Learning about the state we serve
Four Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants have received Distinguished Teaching Awards this year, an honor that recognizes their teaching and celebrates their hard work. William Brockliss, WIS’13, is an associate professor of classical and ancient near eastern studies. Kathleen Culver, WIS’12, is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication. Erica Halverson, WIS’07, is a professor …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer and UW–Madison alumnus, was elected as chair of the Dairy Innovation Hub advisory council. In this new position, Breunig will work to assemble the council, set agendas, and provide guidance to the Dairy Innovation Hub’s faculty director: UW–Madison dairy scientist and WIS’13 alumna Heather White. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited …
Beginning on February 1 and extending until May 10, the Faculty Exhibition 2020 will be on display in the Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries and throughout the Chazen Art Museum. Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant Tomiko Jones (WIS ’19) is showing three tricolor gum prints over cyanotype, inspired by a collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints in the Van …
Tomiko Jones, assistant art professor at UW–Madison and 2019 Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant, recently received a Seed Grant Award for the Arts. Titled “These Grand Places”, the photography-based narrative communicates a socially engaged public land project. Jones’s project documents the lived experience and connections between land and people, working with experts across the nation. Two …
What initially drew you to papermaking? I was introduced to the fine craft of hand papermaking during my MA degree at the University of Iowa, studying Textile Design. Tim Barrett (who was awarded a MacArthur Award for his work as both a practitioner and teacher of hand papermaking in 2009) joined the faculty as …
Jennifer Van Os, an assistant professor of dairy science, visits milk producers around the state to study cow comfort. In May, she will accompany the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to Rosy-Lane Holsteins in Watertown, Wisconsin, where she has collaborated with owners Daphne and Lloyd Holterman on a number of research projects that look at cow …
Lucas Zoet, an assistant professor of geoscience traveled along with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in 2017. Since then, he has been working on a project that studies the bluffs of Wisconsin’s eastern shores. Lake Michigan currently has very high water levels, which contributes to erosion, slides, and collapses. A key component of the project …
Claus Andersen spoke to Wisconsin Public Radio about hygge, the notion of pleasant togetherness, that is embedded in Scandinavian culture and which has recently caught on in the United States. Andersen, an assistant professor of Scandinavian Studies, traveled along with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in 2018. Listen to Andersen’s WPR interview where he discusses hygge.
Thea Whitman, who traveled along with the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in 2016, studies microbes here at UW–Madison, burning wood in a large furnace in order to look at carbon and its role in soil. The knowledge gained from analyzing the biochar can then be applied to current situations – most notably, climate change. Originally …
James Tinjum of the Department of Engineering Professional Development is biking around the Upper Midwest to increase awareness of solar energy and raise funds for a solar project at a shelter for abused children in Puerto Rico. On an electric bike prototype, the 2000K trip to 50 sites will take about two weeks.