UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater
30 November 2020
Hi Everyone,
It’s the end of November. Tomorrow begins December and also signals the start of meteorological winter. After our summer of discontent, perhaps this will be made glorious winter by the lights of rising vaccines. In any case, it may well be, to borrow from Wisconsin-born Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter.
In the coming three months we’ll see the swearing-in of the new Congress on January 3, the pageantry of a joint session of Congress certifying and counting the electoral votes on January 6, and a presidential inauguration on January 20. It is a season of change.
We are likely to see a great shift in the roles of science and of scientists in federal governance. It’ll be the third such shift in the past 12 years. As the farmer who taught me how to handle the manual transmission on a grain truck might opine, with great shifts come great grindings of the gears.
Just as science priorities and policies are closely reviewed during transitions, on occasion so, too, do the policies and budgets for science outreach from federal agencies as varied as the NIH, the NSF and the USDA. Come the first of March and the beginning of meteorological spring, we’ll get to see what the winter has wrought.
Thanks again!
Tom Zinnen
Note: please visit https://science.wisc.edu/science-alliance/ for the updater archive.
Notable This Week
1. Science Alliance meets weekly by Webex at 10:00 am Mondays, including today, November 30. Email Liz Jesse at ejesse2@wisc.edu or Tom Zinnen at zinnen@biotech.wisc.edu to receive the link. The meeting notes are archived on https://science.wisc.edu/science-alliance/.
The draft agenda for November 30 at 10am includes:
- Welcome
- Updates
- Follow-on Discussion of Kits
- Science Expeditions April 9-11: Online Events, Outdoor Activities on Campus & Other UW-Madison Sites, and Possible Indoor Sites; Establishing planning teams for each of the three; Establishing planning team for promotions; discussion of other planning teams
- Other announcements or topics
2. Please add your upcoming online programs or resources with learners of any ages to the list at http://science.wisc.edu/ and be sure to include program events in the calendar at http://today.wisc.edu and tag them with “Science” and any other appropriate tag.
3. Programming Events coming this week and soon:
- Badger Talks Live: – https://www.facebook.com/UWConnects/live & https://badgertalks.wisc.edu/events/ Friday, December 4, Noon CST. “Humanities Responders” by Aaron Fai, Assistant Director of Public Humanities, UW-Madison Center for Humanities.
- Virtual Lecture Series from the Department of Astronomy. December 2 at 3pm CST. “The Invisible Universe” with Sebastian Heinz and Rich Townsend. Please RSVP and sign up for announcements of future events at go.wisc.edu/e7ocf2. You can join the December 2 event directly using the link go.wisc.edu/91u048; the Zoom virtual meeting space will open at 2:45pm CST, and the presentation will begin at 3:00pm CST. This event is free and open to the public.
- “PLATO Frontiers in Life Sciences” public seminar, by Zoom. Wednesdays at 1 pm CT. September 30 through December 9 (except Nov 25). https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvcOmqqDMiEtDdb9mSYczXmivRVETlkeUp On December 2 we resume with “Hormone Supplements in Older Adults” by Craig Atwood, Geriatrics & Adult Development, SMPH
- “Wednesday Nite @ The Lab” public science seminar, by Zoom. Wednesdays at 7 pm CT. Every Wednesday night, 50 times a year. Register at go.wisc.edu/240r59. On December 2 we resume with “Engineering, Innovation and Ingenuity in Response to Covid” by Lennon Rodgers of Engineering
- The UW Now Livestream. Tuesday December 1 at 7pm CST. “Vaccine Development & Distribution.” R. Alta Charo, James Conway, and Jonathan Temte.
- Virtual Saturday Science Workshop with UW Space Place. Saturdays 10:00am. Check at http://www.spaceplace.wisc.edu/#satworkshops.
- About Every Two Weeks: Maritime Archeology Webinars. Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant. Wisconsin Historical Society. Archive of past talks at https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS16271 Contact Amy Wyatt for dates and times.
- Check for other research seminars presented online and available to all at http://today.wisc.edu/events/tag/science
4. Upcoming Lineup for Wednesday Nite @ The Lab online by zoom starting at 7pm Central. Register at https://go.wisc.edu/240r59
Schedule and descriptions at https://science.wisc.edu/wednesday-nite-at-the-lab/
-Dec 2 Lennon Rodgers, “Engineering, Innovation and Ingenuity in Response to Covid”
-Dec 9 Jeff Sindelar, Animal & Dairy Sciences, “The Meat Science & Animal Biologics Discovery Building”
-Dec 16 Steffi Diem, Engineering Physics, “Fusion Energy: Harnessing the Power of the Sun on Earth”
-Dec 23 Dark
-Dec 30 Dark
-Jan 6 Kerri Coon, Bacteriology, TBD
-Jan 13 Nam Kim, Anthropology, “Origins of Warfare in Human History”