Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: “There?s definitely a multiplier effect,” said Dr. George Wilding, director of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. “You end up with thousands of jobs and millions and millions of dollars.”

Noted: The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of Michael Kissick, an assistant University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who participated in protests at the Capitol, including the daily noontime sing-a-long. Kissick said he stopped coming to the Capitol in September when police began arresting and citing people who were demonstrating without a permit.

Noted: UW entomologist Phil Pelliteri said the flooding rains brought mosquitoes back in full force across the state.

Quoted: “This is a long term process. We?re looking out 15, 20 years so we?re starting slow and proceed with caution,” said Tom Olson, who oversees the University of Wisconsin Foundation?s $2.1 billion endowment, which has commitments with Actis.

Noted: It wasn?t just for-profits that had quibbles with the process. Sara Goldrick-Rab, an associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, was on the 10-member panel that was to consider the standards. According to an audio recording of the panel?s one meeting, Goldrick-Rab took issue with what she saw as flawed and “instigating” data the board?s staff members had used to come up with the benchmarks. She criticized their focus on “input data” without adequate attention to the academic preparation of students who attend the state?s for-profits.

About 35% of the workforce in the city of Milwaukee earn “poverty level wages,” according to a report released Wednesday by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a left-leaning research arm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: Along the same lines, Timothy Smeeding of the University of Wisconsin, writing with Jeffrey P. Thompson, measured income trends from 1989 to 2007 and concluded that ?inequality measures peaked in 2007 at their highest levels in 20 years.?

“There?s nothing inviolate about 10 days,” says Dr. Ellen Wald, chair of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin who led the committee writing the new guidelines for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “If you want to give them another day or two to see if they get better on their own, that?s perfectly reasonable.”

A report by the Cooperative Childrens Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that only 3 percent of childrens books are by or about Latinos ? even though nearly a quarter of all public school children today are Latino.

Many who oppose high levels of Latino immigration argue that these new immigrants don?t learn English as quickly as prior waves of European immigrants did.

Professor Robert Haveman discusses the analysis by La Follette School students that shows no evidence of an existing or impending general labor skills gaps in a June 10 interview with Greg Neumann of WKOW-TV (Channel 27) in Madison for the Capitol City Sunday show.

Two years ago, the state Legislature moved to sever the University of Wisconsin?s ties to a provider of Internet service. Now some lawmakers are outraged that the UW System has picked this same provider to continue serving its campuses.

(10) CommentsEnlarge PhotoTwo years ago, the state Legislature moved to sever the University of Wisconsin?s ties to a provider of Internet service. Now some lawmakers are outraged that the UW System has picked this same provider to continue serving its campuses.

Once a newly bipartisan version of an elections reform bill becomes law ? and given that it would probably result in massive boosts to state lawmakers? campaign funds, its chances are good ? we?ll see which version of democracy is at work in Wisconsin.

Noted: Constipation is not just a problem of childhood. ?There?s a fairly large literature in adults in terms of the adverse affects of chronic constipation on quality of life,? said Dr. Arnold Wald, a gastroenterologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who has written about constipation in both adults and children. ?Many studies have suggested it has an impact consistent with what we see in a lot of chronic illnesses, inflammatory bowel disease and so forth.?

What?s the appeal of performance enhancing drugs for big-name athletes? Allegations have been made about Major League Baseball players and the owner of a Florida-based anti-aging clinic. Greg Landry, professor of pediatrics and orthopedics at UW Madison?s School of Medicine and Public Health, was asked why players like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez would feel the need to ? allegedly ? take performance enhancing anabolic steroids.

A snowy winter and a rainy spring in Wisconsin have helped breed more mosquitoes.

A group of UW-Madison alumni is trying to create a fund that would boost entrepreneurship in Wisconsin, one of the alums said Wednesday.

Why, yes, we do agree with Charlie Sykes, who has described the Joint Finance Committee?s absurd assault on the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism as ?petty, vindictive and dumb.?

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Extension agronomist Dan Undersander says this is the biggest case of winterkill that he has seen in more than 20 years.

Sit in at any economic development conference in Wisconsin these days and you?re bound to hear talk about the ?skills gap.?

Quoted: “She is wonderful. She has such a green thumb,” said Mo Fayyaz, a University of Wisconsin botanist and director of the school?s greenhouse.

Noted: Brian Kelly, acting secretary of the Business, Transportation & Housing Agency, said in a prepared statement that experts from the State Smart Transportation Initiative, a group housed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will “take a fresh look at Caltrans operations and help improve performance, communications and management.”

Quoted: “We don?t know what effects the widespread use of this vaccine might have on influenza virus evolution,” said Thomas Friedrich, a flu researcher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “It might be difficult for viruses to mutate to avoid detection by this particular antibody, but if they did, they would render the vaccine useless.”

Quoted: “I think there are people who will say this is 100% horrible. I think there are some who will say it?s a great thing ? it?s an opportunity for U.S. agriculture to get U.S. products into the hands of Chinese consumers,” said Jeff Sindelar, an associate professor who researches the global meat industry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And then I think there is a larger segment of people right now who aren?t really sure.”

Quoted: ?Your mother or father doesn?t come up and tuck you in at night and read you equations,? said Geoffrey Borman, a professor at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin. ?But parents do read kids bedtime stories, and kids do engage in discussions around literacy, and kids are exposed to literacy in all walks of life outside of school.?

Noted: “If they?re down by 50%, that sounds like we?re gaining on them, but because of the high incidence with carrying Lyme disease, like I said, you still have to keep your guard up,” said University of Wisconsin Insect Expert Phil Pellitteri.

Quoted: Timothy Smeeding, director of the University of Wisconsin?s Institute for Research on Poverty, called the amendment ?ridiculous.?

One theory is that sea ice loss alters atmospheric patterns that cause the jet stream to swing north or south for prolonged periods, creating warm or cold spells that last days or weeks. In short, Arctic warming “essentially loads the dice” in favor of more wavy, erratic jet stream patterns, said professor Stephen Vavrus, a University of Wisconsin researcher who has worked on some of the studies.

Quoted: Community colleges reflect the areas they serve, said Sara Goldrick-Rab, an associate professor of education policy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the study?s co-author. Most have open-door admissions and attract local students.