Johnson Controls Inc. is providing research support to two University of Wisconsin campuses toward the study of batteries and other forms of energy storage. The Milwaukee-based company said Thursday it will provide faculty and laboratory space at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. Company officials say the move will help educate more energy researchers and also ensure that Wisconsin remains a center of energy expertise.
GLENDALE, Wis. — Johnson Controls Inc. is providing research support to two University of Wisconsin campuses toward the study of batteries and other forms of energy storage. The Milwaukee-based company said Thursday it will provide faculty and laboratory space at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. Company officials said the move will help educate more energy researchers and also ensure that Wisconsin remains a center of energy expertise.
Pool at Vitale?s, then dancing at Purlie?s, then winding down at Mr. P?s. For a generation, the three taverns within a mile of each other gave blacks on the South Side places in their neighborhood to mingle after dark ….However, since the three bars closed in the late 1990s, taverns that cater to blacks have assumed another pattern.
“We call them grand opening grand closings,” said Dwayne Williams, a UW-Madison budget analyst who has a side business as a music and events promoter.
Steve Jacobson traces the philosophy that guides his business to this day, after 28 years in the mortgage-finance industry, to his time playing college basketball at UW-Madison. Jacobson, 50, was a guard under Coach Bill Cofield in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it was what then-assistant and now head Badgers coach Bo Ryan used to say about the “precious present” that stuck with him most.
Progressives have found precious little to like in the 2011-2013 budget Gov. Scott Walker will sign into law Sunday at a ceremony in Green Bay. But perhaps the most regressive item is a new tax loophole ? disguised as an economic development tool ? that is projected to cost the state hundreds of millions in lost revenue over the next decade.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics
Construction equipment and materials litter the section of road known as “old” University Avenue, while crews and sandwich-board type signs direct motorists who venture down this stretch that parallels Campus Drive to area businesses ? some of which are hurting for customers.
It?s nice to see that Gov. Scott Walker?s ?open for business? mantra extends beyond the traditional sectors of Wisconsin?s economy ? agriculture, tourism and manufacturing ? to the biosciences and biotechnology. The Republican governor plans to tout Wisconsin as a great place for scientific businesses to thrive next week at the 2011 BIO International Convention in Washington, D.C. This is no small thing for Madison and Dane County, which are home to UW-Madison, its more than $1 billion in annual research, and a growing number of private companies making breakthroughs and developing products in the life sciences.
Pixie Dust was magic for a team of UW-Madison food science graduate students in New Orleans last weekend. That?s the name of the drink mix that earned them first place in a Disney-sponsored food product development contest at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting. The contest called for Disney-themed entries of products healthy for kids. Pixie Dust is made from freeze-dried fruit and can be mixed with either milk or water. It supplies the equivalent of a full serving of fruit.
Wisconsin representatives Jim Sensenbrenner and Tammy Baldwin co-wrote an op-ed on a bill to reform procedures in the U.S. Patent Office, specifically objecting to expansion of “prior user rights,” which the two lawmakers contend will suffocate small business innovation and investments. Such a new system would a disastrous effect on research at universities, they wrote, including UW-Madison, which has benefited from protection of intellectual property rights through patents.
Gov. Scott Walker has vowed that Wisconsin, on his watch, will generate 250,000 new private sector jobs by 2015 — a promise being followed closely by both the governor?s supporters and detractors. But a report released Friday by a liberal UW-Madison think tank says governors actually have little control over job creation in today?s global economy.
Quoted: Joel Rogers, director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategies
Who owns the Fluno Center? Answer: The Fluno Center is an unusual hybrid. Opened in 2000, it is owned by the Center for Advanced Studies in Business, a private, nonprofit organization established in the 1970s to support the UW-Madison School of Business.
GPS can help a tourist find the way around a strange city, tell trucking companies where their vehicles are, and guide farmers in planting their crops efficiently. Now, a young Madison company is out with a GPS-equipped product to treat asthma. Asthmapolis has developed an inhaler fitted with a GPS device and a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone. David Van Sickle, an asthma epidemiologist and honorary associate fellow at UW-Madison, came up with the idea of tracking when, where and how often asthma patients reach for the medication device.
The University of Wisconsin would have to return nearly $40 million in federal funds – money intended to pay for community networks and improve broadband service for public entities – if a state budget provision aimed at protecting rural telecommunications providers becomes law. UW officials say the proposal also would prevent research universities in the state from participating in a high-speed system that connects them with research universities nationwide. “The consequences would be catastrophic,” said Paul DeLuca, provost at UW-Madison.
Fewer than 20 spots are still available for the 2011-2012 Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Wisconsin?s economy is faring pretty well in the short term, but the long-term outlook looks shakier. At the Wisconsin Real Estate and Economic Outlook Conference at the Fluno Center in Madison Thursday, University of Wisconsin Foundation president and CEO Michael Knetter said Wisconsin has been swimming too slowly as global tides shift to technology-based economies. ?Our economic growth outlook as a state is not great in terms of the long-term fundamentals,? Knetter, former dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, told WisBusiness.com after his speech. Controversy has raged over the past few months over Walker?s efforts to curb collective bargaining for public employees, give the UW-Madison control over its own spending and policies and cut government services.
A Madison company aiming to help passengers in buses, trains and other vehicles connect to the Internet was the grand prize winner in the 2011 Wisconsin Governor?s Business Plan Contest. WiRover has developed an end-to-end software platform to deliver high-bandwidth Internet services to moving vehicles, including buses, trains, emergency vehicles and automobiles.
TomoTherapy shareholders have approved the sale of their Madison company to Accuray, of Sunnyvale, Calif., for $277 million in cash and stock. Established in 1997 based on technology with UW-Madison roots, TomoTherapy?s Hi-Art system spirals around a patient firing radiation beams at cancerous tissue.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, UW-Madison economics professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and Ken Mayer, political science professor also with the UW?s La Follette school.
“That?s opportunity knocking for all of us now.”
Gov. Scott Walker got his biggest applause line for that off-hand remark, made midway through his keynote address Thursday at an annual housing conference at UW-Madison. It came right after four hard, booming knocks ? clearly audible over Walker?s words in the packed Fluno Center auditorium ? as protesters opposed to the governor?s budget-cutting policies pounded their disdain on the outside walls of the building.
The plan to be outlined in an information-only presentation to the Urban Design Commission calls for seven buildings with a total of 408,000 square feet of build-out, plus three parking structures with a total of 1,400 stalls.
Cellular Dynamics International has an agreement letting iPS Academia Japan distribute the Madison company?s stem cell-derived heart cells in Japan. The agreement brings together CDI founder and UW-Madison researcher James Thomson with Shinya Yamanaka, a member of the Japanese company?s advisory board. Both are considered stem cell pioneers in their countries. They published articles in scientific journals at the same time in 2007 describing their separate breakthroughs in stem cell research.
WiRover, of Madison, was the big winner of the 2011 Wisconsin Governor?s Business Plan contest for its high-bandwidth Internet service for use on moving vehicles such as cars and buses. Developed at UW-Madison, WiRover won first place in the information technology category and was the grand prize winner of the competition.
Elizabeth Warren, the leader of President Barack Obama?s controversial new mortgage industry watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will not speak at a UW-Madison conference on real estate and the economy this week. But she is sending an official from her agency, Patricia McCoy, to give a short presentation about the CFPB?s new mortgage disclosure program. Other speakers include Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and Michael Knetter, former dean of UW-Madison?s School of Business and now president of the UW Foundation.
Two competing local companies, both working to produce a scarce radioactive isotope used in heart stress tests and cancer scans, have each brought in money from investors. And at least one is getting wooed by three communities to house the manufacturing plant it plans to build. SHINE Medical Technologies, Middleton, said Tuesday it is getting $11 million from investors led by Knox, a Las Vegas venture capital fund set up by UW-Madison alumnus Frederick Mancheski. SHINE?s collaborators include the UW-Madison and the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research.
The news that Republican legislators plan to send back $37 million in funding for broadband access should come as no surprise, since Republicans have made it clear they want to replace everything from Medicare to public education with privatized voucher systems, while forbidding local governments to provide services available in the for-profit market.
The Joint Finance Committee slipped into the budget bill an attack on rural Internet access which will kill a federally funded UW-Extension program to expand broadband service in underserved areas and cripple WiscNet, a public-private partnership that helps school districts and libraries get online…The amendment saves no taxpayer dollars and prevents Wisconsin from using a major federal grant.The UW System was built on the notion that public universities should use their resources to benefit the public. I urge the Legislature to remove this provision.
Wisconsin state Superintendent Tony Evers is blasting a decision by the Legislature?s budget-writing committee to reject about $39 million in federal money to extend broadband Internet access across the state. The Joint Finance Committee voted Friday to force the University of Wisconsin System to return the money and no longer support WiscNet, a non-profit cooperative that brings high-speed Internet services to about 75 percent of public schools in Wisconsin and nearly all public libraries. Evers said Tuesday that the move would likely mean WiscNet could no longer provide Internet services and if that happens schools and libraries will have to pay double or three times what they do now. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the issue may be revisited before the budget is voted on next week.
If everything falls into place, Wisconsin could land a high-tech facility to manufacture a valuable medical isotope used to detect heart disease or cancer. SHINE Medical Technologies of Middleton announced Tuesday it has secured $11 million in venture capital funding as part of its effort to develop the plant, which could create up to 100 permanent jobs.
Two competing local companies, both working to produce a scarce radioactive isotope used in heart stress tests and cancer scans, have each brought in money from investors. And at least one is getting wooed by three communities to house the manufacturing plant it plans to build.
Elizabeth Warren, the leader of President Barack Obama?s controversial new mortgage industry watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will not speak at a UW-Madison conference on real estate and the economy this week.
Quoted: Bruce Jones, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at UW-Madison
Virent employs about 100 people in Madison. Its technology, developed by Randy Cortright and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor James Dumesic, is one of six that are competing in the consortium.
Veterans interested in talking with recruiters from some of America?s largest companies are invited to a job fair Friday afternoon on the UW-Madison campus. The “Hiring Our Heroes” job fair is a joint venture of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Student Veterans of America.
Noted: One example of an attempt to encourage the “grass roots” effort that will be necessary to defeat (or amend, however unlikely that option may be) the bill is a letter from Carl Gulbrandsen (at right), the Managing Director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).Â
Noted: At the UW-Madison alone, more than 1,300 students were involved in entrepreneurship courses across the 42,000-student campus during the 2009-2010 academic year, according to a report to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. About 1,000 students took part in entrepreneurship events, such as the “100-Hour Challenge” and business plan competitions. One such competition is the G. Steven Burrill contest, which attracted 22 teams and 45 students in 2011 alone.
Gov. Scott Walker isn?t chasing star professors away from UW-Madison.Just the opposite. The Republican governor, along with UW-Madison chancellor Biddy Martin, is fighting to give UW-Madison more flexibility and autonomy so it can keep its star professors and attract new ones.
A 16-member search-and-screen committee has narrowed its picks for the next dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, and two of the three finalists have ties to UW-Madison.
A 16-member search-and-screen committee has narrowed its picks for the next dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, and two of the three finalists have ties to UW-Madison.
Gov. Scott Walker has yet to implement any of his major economic initiatives. Thankfully. Yet the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced May 11 that, because of improved tax collection projections, Wisconsin has an extra $636 million for budgeting purposes. That?s a 1.6 percent increase in tax revenue over the next two years.
The University Square Food Court closed indefinitely Tuesday, according to a sign on its door on East Campus Mall.
“In a nutshell, it was not performing as forecast. It never took on the life we intended,” property manager Todd Greenwald told Isthmus. Greenwald could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The medical director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene says women will likely die of cervical cancer if Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal eliminating $266,400 for cervical cancer screening prevails.
“I see at least 1 – 2 high-grade lesions every day during cytologic evaluations,” Dr. Daniel Kurtycz says in prepared remarks to be given Wednesday to the Joint Finance Committee, which will consider Walker?s budget request.
This story appeared first in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.
Fitchburg city officials say a 383-acre expanse now open for development could change the way people think of Dane County?s business hubs. They are ready to move forward with Nine Springs of Fitchburg ? a plan for a technology campus with housing, stores, restaurants and hotels that could be an express bus ride from Downtown and UW-Madison, built under terms of Fitchburg?s new SmartCode regulations.
Quoted: UW-Madison School of Business associate professor Morris Davis
Technology companies helped create 500 jobs in the Madison area last year and the industry now represents 10.5 percent of the work force, with 31,000 jobs.
Senate Democrats have unveiled a package of tax credits they say are designed to create jobs. Their plan includes 15 health and bioscience positions at the the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Institutes for Discovery. The package has little chance of becoming law.
Elizabeth Warren, the creator and presumptive head of President Barack Obama?s controversial new consumer finance protection agency, has been invited to headline UW-Madison?s annual spring conference on housing and the economy. If she can make it — she?s been invited, and by now must be expected, but hasn?t yet formally agreed — Warren will discuss how her agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will affect the housing industry, according to the agenda for the June 9 event, dubbed “New Partnerships: Government and Real Estate.”
Florida State University President Eric Barron has written an op-ed defending FSU taking $1.5 million from a foundation backed by Charles Koch. A remarkable article in Tuesday?s St. Petersburg Times indicates Florida State made some significant concessions to secure the gift.
The board of directors for Madison-based American Family Insurance decided Tuesday that current chief financial officer and treasurer Dan Schultz will be the company?s new president and chief operating officer.
John Bradley gets around. Bradley, a UW-Madison graduate, is researching what will be the second in a series of next-generation travel books published by Madison-based Modern Overland, a company founded by Bradley in 2009. Bradley decided to turn his passion for travel into a business, and Modern Overland?s first title, “South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland,” has just been published.
Another faith-based student center at UW-Madison has plans for a major redevelopment project, although this time the result would be less square footage for the student center, not more.
St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center wants to redevelop its property near UW-Madison?s Grainger Hall by selling off part of the site and downsizing itself to make way for a privately owned, 12-story student apartment building. The apartment building would be unconnected to the student center and have no religious orientation, said attorney Bill White, who is representing developer LZ Ventures of Madison.
Public universities across the nation continue to be hit hard by budget woes. And in an effort to retain quality, many institutions are focusing more time and energy on partnering with the private sector and wealthy philanthropists. But as desperate as some are to land these additional dollars, doesn?t a university owe it to its faculty, staff and students to say “no thanks” if too many strings are attached to these funds?
Quoted: Brad Barham, UW-Madison professor of agricultural and applied economics and incoming chair of the University Committee; Ananth Seshadri, chair of UW-Madison’s economics department; Dean of Letters and Science Gary Sandefur. Also mentioned: Richard Avramenko, an assistant professor of political science.
Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs during his four years as governor providing he makes it that far and so he?s got his staff trumpeting every small sign that he may be on his way to that goal. Trouble is, in his zealousness to pat himself on the back at every uptick in the economy, he?s making himself look foolish ? even more so than he?s already done in just four months in office.
Mentioned: Professor emeritus of economics Don Nichols
The city of Madison is considering an ambitious blueprint on how to spread the green movement deeper into the community and broaden its goals.The draft, 73-page Madison Sustainability Plan offers dozens of ideas. They range from the easily-embraced ? implementing clean-up plans to remove all city beaches from the state?s impaired waters list ? to the controversial ? exploring electronically monitored Downtown toll zones with the goal of reducing traffic and emissions. The effort has involved developers, architects, engineers, utilities, the Madison schools, UW-Madison, city officials and others.
….The Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grant program was part of former Gov. Jim Doyle?s 2008 budget and was designed to connect local food producers with local buyers. It has awarded about $220,000 annually in development grants over the past three years. Recipients in 2010 included the Bayfield Apple Co., Perfect Pasture in Ashland, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition and Green & Green Distribution in Mineral Point.
Quoted: Steve Deller, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison
But the grant program is on Gov. Scott Walker?s budget chopping block and was not included in his proposed 2011-2013 budget ? a development that some are calling short-sighted and contrary to Walker?s goal of growing the private-sector economy.
Wisconsin?s technical colleges help keep the economy humming. They are responsive to business leaders? needs and provide students with bang for their buck. They?re so popular, in fact, that enrollment is up 40 percent statewide in the last decade.
There?s only one problem. The state is in a budget crisis, and technical colleges are facing cuts just like many other state agencies, communities and schools.
….Jim Barmore of Verona has been providing technical service and management consulting to dairies for more than 25 years. He has a master?s degree in dairy nutrition from UW-Madison and spent a dozen years with Madison-based Vita Plus, a major livestock nutrition provider, and Monsanto before opening his Five-Star Dairy Consulting in 2003. Barmore explains his role as an independent dairy consultant as one of offering the dairy producer information and understanding of the many factors affecting the dairy operation: feed management, monitoring herd records, herd health, manager development, systems development, facilities and cow comfort, and risk management among them.
JANESVILLE ? Diane Pillard likes the idea of merit pay. But even though she?s the dean and campus executive officer at UW-Rock County, she can?t reward employees who excel. At least not with money.
No big surprise here given the state?s hard turn right …. but the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee has eliminated $5 million in bicycle funding from the 2011-2013 state budget. Siding with Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal, the Republican-dominated panel voted 12-4 Wednesday to remove state support for bicycle and pedestrian paths from the $6.4 billion transportation budget.
Fans attending a University of Wisconsin men?s basketball game spend an average of $98.25 while in Madison, and that doesn?t include the purchase price of the tickets. The typical Badger football fan drops $232.53 (excluding tickets) during his or her stay (nearly 76 percent of fans eat in local restaurants, and 11 percent book lodging). Even when not attending games, fans on average purchase $156.27 worth of UW merchandise annually. All told, UW athletics contributes $970 million to the state?s economy, according to a study conducted by NorthStar Economics Inc.
Downtown Madison Inc. has a keen interest in the current debate over the future of UW-Madison. The urban center of the city and the university at its heart have been intimately linked since the founding of Wisconsin. At a recent meeting, DMI?s board of directors expressed unanimous support for Chancellor Biddy Martin?s New Badger Partnership.
BadgerBites, a proposed online food order software system, won the $10,000 top price in the UW-Madison School of Business? G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition on Friday. The product, developed by Alex Wyler, Eric Martell and Matt Howard, would streamline and improve the online food order processing, according to their business plan.
