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Most Wisconsin schools protect students from discrimination against everything but this.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A study of Wisconsin school board policies has found that nearly all districts have policies protecting students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and the vast majority protect students from discrimination based on gender identity.

“I don’t think there’s enough work that describes the environment that we’re in.  But then the project gained some urgency when we started hearing from educators across the state about the need for some sort of description of the state of guidance affecting teachers and students,” said Mollie McQuillan, lead author of the school board policy research and an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at UW-Madison.

13th annual ‘Fill the Hill’ at UW-Madison kicks off, raising thousands for student causes in 24 hours

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WKOW - Channel 27

‘Fill the Hill’ at UW-Madison kicked off at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9. The event is the university’s largest fundraising day, allowing donors to gift money to student groups for 24 hours.

To celebrate the event, a flock of flamingo rubber duckies will be dumped into the fountain at Library Mall at 9 a.m. on Friday Oct. 10. Participants can rescue them with a net and keep the ones they catch.

In the 608: ‘Fill the Hill’ returns to UW-Madison with flock of pink flamingos

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Channel 3000

Thousands of pink plastic flamingos will once again cover Bascom Hill as the University of Wisconsin–Madison celebrates its 13th annual Fill the Hill fundraiser.

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association hosts the event each fall as part of the University’s day-of-giving campaign. Each donation of $5 or more adds another flamingo to the growing flock on the hill.

Fishing plays greater role on Midwest fish populations than warming, study finds

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Despite worries over rising temperatures, it turns out anglers have a greater effect on fish populations than global warming. That’s according to a new study led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We found that for the majority of the populations so far fishing has far more greater impact than warming on the fish populations,” said Luoliang Xu, postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl 2026 halftime show could finally bring Puerto Rican history into the spotlight

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Teen Vogue

To purposely further adhere his politics and his art, Bad Bunny involved University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of history Jorrell Meléndez-Badillo in the DtMF album rollout. The distilled history lessons from Meléndez-Badillo’s acclaimed book “Puerto Rico: A National History” were used as visualizers and displayed onscreen during the Residencia. His anti-colonial storytelling clarifies moments like the SCOTUS Insular cases, which afforded Puerto Rican U.S. citizens only some constitutional rights. He also emphasizes that these decisions were made in the early 1900s, when both journalistic coverage of Puerto Ricans and public intellectual discourse of them (including the President), was almost unilaterally disparaging and racist. This proliferated the idea that Puerto Ricans could never be American because of their “ignorance, laziness, and inferior ability to self-rule” (Melendez-Badillo, ch. 6).

These UW-Madison faculty have been awarded MacArthur fellowships

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Wisconsin State Journal

wo more MacArthur fellows were added Wednesday to UW-Madison’s growing list of faculty who have received the prestigious award.

Since 1985, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has granted eight UW-Madison professors the fellowship, which often is referred to as a “genius award.”

2 UW-Madison professors named MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ fellows

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Wisconsin State Journal

Two UW-Madison professors have been named MacArthur Foundation fellows, called “genius awards,” for their work in studying weather patterns in the tropics and investigating the effects of nuclear weapons.

UW-Madison professors Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, who is an atmospheric scientist, and Sébastien Philippe, a nuclear security specialist, were selected Wednesday for the prestigious fellowships. Fellows receive $800,000 paid out over five years for any use.

MacArthur 2025 ‘genius’ grant winners include 2 UW-Madison professors

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named atmospheric scientist Ángel Adames Corraliza, 37, and nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, 38, as recipients of the prestigious MacArthur fellowship. Also known as the “genius grant,” the national award is given annually to a small group of people across a range of disciplines who show exceptional creativity in their work and future ambitions.

Meet the 22 artists, scientists and authors who will each get $800,000 MacArthur genius grants

Posted on
Associated Press

For Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the award is also a recognition of the talent and grit coming from Puerto Rico, where he is from, despite the hardships his community has endured. His research has uncovered many new findings about what drives weather patterns in the tropics, which may eventually help improve forecasting in those regions.

Adames said usually one of his classes would be ending right when the foundation would publish the new class of fellows, so he was planning to end the lecture early to come back to his office. He said he’s having trouble fathoming what it will be like.

“I am low-key expecting that a few people are just going to show up in my office, like right at 11:02 a.m. or something like that,” he said.

Many 2025 ‘Genius’ Fellows affiliated with universities

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Inside Higher Ed

Since the fellowship launched in 1981, fellows have included writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers and entrepreneurs. While no institutional affiliation is required, the award went to the following 2025 fellows with ties to a college or university:

  • Atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an associate professor in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for investigating the mechanisms underlying tropical weather patterns.
  • Nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, assistant professor in the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for exposing past harms and potential future risks from building, testing and storing launch-ready nuclear weapons.

Fishing is impacting fishery populations more than climate change, new study finds

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Channel 3000

It’s no secret that Wisconsinites love fishing. But who knew the effects of local anglers on our fisheries were outpacing that of climate change?

That’s exactly what a new study from postdoctoral researcher Luoliang Xu and Prof. Olaf Jensen at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology found. The discovery was published last week in the journal Science Advances.

“Warming and fishing are happening at the same time, and they both can strongly affect the fish populations,” Xu said. “So the intention of our study is to try to tear apart these two factors.”

UW scientists prepare for final IceCube expedition

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Isthmus

This fall, as temperatures plummet to -50°C (or -58°F) at the South Pole, a team of UW-Madison scientists and engineers will embark on an adventure to the frozen desert. Their goal: drill seven holes through a mile and a half of Antarctic ice to complete a revolutionary upgrade to the world’s coldest neutrino telescope.

“Whoever had the idea of drilling holes a mile and a half into a glacier was crazy,” says Vivian O’Dell, project manager for the IceCube Upgrade. “Completely nuts. And yet it works.”

Tool developed at UW-Madison helps map health disparities nationwide

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Wisconsin State Journal

Where someone lives can shape their health, just as much as the care they receive. That’s why Dr. Amy Kind of her team at UW-Madison have developed the Area Deprivation Index (ADI).

The tool maps health disparities using the impacts of income, housing, education and employment on health.

Swap your boiler for a money-saving heat pump

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Popular Science

While heat pumps in the US have traditionally been associated with warmer locations, they are starting to become more feasible for colder climes. “You can pretty much buy a heat pump for most climates in the US and it can lower your energy bills,” Allison Mahvi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Popular Science. Some of Mahvi’s research focuses on  how to make more efficient heat pump systems for cold climates.

Trout Lake Station documentary highlights local, global impact of Wisconsin research

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Wisconsin Public Radio

For nearly a century, Trout Lake Station in Boulder Junction has been at the center of environmental research in Wisconsin. Now, a new documentary aims to show how the year-round field station’s work extends far beyond lake shorelines.

Operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology, Trout Lake Station has been supporting research since 1925.

Finding joy and confidence in writing with new ‘Whoopensocker’ collection

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PBS Wisconsin

PBS Wisconsin Education, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education, recently launched Whoopensocker, a new educational resource collection for upper elementary learners that provides an on-ramp to writing through group games and scaffolded lessons.

Whoopensocker was first developed as a six-week teaching artist residency by Erica Halverson, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at the UW-Madison School of Education. Halverson teamed up with PBS Wisconsin Education to make a multimedia version of the program that’s accessible to more educators around the state and in spaces where an artist residency may not be available.

UW researcher pushes for federal funding for nuclear fusion research

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Channel 3000

“What we study is thinking about new technology that would be a way to start up future fusion devices. And it’s really looking at, how do you reduce the cost and complexity,” said Steffi Diem, an assistant professor at UW-Madison and principal investigator of the Pegasus Three experiment. “And our technology looks at building. It looks kind of like a small lightsaber that injects, you know, the fuel in it, and then we capture it by a magnetic field.”

‘Trailblazers in Motion’ exhibit unveils progressive history of UW-Madison women’s physical education program

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The Daily Cardinal

When the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a Women’s Physical Education Department in 1912, Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote. Women, only reluctantly admitted to UW-Madison in the first place, faced scientific misconceptions, double standards and restrictions from administration. But the department itself was always years ahead of its time, alumni said, from its early days to its eventual merger with the men’s program in 1976.

UW-Madison climbs again in national Best Colleges rankings

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison continued its rise in the latest U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings for 2026, moving up one spot this year to 12th among public colleges.

In the national rankings released Tuesday, UW-Madison also swung up by three places as 36th overall out of 438 universities across the country. UW-Madison previously has ranked higher and also lower — in the 2025 rankings the university was 39th overall and it was 35th overall for 2024.

Free speech expert weighs in on ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel

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WKOW - Channel 27

“The First Amendment only prohibits actions by the government,” said Anuj Desai, a Volkman-Bascom Professor of Law and First Amendment expert at UW-Madison’s Law School. “So, generally speaking, if you are employed by a private employer, as Jimmy Kimmel was — or is — it does not regulate the relations between your employer and you.”

Regents OK more money to expand UW-Madison’s cyclotron lab project

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison is getting an extra $13.5 million to add two floors to the lab it’s constructing for a new cyclotron particle accelerator, which can be used to help detect cancer.

The UW Board of Regents approved the revision to the project Thursday, which will create more space to treat patients for cancer and other diseases at the facility, amid a booming biotech industry.

UW-Madison proposes $13.5 million expansion of cancer research, treatment hub

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Patients with cancer could be diagnosed and treated in one building if UW-Madison gets approval for its expanded multimillion-dollar cyclotron lab.

Construction for a $48.5 million cyclotron lab between two research buildings next to UW Hospital was expected to start this year, but the university now is seeking the green light from the UW Board of Regents to add more space for patient treatment and research.

Monarch butterflies thrived in Wisconsin this year, researcher says

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Karen Oberhauser is the former director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arboretum and cofounder of the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. She has four decades of experience researching monarch butterflies.

Oberhauser said that at this point in the monarch season, the butterflies are still living and breeding in northern ranges as far north as Canada, but she added that the earliest generation of migrators to Mexico are now about halfway to their destination.

“I just looked at those maps and I see some monarchs are showing up now in roosting sites way down in Kansas and even a little bit further south right now,” she said.

Wisconsin lawmakers weigh adopting controversial definition of antisemitism

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Wisconsin Public Radio

While officially adopted by the IHRA in 2016, the definition has been in use for about 20 years, according to Chad Alan Goldberg, a sociologist and professor of Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said it’s a response to rising antisemitism in recent decades, with an additional increase since the war between Israel and Hamas after Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

“It’s coming in a context of heightened concerns about antisemitism,” he said. “Proponents … think it would be a good idea because they think it would make it easier to identify and combat anti-Jewish hate speech and hate crimes, anti-Jewish harassment, vandalism and assault.”

Journalism in the age of AI

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Isthmus

Within weeks of arriving in Madison, Tomas Dodds has already launched an exciting lab on campus: the Public Tech Media Lab. Dodds, a native of Buenos Aires, was happily working at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he was a research fellow at the AI, Media & Democracy Lab and the Institute for Advanced Study, when he saw a job opening at UW-Madison’s J-school.

According to Dodds, a main goal of the Public Tech Media Lab, which already counts faculty associates from around the globe, will be to teach journalists how to use open source technologies to create their own AI systems that align with their values and needs. The idea is to make newsrooms less dependent on big tech companies that have their own private interests.

This UW-Madison professor wants cows to chill out

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The Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison professor Jimena Laporta Sanchis wants to help dairy cows beat the heat.

While a 70-degree day is welcome news to most Wisconsinites, it’s approaching a heat danger zone for dairy cattle. Due to cows’ much larger bodies and the immense work they must do to process food through four stomachs and produce gallons of milk daily, they’re more prone to overheating and increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

Helping teens navigate online racism − study shows which parenting strategy works best

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The Conversation

Parents struggle to help teens deal with online racism. Online racism is different from in-person racism because the people behaving that way usually hide behind fake names, making it hard to stop them. Studies found that teens of color see more untargeted racism – memes, jokes, comments – and racism targeting others online than racism targeted directly at them. But vicarious racism hurts, too.

UW-Madison unveils new computer sciences building to accommodate student demand

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Exploding interest in computer and data sciences over the last decade at the University of Wisconsin-Madison led to hundreds of students on course waitlists and a lack of lecture halls large enough to accommodate demand.

The growing pains will begin to ease with the opening of Morgridge Hall this semester. The gleaming seven-story building is the home of the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences. It houses the two most popular majors on this 50,000-student campus.

Surveys show we trust each other less. Does that make Wisconsin less ‘Midwest nice’?

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Wisconsin Public Radio

University of Wisconsin-Madison psychologist Markus Brauer studies how social groups interact, and he told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the state’s political divisiveness helps explain some of the trust issues.

“If there are people who belong to other political parties, then there is the possibility that they may not share the same common values, which then undermines trust,” Brauer said. “So generally, partisan strength and perceived political polarization actually undermine social trust in others.”

How do modern-day couples divide the work of decision-making?

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Madison Magazine

Allison Daminger was in graduate school when she learned that men and women use their time differently: On average, men spend more time on paid work, and women spend more time on unpaid work.

“I remember wondering whether the time-use numbers were telling the full story,” says Daminger, who is now an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “What about differences in how men and women use their mind on their family’s behalf?”

Doors open for UW-Madison’s new School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences

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WKOW - Channel 27

The new building for the School of Computer, Data, and Information Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has opened its doors.

This facility, called Morgridge Hall, brings various departments together under one roof for the first time. It inspires collaboration, as students and colleagues can simply bump into each other in the hall and get ideas for projects they are working on.

UW-Madison opens new building to house computer and data sciences school

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison students Wednesday morning shuffled into their first day of classes in the university’s newest building — funded entirely by private donations — to house its growing School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences.

Morgridge Hall, a $267 million, 343,000-square-foot facility, is UW-Madison’s largest privately funded building and puts all the disciplines seeing the most growth at the university under one roof.

Why your pets should never ride loose in the car

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The New York Times

If your pet is loose in the car, they might do something unpredictable or extra adorable — and that can be a big problem. When “you see someone in the driver’s seat with a small dog on their lap, that is obviously such a big distraction and such a big risk factor for causing a crash,” said Molly Racette, a veterinarian and professor of emergency and critical care at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wisconsin’s tiniest livestock — honeybees — are threatened by mites, pesticides and lack of food

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“Honeybees are like livestock,” Hannah Gaines Day, a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who studies how pollinators interact with the environment and agricultural operations, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “They’re like little, tiny livestock that the beekeeper is taking care of, and so they have someone looking out for them and feeding them and giving them medicine if they need it if they’re sick. But the wild pollinators don’t have that.”

Can a pandemic movie be an engine for empathy?

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WORT FM

Can filmmakers make a good pandemic film five years after the globe-changing year of 2020?  The recently released “Eddington” makes an attempt, but focuses on a hyper local experience with a fictional small town in New Mexico. On the Buzz to talk about the movie is Jeff Smith, a professor specializing in cinema studies in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Is it OK to write songs with AI? UW-Madison expert says it depends

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The Cap Times

“I think it is always hard to come down on the side of ‘no, this technology should not be used in this space,’” said Jeremy Morris, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I think the more interesting question is ‘how do we use it and how does that come to define the things we listen to?’”

Teens come up with trigonometry proof for Pythagorean Theorem, a problem that stumped math world for centuries

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CBS News

Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has studied how best to teach African American students. She told us an encouraging teacher can change a life.

“Many of our young people have their ceilings lowered, that somewhere around fourth or fifth grade, their thoughts are, ‘I’m not going to be anything special.’ What I think is probably happening at St. Mary’s is young women come in as, perhaps, ninth graders and are told, ‘Here’s what we expect to happen. And here’s how we’re going to help you get there.'”

Hip-hop’s role in today’s classrooms

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USA Today

“The reason why it resonated with students … is because it felt like an opportunity for them to be met on their own ground and to have a kind of shared ground with which to meet instructors or meet ideas,” says Nate Marshall, award-winning poet and assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Ultimately, like, the role of an educator is to connect the students in order to serve the students. So, if that’s not your way to connect with them, that’s cool. You find other ways.”

UW-Madison researchers find automation apps can enable dating abuse

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WKOW

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that automation apps, like iPhone’s ‘shortcuts’, can be a vehicle potential abusers use to control their partner’s activities on their mobile device.

Rahul Chatterjee, an assistant professor of computer science at UW and founder of the Madison Tech Clinic, said Madison Tech Clinic helps individuals who have been virtually stalked or harassed by their partners.

Wisconsin scientists are leaders in testing psilocybin treatments for mental health

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“A lot of the participants in our trials have tried one or more different types of either behavioral treatments or pharmacological treatments,” Christopher Nicholas said. “They’re looking for another option.”

He’s optimistic psychedelics paired with therapy will give patients a new tool. He worked on a 2023 study that found participants’ depression scores improved about six weeks after a single dose of psilocybin.

In ancient teeth, clues of human evolution — and perhaps a new species

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The Washington Post

John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the work, said the find is exciting because it opens a window into a critical and mysterious period of human evolution between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. He said he’s eager to see the work published but noted that such finds raise as many questions as they answer.