WID advances frontiers of knowledge, accelerates development of solutions, and engages with diverse stakeholders in the State of Wisconsin through an open process to develop interdisciplinary research solutions to practical problems. WID fosters fundamental and applied research that drives evidence-based decision-making, promotes healthy people through optimized medical practices, and advances healthy food systems predicated on profitable and sustainable agriculture. WID’s research portfolio is broad and interconnected, encompassing faculty and students in more than two dozen departments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. WID derives its power from diversifying inquiry and eschewing boundaries. WID’s foundational research coalesces around four areas of strength.
Strengths
Data Science & Visualization
WID’s strength in data science spans mathematical foundations, modeling, algorithms, optimization, machine learning, visualization, statistics, and more, enabling initiatives that address the goal of developing end-to-end strategies for data collection, analysis, management, privacy, security, visualization, and decision-making.
WID researchers are designing new applications of data science to improve energy systems, agriculture, biomedicine, and healthcare.
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Tissue Engineering & Nanomedicine
The promise of tissue engineering stretches the limits of our imagination. Biotechnology in general, and stem cell research in particular, has made great strides in spurring the growth (and re-growth) of specific human cell types. But cells alone cannot replace human tissue. Cells need scaffolds to serve as structural guides while growing into useful tissues or life-saving drug-delivery systems.
WID researchers are making advances at the intersection of biotechnology and nanotechnology with initiatives spanning tissue engineering, cancer research, gene editing, and stem cell research.
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-Omics, Human Health, & the Food System
Experts in fields such as epigenetics and the microbiome make WID a natural home for advanced research in -omics areas, including genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metagenomics.
-Omics research in WID is applying -omics to regenerating tissue and organs in the lab, developing next-generation drug delivery, and understanding the movement of carbon among plants, their associated microbes, the soil, and the atmosphere.
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Complex Systems
WID’s many research areas rely on understanding of complex systems, from power grids and fish habitats to microbial communities and gene regulatory networks. WID researchers are decoding complex systems using tools like machine learning and data modeling. This work is generating discoveries that will change precision medicine, agriculture, and other applications that directly affect people.
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