College of Letters & Science

To physics professor Duncan Carlsmith, a student’s proposal to make a four-rotor helicopter drone was fine fodder for what he calls “garage physics.” But why stop at a quadcopter, he told the undergraduate. Make one that is mind-controlled, so a person with severe movement impairment could think: “Go open the fridge and show me what’s… Read more »

Students shouldn’t just study computers — they should build them. So says UW computer science professor Karu Sankaralingam. The award-winning professor wants his students to not simply be users of technology, but creators. That’s why he employs a hands-on approach to teaching about technology: Sankaralingam has his students build computerized machines and then program them… Read more »

The Math Talent Search, sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, was established in 1963 to engage and encourage middle and high school students interested in math. The contest, which awards a $24,000 scholarship to UW–Madison, has identified young Wisconsin students who have gone on to become mathematicians or pursued careers in finance, computer science, and statistics.

Now a member of the PIH-Engage executive board, Sarah Meiners’s passion for public health is both an extracurricular focus and a career goal.

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 »

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.

When it comes to creating an understanding of our world, and constructing a framework of knowledge and critical thinking, few things are as valuable as diving into a good book. Dissecting an author’s intent, cultural background and message has long been a window into other cultures and times.

Your gifts, big and small, support current undergraduate and graduate students, recognize top-notch faculty, and advance cutting edge economics research — all of which keeps us consistently ranked among the best economics departments in the country.

Sara King couldn’t quite believe her eyes when she walked into her discussion section for an intermediate economics course a few semesters back. Of the 40 or so students in the classroom, she was the only woman. Economics has long been a male-dominated field, and UW-Madison reflects that imbalance. Women account for about 28 percent… Read more »

Phoenix Rice-Johnson remembers growing up in Hawaii without some of the everyday amenities many of us take for granted. “My dad raised me on a mechanic’s income,” she says. “I was accustomed to poverty and unemployment in my household, because it existed throughout my community. I began thinking about a career in public service to help overcome these kinds of inequalities.” Rice-Johnson,… Read more »

A celebrated environmental historian, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies Professor William Cronon is inspiring new generations of conservationists.

By decoding cosmic neutrinos and their origins, UW-Madison researchers are seeking to expand our fundamental knowledge of the universe. Their work will spur astrophysics—and science as a whole—forward.

For almost 60 years, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) has closely followed the life course of roughly a third of Wisconsin high school graduates from the class of 1957. Subjects of the project known as the “Happy Days Study” — one of the most consistent, comprehensive, and expansive studies of aging and health in America — have… Read more »

In the fall of 2013, Mary Louise Roberts, Lucy Aubrac Professor of History, received an email from a man in France requesting information about Robert Kellett, an American G.I. buried in Épinal military cemetery. The man explained that he was a member of an association that tended to the American graves. Roberts decided that the… 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 »

When English major Laura Schmitt was a freshman, she got involved with Illumination, an undergraduate literary journal run through the Wisconsin Union Directorate Publications Committee. It was there that she saw how powerful it could be for a young author to be published. This gave Schmitt an idea: What if young writers back in Green… Read more »

Graduation is years away for many students, but it’s never too early to think about what comes next. That’s where Career Kickstart — introduced in fall 2015 — comes in. It offers a head start for those thinking beyond the diploma. Available to students who have completed their first year, Ogg Residence Hall will provide… 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 »

On August 30, 2015, scholars from across campus as well as across the Atlantic had a hand in “Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Jewish Music, Literature and Theater,” part of the Performing the Jewish Archive project. The project was part of a larger international research project led by the University of Leeds in England. Campus… Read more »

Twenty-six years — and plenty of TV series, movies, and scripts — later, Jill Soloway ’87 still remembers the profound influence of her semester in the capstone production course, Comm Arts 659. “It was a revelation to me. It made me want to be an artist. It made me look at film through the lens… Read more »

Traditions are incredibly important in Wisconsin, from fish fry on Fridays to deer camp at Thanksgiving, from the cabin up north to the kringle on the breakfast table. While the state motto is “Forward,” Wisconsinites never forget to look back. As their customs change with the times. In, they create something that’s uniquely Wisconsin. This… Read more »

Launching the next successful startup takes more than a good idea and the skills to design a well-built app. That’s why Professor Jignesh Patel of the Department of Computer Sciences organizes the NEST for Emerging Software Technologies competition.

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.

Blind from birth, Yeaji Kim has considered music to be her guiding light since the age of five. Her experiences inspired Kim to pursue a career in music education and travel from South Korea to UW-Madison to earn her doctorate.

In 2013, sixteen UW-Madison students spent a semester delving into the mysteries of a single dusty account book kept by a colonial merchant. The results of their work didn’t emerge for another two years, but when they led to a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, the wait seemed worthwhile. The students and their professor,… Read more »

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.