Category: UW Experts in the News

Sean Geib, assistant supervisor at the station, explains that one of its first supervisors was an individual named Harvey C. Black, a man noted for his ?Popeye? forearms. Black worked at the station from 1938 through 1970. During his career he performed more than 20,000 rescues. His name became synonymous with lake rescue on Lake Mendota.

Noted: Brookline native Stephen Kantrowitz is a University of Wisconsin historian who spoke this week as part of commemorations at the African Meeting House in Boston. His new book chronicles the struggle to abolish slavery through the lives of black activists in and around Boston who were still fighting for full citizenship even after the legal end of slavery.

Quoted: Donald Downs, professor of political science, law and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expects the ruling to be overturned on appeal, though he said it?s ?not a slam dunk.?

There could be a boom in Wisconsin?s box elder bug population this fall. UW-Madison bug expert Phil Pellitteri says the orange and black bugs are common this time of year, but their numbers tend to explode following dry summers, much like what most of the state experienced this year.

Noted: “I was quite surprised when I heard the news that I got the award, because recipients were chosen by experts who were organized by my country. It means that what we have published here is recognized at home. This really stimulated my mind,” said Xiongwei, a student at University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Noted: Schadwinkel said the original idea for the #UNL24 project came from a similar type of campaign at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the spring 2012 semester.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Human Resources redesign project will be released to the campus community Friday after over a year of development, with a goal of improving university employee recruitment and retainment in response to the recent decline in state support. According to an advanced copy of the plan sent to The Daily Cardinal by the Wisconsin University Union, the redesign aims to maintain the university?s reputation as a world-class institution by improving employee benefits to attract talented faculty and staff.

According to Robert Lavigna, director of human resources and project leader, the flexibilities granted to the university in the new plan would allow for ?a community and workforce of the 21st century that is engaged, is diverse, has the right talent and is also adaptable.?

Quoted: ?I think it?s a mistake to even suggest that what happened here was equivalent to genocide,? said Scott Straus, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who has studied the violence in Ivory Coast.

Noted: A 2012 study by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University and Stephen Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin suggests Arctic sea ice loss is adding sufficient heat to the atmosphere to change the course of the jet stream, the river of air at high altitudes along which storms track toward the polesand the equator. It suggests the jet stream is slowing down and becoming more wavy, meaning extreme weather patterns may be becoming more persistent.

Noted: The University of Wisconsin system invoked eminent domain in 2009 to seize a local bar near the Madison campus. The university hoped to use the property to build a music performance facility. The bar?s owners, who bought the property after the university announced its plans to acquire it, questioned the necessity of seizing the property. They tried to drum up public support by waging a public relations fight and endorsing legislation that would have reined in the state?s power.

A research center at the University of Wisconsin has been brought into focus for its studies regarding education and effectiveness of teaching within the Chicago Public School system.

Quoted: Jordan Ellenberg, a University of Wisconsin mathematician who writes a mathematics blog, Quomodocumque, said, ?At first glance, it feels like you?re reading something from outer space.?

Noted: The Dane County ruling said that capping union workers? raises but not those of their nonunion counterparts was unconstitutional. The suit, filed by the Madison teachers union, applied to local and school employees, but not those employed by the state or the University of Wisconsin System.

Noted: David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he wouldn?t be surprised to see either candidate court moderate or independent voters by softening their rhetoric on divisive issues.

Noted: Andrew Coan, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said that while he could not comment on the merits of the case, in general ?it is well within the scope of a trial judge?s authority to issue an order declaring a state law unconstitutional.?

Quoted: ?[Tests are] the tail that wags the dog,? said David Williamson Shaffer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies education psychology. ?And the problem is we?ve got the wrong tail on right now. We have a tail that was literally developed 100 years ago.?

Quoted: ?If it?s a pretext for getting him not to say what he said because of the content of the movie or its impact, that would raise a First Amendment concern,? said Donald Downs, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Exactly why attacks on the U.S. Embassies are happening may not be a simple answer. One local scholar says the violence is deeply rooted in the relationship between the United States and the Middle East, not just a short movie.

Noted: Now another higher education researcher is questioning the methodology and findings of the Chingos-Peterson study. In a paper published today by the National Education Policy Center, Sara Goldrick-Rab asserts that Chingos and Peterson do not make the case that “the statistically significant result for African Americans that is set forth in the report is truly statistically significant or different from the non-statistically significant result for Hispanics.”

Noted: Janet Hyde, a professor of psychology and women?s studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has studied the gender gap across a broad spectrum of skills. She believes that men and women aren?t as different as they are often portrayed, and she has mined data on social, psychological, communication and physical traits, skills and behaviors to quantify the gap. After looking at 46 meta-analyses, Hyde found what she defined as a ?very large? difference in only two skills: throwing velocity and throwing distance.

Noted: Harvard?s ROTC ranks are still small, numbering about 10 cadets in the Army program and 15 midshipmen in the Navy program. It isn?t clear how robust the programs ultimately will become, but the move to bring ROTC back represents a start in “reintegrating” the armed services with some elite institutions that have been criticized in recent years for not pulling their weight in military service, said Donald Downs, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on the ROTC.

Noted: It?s possible the increase is partly due to better detection of diseases, as well as new technologies that allow researchers to better study viruses, said Tony Goldberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Noted: Dr. Robert Hardie, a surgeon at the University of Wisconsin?s school of veterinary medicine, turned to the orthotics lab at the university?s medical school in 2005 when he could not heal a post-surgery foot wound in Sam, a 200-pound Irish wolfhound.

Quoted: Kasey Fiske, who works at University of Wisconsin-Madison.