Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: “This is the best study to date looking at frequency of sexual thought,” says Janet Hyde, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She reviewed the study but was not involved in it.

Quoted: “Despite the runs, the surges that other candidates have had, Romney remains the most likely nominee. And I think the Obama people seem to believe that, as well,” said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.

Noted: This reporting caught the eye of a Jesse Ellis, a researcher in the Zoology Dept. at University of Wisconsin – Madison, who got interesting results by tabulating all of the snowy owl reports across the country as of Thanksgiving weekend.

Pepper spray is literally made from peppers, but it?s name might make it seem more innocuous than it is, wrote Deborah Blum, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin, in Scientific American. It ranges between 2 and 5.3 million Scoville units, which are used to measure the intensity of a variety of peppers. The Habanero, for example, ranks significantly lower ? 200,000 to 350,000 units.

Quoted: This fall I went to meet Sandra Sawchuk, the chief of primary-care services at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Sawchuk is the rare veterinarian who owns a bulldog. ?I should know better, but I?m a sucker for this breed,? she told me. ?I?m also a vet, so I feel I can handle any problems that come up. But if anyone else tells me they want a bulldog, my immediate response is, ?No, you don?t.? ?

Quoted: Controlling for the demographics of a whole class can be messy, says Douglas Harris, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who has studied both value-added modeling and how a student?s peers affect his or her own achievement.

Quoted: But Jack Huddleston, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in economic development, said no studies have shown that tax credits lead to job creation. Credits simply transfer wealth from the state to companies, he said.

Quoted: Layaway sometimes is the only option for people who want to get the hottest holiday gifts but don?t have cash saved or credit cards, said Cynthia Jasper, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in retail and consumer behavior.

Quoted: Andre Phillips, of the UW-Madison admissions and recruitment office, said the school has no immediate plans to revise its transfer rate. But administrators are well aware of “a host of factors that push more talented students into the community college pipeline,” he said.

Quoted: Other programs are also working with schools to help increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Sara Tedeschi is the state Farm to School Director for UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. She says Farm to School helps create interest by promoting locally grown foods that connect students with the source.

Quoted: Douglas Harris, a University of Wisconsin-Madison education professor.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison, political science professor Charles Franklin

Shawn F. Peters was so captivated by the HBO series “The Wire,” he was sure his students would be, too. So the UW-Madison instructor decided to make the Baltimore-centric drama the centerpiece of his fall course, Integrated Liberal Studies 275: Narratives of Justice and Equality in Multicultural America. Peters, 45, coordinates teaching and learning at UW-Madison?s Center for Education Opportunity.

Mentions research by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson that has shown that experienced meditators exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display an ability — continuing after the meditation session has attended — to not get stuck on a particular stimulus.

Quoted: Douglas Harris, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor.

Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, executive director for the Center of Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Alan Fish, the man behind the recent wave of campus building expansion, announced he is leaving UW-Madison and accepting a new job at Johns Hopkins University.

A key figure in University of Wisconsin facilities management and major building projects on campus with more than 20 years of experience announced he will be departing UW in January after accepting a prestigious post at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Noted: Although no comprehensive data exist proving that people are turning to local merchants — and will continue to do so this holiday shopping season — Garrett and Cynthia Jasper, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and retail and consumer expert, said the trend is noticeable.

Noted: Another psychologist on the panel, Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin, noted that sex differences in math performance had largely evaporated over the past 20 years.

Noted: John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin at Madison objected to people framing the debate as one of the “delusion” of some scholars that there is a bias against science.  Going back to the absence of the word ?science? from the long-range plan, he said that “words matter, and words that are voted on by elected committees matter more?. Words don?t get deleted from text files without agency, without somebody doing it.”

Noted: Experts say it?s not all that easy to quit. Doctor Michael Fiore of the U-W Madison Center for Tobacco Research says smokers need a helping hand ? and the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line can provide that help.

Quoted: “New medical interventions, bed net programs, trials of a malaria vaccine — these are all wonderful developments,” Jonathan Patz, director of global environmental health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, tells HuffPost. “But too often we ignore the root causal factors for why we even have malaria in a location.”

Quoted: “Lipitor and Crestor are both excellent, very potent statins,” said Dr. Patrick McBride, professor of medicine and assistant director of preventive cardiology at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: ?What it is for the middle class is extra money to make sure they can have a vacation that year, or they can buy another TV, or a nicer car,? said Sara Goldrick-Rab, an associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has studied the impact of financial aid programs on student enrollment and persistence. ?It is not for putting food on the table, and it?s not paying the heating bill, and it?s not deciding whether or not the kid goes to college.?

Quoted: “I don?t think it?s anything unique to universities,” said Ramon John Aldag, an expert on behavioral decision-making and organizational behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I think the same sorts of things happen in organizations in general and in life in general.”

Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor, said it?s pretty clear that the purpose of going after both the governor and a group of senators is to give Democrats two chances to stop Walker?s agenda.

Quoted: But others say such conclusions ignore important facts, such as voucher students? increased graduation rates and high parental satisfaction. University of Wisconsin?Madison professor John Witte, an official evaluator of the Milwaukee voucher program, said that while there has not been “a great deal of difference in achievement based on test scores,” there are other positive outcomes.

?High turnout rates last summer do suggest that voters are engaged rather than turned off,? says University of Wisconsin political science Professor Charles Franklin.

Noted: A recent study by Dr. Megan Moreno, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her colleagues found that undergraduates who discussed their drunken exploits on Facebook were significantly more at risk for problem drinking than students who were silent on the topic.

Quoted: But Jack Huddleston, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in economic development, said no academic research exists that shows tax credits lead to job creation. Credits do nothing more than transfer wealth from the state to companies, he said.