Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: With the recent unseasonably warm temperatures, it’s likely many stink bugs are awakening from their winter slumber. And that means stink bugs are among the top bug complaints now rolling into the inbox and voicemail of University of Wisconsin Extension entomologist P.J. Liesch.

“From their point of view, they want to hunker down in the winter and leave in the spring,” Liesch said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It might be 30 outside but if it’s a sunny day, it might get warm enough in some spots for them to get active.”

Quoted: Another eminent scholar of forgiveness, Robert Enright, Ph.D., a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of The Forgiving Life, tells Thrive: “Forgiveness does not invalidate the quest for fairness. Justice and forgiveness should grow up together.” By saying he was sorry and modifying his behavior over the last decade, Toussaint says Hart has “balanced the scales of justice.”

Noted: Interview with Majid Sarmadi, a professor of textile science.

Noted: Nearly 19 percent of those 65 and older are working full time, according to Anita Mukherjee, an assistant professor of business at the University of Wisconsin­–Madison.

Early retirees have helped Wisconsin’s rural and vacation communities, said Steven Deller, a professor and community development specialist with UW–Madison’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Quoted: “Everything just grinds to a halt,” said Mike Ballweg, a University of Wisconsin Extension agent in Sheboygan County.

The rules and policies to put the massive piece of legislation in place are largely written by USDA employees at many levels.

“And that’s a mad scramble. They really work hard to get all that in place as quickly as possible,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The shutdown is “coming at a bad time, for sure,” Stephenson said.

USDA isn’t “writing the checks or doing the things to get payments out to dairy farmers, corn and soybean growers. So that’s a problem,” he added.

Quoted: “It’s always a little tough to tell exactly where rates are going to go in the near future,” said Clifford A. Robb, associate professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I do think 2019 will see a little bit more rate increases.”

Noted: Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences

Noted: Brad Pierce, who directs the Space Science and Engineering Center at the UW-Madison, says you could also try to understand the difficulty by considering the mathematical models and resulting graphs that became known as the Lorenz Butterfly.

Panelists include Monica White, an assistant professor of with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Community and Environmental Sociology.

Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, said Georgia’s 3 percent rejection rate is significantly higher than the national rate. More troubling is the variation by county, he said. Some counties reported rejecting 10 percent of their absentee ballots, while others reported almost no rejections. “The variation … indicates that different standards are being applied across the state,” he said.

Quoted: But face-to-face contact is different. “You realize the humanity,” says Dominique Brossard, chair of the department of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “It reminds you that those of us who don’t agree are actually alike in so many ways. They’re real human beings.”

Noted: Although school and residential zoning is a critical segregation issue, it is not the only perpetuator. Dr. Walter C. Stern, a historian of education at University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained that, historically, cities like New Orleans allocated resources and protections disproportionately to white communities, and these practices continue today despite anti-discrimination laws.

Quoted: “It’s a new way to study this,” said structural geologist Randy Williams of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He added that he’d be interested in seeing a comparison to actual rock.

Quoted: Dennis Dresang, UW-Madison emeritus political science professor, Tom Oliver, a population health sciences professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and UW-Madison transportation expert Eric Sundquist, director of the State Smart Transportation Initiative.

Quoted: Gifts you already own and like. Recipients liked gifts better when the giver owned them, too, according to six studies published together last year in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “There is something intimate about sharing—think of sharing a meal or a bed or watching a movie together,” says Evan Polman, assistant professor of marketing at Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author on the study. “The same thing happens when people share a material item. It brings the giver and receiver together and gives them something to talk about.”

Includes interview with Karen Holden, Professor Emerita of Consumer Science, School of Human Ecology and of Public Affairs, Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, Affiliate: Center for Financial Security,.

Interview with Assistant Professor Robert Yablon.

Quoted: “People should just expect to wait and see how this plays out,” said Justin Sydnor, an associate professor of actuarial science, risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.