Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  Usually I am at home calling my parents or chatting with friends. Occasionally, I'll come back to lab to collect samples for experiments if I planned to measure effects every 8 hour to capture time-sensitive changes. I also come to the lab around this time if I want to perform an overnight incubation for 10-12 hours and proceed the experiment in the next day to maximize the sample reaction time. What would you be shocked to find yourself doing [...]

Your Content Goes Here What are you often doing at that hour? I'm usually trying not to think about tasks for the next day - materials to buy, what steps of the process need to happen next, and coordinating with colleagues - but as they come, I lay in bed and jot them down so that I can rest knowing that they are captured. I'm happy to have a clear game plan in the morning. Often, right before bed, my creative juices start to flow and I can envision color schemes I'd like to try or unique strategies [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? I’m usually at my desk or in the lab in the Discovery Building, focused on identifying and characterizing defective interfering particles (DIPs) in the human body. These DIPs have fascinating potential: they could be harnessed to develop novel antiviral therapeutics that suppress viral replication by outcompeting normal viruses, coevolve with normal virus to resist virus escape, and even transmit between hosts via aerosol. As a PhD candidate in biophysics working at the intersection of computational biology and virology, my [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? During this time, I am typically in my office or lab, engaged in research, analyzing data, or meeting with students and collaborators. What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? I'd be shocked to find myself taking a painting class or doing anything unrelated to research, teaching, or my usual structured routine! Morning is a time when I feel the most mentally sharp, so engaging in something completely outside my usual academic or professional activities [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  Sam Mulrooney introducing the speakers at Crossroads of Ideas Either WID's Illuminating Discovery Hub is wrapping up a Crossroads of Ideas program in the Discovery Building Forum or WID's Illuminating Discovery Hub is just finishing up another SoundWaves program at the Hamel Music Center. Crossroads of Ideas is a public lecture series held monthly during the academic year that addresses topics that matter to our community and are the subject of research at UW-Madison. SoundWaves combines scientific [...]

Your Content Goes Here What are you doing at this hour? I’m often editing the podcast for CaSP (Catalysts for Science Policy).  In a Perfect Policy, most recently the episode we released about state microbe, or working on a policy brief like one I wrote recently on water fluoridation in Wisconsin. I might also be working on the newsletter for CaSP. What are you rarely doing at this hour? Sleeping. I’m a night owl and if I’m not doing work like this, I’m gaming or doing some other fun activity. What do you like most about this time? [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  I'm at WID in the Saha Lab, performing experiments. What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? Writing What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? I can get things done. Least favorite? Meetings How can you tell if your work is going well? We have different indicators during our experiments that allow us to know if we are ready to move to next step. What tells you it’s not going as expected? What [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  I'll be up and about, likely at the desk in my office, in a meeting with my grad or undergrad researchers, or teaching my course (process dynamics and control -- for chemical engineering senior students). What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? I'd be surprised if I were not reading, not writing, not listening, not speaking, or not awake. I'd be soaking in the world of my co-workers, colleagues or students. Or I'd be [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? I'm answering email, going in to lab to check that our bacteria grew or how experiments are doing. What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? Anything too thought intensive What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? "Waking up the lab" going in with the light off (low lighting). Least favorite? The building feels empty. How can you tell if your work is going well? If the controls are looking like we expect [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? (Or, What is going on in your lab at this particular time?) PREPARING FOR MY weekly meeting for the Marie Christine Kohler Fellows at WID What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? The Kohler Fellows are a unique cohort of graduate students brought together to engage in an interdisciplinary exploration of art and science. Working with art and science students who possess skills, knowledge, and interest in sharing their work with the public is never dull. We [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? Wrapping up experiments to go home, making overnight cultures of bacteria for experiments the next day What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? Starting an experiment What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? I get to go home and see my loving partner How can you tell if your work is going well? I finish my experiments on time What tells you it’s not going as expected? What do you do when [...]

Your Content Goes Here What are you often doing at that hour? *Hinųksgu working on WAZI I'm starting up the coffee pot and thinking, "It's time to check in on Radio WAZI."  Radio WAZI is a continuous YouTube broadcast of Hoocąk language stories, songs and conversations recorded by fluent speakers of the past and present. The broadcast was inspired by discussions at UW-Madison’s Indigenous Language Table, highlighting the critical need for Hoocąk language learners to have regular access to fluent, spoken Hoocąk. Our oldest recording was made in the 1930s, and the newest several weeks ago. [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  Our team is currently focused on building a survey which will be used to assess workers' level of comfort when collaborating with robots, cobots, and other advanced technologies. During these times, you can find out team working together to survey the literature, catalogue industrial robots, and analyze data. What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? The INTEGRATE program includes trainers and trainees from several different disciplines. My favorite part about working with this team is how each [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? I sometimes stay in the lab very late when I feel like working late. What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? The peaceful and calming atmosphere after midnight. Least favorite? It gets cold in WID overnight due to the AC settings. How can you tell if your work is going well? If I'm having novel ideas, getting exciting results, or getting closer to finishing a manuscript, I'd say my work is going well. What tells you it’s [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  Ross Schwartz I'm in the 4140 lab or at my cubicle desk. I'm autoclaving materials, unpackaging packages, completing administrative tasks, restocking supplies, bleaching cell culture materials, helping with equipment, and/or taking inventories of supplies. What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? The lab is fairly lively with activity. Collectively lab members are getting a lot done at this time of the day. How can you tell if your work is going well? If I'm busy [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? Rupa Sridharan and one of her successful PhD students I am at home and most likely to be asleep. But sometimes I wake up and have an epiphany on some problem that the lab is stuck at. I sometimes send a teams message to the lab member involved at that time. The lab knows the message is an online record keeping of sorts- like recording a dream before you forget it the next morning, and that I [...]

Your Content Goes Here What are you often doing at that hour? I am often on my way into the building or already there getting ready for a special event that helps connect the public with science happening at WID. When working in the John D. Wiley Gallery for Art in Science, I can be found adjusting the legs on the glass bacteriophage sculpture in case any have gone askew overnight, wiping down the display cases, choosing the colors for the pedestal lights, and generally making sure everything on display looks fresh for new eyes to take it [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  Josephine Putnam in the lab At this time, I am most likely to be adding isopropanol to tubes of extracted DNA from soil bacteria. Next, I invert the tubes many times to mix them well and precipitate the DNA so that it becomes visible to the naked eye. Seeing threads of DNA become visible out of a clear solution will never cease to amaze me! Extracting DNA from soil bacterial isolates sent to our lab at the [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? (Or, What is going on in your lab at this particular time?) Bryce Sprecher demonstrating VR technology This is a good time to start setting up our data processing for long photogrammetry renders of 3D models, such as visualizing a model of a shipwreck. For shipwrecks up in Lake Superior, they’re like 150 feet below the surface of the water and totally inaccessible. This is one way to show off hidden resources and archaeological and historical events. [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? (Or, What is going on in your lab at this particular time?) My lab is thinking about theoretical proofs or doing numerical results to gain ideas. What would you be shocked to find yourself doing at this time? Doing biological/chemical experiments (We are not a group that does this type of work.) What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? Having great ideas generated! How can you tell if your work is going well? If the proof is [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing?  May Lab 2nd floor/ Working on experiments or analyzing data at my desk or taking meetings. What’s your favorite thing about this time of day? Core times of the day when I get to interact with my workers, get lunch with them and indulge in science/ enjoy the snacks I've prepared the day before and brought to work Least favorite? It gets busy at the WID How can you tell if your work is going well? I smile and [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? Once a month I’m at an online research meeting with scientists in Singapore. Our group here at WID is collaborating with a group of Singapore scientists to examine the gut microbiomes of people in the two countries. We're interested to see how two very diverse populations with different diets look microbiome- wise. We're starting with a depressed population, and will use an app called Healthy Minds to see whether we can intervene and make people less depressed. Our data from [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? Cells, viruses, and molecules don't sleep. The cells in our incubators will be doubling (every 12-24h), the viruses will be infecting the cells (making more viruses), and the molecules will be finding partners to form molecular chains (polymers). As we sleep, the living world inside our lab incubators is wide awake. Cells are dividing, viruses are invading, and infections are spreading. In our lab, we make the invisible visible: this movie shows a rabies-like virus sweeping across a [...]

Your Content Goes Here Where are you at this time and what are you most likely to be doing? Running simulations from my computer -- sometimes I do this from my desk in the WID, but often I am at home, sending code remotely to CHTC (the Center for High Throughput Computing). My research involves simulating the progression of chemical reactions to examine how abiotic reaction networks might have displayed evolutionary and ecological characteristics before the origin of life. I need to run many replicates of my simulations to collect data and it would be impossible to do [...]