Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Alfred Senn, a retired historian at the University of Wisconsin who taught a course and wrote a book on politics and the Olympics.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political scientist and co-developer of Pollster.com. “But you never know.”

Quoted: Scott Rankin, a UW-Madison associate professor of food science.

I’m still shopping for more seeds, but I know I will be planting Wisconsin 55, which was bred by J.C. Walker at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1940s.

Walker was a lion in plant pathology and the son of a cabbage grower and seedman seedsman from Racine. His Wisconsin 55 is an all-purpose tomato.

Noted: But no minutes had been kept of the meeting, which was supposed to be anonymous. (See “More Questions On Vytorin Panel”). An attempt to create an account of what happened there began later on. But one panelist, James Stein, a cardiac imaging expert at the University of Wisconsin, disagreed with assertions made in the document.

“This really overstates our recommendation,” Stein wrote to Schering-Plough executive John Strony. “It was the decision of the company to change the primary endpoint.”

WASHINGTON — Most pundits describe this presidential election as the first “open” race since 1952, the last time a president or a vice president wasn’t a serious contender. Presidential scholar Charles Jones disagrees, claiming New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has run as a “self-declared heir apparent.”

Quoted: Jonathan Patz, professor of environmental and health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Robert Bradley, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who has worked in food science for 44 years.

Quoted: Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has worked for local governments on cable regulatory issues in the past.

UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said that even if both candidates had stuck only to positive messages about their backgrounds and philosophies, they likely would have been “drowned out by the negative ads on both sides. ” He predicted the trend toward bitter judicial contests will continue.

Walter Dickey, a UW-Madison law professor and former Corrections chief, said it ‘s appropriate for political appointees to review such high-profile reports and recommend changes that might make it easier to read by the general public. He did that at Corrections, he said.

Quoted: Walter Dickey, a former Wisconsin prisons chief who served as court monitor in a challenge to the state’s former Supermax, the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, said the excess capacity remains a problem.

Quoted: Robin Chapman, a Madison poet and retired University of Wisconsin professor who serves as a director at the Council of Wisconsin Writers.

Quoted: Shawn Peters, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar who wrote “When Prayer Fails,” a book about faith healing and the law, said there has never been a case like this in Wisconsin. Peters, who said he has reviewed every faith-healing case in the country, said Wisconsin law gives Falstad a range of options from filing no charges to filing homicide charges.

Quoted: Bob Cropp, a dairy market specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Jo Handelsman, UW-Madison CALS, bacteriology.

Quoted: Douglas Harris, an educational policy professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Bacteriologist Jo Handelsman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Dr. James Sosman, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.

Quoted: Jennifer Hackett, 29, says she applied to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, because it offers a specialization in human resources. “Being able to work with faculty and students who share my interest in HR was really important to me, so I made that apparent in my essay,” she says. Ms. Hackett, who had been a HR generalist in Chicago and is now a second-year M.B.A. at Madison, says she also explained her goal of becoming “a strategic partner with a company and have a seat at the executive table.”

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Ken Goldstein said that the process of electing judges might be the problem.

The infusion of cash is part of a “very troubling” nationwide trend of special interest groups trying to control the makeup of state supreme and appeals courts through contentious campaigns that give voters a negative view of the judiciary, said Howard Schweber, who teaches law and political science at the UW-Madison.

The Madison Water Utility Board is considering a water conservation plan aimed at reducing residential per capita water use by 20 percent by the year 2020, to protect the groundwater supply that feeds area wells.

The proposal developed by a water conservation team includes a change in the water rate structure that would charge residential customers more if they go over certain thresholds of water use. Currently, Madison and almost all other water utilities in the state charge less for water used after a set threshold.

Quoted: Water conservation team member Joel Creswell, a UW-Madison postgraduate student in environmental chemistry and technology

Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We all need to take a step back and realize that this is different than many tests that you take,” she is quoted as saying. “This is a life-changing moment.”

Quoted: Blueprint lead author Jonathan Patz of the UW-Madison Gaylord Nelson Institute.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Ken Goldstein has researched the role of negative advertising for years and concluded that such ads can actually enrich the political process by focusing vital attention on issues and the differences between the candidates.

“One very serious question is whether the system of judicial elections in Wisconsin is broken beyond repair, ” said Howard Schweber, who teaches both political science and law at the UW-Madison. “It may be the case that from now on, judicial elections in Wisconsin will increasingly become exercises in personal attacks and ideological mudslinging carried out by party operatives and private groups hiding their agendas. “

“For a long time, linguists believed that mass media and education would even out the differences between regions and we would eventually all sound alike,” said Joseph Salmons, a UW-Madison professor of linguistics.

“In fact, the opposite has happened.”

Quoted: Rob Howard, an assistant professor of communication and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Dr. James Stein, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said many doctors prescribe Zetia and Vytorin because they seem to be safe ways to get cholesterol down quickly, without annoying side effects like flushing that some other medicines carry.

Quoted: But Shawn Peters, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar who wrote “When Prayer Fails,” a book about faith healing and the law, said “It’s more of a complex issue than it might appear on first glance. It’s a really thorny public policy issue.”

Quoted: Chris Kucharik, a scientist with UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Professor Zhenqiang Ma of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who also works on flexible silicon circuitry, said the new research was an “important step”.

Quoted: Steve Schroeder, director of the business career center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Morris Davis, professor of real estate and urban land economics at UW-Madison.

Quoted: Frank Greer, a professor of pediatric medicine at the University of Wisconsin and chairman of the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the body can make DHA on its own from what is naturally present in the diet — even a diet that doesn’t include lots of fish.

Quoted: Dr. Jonathan Patz, an environmental health scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a member of the U.N. climate panel.

The death early this week of a young Wisconsin girl from a treatable form of diabetes, whose parents prayed over her rather than seek medical help, could re-ignite a debate over a state law that essentially shields such activity from criminal prosecution.

So says the Madison-based author of When Prayer Fails, a new book about parents who, for religious reasons, refuse to provide medical care for their children.

“Maybe the statute will get tested out soon,” muses Shawn Francis Peters, who teaches writing and U.S. history at the UW-Madison.

Police in Weston says an 11-year-old girl died there Sunday of diabetes, because her parents chose prayer over medical treatment. An author and UW-Madison scholar says it would be hard to prosecute the parents in such a case.

Shawn Peters studied the subject extensively for his book, “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law.” He says Wisconsin law does protect a parent’s right to choose faith-healing over medicine. He says there can be complications when religion-based treatments of illness are involved.

Quoted: Patricia Burch, UW-Madison School of Education

Quoted: Patricia Burch of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Dr. Norman Fost, professor of bioethics and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.

There are signs that a recession this year could be more painful that first expected, but the impact in Wisconsin may be eased somewhat.

UW economist Don Nichols says Wisconsin has actually managed to avoid the financial crisis being felt by much of the nation because housing prices here did not get out of line. He says there have been very low mortgage delinquency rates in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay

Quoted: Edward Friedman, a China specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: Adam Gamoran of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who analyzed the findings.