As the health care industry continues to struggle with staffing, UW Health is looking to artificial intelligence to help nurses respond to patient messages more efficiently.
Wesley, 54, grew up in Gary, Indiana, and moved in 1997 to Milwaukee after earning his law degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is where he started his career at Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP, met his spouse, and raised a family.
“You would have to go back to the big drought year of 1988 to find a drier May, and before that, all the way back to the thick of the Dust Bowl in 1934,” said Steve Vavrus, a climatologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin! Learn how your favorite Wisconsin dairy products – from cheese curds to ice cream – are made with these episodes from PBS Wisconsin.
Jessica Calarco, a sociologist and associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, says writing her book “Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net” was a “labor of fury” and a “labor of love.”
Jason Fletcher, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said during the early 20th century, producers of tree crops like apples commonly used the chemicals when preparing for an emergence.
“Because cicadas are known, when they’re coming and where they’re going to be in general terms, certainly in the past, farmers tried to protect their crops by dousing everything with pesticide,” he said.
Less than 1 percent of the state is considered to be experiencing drought, according to the latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
It’s made for a quick end to a long period of drought, state climatologist Steve Vavrus said.
“Drought has virtually disappeared from Wisconsin finally, after 12 solid months,” he said.
John Shutske, professor and agricultural safety & health specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said from the beginning, Wisconsin’s age minimum has been much younger than other farm states who have similar requirements. National best practices for farm safety recommend youth be at least 14 years old before being allowed to operate equipment.
Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Insect Diagnostics Lab PJ Liesch received the first reports of Brood XIII cicadas in Wisconsin this year out of the Lake Geneva area just over a week ago. With some of the best-documented historical cicada activity in the state, Lake Geneva could very well be Wisconsin’s “bug central” this summer. Residents have already shared photos of cicadas covering tree trunks, sidewalks and other surfaces.
The Main Street Agenda is a project designed to focus on the issues Wisconsinites rank as most important heading into the 2024 election. The topics come from a survey of nearly 4,000 residents conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey Center in partnership with the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Jefferson County and surrounding areas have ample agricultural products to fuel the growth of ClonBio, which requires corn to make ethanol; and Kikkoman, which requires soybeans and wheat for its soy sauce. Also, the county is well positioned to attract other food companies and biotech startups from the University of Wisconsin System.
Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison are looking to take 3D printing out of this world, successfully manufacturing computer components in zero gravity.
UW–Madison is home to a two-year training program, known as the Master Meat Crafter Program, that offers members of the meat industry new skills and knowledge to take their careers to the next level. Created in 2010 by Jeff Sindelar, Ph.D., a professor and extension meat specialist in Animal & Dairy Sciences, it is a one-of-a-kind program that brings people from across the country and abroad to Madison to earn the “Master Meat Crafter” distinction upon graduation.
The mission, called PREFIRE, short for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, includes two shoebox-sized satellites or ‘cubesats’ to find out how much heat Earth’s polar regions radiate out to space and how that influences our climate. University of Wisconsin professor, and principal investigator for the mission, Tristan L’Ecuyer spoke to Corin Dann.
WARF Therapeutics’ portfolio includes innovations tied to “theranostics,” a term for delivery of radioactive drugs that can be diagnostic and therapeutic in the same dose. In short, it’s about pinpoint targeting of potentially malignant cells for both diagnosis with one drug and destruction with another.
“These loans can be appealing to those with poor or limited credit histories, yet they carry inherent risks,” says Anita Mukherjee, a professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. “Specifically, they often come with significantly higher interest rates and fees due to the increased risk lenders assume by not checking credit. The allure of accessibility should be carefully weighed against these loans’ short repayment terms, which can make monthly payments more challenging.”
But its greatest strength may be its giant universities, such as The Ohio State University in Columbus, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a number of others.
Meanwhile, new technologies like artificial intelligence will give cybercriminals new frontiers, said University of Wisconsin-Madison computer science professor Somesh Jha, who specializes in security. While machine learning tools can be used to automate some parts of the cybersecurity process, they also offer bad actors new ways to wreak havoc, like, for example, interfering with self-driving cars.
Jackie McCarville is a regional dairy educator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension in southwestern Wisconsin. She also feels like concern around avian flu has died down, especially as many farms begin work in their fields this spring.
“But I think it’s still in the back of a lot of minds: what happens if it does get into Wisconsin?” McCarville said. “What considerations should we be looking at? It’s a great time to look at your biosecurity plan to see what you can do to protect your farm.”
Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said much of the national dairy industry has been opposed to doing more testing for the virus on farms. He said the number of avian flu tests in cattle across the country has actually declined since the federal order requiring them went into place.
Menzie Chinn, a macroeconomist at UW-Madison, said much of the United States’ strong recovery can be attributed to federal stimulus programs.
“We were much more aggressive, so it’s no wonder that we’ve recovered in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic much more rapidly,” he said.
Wisconsinites can be jailed for failing to pay public fines and court debts. We talk with John Gross, a clinical associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and director of the Public Defender Project, about how frequently it happens and how it affect the justice system.
The slate of new initiatives to help them get there includes: Partnering with the University of Wisconsin’s Connected Systems Institute and Gateway Technical College to establish an an AI Co-Innovation Lab, an immersive training program for companies learning to operate in an AI environment. Microsoft has two other labs, both on the West Coast.
The jobs and training programs are tied to the construction of Microsoft’s massive data center, the company’s TitletownTech partnership with the Green Bay Packers, the company’s involvement with the University of Wisconsin’s Connected Systems Institute and technical education programs that Microsoft has supported in northeastern Wisconsin and Milwaukee.
The connection between humans and dogs has long been studied by researchers in fields like anthropology and psychology—but not by many economists. Interview with David Weimer, author of a new book that studies human-canine relationships through an economic lens.
Dr. Keith Poulsen, director of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, has been monitoring a strain of avian influenza called H5N1 that has so far been identified in dairy cows in nine states. It has not been found in Wisconsin, but Poulsen said researchers are testing cows that are transported across state lines.
Beth Olson, an associate professor of nutritional sciences in the Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently spoke to WPR’s “Central Time” about
An innovative program at UW-Madison is connecting communities throughout Wisconsin to education, outreach, technical assistance and research to help local governments solve challenges and improve livability and wellbeing.
University of Wisconsin–Madison Vice Provost and CIO Lois Brooks shares how an internal group supports a vibrant, collegial IT community at the university.
With Colorado becoming the ninth state to confirm bird flu in dairy cattle last Friday, Wisconsin farmers are becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza virus.
It’s having a deep impact on the labor force. According to a 2023 report from High Roads Strategy Center, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin’s women labor force participation dropped below 60% for the first time since the late 1980s.
“Our relative (workforce) advantage shrank quite substantially over the last two years,” said Laura Dresser, associate director of High Roads Strategy Center. “We know that child care has been in crisis, even before the pandemic. Our structures for taking care of kids tend to weigh heavily on women and on women’s work.”
Column by Menzie Chinn, professor of Public Affairs and Economics in the UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Economics.
The UW-Madison’s Fusion Technology Institute lists 167 Ph.D. graduates and is the largest program in the United States for advanced degrees in fusion engineering. Since 1965, the university has produced more than 400 graduates overall in fields such as plasma experimental, plasma theory and fusion technology.
“I came to Madison because of its nuclear energy programs,” said Oliver Schmitz, a Germany native who is the associate dean of research innovation in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. “Whenever I travel to fusion events elsewhere, it seems like 80% of the participants are UW-Madison graduates.”
In Madison, more than half of renters were “cost-burdened,” with over 30 percent of their income going to housing in 2015. That’s higher than the rate for the rest of Dane County and the rest of Wisconsin, according to an analysis from University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Lab.
“Available housing is incredibly low,” said Grace Kobe, who co-directs the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Eviction Defense Clinic, which is part of the partnership. “And so much of that housing that is being built is not affordable, and so when folks are facing eviction, or not facing eviction and just trying to find somewhere to go, their options are so incredibly limited here.”
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison students is heading to Minneaoplis next week for a national competition they hope could net $50,000 for their startup, SideShift. Like a dating app for jobs, the social media-inspired tool is designed to make it easier for small businesses to hire college students.
Heather Kirkorian, professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researches the effects of media on children’s development. Kirkorian said media effects vary widely among individuals, noting it can pose both positive and negative outcomes. While clear evidence exists of manipulative practices to keep youth engaged longer, she said a direct link is lacking between the use of social media and an increase in suicidal ideation or mental health problems.
“It’s really important for us to understand that the effects of media are not the same for everybody, and some groups of children might be disproportionately affected by media,” Kirkorian said.
“First, consider whether an online savings account is the only banking product you need right now,” says Jonathon Ferguson, a financial capability specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Financial Education Division of Extension. “Online savings accounts can be great due to their relatively high-interest rates and tech tools. However, these accounts do not solve all needs.”
We live in a time when fake news permeates social media feeds and partisan coverage blasts through some cable news channels. Teaching media literacy can help people wade through the disinformation and become critical news consumers. As Christina Lieffring tells us, a video game created by UW-Madison’s Field Day Labs aims to teach students to become more media literate and what it takes to be a journalist.
Avian flu remains prevalent in Wisconsin’s wild bird populations and the risk to farms this year is about the same as recent years, said Ron Kean, a poultry specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Kean said lasers are a great option to reduce spread of the disease.
“Keeping the wild birds away from our domestic birds seems to be a big part of biosecurity,” he said.
Nielsen data shows that the top streaming service on home televisions is not Netflix or Hulu but YouTube. UW–Madison media studies professors Jonathan Gray and Derek Johnson weigh in on how the video social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok are becoming the top competition for the television and movie industries.
Column by Erik Iverson, chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said the case highlights the importance of immediate action by dairy farmers if they see disease symptoms in their animals, which can include decreased lactation and low appetite. He said the people working on a farm with sick animals should be monitored closely.
“We don’t think that it’s a significant public health threat at this point,” Poulsen said. “But just like in our farms with poultry (highly pathogenic) avian influenza, they’re getting a large challenge, so we need to watch them very closely, and make sure that everyone is provided with the best public health care that we have available.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison public affairs assistant professor and property tax expert Ross Milton said it is hard to find academic literature with “real world evidence” of how higher property taxes are shared between tenants and landlords.
He said renters voting Tuesday should be aware that landlords can decide to make them bear the brunt of higher property taxes. However, Milton added that property companies can raise rent whenever they want in Wisconsin, regardless of a new tax. “We don’t have rent control in Wisconsin,” Milton said.
Founded in 2013 by CEO Wes Schroll and fellow UW-Madison student Tyler Kennedy, Fetch users scan shopping receipts and can earn points based on the items purchased. Those points are converted into redeemable awards, which include gift certificates, charitable donations or contest entries.
For the members of Ohe·láku, a co-op of Oneida Nation families growing their traditional white corn together, what started as an experiment has become a success story.
A few years ago, they partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to test different cover crop mixes to restore soil they grow on, which had been depleted under prior ownership. Cover crops are left in the soil after the primary crop is harvested. The idea is to make sure the fields are never bare, increasing soil fertility, limiting runoff and keeping the soil moist.
“From Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back” was written by researchers Pablo Aquiles-Sanchez and Laura Dresser of the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The center describes itself as a “think-and-do tank” promoting solutions to social problems that focus on shared growth and opportunity, environmental sustainability and resilient democratic institutions as “necessary and achievable complements in human development.”
“The need for sheep shearers is at an all-time high around the country and globally,” said Todd Taylor, a manager of the sheep research unit for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Taylor said the physical demands of the job, mixed with experienced shearers retiring, is contributing to the shortage.
Written by Ross Milton ,an assistant professor with the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the political economy and public finance of state and local taxes and includes studies of tax limitation policies and the effects of local taxes on alternative revenue sources.
During a strangely warm winter that made maple trees ready to share their sap earlier than usual, a Wisconsin forestry outreach specialist found a constant: The state still has a lot of trees ripe for tapping.
While Wisconsin trails Vermont, New York and Massachusetts for maple syrup production, Wisconsin has more untapped maple trees than any other state, according to Tony Johnson, a natural resources educator for the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
“There is a lot of room for growth,” Johnson said recently on WPR’s “Central Time.”
Berens previously produced a video with former interim Universities of Wisconsin President Tommy Thompson during the COVID-19 pandemic in a “smash off” contest, urging residents to get tested for the virus.
As automation and artificial intelligence become bigger parts of the workplace, employees will be relied on more for their “soft skills” like time management and interpersonal communication. We talk to Matthew Hora, an education professor at UW-Madison, about where and how we teach and learn those skills and how we can improve them.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into education, both students and faculty are grappling with the question ‘How can AI support learning?’
UW’s generative AI policies vary from classroom to classroom, depending on instructor preference, and students are responsible for getting permission ahead of time if they are unsure of classroom expectations. But, students are always required to cite paraphrasing and word for word text created through instructor-approved AI usage.
University of Wisconsin students are banding together to evict Starbucks from campus. Specifically, students want the university to end the licensing contract that allows Starbucks to have a location inside of Smith Residence Hall, which opened in 2020.
Zach Feiner is a research scientist at the state Department of Natural Resources and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology. On WPR’s “The Morning Show,” Feiner said the state hopes lowering the number of fish caught can help walleye recover.
It’s quiet as a group of eight people stand bent at the waist, intently staring at a pizza sitting on a gleaming stainless-steel counter.
It’s an early March Wednesday morning, and they are in the Hilmar Cheese Dairy Applications Lab of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research.
It is not yet clear whether the bill that passed the House will get a vote in the Senate. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if it passes.
Even if that happens, there would surely be legal challenges, said University of Wisconsin-Madison law school professor Anuj Desai.
“I suspect the government’s first defense, so to speak, is this is not a ban on TikTok,” Desai said. “It is an attempt to get ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company.”
Researchers, students at UW identify ways to regulate use of AI in workforce.
Dave Schroeder, a national security strategist and cybersecurity expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Americans may be vulnerable because China has an app on millions of cell phones.
The content that can be pushed on TikTok is also a problem, he said, even if most of it is benign.
“There’s a concern there that the messages or the narratives that might be subtly pushed on TikTok are going to be those that are supported by the Chinese government,” he said.
The pay gap for men and women in Wisconsin is worse than the gap between genders nationally, even as female representation on the state’s corporate boards continues to grow.
Nationally, women working in full-time, year-round jobs earn about 84 cents for every dollar a man makes, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Wisconsin, women make nearly 81 cents to every dollar a man makes, Census Bureau data shows.
A recent report from the University of Wisconsin-Extension found the pay gap persists, even for those with college degrees.
