Science Outreach on Campus
Sharing Science With Wisconsin

UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater – March 15, 2021

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UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater
15 March 2021  
 
Hi Everyone,
 
I visited the Forum in Rome in October 2004.  I was ready for the standing pillars, and the fallen ones, the paving stones.  The blue sky astonished, the remarkably unremarkable Curia Julia Senate chamber built by Julius Caesar in 44 BC did not. 
 
While I was ready for pillars, I was not ready to stumble upon something I’d never heard of:  the stone funeral pyre upon which Caesar’s body was burnt, and at which Mark Anthony read Caesar’s testament.  On the rude altar were bouquets of fresh flowers, wrapped in fresh cellophane.  The flowers left me nonplussed.  2,047 years later (there was no year zero), people were still marking the murder with flowers of March.
 
Before it was marked by the demise of Caesar, the Ides of March apparently marked the rise of the new year:  it was a party day on the night of the full moon of March, marking the last day of the new year celebration period. 
 
In our time this midpoint in March is still a time for flowers, happier ones without cellophane, the crocus and even the skunk cabbage, even though perhaps they’ll have some snow on their leaves by the end of today.   I am tending towards embracing the older tradition of it being the day to look forward to the coming spring, the coming year.  It’s got a good chance to be a good one. 
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 March 15. 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 15 at 10am includes:

Welcome

  • Updates
    • Kid Wind March 6 from Wisconsin Energy Institute
    • Other Updates
  • Science Expeditions Campus-wide Open House April 9-11:  
  • Other announcements or topics  
 
2.  Please invite your colleagues in research & outreach to spread the word about the 
2021 UW Science Expeditions Open House on April 9, 10 and 11.
 
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 17  Corinna Burger, Neurology.  “Use It or Lose It: the Role of Environmental Enrichment in Cognitive Aging” Register at https://go.wisc.edu/240r59
  • March 24  Paul Kelleher, Philosophy.  “The Ethics of Vaccine Allocation.” Part of the “UW Philosophers at Work” series. Register at https://go.wisc.edu/240r59
  • March 31  Bill Belcher, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Recovery & Identification of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion: The First Battle of Makin Island” Register at https://go.wisc.edu/240r59
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 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.

 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. Step Out of the Classroom and Into Translational Science 2021

 
Remote learning doesn’t have to feel disconnected! Because of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Association our Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) is proud to announce the Ambassadors Program — a new program geared towards welcoming newcomers to the world of science and making the field more open and inclusive for everyone. Secondary school classrooms will have the opportunity to experience Translational Science 2021, where they’ll be able to connect with our rich community of researchers and investigators and feel inspired by their revolutionary work.
 
ACTS members, pass on this can’t-miss opportunity on to your network of high school contacts so they can learn more about the endless opportunities that await them within the translational science and clinical research field.
 
What is the Ambassador’s Program?
 
Who:   Teachers, students and parents of secondary school students who want to learn more about the field of translational and clinical research.
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What:   Encourages young scientists to network with other scholars, engage with science leaders and learn effective scientific communication skills.
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When:   Thursday, April 1 from 12:00 – 5:00 PM ET   
Friday, April 2 from 12:00 – 3:00 PM ET
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How: Interested teachers, science teams and/or students should email info@actscience.org with the subject line “ACTS Ambassadors.”
More: https://www.actscience.org/Translational-Science/Registration/Ambassadors-Program-Proposal-ACTS-National-Meeting

8. School of Pharmacy Outreach Events

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   World Water Day on March 22
 
I also want to draw special attention to the  #water2me Art Contest for Youth. We noticed that opportunities for middle school and high school existed at the state/regional level, but there wasn’t anything for 5th grade and younger, so we’re piloting this as an opportunity for young people to engage in World Water Day this year. In this socially-distanced time we’re in, we were able to figure out a way to display a few selected entries (voted on by the staff of the sewerage district) on highway billboards! 
 
13. Tune in to the following University Place programs premiering on the Wisconsin Channel in March:
 
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.