News about upcoming symposium, events and more at the College of Letters & Science.
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Deep in the Antarctic ice, more than 5,000 detector modules sit in frozen darkness, waiting for the blue bursts of radiation released by particle interactions. Optimized to detect signs of neutrinos — tiny, nearly massless particles that can travel from the edges of the universe — these basketball-sized detectors comprise the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, one [...]
Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano will receive the University of Wisconsin-Madison A. E. Havens Center‘s Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship on May 9 during a rare trip to the United States. As part of the ceremony, Galeano will read from his latest work, “Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History.” The book is [...]
In its 120 years of existence, the UW-Madison Choral Union has established a reputation for performing major choral compositions by well-known masters. But the Choral Union has also presented contemporary compositions and will do so Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 when it performs Robert Kyr’s “Passion According to Four Evangelists.” Born in 1952, Kyr is [...]
Trips to the South Pole usually require a lot of specialized equipment, but Nils Irland’s packing list for his November 2012 visit included some items unusual even by those standards: a specially designed video camera, extra batteries, and lots and lots of data storage. Irland, a staff member at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC) at [...]
Comic actor and writer Anders Holm (BA’03, History) will be the speaker for spring commencement ceremonies on May 17, 18 and 19. As a relatively recent graduate, Holm, 31, thinks he can deliver a relevant message to the new grads. “I can tell them about the first 10 years out of college, what I think I did [...]
The University of Wisconsin Speech and Hearing Clinic and the Audiology program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders will host its first annual UWSHC Symposium: Spotlight on Hearing Health on April 27. The Symposium, which will run from 1-4 p.m. at Goodnight Hall, will include informational talks on hearing health and the latest [...]
Independent journalist and author Maryn McKenna has been named the Spring 2013 UW-Madison Science Writer in Residence. McKenna blogs for Wired and is a contributing editor and columnist for Scientific American. She is a frequent contributor to SELF, Nature, The Guardian and TheAtlantic.com. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, among [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Botany is holding an open house this Saturday, April 6, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. as part of this weekend’s UW-Madison Science Expeditions. Come visit historic Birge Hall for hands-on learning activities and a tour of the Botany Greenhouses. More than 1,000 plant species from across the globe [...]
The screenings of two classic features directed by King Hu, a landmark figure in world cinema, mark the latest donations to the unique collection of celebrated Taiwanese films at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following a donation ceremony, “Dragon Gate Inn” (1967) will be screened at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, April 13, and “A Touch of Zen” [...]
Teresa Alpert’s career took her on a path from student at UW-Madison to special education teacher and engineer before leading her to a career in advertising. Alpert, director of Crimea River Ltd., a London-based global brand consultancy that works with entrepreneurial businesses of all sizes, will bring that experience back to UW-Madison for a talk about [...]
After more than tripling attendance last year, the Wisconsin Science Festival is coming back for year three with plans for more activities at more sites that reach more people. The organizers announced today the 2013 festival will be held September 26-29 and issued an open call for presenters, communities, organizations and sponsors to get involved. As in [...]
Can journalists remain independent as the line between editorial and advertorial blurs, and as journalists write increasingly for corporations, academic centers and nonprofit agencies? The question will be explored at the fifth journalism ethics conference, to be staged by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Journalism Ethics on Friday, April 5, entitled: “Who is Shaping the [...]
Who owns music? Musicians who compose, perform and record something? Music companies that sell recordings? Consumers who buy copies of the recordings? These are questions that swirl around contentious issues like end-user license agreements and anti-piracy laws, as well as the growing divide between musicians who create work in home sound studios and the mega-stars who work [...]
The family of Gerda Lerner, Robinson-Edwards Professor Emerita of U.S. Women’s History, will join with the Department of History to host a celebration of Lerner’s life and work on Sunday, April 28. Lerner died on Jan. 2 at her home in Madison. She was 92. The event will take place at 1 p.m. in the [...]
Eighty high school students from 20 schools around the state had the chance to speak (and sing) in 10 different languages at the inaugural Wisconsin Global Youth Summit on Feb. 23 at Union South. The day focused on what high school students can do to bring international elements into their schools. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Language [...]
Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus March 20-21 to speak to Wisconsin high school students. Roy will offer the keynote presentation for the Great World Texts Student Conference, sponsored by the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, and will spend the day interacting with students who have read her Booker [...]
The Language Institute is hosting a series of brown bag conversations this semester on innovation in language teaching and learning. Upcoming Language Over Lunch sessions are devoted to assessing student learning outcomes in languages (April 8), maximizing language and culture learning outside of the classroom (April 15), and language learning and study abroad (April 29). [...]
It’s no surprise that UW-Madison students want to make the world a better place — and ideally make a career out of doing good, too. That can be a tall task, though. But many talented alumni have trod this path before, and that’s the focus of an upcoming career panel on “Languages and Social Justice.” “Doing [...]
A public humanities project that began as an effort to help Latino youth express themselves through art has produced a gigantic mural, a moving documentary, and a new Madison youth collective, thanks to a partnership between University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students and community partner Centro Hispano. During the fall semester, three Ph.D. candidates in UW-Madison’s curriculum [...]
Even “standing room only” wasn’t enough. As if the lively chatter, hearty laughter and spontaneous rounds of applause weren’t proof, the line of people snaking out the door of the Minocqua Brewing Company‘s Divano Lounge confirmed that interest was alive and thriving in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. No, it wasn’t a Packers playoff game. It was “Science on Tap.” The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s African Studies Program will host a round table discussion of the recent political and military upheaval in the West African country of Mali on Tuesday, Feb. 19. “Urgent Understanding: Crisis in Mali” is free and open to the public, and will begin at 7 p.m. in the Red Gym’s first-floor Masley [...]
The sixth annual University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics Fair will offer physical delights and pain-free education free to all comers on Saturday, Feb. 16 on the UW-Madison campus. Features include: A tour of plasma experiments — critical to fusion energy and astrophysics A chance to levitate a small magnet above a superconductor An exhibit showing how [...]
The annual celebration of Charles Darwin’s birthday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will showcase the evolutionary expressions of sex and reproduction in the natural world. “Some fascinating examples of evolution can be seen in mating behavior,” says Alison Scott, the event organizer, “and people have always been interested in understanding how males and females get [...]
Members of an American Chemical Society commission will discuss the need for radical changes to graduate education in the chemical sciences at a colloquium in Madison Feb. 7. “For more than half a century, steady financial support for research and education in the chemical sciences has given the United States high-quality graduate programs that attract talent from [...]
In forging connections with China, UW-Madison has created an international model for the university. The Innovation Office in Shanghai has opened up new opportunities for students, faculty and leaders in business and government. From the Shanghai Seminar Series to a UW account on Sino Weibo, and from technology transfer to official state visits, Wisconsin and China are closer than [...]
UW-Madison Career Services units will host the Spring Career and Internship Fair on Monday Feb. 4, which will bring more than 180 organizations to campus. “UW-Madison Career Services units expect to see record student and employer participation for our spring event,” says Maria McGinnis from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “This event will be in [...]
Even if you don’t recall fallout shelters and duck-and-cover drills from the 1950s, a book discussion and exhibit will provide a window into that era and this year’s Go Big Read selection. Participants can join the moderated book discussion and view the companion exhibit on Thursday Feb. 7, from 5-7 p.m. at the Health Sciences Learning Center, [...]
Tandem Press will host “Printmaking: Steeped in the Past, Shaping the Future,” a free printmaking symposium at the Chazen Museum of Art, on Thursday, Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 1. The symposium has been organized in conjunction with the exhibition “Tandem Press: 25 Years of Printmaking,” which closes on Sunday, Feb. 3. Distinguished national leaders in [...]
Public opinion polls routinely show that large majorities of Americans support cutting spending and oppose raising taxes. But when lists of government programs are presented one by one, cuts in each program face majority opposition. What’s going on here? University of Wisconsin-Madison mathematics professor Jordan Ellenberg will delve into this question on Wednesday, Jan. 23, [...]
The Wonders of Physics, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics Department‘s famed science outreach program, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its annual on-campus shows next month. Clint Sprott, professor emeritus of physics, puts on the 10 shows — three on Saturday, Feb. 9, two on Sunday, Feb. 10, three on Saturday, Feb. 16, and two on [...]
Scott Gilbert, a professor of biology at Swarthmore College noted for using stories, images and analogies to get scientific points across, will give two free public lectures in Madison Dec. 12 and 13. “Scott Gilbert has this amazing ability to talk at multiple levels at once,” says Lynn Nyhart, professor of the history of science at the University [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA) and the Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee are sponsoring a showing of “What Can Dead Prisoners Do?” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at The Marquee in Union South. What happened to Russian prisoners of war in Polish camps after the war [...]
Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig will give the keynote address as a part of Ethics Week, sponsored by the Howard Carver Ethics and Professionalism Program at the Wisconsin School of Business. Selig’s remarks, titled “Perspectives on Ethical Leadership — A View from the Commissioner,” will be from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, [...]
Now that voters have written an ending to the grueling presidential campaign, the nation’s political reporters will spend the next few weeks digesting the results and the lessons learned from the 2012 election. Among them will be Dan Balz, chief political correspondent for the Washington Post. He will bring his post-election view to the University of Wisconsin-Madison [...]
She writes candidly about being a single woman at age 39. He argues that “the second-class citizen” status of singles is unfair. Together, Kate Bolick and Michael Cobb are leading voices in redefining the social landscape. They are also old friends. On Thursday, Nov. 29, the two will appear as featured speakers in a Humanities Without Boundaries talk titled [...]
The song came to Laura Schwendinger like an October ghost, wending its way through time and memory. At the time, she was spending part of her sabbatical at the McDowell Colony in rural New Hampshire. “It was a strange period, very quiet,” recalls Schwendinger, a professor of composition in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of [...]
Chemistry Professor Bassam Shakhashiri will give his 43rd Christmas “Science is Fun” presentation Dec. 1 and 2 on the UW–Madison campus. The event will be shown on Wisconsin Public Television later in December. As always, the show will focus on astounding demonstrations from the world of chemistry and beyond. “Chemistry is the science of how atoms bond [...]
As globalization brings together people and markets, we often hear about the importance of intercultural understanding and communication. But what does it mean for University of Wisconsin-Madison students to gain a global education? And how will it help them in their future careers? That is the focus of an upcoming alumni panel “Languages and Business“. [...]
With a sweep of his pen, Abraham Lincoln changed the lives of 4 million black Americans when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation that led to the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery in the U.S. But a striking, often-overlooked campus mural by John Steuart Curry tells a part of the story that’s often forgotten. “The Freeing of the Slaves” adorns [...]
Author and science journalist David Dobbs will visit the UW-Madison campus the week of Nov. 4 as the 2012 Fall Science Writer in Residence. Dobbs is the author of the recent Atavist best seller, “My Mother’s Lover,” and contributes features and essays for The Atlantic, Wired, National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Language Institute will host its annual World Languages Day on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at Union South. World Languages Day is a college-for-a-day experience that introduces high school students from around the state of Wisconsin to the bevy of languages and cultural topics offered at UW-Madison. Faculty, staff and students offer a [...]
Fracking, the controversial technology for opening natural gas deposits, will be the focus of a three-part Community Environmental Forum series beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m. in room 1106 of the Mechanical Engineering Building. “Fracking: The Wisconsin Connection” will explore topics including the process of fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing), why Wisconsin is [...]
The rise of social media in China will be the focus of an upcoming panel to be held in conjunction with the Sixth Annual China Town Hall Oct. 29. Wisconsin China Initiative Director and Professor of Chinese literature and culture Nicole Huang will serve as the moderator for “Information Revolution: Social Media in China,” from [...]
The inaugural University of Wisconsin-Madison Energy Summit will take place Tuesday, Oct. 30 at Monona Terrace, with a prominent L&S alum serving as one of the event’s keynote speakers. Gregory Jaczko (Ph.D.’99, Physics), the former chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will speak about the future of energy in America. Jaczko, who served [...]
The Department of the History of Science will host historian Wendy Kline for its monthly colloquium on Friday, Nov. 2. Kline, a Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati, will deliver a lecture on “Birth in Transition: Modern Midwifery and the Controversy over Home Birth.” The talk begins at 3 p.m. in Memorial Library, [...]
In hopes of fostering peaceful dialogue and a greater understanding of American Muslims, three UW–Madison organizations will host a series of lectures, performances and discussion called “Understanding Islamophobia in America.” Sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, in conjunction with the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions and the Muslim-Jewish Volunteer Initiative, the event will take place Friday, [...]
The Department of Economics and the Economics Student Association will host two nationally-renowned economic experts for a politically-focused Distinguished Lecture Series on Thursday, Oct. 25. Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Jeffrey Liebman will lead “Economic Policy in the November Election,” from 3-5 p.m. in room 6210 in the Sewell Social Sciences Building, 1180 Observatory Dr. Holtz-Eakin is [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Odyssey Project, which provides people facing economic barriers with a chance to start college, marks its 10th anniversary tonight in a celebration at the Chazen Museum of Art from 5-7 p.m. In this introductory humanities course, students gain a voice and a sense of empowerment through lively discussions of literature, history, philosophy, [...]
Eli Clare, acclaimed activist and author of the award-winning “Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation,” will visit UW-Madison as a Brittingham Visiting Scholar for the week of Oct. 8-12. Clare speaks, teaches, and facilitates all over the United States and Canada at conferences, community events, and colleges about disability, queer and trans identities, and [...]
Sound can be an incredibly powerful experience, able to dominate our attention, convey information, transport us from the here and now or add or relieve tension and emotion. Indicative of how immersive the sense of sound can be, no fewer than seven people from all corners of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s academic disciplines will track [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will welcome Cora Marrett (MA’65, Sociology, PhD’68, Sociology), deputy director of the National Science Foundation, back to campus on Oct. 5 as the Wisconsin Alumni Association presents her with the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. The award celebrates [...]
“Everyone should watch this talk!” Those are the most popular words framing blog posts about Sir Ken Robinson’s popular TED Conference presentations. When the charismatic cultural visionary strides onto the Forum stage in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Town Center on Sunday, Sept. 30 to deliver the keynote talk for the 2012 Wisconsin Science Festival, [...]
Due to overwhelming interest, a second lecture on the discovery of a new physics particle has been added for tomorrow evening, Friday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m. University of Wisconsin-Madison Enrico Fermi and Vilas Professor of Physics Sau Lan Wu will be presenting “Discovery of the Higgs — the God Particle” tonight, Sept. 20, at [...]
What most of us know about Bronze Age Troy comes straight from Greek myth. As a setting for the epic Homeric poems starring Helen, Paris, Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector, among many others in a cast that includes both meddlesome gods and heroic mortals, Troy and its wooden horse – which may or may not have [...]
After a rousing debut last fall, the Wisconsin Science Festival returns for its second year this Sept. 27-30 with an even bigger and bolder schedule of people, music, art and explosions bringing the wonders of science to life for all ages. In addition to returning crowd favorites such as dancing scientists, the physics of football [...]
To mark Constitution Day in the United States, the American Democracy Forum, housed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Political Science, will hold a faculty panel discussion on constitutional issues in U.S. elections. The discussion, which is open to the public, will take place Monday, Sept. 17 from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Wisconsin Idea [...]
On July 4, 2012, the international science community exploded with excitement as physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced the discovery of a brand-new subatomic particle widely believed to be the long-sought Higgs boson. The Higgs boson was first postulated in 1964 as an explanation for why matter has mass. Finding experimental [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Language Institute has announced its 2012-13 lecture series, “Language, Cognition and Sociality.” The first lecture is Wednesday, Sept. 19, and all lectures are free and open to the public. Invited lectures in the series will explore some fundamental questions regarding language acquisition and socialization: What could we learn from studies of [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty will host an event for undergraduates interested in learning about poverty-related careers on October 4. The panel, “Careers in Poverty Research, Policy, and Practice,” will run from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center, and will also be available online as a webinar. No registration for participation [...]
Rashida Manjoo, an internationally recognized lawyer, teacher, and advocate who works to advance women’s rights and human rights around the world, will deliver a major lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison next week. “Violence against women violates human dignity as well as numerous rights, including the right to equality, physical integrity, freedom and non-discrimination,” Manjoo [...]
The history and future of electron microscopy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will collide on Sept. 28, with the help of the College of Letters & Science. UW-Madison will host the Hans Ris Symposium on 3D Electron Microscopy at the Microbial Sciences Building’s Ebling Auditorium. The event honors Ris (1914-2004), a former Professor of Zoology [...]
Forty-five works by Renaissance old masters will be on view in the Midwest for the first time in the exhibition Offering of the Angels: Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery at the Chazen Museum of Art Aug. 24 through Nov. 25. The exhibition of paintings and two tapestries was curated by Uffizi Gallery Director [...]
For the second straight summer, KlezKamp is coming to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture will hold “A Biselle KlezKamp,” a free one-day event on July 22. The event is organized by Henry Sapoznik, the director of the Mayrent Institute and the founder of “KlezKamp: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program,” [...]
The Greenfield Summer Institute, sponsored by the George L. Mosse/Laurence A. Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, is offering a week-long event of learning and fun at the 13th Annual Greenfield Summer Institute Jewish Memory and Nostalgia. The event is open to those looking to study and share in Jewish history and culture, organizers say. The [...]
University of Wisconsin-Madison seven students took home prizes at the Midwest Universities Chinese Speech Contest held at Northwestern University in Chicago last Saturday. The UW-Madison team consisted of seven students who won awards in all categories: 3 gold medalists: Alicia Montague-Keels, Dalian Urbonya and Isaac Hube 3 silver medalists: Richard Young, Samantha Moritz and Sei [...]
More than 75 UW-Madison students and members of the public attended an April 25 panel discussion on internship and career opportunities in U.S. intelligence and national security agencies for students with language and cultural competencies. Panelists, representing the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Language Service Corps, National Security Agency, and the [...]
On Friday, April 28, students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison showcased their research and discovery with alumni and friends of the institution. As part of the Alumni Weekend, students played a part in welcoming alumni and friends back to campus for events and programming. Alumni Weekend is an annual cross-campus event each spring. The College of [...]
Mayor Paul Soglin has signed a proclamation designating this Saturday, April 28, as Chican@ Latin@ Studies Day in the city of Madison. It is the 35th anniversary of the program. Sylvia Garcia, administrator of the Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program (CLSP), and associate director Petra Guerra approached Madison Common Council alderperson Shiva Bidar-Sielaff to introduce [...]
The Dictionary of American Regional English, a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will hold a mini-conference to celebrate the publication of its fifth volume. Guest speakers will include Simon Winchester, author of “The Professor and the Madman,” “The Meaning of Everything,” “Krakatoa” and “The Man Who Loved China,” among many other books; Michael Adams, [...]
UW-Madison treasure and Grammy-nominated musician Ben Sidran is preparing to raise the curtain on his new book and he’s doing it the best way musicians know how: by hitting the stage! As part of his Sifting and Winnowing Tour, Sidran is stopping at Memorial Union on May 3rd. Although this show is already sold out, [...]
UW writes its own history with 24-hour social media project With only 24 hours to complete the task, University of Wisconsin-Madison students, faculty, staff and alumni participated in a project to document what makes UW a great place to live, learn and build friendships. The project asked participants to submit e-mails, photos and tweets with [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will host an international symposium to celebrate two of the greatest works of Spanish literature: the 14th-century Book of Good Love and the late 15th-century Celestina: Two Spanish Masterpieces and La originalidad artística de “La Celestina”. An International Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of María Rosa Lida’s Work Events will begin [...]
For nearly 120 years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Choral Union has been preparing and performing major choral works for university and area audiences. That tradition continues Friday, April 20 at 8 p.m. when the Choral Unionand the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra will perform another mighty masterwork — Verdi’s stirring “Requiem.” Breaking from tradition, however, the musicians [...]
Register now! Against a backdrop of extraordinary global economic, environmental and social challenges, the sixth annual Nelson Institute Earth Day Conference will examine issues related to consumption and growth, economic and environmental sustainability, quality of life and happiness. Envisioning a Fairer Future: Sustainability, Security and Happiness on a Finite [...]
Jim Healy from Communication Arts and Christina Martin-Wright from the Wisconsin Film Festival promote this year’s event on “The Morning Blend.” To learn more about the 2012 film festival, click here.
