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The Power of Research Relationships
For many years, I have been a firm believer in the great power of close research relationships between universities and the institutions in the communities they serve. This belief is widely embraced by faculty and staff throughout the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It extends to those with whom we work regardless of whether they are in [...]
Biotech Discovery Fuels UWM Startup
A new strategy for treating infection in both humans and plants is the basis for the latest startup company – and the second one this year – to launch from research conducted at UWM. With backing from an investor, UWM biologist Ching-Hong Yang and collaborator Xin Chen, a chemistry professor at Changzhou University in China, [...]
Nurturing Family Caregivers
Assuming care for a loved one is challenging,” says UWM Professor Rhonda Montgomery. Often, the emotional strain of caregiving is harder than the physical tasks. “As more care is required, roles and relationships change in ways that are very stressful,” says Montgomery, Helen Bader Endowed Chair in Applied Gerontology in the Helen Bader School of [...]
A ‘Super’ Material Substitute
This year UWM became a front-runner in a worldwide race to find less expensive ways to replicate a revolutionary “super” material called graphene. UWM scientists and graduate students have chemically changed a close cousin of the highly touted material into an easy-to-make and cost-effective form. Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon that resembles a [...]
Hearing the Internet
Rakesh Babu is trying to get inside the minds of those who browse the Internet with their ears, not their eyes. Online information should be more accessible to people who are blind, says Babu, assistant professor of information studies, who lost his own sight as the result of a degenerative eye disease. His research at [...]
Unique Johnson Controls Lab Speeds Discovery
When Johnson Controls built a state-of-the-art dry lab to enable groundbreaking discoveries in the area of energy-storage devices and batteries, it decided to put the facility where UWM students and faculty could readily contribute – right in the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS). The Energy Advancement Center, which opened in fall 2012, is [...]
Reading Spanish, Mastering English
Can studying Spanish help Latino students learn English and other subjects better? Javier Tapia, associate professor of education at UWM, is working with St. Anthony’s, a choice school, to test that idea. Currently, all instruction in the K-8 grades is in English, even though the majority of students come from Spanish-speaking homes. St. Anthony’s, with [...]
Stories Told with Buildings
You could call UWM’s Chris Cornelius an architect, but first and foremost he considers himself a storyteller. A member of Wisconsin’s Oneida nation, Cornelius’s building designs embody the values and stories of Native American cultures. Take the example of Milwaukee’s Indian Community School. As a member of the design team, Cornelius played a key role [...]
Restoring America’s Homegrown Philosophy
To philosopher Robert Schwartz, successful inquiry must be understood and judged in terms of its consequences for current problems. That is why he is a voice for Pragmatism, which was prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pragmatism holds that concepts and theories are best thought of as intellectual instruments. “The aim of [...]
UWM’s Innovation Engine
To attain true economic vitality for Southeastern Wisconsin, regional companies need to be linked in meaningful ways to breakthroughs in research. The UWM Research Foundation (UWMRF) is building an “innovation engine” to accomplish just that. By growing a culture of creativity and seeding promising ideas, the UWMRF is helping support partnering efforts in water, energy, [...]