Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Randall Fortenbery, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

But while some students enjoyed ice cream, others sweltered in classrooms where the heat couldn’t be turned off completely. University buildings are heated and cooled by coils containing water of different temperatures, and those coils can take three weeks to drain when switching between heating and cooling.

“They don’t just change on a dime,” said Faramarz Vakili, associate director for the UW- Madison Physical Plant. “Normal cooling season doesn’t start until May, and our top priorities are (buildings) that have animals or labs for experiments.”

With temperatures reaching record highs in Madison Sunday, Lake Mendota is ahead of the average too; this year it is thawing days earlier than springs in the past.

According to UW-Madison meteorology professor Steve Vavrus, the lake froze so late this year, so the ice did not have enough time to get as thick as it usually does. He added the large amounts of snow Madison received also slowed the ice freezing process.

The recent pet food recall making the news has us questioning what our furry friends eat. But, last fall, after an e-coli outbreak, we were wondering what we were eating. Food safety is one UW professor’s specialty and Sunday he’s sharing his knowledge with a national audience.

Quoted: Barry Orton, a UW-Madison telecommunications professor who advises local governments on the issue.

Rafael Lazimy, a UW- Madison business professor who specializes in the development of IT systems, said sometimes canceling a project is the right call, for instance if the need for an application is no longer as great.

But when several projects are being canceled for technical or cost issues, it calls for investigating whether it was the result of poor planning, Lazimy said.

So far, oversight of troubled state projects has been uneven. An internal audit released this month showed that the UW Board of Regents wasn’t notified about setbacks in the $28.4 million project for the payroll and benefits system until it was scrapped.

Quoted: Susan Fischer, director of student financial services at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Quoted: Ben Kempinen, associate clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a member of a committee writing ethics rules for attorneys.

Quoted: Michael Knetter, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.

Quoted: Karen Delahaut, a phenology specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Professor John Valley, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin are pushing for a bill to strengthen Wisconsinâ??s current laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.

Quoted: Dr. David Mann, an orthopedic surgeon with the University of Wisconsin Hospital who works with Sharing Resources Worldwide.

Quoted: Allen Odden, a school finance expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Political scientist Kenneth Mayer of the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Scott A. Rankin, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Sean Carroll of the University of Wisconsin in Madison

Quoted: Susan Steingass, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Scott Caldwell, the clinical evaluator for the Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) program at University of Wisconsin Health.

Quoted: John Gaska, a University of Wisconsin agronomist.

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

Quoted: Allan Odden, co-director of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Consortium for Policy Research in Education, who was a consultant during development of the pilot program.

Quoted: Thomas J. Archdeacon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor and immigration policy expert.

The UW System has significantly reduced the online availability of salary data for faculty members.

Since December, the salaries of individual professors are no longer accessible through the Internet, though data will be provided upon request.

Quoted: Ron Carda, physical education professor at the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison and Ph.D. in exercise physiology, said there should be two basic goals for the first six weeks of any new exercise regimen.

Quoted: Stanley Kutler, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a nationally recognized expert in the presidency.

MADISON, Wis. — President George W. Bush is calling on a former University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor to co-lead an investigation into the country’s military hospitals.

Donna Shalala, who was the secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, along with former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole will guide a probe into the problems at the nation’s military hospitals, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center, WISC-TV reported.

Director of UW-Madisonâ??s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Frances Westley announced her resignation Tuesday, effective June 30.

The director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies announced her resignation after two years of service to the University of Wisconsin.

Brisk, winter winds are common throughout Madison this time of year, but due to the growth and expansion of the city, taller buildings built closely next to one another are to blame for the numerous wind tunnels.

Quoted: Beverly Gordon, chair of the environment, textiles and design department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, thinks the interest in Lucite, first big on shoes in the 1950s, could be a commentary on the modern attitude towar

Quoted: Dr. Jim Conway, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at UW-Madison.