Category: UW Experts in the News

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

A UW-Madison political scientist has joined a national panel to analyze 2008 presidential primary polling results, the university announced Monday.

Quoted: Kenneth Cameron, director of the Wisconsin State Herbarium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. â??There are a lot of politics and personalities involved.â?

A startup founded by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison next month will begin beta-testing an appliance based on its patent-pending technology aimed at stopping attackers and bot-herders before they hit client machines.

A startup with U.S. military backing will begin beta-testing a security appliance this month, which it argues could change the face of network security by automating and refining the generation of malware signatures.

The startup, Nemean Networks, was co-founded by Paul Barford, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is named after the first of Hercules’ 12 tasks – to kill the Nemean lion, a beast with an impenetrable coat.

Botnets are a huge problem for the Internet as a whole. With millions of infected machines prepared to attack sites at any given moment, it is both difficult to find and bring down the leaders of these botnets. Perhaps one of the most challenging problems in doing so is that most of the computers infected have owners who are blissfully unaware their machines are being used in such a manner.

A new startup called Nemean Networks wants to attack the problem head on with a device that aims to help curb the botnet problem by preventing machines from getting infected in the first place.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies political advertising

Quoted: Kristi Shook Slack, an associate professor of social work at UW-Madison.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political science professor and director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.

Quoted: Hannah Carey, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Carey specializes in the study of hibernating animals.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Bob Cropp, a dairy economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political science professor and the director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which just completed a study of campaign expenditures to date.

Quoted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison has served beer in its student union building for years, said Susan Crowley, the prevention services director for the UW-Madison PACE project, which educates students about the effects of binge drinking.

Ms. Crowley said the union serves beer and tries to â??model appropriate adult behaviorâ? by frequently checking IDs and promoting moderation. â??Thereâ??s no comparison in health and safety factors,â? she said.

An â??ice quakeâ? on Lake Mendota shook things up along the lakeshore area of the UW-Madison campus Thursday afternoon.

Dropping temperatures caused the ice on Lake Mendota to crack Thursday afternoon, shaking the University of Wisconsin campus and giving students another reason to curse the cold.

Quoted: Morris A. Davis, an assistant professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies political advertising, said Obama faces the greater challenge. “People know Hillary,” he said. “You either like her or don’t like her; maybe advertising helps at the margins. Obama really needs to introduce himself.”

Quoted: University of Wisconsin physiologist Hannah Carey has 100 squirrels hibernating in two dark walk-in refrigerators in her lab. She’s discovered that hibernating squirrels can last 20 minutes without oxygen. She thinks the squirrels have a genetic response to the cold that protects them from multiorgan failure. “I often say that people are the oddities,” jokes Carey. Biotech firm Hiberna, hatched last year with undisclosed funding from Boulder Ventures, has used DNA chips to spot 15 genes that appear crucial for protecting tissue during hibernation.

Quoted: Morris A. Davis, an assistant professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.

Quoted: Janet Gilmore, a University of Wisconsin-Madison folklore professor who has studied them extensively.

Quoted: Political scientist Charles Franklin.

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

Quoted: Jack Williams, a geographer at the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There’s strong scientific consensus that immediate action is needed because of the long life of greenhouse gases.”

Quoted: Bruce Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economics professor.

Quoted: Ladan Mostaghimi, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mostaghimi published a study in 2005 in the Journal of Sleep Research reporting that severely sleep-deprived lab rats developed lesions on their paws and tails while rested rats did not.

Quoted: Steve Kimball, a researcher with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Stephen Lucas, professor of communication arts at University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of a soon-to-be- published anthology of the top 100 American speeches of the 20th century.

Quoted: Kenneth Goldstein of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says negative campaigning informs voters

Fond du Lac High School is inviting the community to discuss ways to improve employment opportunities for youth with disabilities.

“Community Conversation” will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, at Marian College, 45 S. National Ave.

The evening will provide a venue for creative brainstorming and networking over coffee and desserts. It is open to anyone interested in improving employment and community involvement for youth with disabilities. Business and community leaders, local policymakers, faith communities, youth agencies, families and young people are especially encouraged to attend.

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

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at UW-Madison.

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

On Thursday, a law student working with the Wisconsin Innocence Project made the case for David Sanders ‘ compensation request, which includes repayment of attorneys ‘ fees and the maximum $5,000 allowed under the law for the eight months he spent in prison, the start of what was to be a 15-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault of a child.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project.

Near record amounts of snow this winter have raised concerns about roof collapses. Snow and ice accumulations on roofs cause a loading which can cause roof collapse when the roof is not strong enough to resist the load. The deeper the snow, the higher the loading.

Brian Holmes and David Kammel, University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension professors and specialists note that the more dense the snow and ice, the greater the load for a given depth. Rain held in snow can add about 5 pounds per square foot per for each inch of rain.

Quoted: Charles H. Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.

NAPERVILLEâ??The lives of persons with disabilities â??can literally be transformed by people who are willing to welcome, receive, befriend, support and walk alongside them,â? said Erik Carter, an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.