Faculty Excellence

The UW School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) is ranked fifth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. QS World University Rankings puts the school at 24th in the world. And while the SVM’s strong reputation extends across the nation and around the globe, its graduates tend to stay close to home: 70% of… Read more »

Like many kids, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology Professor Phil Townsend grew up wanting to be an astronaut. And even though he’s not walking on the surface of the moon or floating in the International Space Station, his work at UW-Madison is beneficial to NASA’s climate-change operations.

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In essence, the Wisconsin Idea states that the university should improve people’s lives well beyond the classroom. And while many alumni, students, and faculty have taken this principle to heart, Robert Dempsey, professor and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at UW–Madison, really embodies it. The World Health Organization, in fact, recently named him… Read more »

The UW-Madison School of Pharmacy is home to a number of outstanding professors, and one of them is Glen Kwon. Dr. Kwon is the Jens T. Carstensen Distinguished Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences, funded by philanthropists Mahendra and Jayshree Patel. It brings to the UW a brilliant mind for science with strong business leadership. More simply put, he knows… Read more »

Tonya Brito wants to know: how much do lawyers matter? The UW Law School professor is particularly interested in how much of a difference lawyers make in resolving child-support cases. Brito is a family-law scholar, and she knows that many fathers — especially those with low incomes and men of color — rely on legal… Read more »

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has meant different things to Marvin Fruth during different periods of his life. At first, it was little more than a giant playground for Fruth and his pals when they were growing up in Madison. Later, it was a place to study, learn, and grow as a student. Finally, it’s where… Read more »

For Mark Cook, discovery, like life itself, starts with the egg. “There is so much more to the egg beyond its use as a food,” says Cook, a professor of animal sciences. Cook has explored and developed those other uses throughout a career marked by research prowess and entrepreneurial acumen. His technologies based on egg… Read more »

John Hawks is a star in the field of paleoanthropology. The recent discovery of Homo naledi and subsequent publications about the find have raised the profile of this dynamic thinker and researcher. The Homo naledi find brought together scientists for what was one of the most exciting, challenging, and groundbreaking excavations in the history of… Read more »

Due to the overuse of antibiotics in humans and livestock, multi-drug resistant pathogens, or superbugs, are on the rise. Now medical teams are running out of antibiotics that work, and researchers are racing to find new treatments that are both effective and safe for use.

Solar energy is hot right now, even though solar arrays are cumbersome, costly, and—worst of all—not particularly efficient. But in a lab in the Department of Chemistry, Trisha Andrew is developing solar cells made from a surprisingly common, even inexpensive substance: a dye used to make the color blue.

John and Inara Apinis honor the family’s founders with a UW professorship.

Charles Raison is one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s best and brightest. Officially, he holds the position of Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Chair for Healthy Minds, Children & Families. In practice, he is a master of connecting ideas, research, and practice, leading the way in novel treatments for treating mental conditions. More simply put,… Read more »

Marlene Hartzman and her husband, Robert, remember the impact of an award for Robert’s work as a medical student. “We were especially grateful for the Senior Research Award he received when he graduated medical school,” Marlene recalls. “We knew first hand what this type of award could mean. It was extremely important — it gave… Read more »

Well-being can be an elusive thing. It comes naturally to some, and completely evades others. And trying to determine how people build and process well-being on a neurological level can be difficult, but for Dr. Richard Davidson, it’s just another day at the office.

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They are one of the most influential federal agencies working in the U.S. healthcare industry—and they wanted to know what Dr. Amy Kind’s research had uncovered. So, naturally, she and her colleagues headed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to present findings and answer questions.

Farmers in every nation are already struggling to solve problems of animal health and welfare, drought, high temperatures, and many more issues that put our nation and the world at risk for food scarcity. The Dairyland Initiative and other agricultural practices that have their roots in Wisconsin will play a vital role in how we continue to feed people at home and across the globe.

What’s good medicine for animals often turns out to be good for humans as well. This is something that the UW School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) has been demonstrating for a long time. And right now, SVM faculty and scientists are working on therapies and products that will reshape how we treat a number of… Read more »

Brain injuries may be the worst long-term danger that athletes face, but many players don’t report them. Now a multidisciplinary team of University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers is working to change that by studying the most effective ways to teach athletes and young adults about the importance of reporting when they have suffered a concussion. “What… Read more »

Professor Jonathan Gray is one of the most creative thinkers working in higher education today. And when he speaks, the entertainment world listens. Gray’s book Television Entertainment was named Top Academic Title of the Year by Choice Magazine. He was the chair of the Popular Communication Division of the International Communication Association. And, most recently,… Read more »

Russia presents a unique opportunity for conservation scientists: the chance to study the impact of land use changes on wildlife populations. Volker Radeloff and Anna Pidgeon, two of UW-Madison’s Forest and Wildlife Ecology professors, are partnering with Russian scientists to explore how wildlife populations are responding to the expansion of forests and wildlands—the opposite of… Read more »

When assistant math professor Melanie Matchett Wood was in seventh grade, she was surprised to win a citywide math competition in her native Indianapolis. Then she won a state competition, and in eighth grade placed tenth in the country. As Matchett Wood progressed in mathematics, she often found herself in situations where she was the… Read more »

It’s a simple question with a complex answer: How do plants know when to flower? Thanks to biochemistry professor Rick Amasino, we now know a lot more about the genes and environmental variables—for example, changes in temperature or length of day—governing that process, as well as how to control it. Amasino and his team also… Read more »

With its connection to birth defects and seemingly rapid spread, the Zika virus became one of the most terrifying health stories of 2016. Cases appeared across the tropics, and scientists launched into a race to find a vaccine or other means of preventing its devastating effects. The UW’s School of Veterinary Medicine has contributed some… Read more »

In a highly successful, first-of-its-kind endeavor, a multidisciplinary team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have created a “tumor in a dish” that can accurately anticipate a multiple myeloma patient’s response to a drug. The advance could mean a giant step forward in efforts to tailor medical treatment plans to individual patients. Led by Shigeki Miyamoto,… Read more »

Having grown up together in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, UW–Madison students Katie Piel and Natalie Hogan were well aware of food-security issues throughout their hometown, but it wasn’t until college that they learned how they could address these problems. Piel, an environmental studies and communication arts double major, was taking notes in a lecture on… Read more »

The future will be challenging for the human race. How we deal with the problems we have helped to create will be the ultimate test of our survival. But with Dr. Patz diligently asking and answering the important questions, we have a much better chance at a brighter tomorrow.

Richard Sinaiko ’66 calls UW–Madison the love of his life, ranking the university behind only his family. And he has shown that love the way many alumni do — donating time, influence, and resources to his alma mater. Somewhat surprisingly, the generous School of Nursing donor is not a nurse. That was his mother. And… Read more »

Most economists don’t debate the purpose of money. But Ray B. Zemon Chair in Liquid Assets Professor Randall Wright of the Wisconsin School of Business isn’t like most economists.

The experiment started with a classroom discussion about consumer persuasion. Students in Professor Evan Polman’s marketing course were curious about how business interaction can elicit changes in consumer’s behavior, and Professor Polman wanted to craft a real-world example.

Many victims of violent crimes would not be able to feel compassion for the person who hurt them, but Robert D. Enright, the founder of the International Forgiveness Institute, believes that empathy and acceptance have immense power to heal and repair.

Distinguished Professor of Psychology Jenny Saffran works to better understand how children acquire language. In the Infant Learning Lab, Professor Saffran and her team study how language learning typically unfolds, and how to help infants for whom language acquisition is especially challenging.

Even though scientists have studied them extensively, there is still a lot we don’t yet know about bacteria. The biggest issue is how small they are. Individually, their size makes them difficult to observe under a microscope.

Since public engagement can have an immense impact on the scientific community, Scheufele and Brossard are hoping to be able to foster conversation about where science is headed, rather than shutting down discussion entirely.

Chemistry Professor Helen Blackwell studies the interface between chemistry and biology. She heads a lab of researchers who explore the way bacteria communicate among themselves, and is seeking to decode and co-opt these bacterial signals.

In 2016, the University of Wisconsin–Madison was awarded a UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing, and a Culture of Peace: a first in the state of Wisconsin and a first for the university in any area. It creates a global platform for the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and for the campus wide 4W (Women… Read more »

From one man trying to make a difference to a nationwide model that can feed millions, Professor Jed Colquhoun is proof that UW-Madison is a place where big innovations can lead to gigantic results.  

When leading Drawing Jam sessions, award-winning cartoonist and author Lynda Barry has a simple rule: “All adults must be accompanied by a child!” Barry — who holds the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art — believes that it’s important for students of all ages to reconnect with the uninhibited way children experience the world and… Read more »