Achieving STEM diversity: Fix the classrooms

A perspective piece published on June 2 in Science from the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) suggests that outdated classroom teaching methods discourage members of historically excluded communities (HECs) from graduating with a degree in science. Lead author, Jo Handelsman states “Outdated classroom teaching models are discriminatory, ultimately, we need to stop trying to fix the students and instead focus on our classrooms.”

But How Are You Really Feeling? Two Kohler Fellows challenge the way we communicate in exhibition

The How Are You Feeling? is an exhibit created by Kohler Fellows Hong Huo and Kushin Mukherjee that examines the limits of verbal communication through animated imagery. It will be on display at Communication Madison from May 28-June 3, with the opening reception on May 28th from 3-8PM (masks required).

Meet the new Writer-in-Residence: Kayla Cohen

What do mystery, mayhem, and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery have in common? The Writer-in-Residence Program, recently welcomed Kayla Cohen as a part of the Illuminating Discovery Hub at the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery. The residency is an opportunity for an up-and-coming writer to work among scientists while crafting a manuscript with scientific themes.

Learn about bacteria through UW-Madison Ph.D. students’ adult coloring book

Tiffany Harris and Aedan Gardill want people to know that science doesn’t have to be boring.  The two students started working on the project in January as part of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery’s Kohler fellowship. The program joins together graduate students in arts and science fields to create multidisciplinary projects. The two University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral students completed their coloring book titled “Bacteria & Me” this month, hoping to pique audiences’ interest in learning about microbiology. 

New Science to Script podcast featuring the Footprint Coalition added to SoundCloud

Michael Graf, WID’s Science to Script writer in residence (2021-2022)  interviews Rachel Kropa and David Lang from the Footprint Coalition. The Footprint Coalition invests in high-growth, sustainability-focused companies. They make charitable grants to non-profits that advance the adoption of environmental technology.

Two UW-Madison teams chosen 2021 WARF Innovation Award winners

Shaoqin “Sarah” Gong, professor of biomedical engineering; Zachary Morris, professor of human oncology; biomedical engineering postdoctoral researcher Ying Zhang and human oncology researcher Raghava Sriramaneni win one of the WARF Innovation awards for their work, Nanoparticle to Render Tumors More Susceptible to Treatment.

PICKET CHARLIE Table Read Audio Performance – Listen Today!

Picket Charlie is an environmental thriller about a US Forestry Ranger who must defend her island reserve of trees from a band of ruthless timber pirates in a near-future world ravaged by climate change. This table read production is a result of WID’s Science to Script Writer in Residency’s inaugural writer, Michael Graf.

WID alumnus awarded first AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship in the U.S. Department of the Treasury

WID and Saha Lab alumnus, and current postdoc at the Morgridge Institute for Research, Amritava Das anticipates that he will put his engineering and bioscience training to use exploring the sometimes knotty connections between science, national security, and finance.