The winter solstice (from the Latin sol, or “sun,” and stice, or “come to a stop”) is the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight. This year, this occurs for the Northern Hemisphere at 11:30 pm Wednesday.
Editorial mentions that the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Urban Land Economics Research studied the impact of low- to moderate-income housing developments on communities.
Quoted: Randy Stoecker, UW-Madison professor of Community and Environmental Sociology, has provided support to a number of local community organizations and has worked with Neuschel on several projects. He says he is particularly impressed with how the nurses have used community dinners as an “organizing process” and encouraged residents to take the reins.
Some two dozen people with ties to the University of Wisconsin-Madison joined the prime minister of Norway and a contingent of scientists and explorers at the bottom of the earth on Wednesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian Roald Amundsen becoming the first person to reach the South Pole.
Quoted: “It?s gone under the radar with the stalled reauthorization process,” said Doug Harris, a University of Wisconsin professor who wrote a recent book on education performance metrics. “You get really different answers depending on what you do with these numbers. You can talk all you want about what you do with failing schools but if you haven?t identified schools that are failing, it?s a waste of time.”
Noted: Flirtation-themed Ryan Gosling blogs have been trending on the Web for months as Gosling?s reputation as a sex symbol has grown. The ?Hey girl? meme, which started when one blogger started writing captions on paparazzi photos of the actor, took a turn for the academic in October when Danielle Henderson, a graduate student in gender studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, started Feminist Ryan Gosling.
Noted: And in a new twist, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified the development of ?superjets? in the Pacific ocean that may have fueled some of this year?s severe weather and heavy rains. These superjets form in the western Pacific when the subtropical jet stream lifts north and combines with polar jet stream. Jon Martin, one of the researchers, says these superjets can bring powerful storms to the Nation?s mid-section and Southeast 7-10 days after they form.
The race for the White House is heating up, and with the Iowa caucus just three weeks away, a University of Wisconsin professor said a pattern in polling numbers may point to a surprise in the race for the Republican nomination.
A UW researcher was honored at the White House Friday for her work to provide more opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The University of Wisconsin?s IceCube Research Center will be hosting celebrations in honor of the 100th anniversary of the first-ever trek to the South Pole this upcoming Tuesday.
Early in my career, years before I recall being pejoratively called a “filter” or a member of the “mainstream media,” discussions of journalism ethics focused on the straightforward divide between so-called “objective” news reporting and editorial page writing. Today, the Internet has blown up traditional definitions of who is and isn?t a journalist by removing virtually all barriers to entry. There was this adage: Don?t start a fight with someone who buys his ink by the barrel or paper by the boxcar. So obsolete.
Quoted: UW-Madison professor of journalism Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics.
In response to the recent shooting of a Virginia Tech campus police officer, UW-Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling discussed improvements the university and campus police departments have made to their crisis prevention and response strategies.
Assistant Director for UW Communications Terry Devitt said many of these improvements come in thanks to text alerts and emails, which can reach students instantly. ?[There are] lots of different tools that one can use to get to the university community and beyond very quickly, and we would use the whole menu if the situation warranted it,? Devitt said.
UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden says it?s possible the Greens could make a decent showing next year, although they might end up competing with another outgrowth of the discontent with the two-party system ? the online Americans Elect movement to nominate a nonpartisan ticket.
No matter how the vote turns out, the School Board is on notice to address the achievement gap, said Harry Brighouse, a UW-Madison philosophy and education policy studies professor who has followed the Madison Prep debate closely. “There is a kind of momentum behind this,” Brighouse said. If the School Board votes no, “they have to present real, clear alternative experiments that they?re going to be pursuing.”
A: A total lunar eclipse could be seen in cloud-free regions across most of the United States and Canada on Saturday morning, Dec. 10. In a total lunar eclipse the sun, Earth and moon line up and the Earth casts its shadow on the moon. The moon is always a full moon and it never goes completely dark during a total lunar eclipse. It appears reddish for the same reason that sunsets and sunrises often have a red tint.
A: It?s not clear that they do, says Robert McGrath, coordinator of mind/body wellness services at University Health Services at UW-Madison. McGrath has seen a study that found that children laugh no more than adults, but added that kids do have some advantages in the laughter department.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has played a leading role in recent years when it comes to attempting to curb sweatshop abuses at companies that produce college-logoed apparel. But will Bucky still flex his muscle when the company coming under fire is Adidas — which supplies the university?s sports teams with everything from shoes and jerseys to athletic gear? “This time around, it?s a bit more complicated because of our involvement and close ties with Adidas,” says Vince Sweeney, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for university relations. “We?re still in fact-finding mode.”
“I don’t believe money is going to ultimately drive this decision, and I hope I’m right,” says Lydia Zepeda, a UW-Madison professor of consumer science who chairs the university’s Labor Licensing Policy Committee (LLPC).
Pam Oliver, a sociology professor at UW-Madison who studies incarceration, said she believes cost is the driving force behind keeping 17-year-olds in the adult system. ?Honestly, it saves the state a lot of money,? Oliver said. ?The money is what?s really going on.? Nonetheless, the policy of automatically trying minors in adult court is declining across the United States as new evidence emerges challenging these ?tough on crime? approaches.
Noted: The lead author on the study, Yuri Miyamoto at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has also looked at Japanese participants and found that in general, East Asians are more holistic in their reasoning than European-North Americans, Ji said Wednesday.
Quoted: “The governor?s race means that the very issues Fitzgerald is identified with are going to be front and center through April or May or even early June,” said Charles Franklin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. “Even if none of those Walker ads directly mention Fitzgerald, they are all about the success of the budget reforms. Fitzgerald has the opportunity to piggyback on that message.”
Quoted: Dr. Robert Golden, dean of the UW-Madison medical school, said a new medical school would have to include comprehensive residency programs for additional training after graduation. That would be cost-prohibitive, he said. That must also be examined in the study of a third medical school?s needs and impact.
Marshall Middle School is into its fifth year of an experiment in single-sex education, a practice under attack from some who say it doesn?t work and could harm students. Janet Hyde, an authority on the role of gender in education at UW-Madison calls single-sex education theory “pseudoscience.”
Quoted: Where some see obstinacy in the governor, UW-Madison Political Science Professor John Witte perceives strength.
Quoted: Conversely, the state has benefited from its larger proportion of older people, since young people tend to move more often, said Dave Long, a researcher with the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: Iraqi students first started coming to American universities more than 70 years ago, al-Khalili said. In the late 1940s, Iraq had as many as 40 students enrolled at the University of California-Berkeley, and Nazik al-Malaika ?an Iraqi poet who is considered one of the Arab world?s most-renowned contemporary artists ? earned her master?s degree in comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1959.
A UW Madison researcher will be honored at The White House on Friday.
Dr. Angela Byars-Winston will receive an award for her efforts to enhance job opportunities for young girls, women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Quoted: Dave Long, a researcher with the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Dietram Scheufele, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert in media and political campaigns.
Tim Riddiough, professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expects 2012 to play out much the same as 2011 in terms of economic recovery efforts. Includes a video interview with Riddiough.
The annual “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery” science shows, which have been produced by UW-Madison chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri for more than four decades, will not take place this year. The university announced in an emailed news release Wednesday that the programs scheduled for Saturday and Sunday have been canceled “due to a family medical emergency.”
A new state policy that governs protests and other gatherings at state buildings, most notably at the Capitol where the “solidarity singers” meet daily to peacefully protest recent Republican policies and Gov. Scott Walker, appears destined for a legal showdown.
Donald Downs, a UW-Madison political science professor who teaches a course on the First Amendment, says he is not aware of any other state that requires a permit for four or more people. Downs says any law or policy that affects First Amendment rights tends to be legally sound if the rules aren’t overly restrictive as to the time, place and manner the speech occurs. For example, there is a policy on the UW-Madison campus prohibiting megaphones from being used at Library Mall because classes may be going on, making it a “reasonable” restriction of free speech, Downs says, adding “It is a balancing act.”
Eight state legislators mailed a letter Friday to members of the Madison Area Technical College District Board asking that they listen to a proposal from the school?s part-time teachers union to create a member-owned, nonprofit corporation that would provide adjunct faculty staffing and support services for the college.
“It’s an interesting concept and as a board member I’m always interested in learning about efficiencies,” says Noel Radomski, a member of the MATC District Board who is director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, a higher ed think tank on the UW-Madison campus.
One of the best ways of ensuring the integrity of our elections is to have an independent, nonpartisan watchdog. Wisconsin already has that, in the form of the Government Accountability Board. The GAB is made up of retired judges and a nonpartisan staff charged with keeping elections clean. But now the independence of the GAB is under threat.
(Donald Moynihan is the associate director of the LaFollette School of Public Affairs and a professor of public affairs.)
UW-Madison law professor Jonathan Lipson wants to correct what he says is a big misconception about where he works. The university?s law school isn?t anti-business, Lipson said, and it does a lot more than try to help the disenfranchised and free the wrongly convicted.
Quoted: Conversely, the state has benefited from its larger proportion of older people, since young people tend to move more often, said Dave Long, a researcher with the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: ?With Thompson, you have a governor whose positions were certainly seen as conservative at the time he took them,? explained University of Wisconsin, Madison professor Charles Franklin. But those positions, staked out more than eleven years ago, ?may not look conservative [anymore],? he said.
Quoted: ?We have this fantastic network of specialists who talk to each other,? said Giulio Tononi, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin. ?It focuses our thinking as neuroscientists and guides the thinking of the computer scientists.?
UW-Madison could have an office in Shanghai by June, according to university officials who recently visited China to explore the possibility of bolstering ties between the university and the Asian country.
Alongside a university atmosphere that gives Madison an intellectually and educationally high-powered air exists an achievement gap that separates students of color from their peers, a problem that is currently a flashpoint of debate among city officials.
Mentions and quotes Jeremi Suri, a former University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who now teaches at the University of Texas-Austin.
Quoted: Gary Radloff, head of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.
A UW-Madison office in Shanghai could be open as soon as June, according to officials who just returned from a trip to China to explore the possibility of the university?s first foreign outpost. Gilles Bousquet, dean of the division of international studies and vice provost for globalization, said that would be the “ideal” timeline but it hinges on continued support here and getting the necessary permits in China. He said UW-Madison is convening a planning team to determine next actions.
Ken Streit, a clinical professor at the UW-Madison Law School said while he?s not in favor of people packing heat at church, he doubts a sign would really stop anyone intent on doing harm. His primary objection is that the law?s advocates have forced churches and other organizations to react to their agenda.
A: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s Climate Prediction Center issues seasonal climate outlook maps for the nation. The organization?s forecast for Wisconsin?s 2011-12 meteorological winter (which started Thursday and runs through Feb. 29) is for below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation.
A. “The size and shape of bubbles and balloons are determined by a competition between their surface tension, which makes them contract, and their internal pressure, which makes them expand,” said UW-Madison physics professor Clint Sprott, who is founder of “The Wonders of Physics” campus and traveling show.
Even though UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said the field is “wide open” for a Democratic contender to face Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election, he asserts that no potential candidate stands out. Despite popular opinion from supporters, former Sen. Russ Feingold has reiterated that he will not run should the recall bid prove successful.
No one was more surprised than Forest Shomberg when he was suddenly released from the Dane County Jail after serving six years for a wrongful conviction for sexual assault. The Wisconsin Innocence Project presented evidence including DNA results that the Madison man was the victim of mistaken identity, but Shomberg was told not to get his hopes up.
?The sad irony is that if you?re guilty of a crime, the state provides a lot more support upon release from prison than if you?re innocent,? said Keith Findley, co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project. ?If you?re innocent, you?re just set free.? Findley is working with state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, on legislation that would provide ?meaningful relief to help innocent people get back on their feet.?
Quoted: “There are lots of governors with approval ratings in the 30s and 40s who aren?t recalled. Just being unpopular isn?t sufficient,” says political science professor Barry C. Burden at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who believes petitioners will meet the signature requirement. “You?ve got to convince the public that this person, who has not even had a year to govern, is doing so poorly ? or that he has deviated from his original course.”
Science reporters and bloggers are lighting up the Internet with posts noting the creation of a genetically modified version of the deadly H5N1 bird flu which can be easily transmitted among ferrets, which closely mimic the human response to flu. Although many of these reports focus on the work coming out of this Dutch medical center, most also note University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka conducted similar work. Sources within the university confirm that’s true.
Quoted: ?It?s another fascinating twist on the story of how the heart can maintain and repair itself long term,? said University of Wisconsin, Madison, stem cell biologist Tim Kamp, who was not involved in the study. ?They make a strong case that these [cells] are resident within the heart, and are poised to do the maintenance of the structure of the heart.?
Quoted: ?I think what this race may tell us is something about the direction of the Republican Party in Wisconsin,? said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin. ?Will this be the new party or the old one? There is a generational issue and also an issue of political leadership.?
Noted: Thompson, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 1966 and was elected governor four times starting in 1986, has cultivated a base of supporters unlikely to leave him, while Fitzgerald and Neumann are fighting over largely the same pool of more conservative voters, said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: ?Whole fruits are much better for you,? said Dr. Frank Greer, a University of Wisconsin, Madison, professor and former head of the pediatrics academy?s nutrition committee.
A new medical school in Wausau would open in 2013, admit up to 150 students a year and reduce Wisconsin?s looming doctor shortage, according to organizers of the plan announced Wednesday. The Wisconsin College of Osteopathic Medicine, likely to be built next to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, would be the state?s third medical school….Dr. Robert Golden, dean of the UW medical school, said it would be cost-prohibitive for the new school to set up enough residency programs for the additional training required after medical school.
“A brand new medical school at this point would be a bridge to nowhere,” Golden said.
Noted: Thompson, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 1966 and was elected governor four times starting in 1986, has cultivated a base of supporters that is unlikely to leave him, while Fitzgerald and Neumann are fighting over largely the same pool of more conservative voters, said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.
Several state agencies have unveiled guidelines created in congruence with University of Wisconsin researchers to promote the continued use of biomass energy in Wisconsin, despite the state?s current categorization as a leader in the field of biomass crop planting.
Quoted: Julia Isaacs, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It?s not uncommon for state and local governments to provide such incentives, said Barry Gerhart, Ellig professor of management at the UW-Madison School of Business. “It is a reality that companies like Spectrum Brands can be mobile. There?s nothing that I know of that requires them to produce batteries here in Wisconsin,” he said.
….Steve Deller, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison, agrees there are areas in southwestern Wisconsin enjoying the benefits of the local food trend, but adds that there is little research proving it?s an economic driver.”Twenty years ago, all the research said local foods was such a small market it wasn?t worth worrying about,” he says. “But over the past five or more years, there has been a ?push back? on large-scale commercial agriculture.”
Quoted: Geoffrey Swain of the U-W Madison medical school says parents who opt out of vaccinations for their kids are putting others at risk — including those who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons, or because their parents cannot afford it. Swain, who?s also Milwaukee?s chief medical officer, says people frame it as a personal-and-private matter — and it?s not.
