Science Outreach on Campus
Sharing Science With Wisconsin

UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater – March 8, 2021

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UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater
8 March 2021  
 
Hi Everyone,
 
We’re at about the one-year mark of the covid hammer coming down.  Some things are looking favorable. In the US, rates of infection and of deaths are heading down.  The speed of vaccinations is heading up.  
 
Other things are disconcerting.  The new variants are on the rise.  At least one variant seems to be able to re-infect people who had and recovered from the original strain. Texas and Mississippi are ending covid rules on masks and most gatherings.  
 
Here at home, the folks at Public Health of Madison Dane County have issued Emergency Order #14 with relaxed guidelines for indoor as well as outdoor gatherings, effective March 10.  Madison Metropolitan Schools are beginning a phased re-opening of in-person instruction, starting with kindergarten students on March 9.    
 
Here on campus, the university announced new guidelines for university-sponsored events indoors or outdoors, on campus or elsewhere.  University-sponsored events, including outdoor events, are open only to UW students, staff & others who participate in the university’s covid-testing program;  Intercollegiate Athletics events, however, are subject to NCAA and Big10 rules.  Happily, the Chazen remains open to the public.  
I have long pondered what Emerson had to say about consistency, but as far as I know, he remained mute on its opposite.  Perhaps Orwell will shed some light and insight.
 
In the meantime, the advancing dates of March will continue to shed darkness as the days grow longer and the sun grows stronger.  Let’s see where we are in a week or two or few.
 
Thanks again!
 
Tom Zinnen
PS:  Share Your Science With Wisconsin!  Register now for UW Science Expeditions Open House.  
 
If you’re a researcher or outreacher in the sciences on campus, I hope you’ll register to share your science during the UW Science Expeditions coming up on April 9 to 11.  It’d be great to have you be a part of the chart that welcomes visitors to explore the people, places & programs in science here at UW-Madison. 
 
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 March 8. 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 Monday, March 8 at 10am includes:
 
 
2.  Please invite your colleagues in research & outreach to participate in the 
2021 UW Science Expeditions Open House on April 9, 10 and 11.
 
Exploration Stations: online, live or recorded.  
Online Tours of Destinations for Explorations.  
Science Spectaculars. 
Outdoor Events in Person or Online.
 
3.  Programming Events coming this week and soon:
  • “Wednesday Nite @ The Lab” public science seminar, by Zoom.  Wednesdays at 7 pm CT.  Every Wednesday night, 50 times a year.   March 10 features Kerri Coon of Bacteriology on “Why Mosquitoes Love You (and Other Things You Never Knew about Mosquitoes and Their Microbiome)”

4.  Upcoming Lineup for Wednesday Nite @ The Lab online by zoom starting at 7pm Central.  
Schedule and descriptions at https://science.wisc.edu/wednesday-nite-at-the-lab/

March 10  Kerri Coon, Bacteriology.  “Why Mosquitoes Love You (and Other Things You Never Knew about Mosquitoes and Their Microbiome)”
March 17  Corinna Burger, Neurology.  “Use It or Lose It: the Role of Environmental Enrichment in Cognitive Aging”
March 24  Paul Kelleher, Philosophy.  “The Ethics of Vaccine Allocation.” Part of the “UW Philosophers at Work” series.
March 31  Bill Belcher, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Recovery & Identification of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion: The First Battle of Makin Island”
 
 
5.  The Arboretum Lectures and Classes
WINTER ENRICHMENT VIRTUAL LECTURE SERIES
The 2021 lectures will be virtual on Thursday mornings, February 4 through April 8, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Lectures are $10 each and advance registration is required. 7 or more lectures for $70. Talks will begin promptly at 10 a.m. (CST).
 
Note: the Winter Enrichment lectures are free to students and that link is also on the website.  We’d love students to participate! Winter Enrichment online registration form»
March 11. Beyond the Clinical Walls: Environmental Determinants of Health. Jamie Ferschinger, Director, and Stephanie Mercado, Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator, Department of Environmental Health, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers. Register by March 7.

 March 18. Climate Change and Wisconsin’s Forests: What We Know, What We Expect, and How to Adapt. Stephen Handler, Climate Change Specialist, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. Register by March 14.

 March 25. Treaty Rights, Culturally Important Beings, and Indigenous-led Climate Adaptation in the Ojibwe Ceded Territories. Robert Croll, Policy Analyst and Climate Change Program Coordinator, and Hannah Panci, Climate Change Scientist, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Register by March 21.

 April 1. Using Markets to Achieve Conservation: Examples from the Field. Dominic Parker, Associate Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW–Madison. Register by March 28.

April 8. Climate Change, Reality versus Development: Global South and Worldwide Perspective. Marie-Josée Paula Houénou, specialist in climate change and environmental law and strategies, and city advisor, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow at UW–Madison. Register by April 4.

 ARBORETUM VIRTUAL CLASSES

Tuesdays, March 2 and 9, 6:30–8 p.m.
Writing Your “Marshland Elegy” 
In this two-part class, we will interpret Aldo Leopold’s “Marshland Elegy” through the contemporary lens of unprecedented loss of species and ecological diversity. Session is two classes, March 2 and 9. Instructor: Troy Hess. Fee: $15 for session. Space is limited. Registration required by February 25. Register online»
6.  The Wisconsin Medicine livestream will release two more episodes this month (March 10 and March 24). Wisconsin Medicine is a shared effort of UW Health and the School of Medicine and Public Health (in partnership with WFAA) to discuss some of the latest and most inspiring medical breakthroughs at our institution. Information: https://www.wiscmedicine.org  
 
7.  Wisconsin Fast Plants Webinar on Wednesday March 10 at 4pm EST/3pm Central Time
 
8. School of Pharmacy Outreach Events

MARCH 13, 2021 |  9:30 AM – 11:45 AM CST

APRIL 10, 2021 | 9:30 AM  – 11:45 AM CST

Please join us online for our UW–Madison School of Pharmacy PharmD Spring Open House virtual event, designed for those who are interested in exploring the Doctor of Pharmacy program at UW–Madison. These events will feature an Admissions Q&A, PharmD student panel, and overview of the curriculum and co-curricular opportunities. Registration is required.
1. Curriculum and Experiential Learning — Find out how our curriculum and experiential learning opportunities help differentiate our students through specialization.
2. Opportunities for Co-Curricular Learning — Learn about student orgs and co-curricular activities that can enhance PharmD students’ development and preparation for career success.
3. Admissions Overview — Join this session to learn more about the PharmD admissions process, application timeline, prerequisites, and the selection criteria.  
4. Student Panel — What is it like to be a pharmacy student at UW–Madison? Learn more during this Q&A with current students.
9.  Wonders of Physics Goes Online for 2021
After 37 years of physics presentations to the public, The University of Wisconsin – Madison is this year sponsoring a physics video competition for teachers and students.

We invite you to submit a 2-minute video demonstrating a physics concept. Awards will be given for the best videos, and winners will be posted on our website and edited into a longer video to be shown on public television.

We encourage submissions from students and teams, but for legal reasons, anyone under the age of 18 must work under the supervision of a parent, guardian, or teacher who will submit the video on their behalf. This could be a fun educational project for families or for physics classes during this period of social distancing.

The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2021. You can find more information at https://wonders.physics.wisc.edu/contest/.

10.  Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers is sponsoring the “Wisconsin Water Week Essay Contest” with levels at grades PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.  Entries are due on April 1.
11.  The Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies is excited to invite you and your STS colleagues to four virtual events that we are co-hosting this spring – “Science and Technology in the Hispanic World” – a special seminar series prepared in collaboration between the Holtz Center and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. The first event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 2 at noon CST.


How does global science and technology affect Hispanic societies and ecosystems? How does cultural inheritance of hispanic societies inform citizens’ attitudes towards science driven technological projects? How do science and technology from the North mobilize indigenous science to resist undesired transformations? What are the culturally specific debates and conflicts that emerge in various local contexts where science and technology bring changes? This series features renown scholars and activists to introduce us to science and technology driven social debates in Spain, Mexico, Paraguay and Nicaragua.

More information and access details will be provided as each event approaches.

Tuesday, March 23, 12-1 pm, via Zoom

Paraguay:   Kregg Hetherington: “Agribiopolitics: Plants and humans in the age of monocrops in Paraguay”
Event details


Tuesday, April 20, 12-1 pm, via Zoom

Nicaragua:   Birgit Muller “Facing the Environmental Mission: Small Farmers in Nicaragua and the Agro-Ecological Challenges of the Neoliberal Food Regime”
12.  Announcing  Wisconsin Water Week on March 8-12 and World Water Day on March 22
 
13. Tune in to the following University Place programs premiering on the Wisconsin Channel in March:
 
3/12 at 4:00 pm              
Food Systems, Disruption and Resilience
Michelle Miller, Associate Director
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, UW-Madison
 
With a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, Michelle Miller describes how food-related businesses and relationships are vulnerable to disruption, and how we can build resilience to better bounce back after a disruption.
 

3/19 at 4:00 pm              
Engineering and Innovation in Response to COVID-19
Lennon Rodgers, Director
Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Lab, UW-Madison
 
Lennon Rodgers describes how the Innovation Lab quickly designed and prototyped a low-cost, easy-to-build face shield, the Badger Shield, to address PPE supply shortages in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Millions of Badger Shields have been used around the world.
 

3/26 at 4:00 pm              
Making the Virus Causing COVID-19 Safe for Research
Rebecca Hutcheson, Graduate Research Assistant
McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, UW-Madison
                                           
Rebecca Hutcheson describes how her team at the McArdle Lab is engineering a safer version of the virus that causes COVID-19 so that the virus may be studied at a lower biosafety level, make research easier.
 
These programs may also be viewed on or before the broadcast date at  pbswisconsin.org/uplace.
  

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