Congressional leaders are set to meet with President Obama today to discuss raising the debt ceiling and reducing the deficit. University of Wisconsin Economics Professor Andrew Reschovsky has been following the debate closely ? and says the economic impact may yet be avoided.
Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin.
From experiments involving potatoes and sea urchin eggs to elements of the Hubble Telescope and tweeting, NASA space shuttles have carried and had connections to many UW-Madison scientists and Wisconsin residents during its 30-year history. Here are some of the highlights.
A first-of-its-kind study found that financial aid may be most helpful to the Wisconsin college students who are the least likely to otherwise succeed. For the last three years, UW-Madison professors Sara Goldrick-Rab and Douglas Harris followed a group of students who received grant money from the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars program. The program was created through a $175 million donation by John and Tashia Morgridge, providing a $3,500-a-year grant to some first-time, full-time students enrolled in the University of Wisconsin System. Goldrick-Rab and Harris tracked data from the 600 students who received Morgridge grants, plus 900 eligible non-recipients. In initial results, they found that the most disadvantaged group of students were more likely to stay in college if they received the Morgridge grant, compared to those who did not.
Written by Laura Dresser, Madison, labor economist and associate director, Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW-Madison.
Keeping Hmong food traditions alive in Wisconsin is among the missions of UW-Extension nutrition educator Kazoua Moua. Her pioneering work with Hmong families recently resulted in her being honored as an “Outstanding Woman of Color in Education” by the University of Wisconsin System.
Quoted: ?When we first started partnering with Arab journalists, we were just trying to build bridges,? said Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who chaired the international conference committee for the Doha meeting. ?It was in the midst of the Iraq War and there was a great deal of conflict between our cultures. We thought, we can do better than that. We built relationships and trust and eventually decided to partner to hold this conference in the Arab world.?
Cellular Dynamics International, Madison, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, have received a five-year, $6.26 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.The funds will be used to study the causes of a heart condition called left ventricular hypertrophy. CDI is the company founded in 2005 by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson.
Quoted: Huntzicker has noticed an unusual number of black flies this year. The same is true in other parts of the state, said Phil Pellitteri, extension entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin says Smith?s presence on the ballot will serve mostly to buy each candidate more time to campaign.
Quoted: But Phil Pellitteri, an entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Madison, suggests that complaining about pesky bugs should be discouraged.
Quoted: “There?s no question when the statistics come out sales of cigarettes will be down (and) there will be fewer people smoking,” said Patrick Remington, associate dean for public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
Quoted: Charles Cohen, a professor of history and religious studies at U-W Madison, says there was genius behind Thomas Jefferson and others who crafted the document establishing the United States.
“A conclusion might be that persons with high myopia should have regular ophthalmic examinations,” Dr. Barbara Klein of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who worked on one of the studies included in the new review, told Reuters Health.
Quoted: “I believe the military leaders are more concerned about their fates… than about Thaksin?s return,” said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “In a very short period of time, we have gone from having a Supreme Court that was a national model to a Supreme Court that is really fodder for late-night comics,” said Howard Schweber, a political science and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We no longer view the court as being somehow above or outside the day-to-day politics. It?s become just another partisan office.”
Quoted: David Canon, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: The policy calls for teacher practice, teacher collaboration within schools and student learning to be used in teacher evaluations. But for tests, only those shown to be ?developmentally appropriate, scientifically valid and reliable for the purpose of measuring both student learning and a teacher?s performance? should be used, the policy states, a bar that essentially excludes all existing tests, said Douglas N. Harris of the University of Wisconsin, a testing expert.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison economist and expert on school finance.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.
Quoted: Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences
Quoted: James Harold Maynard of the department of chemistry at UW-Madison.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: Scott Rankin, chairman of the department of food science at UW-Madison.
Quoted: “We?re attempting to target that cold water habitat that the Rainbow Smelt need,” said Jordan Read, a University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral student and organizer of the project. “In order to do that we?re mixing the bottom lake waters, which are normally very cold, with the surface waters which are much warmer. The end result is a lake that is too warm for the invasive fish to survive but has normal temperatures for some of the warmer water fish.”
Quoted: “At this point, it?s awfully hard to see an Obama commercial that says ?It?s morning again in America,?” said Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin and a founder of Pollster.com.
Quoted: The plan has the support of University of Wisconsin Madison political science professor David Canon, who says that this year provides a good example of how redistricting is politicized. He says that with recall elections on the horizon, state Senate Republicans may pass a new map this summer before many local political boundaries are redrawn.
Quoted: “I think it does exemplify the political messiness of this,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said. “It does reflect the extreme partisan atmosphere. All sides are so committed to winning, whatever the issue is, that any sense that there could be an objective judgment appears to be lost in the rhetoric.”
Quoted: Dr. Dan Jackson, of UW-Madison, believes there are several other factors at play.”It is likely related to how we live, but what those factors are remain unclear,” Jackson said. “It could related to food processing, food handling, a variety of other things.”
Quoted: UW-Madison Political Science Professor Charles Franklin says even though the supreme court scuffle has a punch-line quality, it?s actually a very serious matter. “No matter what way the evidence ultimately ends up about who did what to whom the fact that we?ve reached the point of physical altercation between justices I think is powerful evidence that the courts normal judicial decorum has broken down.”
Quoted: Donald Downs, a UW-Madison professor of law and political science.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, political science professor at UW-Madison, and Howard Schweber, a political science professor at UW-Madison.
Quoted: Howard Schweber, a UW-Madison political science and law professor.
From Green Bay to Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and beyond, those involved in the movement to remove their legislators who sided with Walker say it is their constitutional right to take action, and while they may not be hoisting signs and walking around the Capitol, they are working to change the makeup of those who serve within it.
Quoted: Dennis Dresang, UW-Madison professor emeritus of political science
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political scientist.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
They are supposed to be sober, adult and dispassionate. But recent events have legal and political experts wondering what the heck is wrong with the state Supreme Court.
Quoted: Donald Downs, a UW-Madison professor of law and political science, and Mordecai Lee, a UW-Milwaukee political science professor and former Democrat state lawmaker.
Quoted: ?Surgery ought to be considered front line therapy for diabetes among obese people,? said Jon Gould, who heads the weight loss surgery program at the University of Wisconsin and was not involved in the study.
Quoted: Shelley Jansky is a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been developing strains of potatoes that are resistant to diseases such as blight, the common scab and virus Y.
Quoted: ?Tillman is present at the polls in Edgefield County, waving a gun, telling black Republicans, ?If you come any further, you?ll have to come through blood,?? said Stephen Kantrowitz, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of ?Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy.?
Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a Canadian citizen who lived in five countries during his childhood, did graduate studies in Britain and now teaches at the University of Wisconsin. He last lived in Canada in 1999 and hasn?t voted in a Canadian election in several years. Prof. Gray, 35, is also a British citizen and will soon be eligible to become a U.S. citizen.
Quoted: Powerhouse perennials such as Japanese knotweed sometimes are paved over. That won?t stop them, said Mark Renz, a professor of agronomy with the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: Researchers say there is a possibility the smoke from pellets could contain PAHs. Hardwoods, which Traeger uses for its pellets, tend to burn cleanly. But “if nobody?s analyzed the smoke, it?s all guesswork,” says Michael Pariza, a scientist at the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Quoted: Brian Ohm, chairman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, said design of urban areas veered away from a focus on public transit for decades as American consumers turned to personal automobiles.
“You go back just 10-15 years the Wisconsin State Supreme Court really was viewed as an exemplary institution of good government, above the political fray, ” said Howard Schweber, a political science and legal studies professor at U-W Madison.
Quoted: Howard Schweber, a political science and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MADISON, Wis. — A University of Wisconsin law professor said that bickering among the state?s Supreme Court justices has made the court a “laughingstock.”
Quoted: Howard Schweber, UW-Madison associate professor of political science and legal studies
Noted: As written, the new bill lacks a lot of safeguards that were included in the last– like requiring all farmers to test their milk for pathogens. That irks Scott Rankin, chair of UW’s Food Science Department. He says this latest bill is so oversimplified, “It doesn’t even come up to the standard of any food, really.”
MADISON, Wis. — A University of Wisconsin law professor said that bickering among the state?s Supreme Court justices has made the court a “laughingstock.” His comments come after a liberal justice accused a conservative court member of choking her during an argument earlier this month.
University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Howard Schweber said infighting has made the court a laughingstock and the justices have become fodder for late-night comics.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at UW-Madison.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said there is no right or wrong way for members to cultivate constituent relations.
Quoted: Scott Rankin, chairman of the Department of Food Science at UW-Madison and member of the working group, says the latest bill is not based on science.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin zoologist Martin Simard.
Progressives have found precious little to like in the 2011-2013 budget Gov. Scott Walker will sign into law Sunday at a ceremony in Green Bay. But perhaps the most regressive item is a new tax loophole ? disguised as an economic development tool ? that is projected to cost the state hundreds of millions in lost revenue over the next decade.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics
Quoted: Jon Gould, who heads the weight loss surgery program at the University of Wisconsin and was not involved in the review.
For every 2 degrees the mercury in your thermometer rises over 85 Fahrenheit, hospital admissions for conditions such as diabetes and kidney disorders are predicted to rise by 13 percent, according to a study conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University and the National Center for Climatic Research.
A skin sample from Helen Eckert, transformed into a colony of heart cells in a UW-Madison lab, could give scientists clues to what causes Long QT Syndrome, a genetic heart disease. Researchers reprogrammed her skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, containing the genetic mutation she carries that causes Long QT Syndrome. The iPS cells were coaxed into heart cells, also with the mutation. The process involved an iPS cell method developed by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson.
Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin, said there seems to be fewer cold-related deaths in the United States than in Europe. That may mean that America will see heat deaths outweigh cold deaths sooner than Europe does, he said. Other experts say air conditioning in the U.S. is a big factor so that scenario is unlikely.
Quoted: ?In my mind, that?s the most important part of the legislation in terms of how it affects the strength of unions going forward,? said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
