Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: As Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, correctly observed back in 2008, the New Hampshire polls were wrong not because they overestimated Obama?s support; rather, the polls consistently underestimated how many voters would cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton. In fact, the polls were only wrong about the former first lady.

Noted: The latest economists to get on the inflation bandwagon are Menzie Chinn of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Jeffry Frieden, who teaches international monetary policy at Harvard.

Quoted: A study conducted in Milwaukee showed that one of every 20 renter-occupied properties is evicted each year. In mostly black neighborhoods, the rate is one in 10 households. The research was based on an analysis of court records and fieldwork from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by sociologist Matthew Desmond, now at Harvard University.

Quoted: ?Some studies have questioned these treatments, but the bulk of clinical trials have unequivocally endorsed them,? said Dr. Michael Fiore, director of the University of Wisconsin?s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention and the chairman of the panel that wrote the guidelines. Dr. Fiore, who has reported receiving payments from drug makers, said that ?there are millions of smokers out there desperate to quit, and it would be a tragedy if they felt, because of one study, that this option is ineffective.?

Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor, says it?s “not out of the question” that Ryan could lose. “He could be made unpopular with senior citizens. He could be linked to Scott Walker. But it?s a high hurdle.”

Quoted: To identify the things that contribute to feeling fulfilled and purposeful, Carol Ryff, the director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, developed a list of questions to measure well-being and divided them into six broad categories.

Long-time University of Wisconsin-Madison Ag Economist Bruce Jones will have a little more responsibility going into the new year. He has been named the new director of the school?s Renk Agribusiness Institute, which coordinates UW-Madison agribusiness teaching, research and outreach activities.

Four UW-Madison professors earned recognition from Education Week blogger Rick Hess as being among the top 50 most influential education scholars in America. That figure was more than all other Big Ten Conference institutions combined, with the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor placing two academics in the top 50 and Northwestern one. Those being recognized on the UW-Madison campus include: Gloria Ladson-Billings, Adam Gamoran; Sara Goldrick-Rab, and Douglas Harris. John Witte, a professor of public affairs and political science, was also recognized.

Quoted: “It was a dramatic change in policy direction,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin. “Certainly the spark was the governor?s decisions of changing employment relations in the state.”

Quoted: The regulatory crackdown comes amid what some experts say is frothy, if hard-to-measure, growth for garage sales. “There are no scientific systems for measuring it, but absolutely the growth right now is significant,” said Alfonso Morales, a University of Wisconsin urban-planning professor who studies street markets. “The publications where these people advertise are getting thicker.”

Quoted: Sean Carroll, a geneticist at the University of Wisconsin, says: ?The inventory of genes in a bird would be very similar to the inventory of genes in a dinosaur.

Quoted: Steven Deller, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of agriculture and applied economics, predicted that the funding cuts included in Walker?s current two-year budget will result in 20,000 job losses.

Quoted: “If you compare approval ratings, you may think that just muddling along is not the wrong approach,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: “In most of the states where bills were introduced last year, legislators are planning to introduce them again,” said Sam Munger, managing director of the Center for State Innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has researched the issue. Lawmakers in other states (Colorado, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey) also are planning bills, he said. “The banking collapse of 2007 made a lot of people nervous about too-big-to-fail banks,” Munger said.

Winter has been a bust so far in Madison, not only for those trying to ski or sled, but for those who would normally take to the frozen expanses of Lakes Mendota and Monona. We are about to turn the calendar page to January, and there are still large areas of open water on the two big lakes as of Dec. 27, an unusual but not completely unheard of event here, according to UW-Madison?s Stephen Carpenter.

Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A: A snowflake can be an individual ice crystal or an aggregate of ice crystals. Ice crystals can grow by water vapor deposition on the crystal or by collisions with other cloud particles.

A: To stave off flu or measles or other afflictions, vaccines prepare our immune systems to identify particular sets of antigens, chemical markers that cover the exterior of viruses.

Quoted: Local councils and board seats are nonpartisan to negate the influence of political machines, said Dennis Dresang, professor of public affairs and political science at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. Those elected are supposed to serve the community with no other agendas.

Quoted: ?Land sales are where the big money is,? Edward Friedman, a political science professor and a China scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a telephone interview. ?Every level can see how much better the level above it is doing. And each one wants to live at least that well. The system has within it a dynamic which makes people feel it?s only fair that they get their share of the wealth.?

Quoted: Dr. Ken Nordlund, DVM and clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: ?With Walker?s recent defense of his actions it?s hard to square any cooperation with labor unions, let alone expanding their benefits, with where the GOP is today,? said University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Charles Franklin. ?This critique of Thompson as an accomodationist, one willing to work with unions to expand their power, seems tailor-made for the campaign.?  

Quoted: Meg Gaines, director of the Center for Patient Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, likens the experience to the game Mouse Trap, with patients moving around a board trying to avoid hidden pitfalls.

Quoted: “(Surgeons) feel the advance directive basically ties their hands behind their back, and they?re not given the tools to get them through the surgery,” said Margaret Schwarze, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, who was one of the survey?s authors.

Quoted: ?Those are the people on the doorsteps of the service system,? said Marsha Mailick Seltzer, an autism expert at the University of Wisconsin. ?They may not have a diagnosis, but they are there.?

Quoted: “Voters are getting signals from sources that they trust, conservative and Republican sources, that that candidate (Gingrich) has flaws, and some significant flaws,” said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political scientist and founder of the website PollsandVotes.com.

Quoted: “A lot of consumers believe it?s a way to assist in all the issues we?re dealing with,” said University of Wisconsin consumer science professor Cynthia Jasper. “They believe that the money spent is reinvested in the local community in terms of taxes and jobs. Many consumers, because of the economic climate, want to to support their local communities.”

A. In geometry, pi (3.14159?.) is defined as the ratio of circumference to diameter, and “if this is the only definition of pi, then computing it to many decimal places would be impossible,” said Jordan Ellenberg, professor of mathematics at UW-Madison.