UW-Madison Science Alliance Updater
3 May 2021
Hi Everyone,
On Saturday I spent the morning of May Day walking with my family and a friend from St. Cloud MN around the campus of the University of Minnesota, the one in Minneapolis, the part on the east side of the Mississippi River. It’s complicated, walking around a university campus, at least for someone with fresh eyes and for whom every corner reveals a new view.
Just outside one door of the student union stands a human-size statue of Goldy Gopher leaning against the block M that is the university’s logo. I watched a student tourguide encourage families of prospective students to take a picture with Goldy. My son mumbled to me that we at Wisconsin worship a weasel, while Minnesotans worship a rodent. It’s complicated, walking around a university campus.
I have heard people familiar with both places report that the U has a vibe distinct from the UW: the urban setting of the U, the logistics of two separate campuses (one in Minneapolis, one in St. Paul), the flavors of Dinkytown. At the U, they have no lake, but a river runs through it, as well as a light-rail line. It’s complicated.
Years ago I ran into this passage from Garrison Keillor, a Minnesota alum: “American universities have seen plenty of radicals and revolutionaries come and go over the years, and all of them put together were not nearly so revolutionary as a land-grant university itself on an ordinary weekday. To give people with little money a chance to get the best education there is—that is true revolution.”
It’s complicated, especially for visitors, walking around a university campus, especially a large, public, land-grant research & extension university, whether it be in the Cities or in Madison. But a week from today we at UW-Madison get to start to welcome the public back to places and programs on our campus. I suspect that even those of us who have been here for a long time will once again get to see our campus, and our visitors, with fresh eyes.
And, happily, that is not so complicated.
Thanks again!
Tom Zinnen
Notable This Week
1. Science Alliance meets weekly by Webex at 10:00 am Mondays, including May 3. 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, May at 10am includes:
- Welcome
- Updates
- Outlook for public programs for adults and for children in Spring 2021 and in Summer 2021
- Review of current public programs open to the public on campus
- Science Expeditions Campus-wide Open House: Confirming dates (April 8-10) for 2022
- Other announcements or topics
- Family Gardening Day Online
2. Now in Archive: Please invite your colleagues in research & outreach to check out the YouTube archives of presentations from
2021 UW Science Expeditions Open House on April 9, 10 and 11.
3. Programming Events coming this week and soon:
- The UW Now Livestream. May 4 at 7 pm with Sarah Condella, senior vice president of human resources at Exact Sciences; and
Summer Rector, vice president of human resources consulting at The QTI Group
- Badger Talks Live: – https://www.facebook.com/UWConnects/live & https://badgertalks.wisc.edu/events/ Tuesday, May, Noon CT: “80 Years at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center” with Justin Hougham, Associate Professor, Division of Extension
- Virtual Saturday Science Workshop with UW Space Place. Most Saturdays at 10:00am. Check at http://www.spaceplace.wisc.edu/#satworkshops.
- Check for other events 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 go.wisc.edu/240r59 Schedule and descriptions at https://science.wisc.edu/wednesday-nite-at-the-lab
*May 5 “How to Make Computers Everyone Can Use, Including Seniors Who Can’t/Won’t” Gregg Vanderheide, Trace R&D Ctr, University of Maryland
*May 12 “The Origins & Works of the ‘Dear Pandemic’ Project” Malia Jones, Applied Population Lab
*May 19 “How to Reduce the Risk of Wildfire Ignition from Power Grids” Line Roald, Electrical & Computer Engineering
*May 19 “How to Reduce the Risk of Wildfire Ignition from Power Grids” Line Roald, Electrical & Computer Engineering
5. Josh Knackert is helping spread the word about a new survey underway of science communicators and outreachers by Parmvir Bahia (https://www.linkedin.com/in/parmvir-k-bahia/). Here’s the survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JFDKL7R
Why are we doing this?
• The STEM Engagement field and profession (specialists including but definitely not limited to: full-time, part-time or any-time science communicator; officer for outreach organization; events producer; STEM festival coordinator; science education toolbox creator; science librarian; or anyone else who helps connect non-experts with scientific topics and expertise) is continuing to evolve. We want to do our part to help the world better understand this work.
• This survey is being conducted by the members of the LiveSci Collective, a growing community of practice for STEM engagement professionals. We want to better understand 1) who is out there, as best as possible, in the STEM engagement professional landscape; 2) your professional and personal goals, in the context of being a part of a community of practice; and to this end, 3) collect data that will be shared back (anonymously) to the STEM engagement professional community regarding current compensation rates for this work.
6. 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/.
7. PBS Wisconsin University Place programming:
5/03 at 9 pm 6 Ways To Reduce Your Risk For Alzheimer’s Disease
(and 8:00 am) Nathaniel Chin, Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, UW-Madison
5/10 at 9 pm The Dear Pandemic Project at One Year
(and 8:00 am) Malia Jones, Applied Population Lab, UW-Madison
5/24 at 9 pm Violence And Warfare In Humanity’s Past
(and 8:00 am) Nam Kim, Department of Anthropology, UW-Madison
These programs may also be viewed on or before the broadcast date at pbswisconsin.org/uplace .
8. Schedule of Events for Madison FUN Partners