope to cash in on the year’s final weekends
WTMJ
Quoted: “Typically, the Saturday before Christmas is very close to Black Friday in sales,” said Executive Director of the Kohl’s Center for Retail at UW-Madison, Jerry O’Brien. “There’s a lot of people [where] it’s actually part of their tradition, you go out just before the holiday and buy the stuff.”
O’Brien says one of the advantages of having a mid-week Christmas is the potential many workers might either start their holiday next weekend, or begin a long weekend at the start of Christmas.
“Additionally, it’s the time where people are taking their returns in, and they have gift cards, so there’s a lot of traffic in the stores and there’ll still be some really great deals out there,” he said.
How Madison, Wisconsin Cultivated a Quietly Booming Startup Scene
Inc.com
Long known as a biotech and health care hub–from which university graduates often fled to bigger cities–Madison today is home to rising wages, plenty of incubators, and booming upstarts. And, finally, there’s financing for all the innovation.
Analysis: Trump Tariffs Cost Wisconsinites Millions (So Far)
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Maria Muniagurria said the retaliatory tariffs will have long-term effects beyond that $12 billion. They give other countries a chance to swoop in and take America’s spot in China’s supply chains, like Brazil did when China put tariffs on American soybeans, she said.
“Suppose we end the trade war with China, and China removes the tariffs. Well, we are not sure we are going to be able to recover the market again,” Muniagurria said.
Madison tops list to grow tech jobs in the Midwest, say 2 national think tanks
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison is primed to become the next great technology hub in the country if it receives federal financial help to drive such economic growth, according to a new report.
Most new tech jobs concentrated in just five U.S. metropolitan areas
The Washington Post
The explosion of top-tier tech jobs has clustered in a handful of coastal hubs, expanding the wealth and innovation differential that’s draining talent from the rest of the nation, new research shows. Madison is noted prominently in the study as an area that could become a major tech hub.
A Few Cities Have Cornered Innovation Jobs. Can That Be Changed?
The New York Times
There are about a dozen industries at the frontier of innovation. They include software and pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and data processing. Most of their workers have science or tech degrees. They invest heavily in research and development. While they account for only 3 percent of all jobs, they account for 6 percent of the country’s economic output. Madison is noted prominently in the study as an area that could become a major tech hub.
Brookings: 90 percent of high-tech job growth happened in 5 metro areas
Vox
Brookings suggests intensive government investment — direct funding, tax preferences, workforce development — to stem future regional economic divergence. The report lists a number of areas like Madison, Wisconsin; Albany, New York; and Provo, Utah, that have existing assets like universities that could potentially make them future innovation hubs, but this will only happen if there’s a concerted effort.
Q3 2019 Hedge Fund Holdings: Top Stocks, New Buys & More
WalletHub
Ivan Shaliastovich, associate professor of finance, quoted: “As a brief remark: the tariff wars will have a negative impact on the markets and the economy. This is a good example of a bad uncertainty:’ most market participants and business executives view tariffs as a downside risk, and are unlikely to take on substantial investment projects in light of a heightened uncertainty about the outcome. We already see an occasional upsurge in volatility as the markets attempt to interpret and respond to the news about tariffs negotiations. It’s only a matter of time when delays in investments will lead to slower growth in the US and elsewhere.”
Industrial dairy farming is taking over Wisconsin’s milk production, crowding out family operations and raising environmental concerns
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Dean “had bigger, industrywide issues with the consumption of milk products. But the loss of the Walmart business was just another thing they didn’t need,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It’s a Good Time to Be a US Airline
Adweek
While airlines haven’t exactly been scandal-free over the past few years, the net effect of negative press hasn’t had any measurable effect on profit, said Kaplan. Grounded Boeing planes might mean fewer seats in the sky for some airlines, but that can both drive up prices and offer unaffected airlines the opportunity to pick up new customers and increase capacity.
-Kathryn Lundstrom is a reporter covering breaking news. Before joining Adweek, she wrote about politics for The Daily DONUT, analyzed policy at the Texas Capitol, worked as a fellow for The Texas Tribune and checked facts at Sports Illustrated. She holds an M.A. in journalism and a master of global policy studies from the University of Texas at Austin and got her B.A. in international studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Co-founders of Madison’s Fetch Rewards named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Madison-based Fetch Rewards‘ co-founders Wes Schroll and Tyler Kennedy were named to Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 listing.
Schroll and Kennedy made the consumer technology list that the magazine announced Tuesday. The pair met while students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Schroll dropped out to build the company in 2013.
Wisconsin’s job market has shifted since Great Recession
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Having the University of Wisconsin is a big asset for Madison, where 44.8% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher. That compared with 34.5% in metro Milwaukee and 27.1% in the Green Bay area.
Amazon picks UW Health doctor as a ‘Women owned small business of the year’ finalist
NBC-15
Her success has been recognized by Amazon. She was one of the finalists for “Woman owned small business of the year.” She finds out at the end of November if she won!
As Utilities Cut Carbon Emissions, Some Transitioning Faster To Renewables
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: However, Greg Nemet, public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and affiliate with the Wisconsin Energy Institute, said the cost of batteries now looks like solar around a decade ago.
Dean Foods, one of nation’s largest dairy processors, files for bankruptcy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: “I think that certainly was a blow for them, but it was only one of many they’ve had,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My Son Will Probably Not Take A High School Personal Finance Course. Here’s Why.
Forbes
Similarly, the University of Wisconsin-Madison features for-credit classes, workshops and individual consultations in its Badger$ense Financial Life Skills program.
‘Who built this beautiful place?’ Despite Trump’s visits to his properties, some of his businesses show new signs of financial decline.
The Washington Post
Quoted: “A night or two? Not so much,” said Mark Eppli, a University of Wisconsin business professor who reviewed financial data on Trump’s hotel in Chicago at the request of The Post. “It’s one night out of 365.”
Governor Declares Energy Emergency As Farms, Rural Residents Create High Demand For Propane
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Joe Lauer, agronomist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he started advising farmers to start buying propane over the summer after wet weather caused major planting delays across the state.
“Whenever that occurs, we typically have some fairly wet corn,” Lauer said. “We just haven’t gotten a break this year in terms of the weather. It’s been really cold and wet through most of the season.”
To meet rising demand in field, the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences adds data science major
Badger Herald
School also plans to have data science certificate in future.
A summit in Egypt will decide the future of 5G and weather forecasts
The Verge
Quoted: “This isn’t a one and done with 24GHz. We could be having similar discussions about a few other important bands,” says Jordan Gerth, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. That’s because satellites use other high-frequency bands to study things like clouds and air temperature.
Wisconsin Dairy Economists Say 2020 Will Be ‘Restorative’ Year For The Industry
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: The production increase comes after several months of declines from 2018 levels. Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he was surprised by the change.
“(There were) fewer cows than we’ve had in all of our earlier months of the year, so a continued decline there, but milk production per cow had a strong growth,” Stephenson said. “That usually doesn’t happen unless we have pretty good quality feed and a real strong incentive to produce milk.”
Google moves into new Madison office with sweeping views of the Isthmus
Wisconsin State Journal
Having an office in Madison allows Google to leverage the talent at UW-Madison, Naughton said. A former UW-Madison professor of computer sciences, he earned his bachelor’s of science degree from the university in 1982.
Harvest Struggles Across Wisconsin Could Impact Supply Of Livestock Feed
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Liz Binversie, agricultural educator for University of Wisconsin-Extension in Brown County, said she has heard farmers describe silage as like pickling vegetables.
“You’re kind of pickling the feed, right? You’re preserving it long term. And what’s doing that is the microbial population,” Binversie said.
Foxconn Innovation Centers On Hold Across The State
Wisconsin Public Radio
Not long after Foxconn Technology Group announced plans to build a massive manufacturing facility in southeast Wisconsin, the tech giant began making promises to share its model for economic development across the entire state. But 18 months after purchasing its first building in downtown Milwaukee, there is little evidence that what Foxconn calls its innovation centers are moving forward.
Wages for residential construction workers near 20-year high
Milwaukee Business Journal
Noted: The study, titled “Impact of Real Estate on Wisconsin’s Economy,” was authored by Mark Eppli of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graaskamp Center for Real Estate and uses wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the 2001 to 2017 period.
Little movement in Foxconn innovation centers in Madison, across Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Journal
In Madison, Foxconn has said it intends to use part of the nearly century-old, six-story office building at 1 W. Main St. to serve as its off-campus hub to collaborate closely with UW-Madison faculty and students on research in medical, material, computer and data sciences.
Little movement on Foxconn ‘innovation centers’ in Wisconsin
Washington Post
MILWAUKEE — Foxconn Technology Group promised to make a splash in Wisconsin beyond the sprawling manufacturing facility it is building in the southeast of the state, but there’s little evidence that plans to build the so-called “innovation centers” are moving forward.
Wisconsin’s aging workforce threatens the state’s economic vitality, but there are solutions available
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: The state could focus on attracting more people from other states or countries. Our research has shown more people have moved away from Wisconsin than into the state every year for more than a decade. One option to try to reverse this trend would be for the University of Wisconsin System to continue to increase enrollment of non-resident students at its institutions, which it has already been doing in recent years.
The women who made themselves billionaires
CEO Magazine
Noted: Faulkner said that she first worked on an electronic health records system as a project when she was pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With help from cheese, milk prices finally improving
AgWeek
Quoted: Mark Stephenson is the director of dairy policy analysis with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’re about $1.30, $1.40 higher per hundredweight on milk than we were this time last year,” Stephenson says. “So we’ve had a definite improvement.”
WEDC, UW System award grants to help 8 Wisconsin companies bring products to market
Wisconsin State Journal
To promote the commercialization of those businesses, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and University of Wisconsin System awarded eight of those companies further funding through its SBIR Advance fund to help them bring products to market.