Wisconsin Institute for Discovery

Reinventing Discovery

The world's greatest scientific challenges can't be met by individual scientists, laboratories, or departments. The Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is an experiment in interdisciplinarity, combining the best minds in new teams with powerful tools that transcend the boundaries of departments and fields.

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Innovations in the research process help us solve the biggest problems with a new approach to science:

Targeted Expertise

Convening experts from emerging fields

Training & Teaching

Cultivating interdisciplinary skills and language

Town Halls & Forums

Gathering diverse ideas and people

Tackling Challenges

Addressing ambitious Grand Challenges

Expertise at WID

WID researchers make fundamental discoveries at the intersections of disciplines to solve problems that require an interdisciplinary approach.

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Data Science

Precision Medicine

Complex Systems

Emerging Technologies

Stories of Discovery

Research, outreach, and initiatives at WID embody the Wisconsin Idea — reaching beyond the walls of the institute and the UW campus and into the lives of citizens across the state, country, and world.

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Computational Tools Unlock Evolutionary Complexity

Innovations from associate professor of biostatistics and medical informatics Sushmita Roy can help scientists to better understand evolutionary processes, especially across multiple species and complex gene regulatory networks.

How Dirt Could Help Save the Planet

WID Director Jo Handelsman writes in Scientific American about the threat of soil erosion.

Newest Meet the Lab Collection Visits Stem Cell Research Lab

PBS Wisconsin Education’s Meet the Lab series features Randolph Ashton's Neural Tissue Bioengineering Lab at WID.

Discovery Hubs

WID’s hubs act as integrators for the campus community, generating new ideas that nucleate new collaborative research projects. The hubs make use of WID expertise to provide services that assist other researchers in applying specialized tools to a range of problems extending far beyond the scope of WID’s programs. Explore WID’s Hubs: