Category: UW Experts in the News

Noted: Think you?re too smart to be influenced by the media you consume? Anything we see ? a person on the street, a character in a movie ? has some influence on your next thoughts, emotions or actions, simply because it?s the last thing your mind absorbed, says Joanne Cantor, a psychologist and member of the American Psychological Association who has studied the emotional and behavioral effect of TV and movies.

Noted: A 2009 study by Jill Harrison, an assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison department of rural sociology, found that immigrants – primarily Mexicans – make up 40% of dairy employees in the state

Quoted: “He?s established a profile for himself … that goes way beyond the boundaries of New Jersey,” said Dietram Scheufele, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: We asked the experts at UW-Madison?s West Madison Research Center and the Rock County Extension for advice on how to grow lettuce and other second-season crops.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political scientist and co-founder of pollster.com, agrees that Wisconsin is a bellwether for a national conservative agenda. UW-Madison?s Ken Mayer doesn?t think a win by either party will have sweeping ramifications in other states.

Quoted: Up until recently, smoking has been ingrained in the mental health and substance abuse cultures, says Dr. Eric Heiligenstein, Director of Psychiatry at University Health Services in Madison.

Quoted: “I don?t think I?ve seen a single ad that?s directly about union representation issues,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: Geoscientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Oregon State-Corvallis tested the prevailing thinking by analyzing ocean sediments deposited by glaciers melting from different, chemically distinct, regions in southern Greenland.

Quoted: But the number of times the drive can write is in the tens of billions and thus probably not a concern to most computer users. If it were in a Google data center getting heavy use, it might last only a year, said Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau, professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who studies computer use patterns.

Quoted: “What?s pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade – because that was the American dream – are seeing big declines,” said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who studies income inequality.

Quoted: But the proposal would force farmers to cut back production, too, shrinking supply to raise the price of milk. That part of the plan has more opponents, said Bob Cropp, a University of Wisconsin-Madison agriculture economist.

Quoted: Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specialises in income inequality, said: ?What?s pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade – because that was the American dream – are seeing big declines?.

Quoted: As the dates of those races approach, UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin says a lot of money is being spent to get the message out to voters. Franklin says it could end up breaking spending records for previous state Senate races, due to the candidates and outside groups seeking to influence which party ultimately has control of the chamber.

Quoted: “What?s pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade ? because that was the American dream ? are seeing big declines,” said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in income inequality.

Quoted: One economist was skeptical. Dave Marcouiller, who teaches urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said jobs in tourism-related industries tend to last only through the summer. The jobs also tend to come with low wages, he added.

Quoted: “It?s very confusing because they come from two different sources of data,” said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: In other words, the protester achieved exactly what he was going for, said Pamela Oliver, a sociologist and expert on social movements at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Single-handedly, he drew attention to his opinions, without having to organize any kind of group effort at all.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin law Professor Walter Dickey, a criminology expert who once served as monitor of the federal Supermax prison in Wisconsin, said two men flashing lights outside a prison without getting anyone?s attention is problematic whether the prison is public or private.

Blacks come through the courthouse doors in Dane County in numbers far greater than their representation in the general population. But after they?ve been convicted of a crime, blacks appear to receive similar sentences to whites for certain types of crimes, a new analysis has found.

The analysis – done for the Wisconsin State Journal and funded by the Center for Media, Crime and Justice – examined sentences for people convicted of Class F felony cases, a common class of crimes, in Dane County Circuit Court from 2008 through 2010.

Mentioned: Pamela Oliver, UW-Madison sociology professor and an expert on racial disparities in criminal justice systems.

At age 12, (Teivon) McNair was arrested after a friend used his BB gun to shoot at people in their Sun Prairie neighborhood. He spent time in a series of group and foster homes, a juvenile boot camp and eventually a juvenile correctional center. By the time he was 18, he was charged with participating in the armed robbery of a Sun Prairie gas station.McNair was headed for a common and tragic destiny for many young black men in Dane County: At any given time, nearly half of the county?s black men between 25 and 29 are in prison, jail or under some form of state supervision, according to one study.

Quoted: Pamela Oliver, UW-Madison professor of sociology and an expert in racial disparities in criminal justice systems.

Quoted: Mike Peters, dairy farm manager for the UW-Madison Dairy Science Department, says the good news is that cattle usually recover quickly.

Noted: But University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science Professor Charles Franklin says it?s a mistake to say that there was nothing to learn from the Hansen race.

Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer said those who are highly involved in the recall movements are already familiar with the issue.   Mayer said ad creators want to frame the recall elections with other issues,  not distract from the message, and avoid backlash.

Is something strange lurking around in the woods of Juneau County? Some residents think so. Juneau County highway worker, Jeff Potter, found an unusual animal. Experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are taking a more scientific approach, saying it is likely a severely manged fox or raccoon.

Quoted: Entomologist Phil Pellitteri, of UW-Madison extension.

Quoted: Donald Waller, a UW-Madison botany professor who studies evolutionary biology.

Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Benjamin Darien, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Noted: The University of Wisconsin Badger Poll.

A group of law professors and administrators are rallying behind the stalled nomination of University of Wisconsin Law Professor Victoria Nourse to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

Noted: The University of Wisconsin Survey Center?s Badger Poll.

Noted: Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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

Quoted: Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: UW-Madison Political Science Professor Barry Burden.

Quoted: Dr. David Kammel, with UW-Madison?s College of Agriculture.

Quoted: Mark Stephenson, the director of dairy-policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.