Awards, Initiatives, Open enrollments, Calls for Scientists or Artists, etc.
Articles that have somewhat limited “shelf-life” or are not much of an article at all.
The Vilas Associates Competition recognizes new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. Recipients are chosen competitively by the divisional Research Committees on the basis of a detailed proposal.
Kamilov, recently invited to join the ranks of Discovery Fellows at WID will share his expertise developing AI and mathematical methods for computational imaging. We look forward to his future collaborations.
This prestigious honor recognizes outstanding early-career faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional research accomplishments and show great promise for continued scholarly excellence. The award will enable WID Discovery Fellow, Dr. Hryckowian to continue advancing this critical research, contributing to a deeper understanding of the microbiome and its role in health and disease.
Karen Schoss and colleague Steve Palmer wanted to find out where color preferences come from and discovered that preference is informed by experience. This article appears in Issue 77 of Breathe Magazine.
There's still time to unleash your curiosity! Supported by Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Wisconsin Science Festival runs through 10/26 with venues all over the state! Go to wiscifest.org to find out more.
Audrey Rothermel Bascom Professor of Design Studies Kevin Ponto and a team of fellow researchers have received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue developing a new tool that uses augmented reality to help older adults and people with disabilities remain safely in their homes.
At UW–Madison, the new center will support collaborative projects across campus and build connections that accelerate discovery in this fast-growing research area that has significant implications for health span and longevity.
How do genomes fit into the tiny confines of a cell nucleus? Genomes can be massive and making it more difficult, is that the genome may be repackaged across different biological dimensions and contexts such as cell types, developmental stages, disease states or points in time. Furthermore, it is not well understood which pieces of the genome control gene expression. Intrigued by this puzzle, researchers Sushmita Roy and recently graduated student, Da-Inn Lee introduce a powerful new computational tool in their latest study that could help systematically examine how DNA is arranged and how it changes across different dimensions.
The newly formed Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub, aimed at strengthening entrepreneurial pathways, was approved by campus governance in May, and a search for its first executive director is underway. “UW–Madison has a long legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship, from the discovery and patenting of the blood thinner warfarin to today’s spinoff companies pioneering modern solutions, such as fusion energy,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin says. “We have an opportunity to make this legacy even stronger.”
We celebrate WID faculty member, Rupa Sridharan as she receives a Romnes Award and Discovery Fellow, Tim Kamp who is named Craig T. January Professor of Medicine, Cell and Regenerative Biology.
Colors convey meaning, influence behavior and make us experience emotions. To explain why this is, Larry Meiller of WPR’s The Larry Meiller Show talks with Karen Schloss, associate professor of cognition in UW-Madison’s Department of Psychology and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
WID Discovery Fellow, Kris Sankaran of the Department of Statistics and Jacob Thebault-Spieker of the Information School—have received the 2025 College of Letters & Science (L&S) Distinguished Honors Faculty Award for the significant positive impact they have made on their students’ experiences at UW–Madison.
Election to FRSC status reflects Professor Turng’s sustained excellence, leadership, and impact in the field. A highly productive and respected scholar, he continues to drive the development of innovative processes, high-performance materials, and sustainable products that contribute to the well-being of society.
The 15th annual Wisconsin Science Festival, set to take place October 16–26, 2025, has announced its theme: Rock and Roll. “It’s a play on words—not just about sound and music, but also the geology that shapes Wisconsin, the physics of motion, and the creative energy that drives discovery,” says Sam Mulrooney, Director of the Wisconsin Science Festival. Host registration is now open for those interested in submitting an event for this year’s festival.
The new UW Tech Exploration Lab is a partnership between the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Wisconsin School of Business, and provides a unique space for students to gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, and Internet of Things (IoT).
Plant Pathology professor Claudia Solís-Lemus received the Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Public Science Engagement Award for her impactful outreach, advancing Latinx representation in STEM, data science, and science communication through art and public engagement.
Morgan Ramsey, a Wisconsin Institute for Discovery intern for Communications and Multimedia, was awarded the Brian Howell Memorial Scholarship at Madison Magazine’s Best of Business Awards Luncheon on February 20, 2025. This award, established in honor of Madison Magazine Editor Brian Howell, recognizes outstanding students in Life Sciences Communication.
Last Friday morning on Wisconsin Today, a program on Wisconsin Public Radio, Jo Handelsman, Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID), examined the potential impact of proposed federal research cuts. In this 13-minute talk, Handelsman discussed how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had been considering a directive to cap overhead costs at 15 percent, a move that could cost the University of Wisconsin–Madison at least $62 million annually. Her remarks provide valuable insight into how the Trump Administration’s plan to reduce federal funding for medical research could affect UW–Madison laboratories and the broader scientific community.
WID welcomes the newest Marie Christine Kohler Fellows, an interdisciplinary program uniting science and the humanities. Fellows collaborate on research, outreach, and creative projects. Originally a residential program, it evolved into a WID-Graduate School partnership. Each year, artist-scientist pairs receive stipends to foster innovation.
The discussion, led by Professor Jon Eckhardt (leader of WID's Entrepreneurial Science Hub), special advisor to the chancellor for entrepreneurship, outlined a new vision for how UW–Madison can better support students, faculty, and alumni in launching businesses — and why that shift is critical for Wisconsin’s economy.
Ashton also noted that while the primary goal is to develop a cell culture model to detect whether someone has a genetic predisposition for Spina Bifida, it may also be possible to use this research to screen for potential ways to reduce the risk of SB in the patient’s progeny.
Cognitive Science Society is pleased to award the 2025 Jeffrey L. Elman Prize for Scientific Achievement and Community Building to Timothy Rogers. This award, presented each year at the Annual Meeting, is given to mid-career cognitive scientists (individuals or teams) whose accomplishments exemplify the twin strands of scientific excellence and commitment to community-building and service that were so evident in Jeff Elman’s career.
With the goal of equipping a new generation of professionals to contribute to informed decision-making in government, the envisioned program would offer STEM fellows the unique chance to work directly with policy makers, state agencies, and legislators.
Piper Rawding, Postdoc in the Gong Lab won for her project “Optimizing non-viral vectors for retinal genome editing”
Her article, Decoding Our Inner Universe: The Power of the Microbiome Network Alignment Algorithm was among the articles chosen for the honor.
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