A retired University of Wisconsin professor will receive an internationally recognized award for his work promoting relations between Germany and the United States.
UW professor receives international award
Badger Herald
Category: UW Experts in the News
Legislators may take up bill establishing single parenthood as factor in child abuse
Badger Herald
Wisconsin legislators may take up a controversial bill that would establish single parenthood as a factor contributing to child abuse and neglect.
A powerful argument for blocking Wisconsin?s voter ID law
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin political scientist Ken Mayer is one of the most serious and responsible analysts of the politics of the state. Widely respected as fair player, whose work is well regarded by members of both major political parties, Mayer is someone conservatives and liberals listen to for reasoned comment on the political processes of the state. So when Mayer talks about the challenges raised by Wisconsin?s new voter ID law, we should all take him seriously.
Bill Lueders: Nonprofit news outlets not all the same
Capital Times
The other day at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association?s annual convention in Madison, I represented the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism on a panel titled, “Nonprofit News: What You Need to Know About ?Free? Media.”….Moderator Stephen Ward, a UW-Madison journalism professor who specializes in media ethics, focused in on who funds our organizations and how that affects what we do ? worthy questions that merit a thoughtful response.
Warming trends threaten state trout streams
Isthmus
Quoted: John Magnuson, who has researched freshwater habitats at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for several decades, urges me to choose my words carefully when I ask him how serious the situation is.
Appleton Common Council President Cathy Spears in sticky situation with Appleton Taxpayers United
Appleton Post-Crescent
Quoted: Although it may not be a bribe, it could be the simple perception that causes a problem, said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in elections.
It’s That Time Again, Happy Leap Day!
National Public Radio
We woke up this morning to the rarest of dates: February 29th – the odd, extra day that comes every four years, since there are apparently more than 365 days in a year. Interviewed: Jim Lattis. He?s director of the University of Wisconsin?s Space Place, an education and outreach center for the school?s Astronomy Department.
Jim LaGro: Parking lot need not be an eyesore
Wisconsin State Journal
Building a Grandview Commons grocery store with 58,000 square feet does not mean it has to be served by a “big, driver-friendly” parking lot, as suggested in columnist Chris Rickert?s Feb. 23 piece.
Bill would transfer state no-call list to feds
Wausau Daily Herald
Quoted: Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he doesn?t think the Federal Trade Commission would pursue violations as well as the state has done.
Winter Icefall Begins Early Melt
CNN iReport
Noted: According to Johnathan Martin, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, ?temperatures have been probably averaging 5 to 10 degrees above normal from November to the end of January, which is just exceptional.?
UW launches improved library technology space
Badger Herald
The University of Wisconsin is kicking off technological updates to campus libraries in a grand opening ceremony today as part of an effort to optimize student learning.
Dr. Norman Jensen: Don’t let doctors be scared silent
Wisconsin State Journal
Regarding Sunday?s story titled ?Legislation would allow doctors to say ?sorry,?? readers may be interested in the view of one who teaches communication to doctors. The author examines the trial lawyers? view that protecting a doctor?s admission of error will prevent a patient from receiving compensation. That would be a bad thing ? there should be no tolerance for malpractice. But common sense suggests such rare cases would be far outweighed by the common good resulting from doctors feeling safe to speak openly after bad news happens.
Two UW libraries updated to offer ‘personalized learning experiences’
Wisconsin State Journal
A stack of books stood there a year ago. Now there is a beehive of hexagon-shaped tables, laptops, and flat-screen TVs. Welcome to the modern university library. UW-Madison will unveil new learning centers Tuesday at two campus libraries: College Library (UW-Madison?s undergraduate library) and Wendt Commons Library (the engineering library). ?We aim to provide a personalized learning experience, even while teaching large numbers of students,? said John Booske, a UW-Madison professor of electrical and computer engineering, in a statement.
Curiosities: What formed the sand deposits now being mined in Wisconsin for ‘fracking’?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: Sand from Wisconsin and other parts of the country is now in high demand as it is essential to the process of hydraulic fracturing or ?fracking,? a technique that splits rock so it is easier to access certain natural gas deposits.
UW-Madison professor reacts to Syria unrest
WKOW-TV 27
The embattled Syrian president held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday.
Ask the Weather Guys: Does the warm winter mean a warm spring and summer?
Wisconsin State Journal
A. We have continued to enjoy temperatures well above normal through most of February 2012, making this year?s Dec. 1?Feb. 20 the fifth-warmest on record with an average temperature of 28.3F in Madison. Barring an exceptionally warm last week of the month (which does not appear likely), that is where we will end up ? the fifth-warmest winter (defined as December, January, February) of all time in Madison.
UW-Madison dictionary compiles weirdly wonderful regional idiosyncrasies
Wisconsin State Journal
Some might celebrate with a shindy and others might hold a whindig or a wingding, but Joan Houston Hall just breathed a sigh of relief. After five decades, UW-Madison?s ambitious project to document the idiosyncrasies of American English reached both the zenith and ?z? this month, said Hall, the editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). Volume Sl to Z is now for sale from Harvard University Press. From aa (rough lava in Hawaii) to zydeco (dance music in Louisiana Creole culture), the dictionary spans five volumes and 60,000 words.
Dr. Richard L. Brown: Less binge drinking key to DUI problem
Wisconsin State Journal
The State Journal editorial board is right to express outrage over our continuing DUI epidemic. But when our lawmakers do react, let?s make sure their actions are effective. Clearly Wisconsin needs stronger DUI penalties, but that alone won?t help. Ample research has shown that increasing penalties doesn?t change behavior unless people think they might get caught. Toward that end, we need sobriety checkpoints.
Federal trial over redistricting maps now underway
WITI-TV, Milwaukee
The trial went into the evening Thursday in federal court, and testimony centered around Ken Mayer, a UW-Madison political scientiest. Mayer argues the new maps drawn by Republicans moves 50 people for every one person that should be moved to balance the districts. He also says the new Wisconsin maps disenfranchise about 299,000 people, by making them wait longer to vote in Senate elections.
Wisconsin voter maps drawing scrutiny in federal trial
Appleton Post-Crescent
Kenneth Mayer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the maps move far more people than is necessary. For example, he said one Assembly district was under-populated by 379 people. The mapmakers? proposal added a net of 217 people, but they did so by moving 29,936 people into the district and moving 29,719 out. That means nearly 60,000 were shifted when only 400 needed to be.
Elephant Rampages Blamed On Old Bulls, Bad Role Models For Juveniles
Huffington Post
Noted: The study “is pioneering in delving into the behavior of crop raiders,” adds Lisa Naughton, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who focuses on interactions between human societies and animals.
City Teacher Data Reports Are Released
New York Times
Noted: The release of the individual rankings has even been controversial among the scientists who designed them. Douglas N. Harris, an economist at the University of Wisconsin, where the city?s rankings were developed, said the reports could be useful if combined with other information about teacher performance. But because value-added research is so new, he said, ?we know very little about it.? Releasing the data to the public at this point, Dr. Harris added, ?strikes me as at best unwise, at worst, absurd.?
Formula and factors behind teachers? ?value-added? scores
New York Post
Quoted: ?The New York model is arguably one of the best in the country in terms of attention to detail. The model is comprehensive, The completeness is a plus,? said Rob Meyer, director of the University of Wisconsin?s Center for Education Research, who helped design the city?s teacher-data report.
Liberate your inner scientist
Arizona Daily Star
Noted: Among the many word magicians at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 10 and 11 are the alchemists who transform complexity into readable prose ? the science writers. Deborah Blum, for example, likes to trick people into loving chemistry.
Comedy Central Survey Says Young Men See Humor as a Prized Value
New York Times
Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a professor of media and culture at the University of Wisconsin.
Professor testifies in federal trial on redistricting maps? impact on Latinos
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer testified in the ongoing redistricting lawsuit Thursday that the Latino vote would be significantly diminished under the new state election maps drawn by Republicans.
The Badger Herald: Majority of state unions vote to seek recertification
Badger Herald
Despite changes approved by the Legislature last year to curtail the power of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, a majority of Wisconsin unions have voted to go through recertification in the past year, a process some officials characterized as lengthy and costly for little tangible benefit.
State will be battleground for 2012 race, polls find
Badger Herald
In what is already shaping up to be a heated national race, President Barack Obama leads all Republican candidates currently competing in the Republican National Convention primary, according to two polls released over the past two days that focus on Wisconsin?s possible role as a battleground state.
Dictionary of American Regional English complete after 40 years
WKOW-TV 27
Some people want to go from “A” to “B”, but Joan Houston Hall has been trying to reach “Z” for the last 30 years.
Wisconsin Consider Hunting of Sandhill Crane
New York Times
Quoted: Mark Berres, an assistant professor of avian biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Black women in American culture celebrated
The Madison Times
Quoted: Sandra Adell, professor of literature for the department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
How pollsters can rig the polls
Charlotte Observer
Quoted: Prominent Wisconsin pollster, and UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Preferential admission promotes equality of opportunity, UW professor says
Daily Cardinal
Just over four months after the Center for Equal Opportunity claimed UW-Madison?s admission policies unfairly advantage African Americans and Latinos, UW philosophy professor Dan Hausman told hundreds of members of the UW community affirmative action creates ?equal opportunity? for African Americans.
UW helping create India plastics university
Capital Times
The one-word bit of career advice, “plastics,” made to Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” has been followed for years at UW-Madison, and will soon be the credo of students at a new university in India. The Polymer Engineering Center at UW-Madison is joining with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell to develop the curriculum at the new PlastIndia International University in Vapi, India. Plastics expert Tim Osswald, a professor in mechanical engineering at UW-Madison, said the agreement with the PlastIndia Foundation includes an exchange program for faculty and students.
“A really important aspect of our education here is to create graduates who can think globally,” Osswald said in the release. “That’s going to be beneficial to our industry and our economy.”
T.G. Bell: ?How smart ALEC threatens public education?
Capital Times
Dear Editor: Many informed readers are aware that the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, has been the idea center for Gov. Scott Walker and several of the Republicans in our Legislature, like Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald. ?A smart ALEC threatens public education? shines a critical light on how ALEC supplies word for word legislative documents to our governor and these legislators. The article?s authors are Julie Underwood, UW-Madison School of Education dean, and Julie F. Mead, professor and chair of the UW?s department of education leadership and policy analysis. Their research will be dismissed by many as ?so what!?
Campus Connection: ?The Emotional Life of Your Brain’
Capital Times
UW-Madison?s Richard Davidson remains on the cutting edge of brain research that sheds light on understanding our emotions. The Feb. 27 issue of Newsweek features excerpts of Davidson?s new book, “The Emotional Life of Your Brain.” The work is co-authored by Sharon Begley, the former Newsweek science writer.
Madison voters turned away at polls for lacking photo ID
Isthmus
Quoted: “It was a gentle introduction for the new voter ID law,” says Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political scientist.
Comedy Central Survey Says Young Men See Humor as a Prized Value
New York Times
Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a professor of media and culture at the University of Wisconsin, said he had a measure of cynicism that ?a study by Comedy Central found that comedy matters.? But whenever he teaches a course on television and comedy, he said, it is ?filled within a matter of minutes,? and his students regularly name ?South Park,? ?The Daily Show? and ?The Colbert Report? as shows they like. All are from Comedy Central.
Race factor in college admissions could end
Daily Cardinal
A Supreme Court decision in October could forbid or significantly alter race as a consideration in college admissions when the court hears an appeal from a white student in Texas who hopes to end “racial preferences” in admissions.
UW Researchers Study Yoga As Treatment For PTSD
WISC-TV 3
A new treatment program for post-traumatic stress disorder is under way at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that doesn?t involve drugs or traditional therapy.
Martin David: Water compact could trump mine permit
Wisconsin State Journal
State Journal reporter Ron Seely?s coverage of the Joint Finance Committee hearings on the mining bill has been outstanding. The proposed iron mine is near the triple-divide between the watersheds of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. It will use a great deal of water and will be deep enough to be far below the lake level of Lake Superior. This can not help but affect Lake Superior.
– Martin David, Middleton, emeritus professor, UW-Madison and Nelson Institute
Question of Cheating at Taft High School
Cincinnati CityBeat
Quoted: Another nationally known expert on test cheating, Jim Wollack, director of University of Wisconsin Testing & Evaluation Services, says the Taft situation struck him as ?odd.?
UW steps up bio research safety
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison has strengthened its once lacking oversight of biological research, such as the bird flu study by Yoshihiro Kawaoka entangled in an international debate over biosafety and bioterrorism. But the university could face more rules recommended nationally for experiments such as Kawaoka?s that are deemed to have potential for good or bad. Campus officials already are guarding information about biological research more closely.
Campus Connection: Bird flu research to be published … eventually
Capital Times
Two studies showing how scientists created a bird flu virus that?s easily transmissible between mammals should be fully published — but only after a panel of experts fully assesses the risks — the World Health Organization WHO announced last week. Some tasked with keeping tabs on potential biosecurity threats to the United States are not happy with the decision.
Adderall High: Students Drugging for Final Exams
Christian Broadcasting Network
Quoted: “It?s an FDA approved medication so many people perceive it as safe. Whether it is or not for them to take is another issue,” said Dr. Eric Heiligenstein, head of psychiatry for the University of Wisconsin health services.
Northern Wisconsin Chippewa tribes might use treaties to halt or slow proposed mine
Wisconsin State Journal
Armed with its status as a sovereign nation and powerful treaties with the federal government, the Bad River Chippewa tribe has the legal muscle to do what Democratic opponents of an iron mine proposed for northern Wisconsin have so far been unable to do: halt or delay the project.
Those powers, say experts on Native American law, appear to have been both underestimated and misunderstood by proponents of the mine, including Republican legislators who have been criticized for failing to consult with tribal members as they work on a bill to streamline permitting for the mine.
“All of us are going to get an education in federal Indian law,” said Larry Nesper, a UW-Madison scholar in Great Lakes Indian law and politics.
Ask the Weather Guys: Who first suggested human activities could change our climate?
Wisconsin State Journal
Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, is probably the first scientist to propose that burning of fossil fuels could modify our global temperatures. In 1896, Arrhenius recognized that carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning carbon substances such as natural gas, gasoline and oil, would act like a greenhouse gas.
Curiosities: Are winter warm spells ? followed by legit winter weather ? going to harm plants?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: It depends on the plants, but probably not, said Laura Jull, associate professor of horticulture at UW?Madison.”I?m confident that trees and shrubs will be OK,” Jull said. “But I?m seeing in my own yard daffodils and tulips coming up, and that?s not good.”
Campus Connection: UW profs shed light on ALEC’s threat to public education
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Julie Underwood and Julie Mead are expressing concern over the growing corporate influence on public education in an article published Monday. In particular, they are highly critical of the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC, which connects conservative state legislators with like-minded think tanks, corporations and foundations to develop “model legislation” that can be enacted at the state level.
Seely on Science: Learning the ancient language of sturgeon
Wisconsin State Journal
Researchers with the state Department of Natural Resources and the UW-Madison Sea Grant Institute have confirmed in recent studies that the enormous sturgeon in the Fox and Wolf River basins communicate in deep and rumbling sounds that are so low they usually can?t be heard by the human ear….The subsonic sounds made by the fish, which can reach weights of more than 200 pounds, are being studied by the DNR’s Ron Bruch and Sea Grant’s Chris Bocast.
The wishbone?s connected to the femur in ?Ossuary?
Wisconsin State Journal
“Ossuary,” Laurie Beth Clark?s multi-faceted work at the Chazen Museum of Art, has excellent bone structure. Each of the 113 art pieces in the installation was inspired by or built from bones. Artists used chicken bones, skulls, skeletons and claws as subjects, inspiration and material. The origins of “Ossuary” came out of Clark?s extensive research on trauma tourism.
Comcast’s ‘tremendous’ strides
The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.
Quoted: Broadband has moved from being a luxury to a necessity, and Comcast has been able to capitalize on that, said Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With NBCUniversal in the fold, the company has depth in programming and distribution, he said.
UW researchers seek ?God Particle?
Badger Herald
In the upcoming year, University of Wisconsin researchers will potentially join other scientists in declaring a groundbreaking discovery from research that looks to confirm the existence of a particle known as the ?God Particle.?
Guard mission: Butter, not guns for Afghanistan
Wisconsin State Journal
A newly formed unit of the Wisconsin National Guard soon will deliver Dairy State know-how to war-torn Afghanistan. Team members received a 40-hour crash course from UW-Madison instructors in topics ranging from beekeeping to fish farming to water management to the ins and outs of growing corn, pomegranates and poultry.
?They are not going to be experts by any means, but at least they won?t be clueless,? said Karen Nielsen, director of the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research. The institute does a lot of international education, but this curriculum was unique, Nielsen said. ?We haven?t had to train at this level before because most of those we?ve worked with have electricity and machinery, but the people in Afghanistan don?t,? Nielsen said. The institute plans to bring in Amish farmers to help train the next group, Nielsen said.
Biosecurity experts fear UW’s bird flu findings could fall into wrong hands
Capital Times
Shortly before Thanksgiving science reporters and bloggers began buzzing about a newly created, genetically modified version of the deadly bird flu that could easily be transmitted between ferrets, which closely mimic the human response to flu.
….”It’s interesting that this research became a concern, because from my perspective I’m not worried about it,” Paul Umbeck, the director of UW-Madison’s environment, health and safety department, says after outlining for a reporter a lengthy list of federal and institutional regulations and safeguards in place to help oversee such potentially dangerous experiments. “But cutting-edge is always going to be somewhat controversial to somebody.” Or, in this case, seemingly to most everybody.
‘Catastrophic wildfires in the West are indicators of a fire deficit
KVAL-TV, Oregon
Quoted: “The last two centuries have seen dramatic changes in wildfire across the American West, with a peak in wildfires in the 1800s giving way to much less burning over the past 100 years,” said lead author Jennifer R. Marlon, now a National Science Foundation Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “The decline was mostly caused by the influx of explorers and settlers and by their subsequent suppression of wildfires, both intentionally and accidentally.”
Google gets U.S., EU nod to buy Motorola Mobility
Reuters
Quoted: “They have to proceed with caution and tread lightly,” said Shubha Ghosh, a professor at University of Wisconsin Law School who specializes in antitrust law and intellectual property, with regards to Google.
UW scientists at forefront in search of elusive ‘God Particle’
Wisconsin State Journal
Sometime this year, physicists could very well announce they have confirmed the existence of a particle so important it has been dubbed the “God Particle.” Its discovery would fill in a crucial missing piece of a model that, despite a few quirks, has been used for decades to explain the fundamental structure of the universe and all that it contains, including us. Standing with the scientists making that announcement will be some familiar faces to many here in our corner of the universe: researchers from UW-Madison.
“We have a long history,” said Francis Halzen, the physicist who leads another groundbreaking UW-Madison effort to build a neutrino detector in the Antarctic ice. “And I think a distinguished history.” But the word “distinguished” hardly captures the fizz and pop, the headines and the historical reach of some of the physics that has gone on here.
At DOE, Body Blows to Fusion, Nuclear Physics, and Particle Physics
Science Insider
Quoted: “I?m dismayed, but not surprised,” says Raymond Fonck, a fusion physicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Budget shortfall will not mean cuts
Daily Cardinal
Gov. Scott Walker said last week he would not push for another budget repair bill to help balance the state?s budget after the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released its most recent report Thursday, revealing a shortfall of approximately $214 million.