Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: James Paul Gee, a University of Wisconsin professor.

Quoted: Frank Tuerkheimer, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a former U.S. attorney, said itâ??s rare to see prosecutions for a murder conspiracy when no one has been hurt.

Quoted: Dennis Dresang, a political science and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the tragedy prompted some officials in Minnesota to change their stand against spending and tax increases.

Quoted: Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Quoted: Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, moderated the panel of speakers.

JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — The eight inches of rain that fell in some parts of central Wisconsin over the last three days will bring back an unwanted pest – mosquitoes.

So says University of Wisconsin Extension entomologist Phil Pellitteri.

Pellitteri says people will notice an increase in the biting insects.

Quoted: Amato Evan, a climate researcher at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: The downside of such a highly personalized approach to promotion and brand-building, says University of Wisconsin marketing expert Thomas O’Guinn, is that it leaves no room for failure, either by the individual or by the companies associated with the individual.

Quoted: Menzie D. Chinn, professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Susan Crowley, director of an anti-binge drinking program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said dangerous drinking and partying are on the rise.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering professor Michael Oliva said the inspections are public relations exercises but they may be helpful.

Nothing beats a milkshake on a hot summer day. It’s cool and refreshing whether you suck it through a straw or spoon it into your mouth.

Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, extension entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Michael Oliva, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Quoted: Calvin B. DeWitt, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Jim Seward, professor of finance and the director of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The very weather that is scaring away pesky mosquitoes this summer is the same weather attracting other kinds of critters.

Phil Pellitteri, extension entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said much of the state has lucked out with weather conditions harmful to the blood-sucking insect.

Liz and Garrett Perry were dropping off scrap lumber and old shingles from a garage roofing project at the Deer Track Park landfill when they saw what appeared to be a bloody chicken darting between the big trash bearing rigs roaring through the massive dump just off Interstate 94 near Johnson Creek.

Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who studies tax policy.

Quoted: James M. Raymo and Larry Bumpass, professors within the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Sociology,

Quoted: Theodore Gerber, a sociologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Like ghost stories around the campfire, hot weather myths are part of summer.

There are the endearing, the enduring and the just plain ridiculous — dogs with sweaty paws, potato salad’s bacteria bonanza, air-conditioning-induced colds.

So what about these almost believable, almost dismissable summer legends?

Quoted: Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Michael Pariza, director of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Amato Evan, a University of Wisconsin climate scientist who studies African dust.

Quoted: Bob Cropp, a dairy analyst at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the market could soften.

Quoted: Sheela Kennedy, coauthor of an upcoming paper at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Demography and Ecology.

Quoted: Karen Steudel, professor of zoology and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, sees a disconnect between the data and the main conclusions.

Quoted: Rusty Bishop, director for the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and professor of food science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Quoted: Emily Auerbach, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the book â??Searching for Jane Austen.â?

Quoted: Michael Oliva, a University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, said poorly rated bridges were not likely in danger of having major problems, especially since many of them see low traffic volumes.

Quoted: Robert Hamers, the chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The collapse of Minnesotaâ??s busiest bridge will lead to revisions in the terminology inspectors use to label conditions of the structures, predicts an expert in bridge ratings.

The term â??structurally deficientâ? â?? used to describe the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis and more than 2,000 bridges in Wisconsin â?? can be misleading, said Lawrence Bank, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Michael Oliva, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering for UW-Madison.

Hearing that twenty-one hundred bridges in Wisconsin are deficient doesn’t mean they’re ready to collapse.

There are degrees of deficiency according to UW-Madison Civil Engineering professor Mike Oliva. And, he says, that doesn’t mean a bridge declared deficient is necessarily ready to collapse. It could mean inspectors need to take a closer look to see what’s going on and keep close track of it.

Hearing that twenty-one hundred bridges in Wisconsin are deficient doesn’t mean they’re ready to collapse.

There are degrees of deficiency according to UW-Madison Civil Engineering professor Mike Oliva. And, he says, that doesn’t mean a bridge declared deficient is necessarily ready to collapse. It could mean inspectors need to take a closer look to see what’s going on and keep close track of it.

Wisconsin officials have dealt with bridge section failures in the past. They will be watching Minnesota’s bridge collapse investigation closely, and preparing to make safety changes here, if problems are discovered which apply to Wisconsin’s bridge structures.

UW-Madison bridge engineering professor Mike Oliva said the design of Minneapolis’ 35-W bridge reflects an older design without newer safety features. “The industry is definitely moving away from bridges where there are critical members that cause a collapse.”

Quoted: Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“Structurally deficient” does not necessarily imply a bridge is dangerous, said Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It means the bridge has undergone wear and tear.

“Structurally deficient means that some or all of the components of the bridge might not meet their original design capacities. They may have degraded in some way,” Bank said. “Not everything is expected to remain in a new and pristine state.”

Michael Oliva, a structural engineer at UW-Madison, agreed the state’s bridges are in better shape than the national average. But the Minnesota collapse was sobering, he said, because large portions of the bridge failed.

“Even for an engineer like myself, this is scary because we never expect this to happen in design,” Oliva said, noting that most bridges are engineered so that at most only a limited section of the bridge can fail.

Quoted: Michael Oliva, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin, said the bridge in Minneapolis had some unique characteristics.

Quoted: Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin law professor who studies bioethics.

Quoted: Michael Oliva, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said poorly rated bridges were not likely in danger of having major problems, especially since many of them see low traffic volumes.

Quoted: Michael Oliva, a structural engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed the state’s bridges are in better shape than the national average. But the Minnesota collapse was sobering, he said, because large portions of the bridge failed.

Quoted:Allan R. Odden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said at Wednesdayâ??s meeting. And best of all, it doesnâ??t have to mean spending twice the money.

Quoted: Moneera Alghadeer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, published an article this year in The Journal of Arabic Literature that analyzed Alsanea’s novel.

Quoted: Dr. Barbara Knox, who specializes in child abuse cases at the University of Wisconsin Childrenâ??s Hospital

Quoted: Timothy Donohue, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who works as scientific director for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.

….as Edwards completed his “Road to One America” tour of impoverished areas in the South and Midwest last week, many were asking: Is Edwards really a modern day RFK?

Quoted: Associate professor of political science Katherine Cramer Walsh

Quoted: Dr. Bruce P. Barrett, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved with the review, said he was not convinced of the value of combining the studies in a single analysis.

Quoted: Lawrence H. Landweber, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who was also part of an early effort to bring the Web to Africa in the mid-1990s.