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Category: Business/Technology

This growing UW-Madison lab helps students create using AI, other tech

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The Cap Times

Launched in February, the lab is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. It provides an opportunity for students from across the university to try emerging technologies — including AI, blockchain and virtual reality — and use them to potentially solve real-world problems.

“I love it because I see students progress remarkably,” said Sandra Bradley, the lab’s executive director. “When you give them a lot of … space and then hand them things that they need, the magic happens.”

America’s hidden economic crisis

Posted on
Business Insider

“My take on the inflation story is that a lot of that is uncertainty,” says J. Michael Collins, a professor of public affairs and human ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “A lot of that is, ‘I enjoyed a world better where I knew kind of what my rent was going to be in three years. Now, I have no idea how much my rent’s going to get jacked up in 2028, and that freaks me out.'”

Sleep monitors and poop tests: Health-tracking gifts find a place under the tree

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The Wall Street Journal

Giving health testing and monitoring gifts comes with some tricky etiquette questions.

“There is some risk of offending,” says Evan Polman, a consumer psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has studied gift giving. It could convey that the recipient is somehow inadequate, he says.

If you are giving devices that track both sleep and physical activity, such as those from Oura and Whoop, Polman suggests highlighting the sleep monitoring—not the fitness.

When giving health-testing and tracking devices, he suggests buying them for yourself, too. “If we’re doing it together, I think it takes away almost all of the judginess,” he says.

Donald Trump is making Joe Biden’s fatal mistake

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Newsweek

“Part of President Trump’s power has been his ability to make many people in the United States feel seen and heard,” said Katherine Cramer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Telling them that the economy is doing fine, when their every day reality tells them otherwise, runs the risk of weakening that power. Particularly for people who aren’t super interested in politics—that is, most people—every day indicators of affordability like gas and grocery prices have a big effect on how well people think the economy is doing.”

Who is Akmal Nasrullah Nasir? A brief primer on the low-key leader now heading one of the toughest ministries

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Malay Mail

With top grades, he was offered a scholarship to study in the United States.

After completing a preliminary course at the International Education College in Shah Alam, Akmal spent four years at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science and economics.

This means Akmal is essentially equipped with the skills of a financial risk manager, trained to study the financial impacts of uncertain future events.

UW-Madison, school district team up on cellphone ban

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Wisconsin State Journal

he Madison School District will partner with the UW-Madison School of Public Affairs to come up with a policy for implementing the state’s new ban on cellphone use during instructional time.

The ban, signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers in October, requires school districts to come up with such policies by July 1. The law includes exceptions from the ban for emergency situations, a student’s ability to manage their health and educational purposes authorized by teachers.

Local educator discusses Trump Administration’s $12 billion in aid for American farmers

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WXOW, Ch. 19 -- La Crosse

“It will help a lot—especially with cash flow issues—because by then, they will be finishing up paying for a lot of the inputs for the ’26 crops,” said Paul Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison Agricultural and Applied Economics Professor. “It will be nice to get some cash flow in from not selling your crop from the payments.”

In manure, UW-Madison researcher Brayan Riascos sees the future of plastic

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Wisconsin State Journal

When Brayan Riascos looks at the Wisconsin cattle herds, he sees untapped potential.

A third-year Ph.D. civil and environmental engineering student from Colombia, Riascos’ research looks at what most consider the least attractive part of dairy and beef cattle — the piles of manure — and he sees what could someday be the building block of a more sustainable plastic than traditional petroleum-based production.

Any plastic made from manure undergoes several chemical makeovers before it’s a finished product, and certainly looks — and thankfully, smells — nothing like its source material.

CPS lunchroom workers near six months without a contract: ‘No one sees us’

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Chicago Tribune

Across the country, many school districts are experiencing high vacancy rates and turnover in cafeterias — largely because of low wages, according to Jennifer Gaddis, a University of Wisconsin Madison associate professor who studies food labor and policy. A 2024 study found that school food service workers make an average of $3.16 less than custodial staff.

“It is much harder to not only improve meal quality, but also to provide a really caring, constructive environment for young people in schools when you’re dealing with that much turnover,” Gaddis said.

Baldwin, Van Orden together introduce bill to support organic farmers

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

According to data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, organic farming in the state supports more than 2,000 jobs and results in about $424 million in revenue. Wisconsin is home to 1,455 certified organic farms, covering 245,333 acres, second only to California, according to the Wisconsin State Farmer.

The new allowance

Posted on
The Atlantic

For working-class parents, however, allowances are more likely to serve an actual budgetary purpose. Parents may say, “Here, you get $5 a week,” J. Michael Collins, a professor of personal finance at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me, because that is all they can afford to give their kid to spend for fun. But that type of budgeting offers kids a valuable lesson.

How David Stevenson, a guy with a hybrid car and a solar rooftop, helped take down a burgeoning US energy sector.

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Mother Jones

“You want a healthy amount of skepticism in a democracy…You don’t want 100 percent believers,” said Dietram Scheufele, a social scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies public perspectives on science and technology. But he warned that skepticism in the US is ​“on steroids,” pushing people from the middle into polarized political camps and toward conspiratorial thinking.

Moms’ ‘mental load’ is pushing them to the brink, new survey shows

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USA Today

“Our collective expectations of fathers have shifted. We expect dads to be more involved with their kids,” says Allison Daminger, author of “What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life” and a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

“At the same time, the expectations on breadwinning and dads hasn’t changed. We’ve added to their job description. I think younger dads are starting to feel that strain.”

2 men linked to China’s salt typhoon hacker group likely trained in a Cisco ‘academy’

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Wired

To try to determine the probability of those name repetitions being a coincidence, Cary checked two databases of Chinese names and consulted with Yi Fuxian, a professor of Chinese demography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The name Qiu Daibing—or 邱代兵 in Chinese characters—turned out to be a relatively unlikely name to show up twice just by chance, he says. The surname 邱 alone, Yi confirmed to WIRED, represents just 0.27 percent of Chinese names, and in combination with the specific 代兵 given name would represent a far smaller percentage.

Is your favorite chocolate bar actually made of chocolate?

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Today

Rich Hartel, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studies chocolate for a living. He said one of the most common ways manufacturers cut costs is removing a key ingredient from their chocolate.

“Cocoa butter’s probably the most expensive component in chocolate. So if you can replace some of the cocoa butter with a different, cheaper fat, then you’re saving money,” he said.

Need a study buddy? Students explore AI tutors

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The Daily Cardinal

As final exam season starts, many University of Wisconsin-Madison students are increasingly turning to a new kind of study partner — one that never sleeps, charges hourly rates or judges a panicked 2 a.m. homework question.

Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT have become embedded in student life with 86% of students using AI in their studies, according to a study by the Digital Education Council, marking a rapid cultural shift in how students prepare for exams and complete coursework.

Women’s work: the hidden mental load of household decision-making

Posted on
The Cap Times

“I really saw a turning point during the pandemic when parents were really struggling, and moms in particular were really struggling,” said Allison Daminger, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the division of labor in adult romantic relationships.

Daminger’s book, “What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life,” examines how gender shapes household duties and why women are more likely to carry the mental load.

Wisconsin reviews registration of EPA-approved pesticides that are said to contain PFAS

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Supporters of isocycloseram said it could help with a pest that’s long shown resistance to insecticides. Russ Groves, an entomology professor and Extension specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the insecticide has been evaluated in Wisconsin to gauge its effectiveness at controlling the Colorado potato beetle. The pest eats the leaves off potato plants, resulting in serious yield losses.

“We’ve evaluated this tool alongside others, and we see that it’s a very good fit,” Groves said. “It performs well in controlling the insect.”

UW-Madison chancellor says new AI college will connect campus, serve most popular majors

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, who leads the University of Wisconsin-Madison, sees opening a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence as the right move to support in-demand majors and says funding the school won’t come at the expense of other areas of the university.

Americans drank more milk in 2024, reversing a decade-long decline

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Leonard Polzin, dairy markets and policy outreach specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said whole milk has benefited from the diet craze around protein, driven in large part by health and fitness influencers online.

“The more protein, the better. Consumers are all about that,” he said. “The other portion is kind of a shift towards healthy fats too. So for example, cottage cheese is having a real moment right now.”

‘The next step:’ UW-Madison details $80 million college focused on AI

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WMTV - Channel 15

 For the first time in more than 40 years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is launching a new college.

Approved by the UW Board of Regents on Thursday, the “College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence” is set to open in July.

“We see the new college as kind of the next step,” UW-Madison Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen said. “We envision it as a hub around computing, data and AI on our campus, but really beyond our campus too.”

Matchmaking website could connect retiring farmers with younger farmers

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Wisconsin State Journal

“If we want land to be available to new or beginning farmers, figuring out ways that the land can be affordable for them and still provide the income that the owner generation needs is key,” said Joy Kirkpatrick, a farm succession outreach specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.

UW-Madison’s new Hub envisions seeding students’ startups across Wisconsin

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Wisconsin State Journal

Surrounded by tools and wires in his lab at UW-Madison, Luis Izet Escaño holds up a tiny object, 3D-printed with metal powder in a device he created. It’s a little product that could lead to something much bigger, and he’s crafted it through his startup company.

That effort is getting some help from a new program at UW-Madison, through which he gets some seed money from the university and one year of training, with the help of campus experts, to get his company out of the door and pitch it to real-world investors.

UW-Madison’s proposed AI-focused college gets Regents’ OK

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison has the go-ahead to start a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.

The UW Board of Regents on Thursday gave UW-Madison permission to move the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS) out of the College of Letters and Science and transform it into the new college.

UW Board of Regents approves new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence

Posted on
The Badger Herald

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved the reorganization of the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences to create a new, standalone College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence during its December meeting on Thursday.

Sick of those state Supreme Court campaign ads, Wisconsin? Here’s how other states avoid them

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Wisconsin Watch

Politicians’ support for switching to partisan judicial elections seems to depend on whether they think it will help their own side. Ohio Republicans figured they would benefit from fully partisan high court elections, and they have won every race since the 2022 change, said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Similarly, Louisiana Republicans are changing Supreme Court justice nominations to regular partisan primaries, starting in 2026, instead of the state’s unique all-party primaries.

UW receives approval to move L&S’s largest majors to new AI-focused school

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The Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison received approval to separate the school’s largest and fastest-growing majors into a new college focused on Artificial Intelligence and computing ahead of next fall.

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday to authorize creation of a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (CAI) at UW-Madison, the first new academic division since 1983, when UW-Madison created the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Why UW-Madison is creating a new college focused on AI

Posted on
The Cap Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is set to create a new college for the first time in more than 40 years.

The Board of Regents — which oversees UW-Madison and Wisconsin’s 12 other public universities — approved a proposal Thursday to establish the College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.

Is my morning coffee climate friendly?

Posted on
The New York Times

A study led by Andrea Hicks, the director of sustainability education and research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, yielded similar results, concluding that single-serve coffee pods have a similar environmental impact to drip-filter and French press coffee.

“I was surprised when we first found this, after reading all of the popular press saying that single serve coffee pods were terrible for the planet,” Dr. Hicks said. “It seems the public has a hard time believing this, as well.”

Spotify Wrapped reveals the real battle for attention in the music industry

Posted on
Axios

AI-generated tracks already make up nearly one in five uploads on some platforms, said Jeremy Morris, a media and cultural studies professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, raising concerns about royalty dilution and algorithmic bias.

“Streaming is the new record-store shelf,” Morris told Axios, adding that algorithms now determine which artists get the best placement.

The math legend who just left academia—for an AI startup run by a 24-year-old

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The Wall Street Journal

Ono is an outlier whose career has been untraditional since the very beginning. As a child, pressure from his parents made him so miserable that he didn’t finish high school. Without a diploma, he still went to college, developed his passion for math and taught for decades at the University of Wisconsin and Emory before moving to UVA in 2019. He also led the nation’s top research program for elite undergraduates and mentored 10 winners of the Morgan Prize, including his new boss.

Amanda Shubert’s new book reveals the history of optical illusion

Posted on
Madison Magazine

“When you see your best friend on Zoom, you don’t think, ‘OMG, a ghost,’ or ‘How did she get so tiny and inside my computer?’” says Amanda Shubert, teaching faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of the new book “Seeing Things.” “The question my book asks is: When, how, and why did this experience of seeing things that are not there become part of daily life — a kind of illusion we enjoy, but are not tricked by?”

UW-Madison proposes moving L&S’s largest majors to new AI-focused school

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The Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to separate the school’s largest and fastest growing majors into a new college focused on Artificial Intelligence and computing.

The University  of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will vote  Thursday on the creation of a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence at UW-Madison, meeting materials show.

UW-Madison seeks approval to break school of AI, computing into separate college

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison is seeking to break its computer school out into a separate college that will focus on computing and artificial intelligence — a move the university says will position the institution as a leader in AI. The UW Board of Regents will vote Thursday on whether to move the UW-Madison School of Computer, Data, and Information Sciences (CDIS) out of the College of Letters and Science into a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.

Teaching assistant receives UW fellowship for second consecutive year: a look into his research

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The Daily Cardinal

PhD candidate Morgan Henson received the Gulickson fellowship for the second year in a row, an award given to graduate students working to improve the teaching experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His research focuses on how far-right political movements use digital platforms and media to gain political support. Outside the classroom, Henson is making a different kind of impact: helping his fellow teaching assistants.

Can we opt out of facial recognition technology?

Posted on
The Nation

Alan Rubel, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison studying public health surveillance and privacy, spoke to WPR about the issue and drew attention to the offer’s language, saying a trade rather than buying the data would be “very useful for that company. We’ve collected this data as part of a public investment, in mugshots and the criminal justice system, but now all that effort is going to go to training an AI system.”

Small businesses feel more uneasy ahead of the holidays after a year of slow sales and high costs

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“If you are a consumer worried about what’s going to be happening to your food, housing or health care expenses, you might start to cut back on the categories that are less essential or in the categories where you have options,” said Tessa Conroy, associate professor and economic development specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

How much will Thanksgiving dinner cost in Wisconsin in 2025?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It’s more uncertain this year somewhat because of the government shutdown but also because of some other factors moving around in some of these markets,” said Jeff Hadachek, assistant professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Generally, I anticipate prices will be higher, but the question is: ‘How much higher?’”

UW research examines AI’s role in journalism

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The Daily Cardinal

Tomas Dodds, journalism professor and founder of the Public Media Tech Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, hopes to help local journalists understand the implications of AI in the newsroom by providing a variety of resources, such as training sessions and workshops.

“In the newsroom, you don’t know how your colleagues are using AI,” Dodds said, adding that the Public Media Tech Lab would facilitate discussions in the newsroom where coworkers could disclose how they use it and create AI usage policies from these discussions.

Kids are expensive. Do they have to be?

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NPR

Families across the country are asking that same question when it comes to childcare, as the yearly costs for daycare are becoming comparable to a year’s rent in many places. How did childcare become so expensive, and how might everyone benefit if the government provided more support to parents? Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jessica Calarco, and Senior Fellow at the Think Tank Capita Elliot Haspel are here to help Brittany find out.

Researchers examine the professional skepticism of audit partners

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Forbes

The research team examined the audit reports of 19,200 financially distressed companies in Belgium between 2008 and 2017. The vast majority of the companies examined were private companies, as is the case with most Belgian companies. The study is authored by Kris Hardies from the University of Antwerp, Sanne Janssen of the Court of Audit, Ann Vanstraelen of Maastricht University, and Karla M. Zehms from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

UW-Madison wants to conduct more research with the Department of Defense

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Wisconsin State Journal

As the pot of federal funding for research at universities and colleges continues to shrink, UW-Madison’s campus leaders are positioning the university to grow its work with the Department of Defense.

That doesn’t mean UW-Madison researchers will be at the forefront of developing new bombs, said Vice Chancellor for Research Dorota Grejner-Brzezińska.

Microsoft partners with UW-Madison, Princeton to accelerate AI scientific discovery

Posted on
Channel 3000

Microsoft, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton University, and the New Jersey AI Hub, announced a unique partnership with TitletownTech to accelerate scientific discovery.

This new model will combine the agility of a startup, the technology of a global company, and a university’s expertise.

Wisconsin joins clinical trial to see if AI can catch more breast cancer cases

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The trial, led by the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Davis will look at hundreds of thousands of mammograms at UW Health and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s medical school, as well as academic medical centers in four other states. Wisconsin researchers say it’s an important foray into better understanding both the potential benefits and drawbacks of using AI in cancer screenings.