20293 Metabolic “breathalyzer” reveals early signs of disease The future of disease diagnosis may lie in a "breathalyzer"-like technology currently under development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The future of disease diagnosis may lie in a "breathalyzer"-like technology currently under development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. <div id="story_quote_w95RETnfus" class="inline-content pull_quote right"> “It’s a cheaper, faster, and more sensitive method of diagnosis.” Fariba Assadi-Porter </div> New research published online in February in the peer-reviewed journal Metabolism demonstrates a simple but sensitive method that can distinguish normal and disease-state glucose metabolism by a quick assay of blood or exhaled air. Many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and infections, alter the body's metabolism in distinctive ways. The new work shows that these biochemical changes can be detected much sooner than typical symptoms would appear — even within a few hours — offering hope of early disease detection and diagnosis. "With this methodology, we have advanced methods for tracing metabolic pathways that are perturbed in disease," says senior author <a href="http://www.biochem.wisc.edu/faculty/markley/assadi-porter/">Fariba Assadi-Porter</a>, a UW-Madison biochemist and scientist at the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison. "It's a cheaper, faster, and more sensitive method of diagnosis." The researchers studied mice with metabolic symptoms similar to those seen in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrine disorder that can cause a wide range of symptoms including infertility, ovarian cysts, and metabolic dysfunction. PCOS affects approximately 1 in 10 women but currently can only be diagnosed after puberty and by exclusion of all other likely diseases — a time-consuming and frustrating process for patients and doctors alike. "The goal is to find a better way of diagnosing these women early on, before puberty, when the disease can be controlled by medication or exercise and diet, and to prevent these women from getting metabolic syndromes like diabetes, obesity, and associated problems like heart disease," Assadi-Porter says. The researchers were able to detect distinct metabolic changes in the mice by measuring the isotopic signatures of carbon-containing metabolic byproducts in the blood or breath. They injected glucose containing a single atom of the heavier isotope carbon-13 to trace which metabolic pathways were most active in the sick or healthy mice. Within minutes, they could measure changes in the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in the carbon dioxide exhaled by the mice, says co-author <a href="http://www.zoology.wisc.edu/faculty/Por/Por.html">Warren Porter</a>, a UW-Madison professor of zoology. One advantage of the approach is that it surveys the workings of the entire body with a single measure. In addition to simplifying diagnosis, it could also provide rapid feedback about the effectiveness of treatments. "The pattern of these ratios in blood or breath is different for different diseases — for example cancer, diabetes, or obesity — which makes this applicable to a wide range of diseases," explains Assadi-Porter. The technology relies on the fact that the body uses different sources to produce energy under different conditions. "Your body changes its fuel source. When we're healthy we use the food that we eat," Porter says. "When we get sick, the immune system takes over the body and starts tearing apart proteins to make antibodies and use them as an energy source." That shift from sugars to proteins engages different biochemical pathways in the body, resulting in distinct changes in the carbon isotopes that show up in exhaled carbon dioxide. If detected quickly, these changes may signal the earliest stages of disease. The researchers found similar patterns using two independent assays — nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on blood serum and cavity ring-down spectroscopy on exhaled breath. The breath-based method is particularly exciting, they say, because it is non-invasive and even more sensitive than the blood-based assays. In the mice, the techniques were sensitive enough to detect statistically significant differences between even very small populations of healthy and sick mice. The current cavity ring-down spectroscopy analysis uses a machine about the size of a shoebox, but the researchers envision a small, hand-held "breathalyzer" that could easily be taken into rural or remote areas. They co-founded a company, Isomark, LLC, to develop the technology and its applications. They hope to explore the underlying biology of disease and better understand whether the distinctive biochemical changes they can observe are causative or side effects. Funding for the new study came from the National Institutes of Health, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, Rodale Foundation, and the Farmers Advocating for Organics fund. The other co-authors are Julia Haviland, Marco Tonelli, and Dermot Haughey, all at UW-Madison. The full article, which may require a subscription, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2011.12.010">is online here</a>.   Mon Feb 06 13:59:00 -0600 2012

Mon Feb 06 14:03:40 -0600 2012

63 Sakai Jill jasakai@wisc.edu 20198 Madison events to honor legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Members of the UW-Madison community and the Madison community at large will have plentiful opportunities for observance and service to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Members of the UW-Madison community and the Madison community at large will have plentiful opportunities for observance and service to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal and state holiday, will be observed Monday, Jan. 16. The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery plays host to the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Service Day event titled "A Dedication to Service ... A Discovery of Science." The event kicks off at 9 a.m. with a welcome, followed workshops and exploration stations with topics ranging from poverty to "seed-to-table" agriculture. After lunch, participants will engage in community service projects throughout Dane County. The event is targeted to middle and high school students. Volunteers are needed to staff the event and lead exploration stations. Students and UW faculty and staff are encouraged to volunteer. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6vxgtc6"> Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Service Day</a> is free and open to all members of the community, but is limited to the first 300 registrants. Contact Hannah Sievers at hsievers@warf.org or 316-4662 for more information. At 6 p.m. on Jan. 16, Rev. C.T. Vivian will be the featured speaker at the 27th Annual Official Madison-Dane County King Holiday Observance. Vivian, a close friend and lieutenant of King, helped found the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference, which organized the first sit-ins in Nashville in 1960 and the first civil-rights march in 1961. Vivian rode the "Freedom Bus" into Jackson, Miss., and went on to work alongside King in Birmingham, Selma, Chicago and Nashville, and for the March on Washington. His work on the St. Augustine campaign helped lead the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The event will be held at the Overture Center's Capitol Theater. There is no cost to attend. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/7pwck22">Other community events</a> include the following: <ul> <li>Friday, Jan. 13: 25th Annual Free Community Dinner, 4:30-7 p.m., UW-Madison's Gordon Commons, 717 W. Johnson St. For more information, call Ruth Gundlach, 233-5880.</li> <li>Saturday, Jan. 14: I Have a Dream Scholarship Ball, 6 p.m., Monona Terrace.</li> <li>Sunday, Jan. 15: 28th Annual Urban League Guild Youth Recognition Breakfast, 7:45 a.m., Edgewood High School. Tickets can be purchased at www.ulgm.org. Cost is $8 in advance, $12 at the door.</li> <li>Sunday, Jan. 15: MLK Ecumenical Church Service, 4 p.m., Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 2019 Fisher St.</li> <li>Sunday, Jan. 15: America's Sunday Supper, 6 p.m., Urban League of Greater Madison, 2222 S. Park St. </li> </ul> On Jan. 16, Madison Metro bus schedules operate on alternate schedules. Campus routes 80, 84 and 85 follow recess schedules, while most major city routes follow Saturday schedules. In addition, all standing paratransit rides are canceled. Maps of all bus detours and updated bus schedules are available at http://www.mymetrobus.com. For more information, contact Metro at 608-266-4466. Mon Jan 09 16:24:00 -0600 2012

Mon Jan 09 16:28:30 -0600 2012

113 Bump Greg gbump@wisc.edu 20118 CAVE of wonders: Exhibit pushes the boundaries of art, collaboration In the year since the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery opened at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, its resident researchers have gotten comfortable in their innovative new spaces. In the year since the<a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/"> Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery</a> opened at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, its resident researchers have gotten comfortable in their innovative new spaces.  Now comes a fun part. Behind a green curtain lies an extension of the facility's capabilities. Lisa Frank's <a href="http://www.designgallery.wisc.edu/exhibits/CAVE/Schedule.html">"<1>: "der" //Pattern for a Virtual Environment"</a> takes a $2.5 million device from the realm of research into fine art. As Frank expands her art from two dimensions to three, she demonstrates exciting possibilities for fields not traditionally connected with science. Her exhibit runs Dec. 9-16 at the Discovery building, 330 N. Orchard St. <div id="story_image_3129" class="inline-content photo right" style="width: 250px;"> <img src="http://www.news.wisc.edu/story_images/0000/3129/cave_small.jpg" alt="Photo:CAVE art" /> A view of the art exhibit inside the CAVE at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. Lisa Frank’s exhibit runs through Dec. 16. </div> The Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), located within the Discovery building, projects images onto the walls, floor and ceiling of a 10-foot cube. With high-resolution, 3D graphics and glasses tracking a user's gaze, the CAVE immerses users in an interactive experience. Fewer than 10 CAVE environments worldwide are fully immersive. Frank's exhibit may mark the first use of a CAVE in art. The CAVE is the centerpiece of the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/wisconsin/research/living-environments-lab/">Living Environments Laboratory</a> (LEL), led by <a href="http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ie/faculty/brennan_patricia.html">Patricia (Patti) Brennan</a>, Lillian S. Moehlman-Bascom Professor of Nursing and Industrial Engineering. Brennan and her colleagues saw many products and services designed without environment-specific testing. Immersion in the "living environment" of a kitchen, for example, reinforces actual motions used: opening a cabinet, pouring water or cradling a baby while making a bottle. "Patti wanted to create a space to quickly prototype new devices. Virtual reality was the way to do that," says <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/wisconsin/research/living-environments-lab/people/">Kendra Jacobsen</a>, associate director of the LEL. "We can upload homes, kitchens, bathrooms, and put different tools in them. You can quickly evaluate how something would be used." Frank came to Madison after a long career in commercial textile design. This exhibit rounds out her MFA degree, which she has pursued while directing the <a href="http://www.designgallery.wisc.edu/">Design Gallery</a> at the <a href="http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/">School of Human Ecology.</a> When Frank experimented with integrating technology into her work, Diane Sheehan, chair of Frank's graduate committee, suggested using the CAVE to push Frank out of her comfort zone. <div id="story_quote_w9cFzl66Io" class="inline-content pull_quote left"> “You go from the expansive nest landscape to this macro world on the level with mushrooms and roots. You’re seeing equally inaccessible worlds.” Lisa Frank </div> Frank uses patterns to create order out of nature's elegant chaos. The interplay between natural and constructed worlds helps orient visitors to the facility's artificial environment. In September, Frank began collaborating with graduate student Nathan Mitchell, a computer scientist with virtual-reality expertise. The partnership demonstrates one major challenge of new technology: different languages of design. Frank uses computers for pattern development and photo manipulation; Mitchell leans toward 3D modeling and programming. Together, their skills enhance each other's work. Mitchell introduced Frank to video games, exploring architectural maps and first-person perspectives. Frank shared art from William Morris and Henri Rousseau, emphasizing the marriage of texture with form. The exhibit's scenes move from expansive to microscopic, formal to earthy. In the first scene, viewers can jump from a lofty bird's nest onto the ground or crawl inside an egg. In another scene, the calm green of a Victorian room comes from repeated eucalyptus leaves. Stones from the Ice Age Trail form an inlaid floor, reminiscent of the Capitol rotunda. "I like bringing something that viewers wouldn't normally have seen," says Frank. "You go from the expansive nest landscape to this macro world on the level with mushrooms and roots. You're seeing equally inaccessible worlds." <div class="inline-content right" style="width: 330px;"> <iframe width="320" height="192" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OjE7eQc6vl8?rel=0&hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Computer science graduate student Nathan Mitchell moves through a scene from Lisa A. Frank's MFA exhibit, presented by the Design Gallery of the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology. </div> This innovative 3D experience hints at new research opportunities, particularly in the humanities. "Some of the real power of art is being there," says Jacobsen. "Walking through a cathedral, the way the art changes as you're moving creates a whole other experience." <a href="http://arthistory.wisc.edu/bio/martinbio.html">Ann Smart Martin</a>, Stanley and Polly Stone Professor of Art History, has conducted preliminary experiments in the CAVE on interactions between different types of light and wood. The CAVE simulates how a wood "skin" covers varied surfaces, from walls to furniture. "Artisans and others talk about the way different woods work with different types of light in different environments," says Martin. "I can find discussions in 17th- and 18th-century documents. But how do we see that today? I'm arguing that the experience of different things in different lighting conditions explains why certain styles succeeded." Accurate representations of light and shadow remain a significant problem in computer graphics. Martin reached out to postdoctoral fellow Kevin Ponto, who had connected Mitchell with both Martin and Frank. The two used a research model from Steve Marschner, a computer scientist at Cornell University. Their conversations encourage synergy between two vastly different disciplines. "Computer gaming drives this," says Martin. "You're not just seeing shadows on the back of a 3D object; it involves all the ways light is reflected and refracted around a room. My problem — asking a question in a historic period — is just a small permutation of a much larger issue." Martin nudges others on campus — particularly in the humanities — to experiment with the CAVE's capabilities. Given a growing core of people with the necessary technical skills, she hopes more researchers will take advantage of the technology. Martin's experience delights the CAVE's caretakers. "It's turning out to mean different things to different people. We're careful not to proscribe what it could be," says Jacobsen. "Adding a new piece can add new directions to existing ideas: taking something small and making it really big, walking inside something you'd never be able to walk inside — a cell, or the grain of wood. If you can imagine it, we can probably make it happen." <a href="http://www.designgallery.wisc.edu">For more information on the hours for Frank's exhibit, click here.</a> Those who would like to reserve a 15-minute visit can email designgallery@mail.sohe.wisc.edu.<a href="http://www.designgallery.wisc.edu"></a> Fri Dec 09 10:11:00 -0600 2011

Fri Dec 09 15:07:05 -0600 2011

96 Brooks Susannah srbrooks2@wisc.edu 20110 100 years of discovery: Celebrating South Pole research To mark the centennial of Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole, the IceCube Research Center invites you to join them for an evening of exploration and learning on Tuesday, December 13 from 6:30–8:30 at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. To mark the centennial of Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole, the IceCube Research Center is hosting an evening of exploration and learning on Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 6:30–8:30 at the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/">Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery</a>. <div id="story_image_3101" class="inline-content photo right" style="width: 200px;"> <img src="http://www.news.wisc.edu/story_images/0000/3101/04-DSCN2420_4.jpg" alt="Photo: IceCube" /> A hose caries hot water to the top of an Antarctic drill tower as part of the IceCube project. </div> The theme of the event is “100 Years of Discovery from the South Pole to the Edge of the Universe.” On Dec. 14, 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole.  One hundred years later, Antarctica is a continent dedicated to cutting-edge research. It houses some of the most innovative experiments in the world, including the<a href="http://icecube.wisc.edu/"> IceCube Neutrino Observatory.</a> IceCube is a cubic kilometer array of 5,160 detectors frozen in South Pole ice. Its mission is to identify and study the interactions of subatomic particles called neutrinos. IceCube searches for neutrinos that have their origins in some of the most energetic and catastrophic astronomical events known. Exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars are just a few sources for the neutrinos IceCube studies. “Neutrinos and light are similar,” says <a href="http://icecube.wisc.edu/~halzen/">Francis Halzen</a>, IceCube Principal Investigator and UW–Madison Professor of Physics. “The only difference is that light doesn’t go through solid objects, whereas neutrinos go through everything. They travel in straight lines directly from their source, making them good intergalactic messengers.” Halzen will give a presentation about IceCube science at the December 13th event. He will be joined by senior lecturer of Scandinavian Studies, Peggy Hager, who will discuss Norway’s tradition of exploration, and IceCube Associate Researcher, <a href="http://icecube.wisc.edu/~krasberg/">Mark Krasberg</a>, who will talk about living and working at the South Pole today. Visitors will have the opportunity to try on Antarctic clothing, take a photo with a sled dog and replica of an antique freight sled, explore the history of weather observations in the Antarctic, talk with geologists about volcanic rocks and vaporite crystals from Antarctica, sign a Bucky Badger flag that will go to the South Pole, and more. “The event will showcase the benefits and difficulties of conducting research in such a harsh environment,” says James Yeck, IceCube Director. “The science enabled by the creation of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is at the forefront of high-energy astrophysics. We hope to discover the very nature of some of the most violent events in the universe.” The IceCube Research Center (IRC) at UW–Madison works together with the international IceCube Collaboration to operate and maintain the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole in Antarctica. The National Science Foundation and other international funding agencies support the project. Related IRC/UW–Madison Department of Physics projects include the High Altitude Water Cherenkov experiment, the Askaryan Radio Array, the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, Dark Matter-Ice and the Pierre Auger Observatory. Public parking is available in the Camp Randall Stadium ramp at 1525 Engineering Drive. Exhibits will be available in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, 330 N. Orchard St.,  open court from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with presentations and a panel discussion in the forum beginning at 7:20 p.m. Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be available. The event is free and open to the public. Thu Dec 08 06:00:00 -0600 2011

Fri Dec 09 09:17:50 -0600 2011

20086 David Krakauer nurtures scientific collaboration Education and research are splintering into new specialties at an unsustainable rate, according to David Krakauer. <div id="story_image_3087" class="inline-content photo right" style="width: 300px;"> <img src="http://www.news.wisc.edu/story_images/0000/3087/Krakaeur_David_port11_7858.JPG" alt="Photo: David Krakauer" /> David Krakauer, the new director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, discusses his thoughts on "transcience" and scientific collaboration. Photo: <a href="mailto:photos@news.wisc.edu">Bryce Richter</a> </div> Education and research are splintering into new specialties at an unsustainable rate, according to David Krakauer. Recently installed as the first permanent director of the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/wisconsin/">Wisconsin Institute for Discovery</a>, Krakauer has a different idea of the best way to train future scientists and enable researchers, fostered over the last nine years on the faculty at the private Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, N.M. On the occasion of the first anniversary of the opening of the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/">Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery</a> building on University Avenue, Inside UW caught up with the Hawaii-born, Portugal-and-England-raised, Oxford-educated Krakauer to talk about his expectations for his new appointment. iUW: Why leave the Santa Fe Institute for the University of Wisconsin–Madison? Krakauer: I want to explore something new. SFI is an isolated place in the mountains incubating a new brand of scientific thinking — a trans-disciplinary approach — that is ripe for export. It’s a bit like starting a plant in a greenhouse before you move it outdoors. Coming here is an opportunity to extend that idea to a larger community with broader demographics. It’s key that different lines of thinking sort of refresh or alter our approach to research, and this university has incredible scale. Madison has a significant representation, and critical mass in so many areas of scholarship. This is a huge resource we just didn’t have at SFI. iUW: How does this approach, which you call “transcience,” differ from research and learning as we may understand it at UW–Madison? Krakauer: Murray Gell-Mann, a faculty member at Santa Fe Institute and Nobel Prize winner, if you ask him what a physicist is, he wouldn’t mention forces, fields or particles or any of that. He’d say, “It’s a style of thinking.” Most science is divided into disciplines defined by spatial organization: looking at molecules is different than looking at cells is different than looking at computer chips, right? This transcience concept, it’s not defined by the object of study, but by analogous structures and dynamics. If we know that a cell responds to information much like a computer network, why not apply the same insights to research on both? iUW: If the approach to research at WID will be atypical, what does a successful institute look like? Krakauer: The standard metrics of productivity are papers and publications, grants and teaching. They’re all fairly easily quantified, even if the metrics aren’t perfect. Our metrics at the WID will be harder to quantify. We’ll be looking at density of collaborative networks and diffusion of ideas and techniques. How long does it take for information to spread, and how many people pass it along? The intangibles are important. Do we have people who are dedicating time to areas that aren’t their research focus? Are the people here people who participate and lend their time to community efforts? Are they engaged outside their labs? Can you knock on their door with a question and end up in a good discussion outside of their comfort zone? It’s hard to measure an environment like that, but you know when you’re in one. iUW: Why foster an environment that may seem out of the norm and difficult to grasp? Krakauer: Ideas of consequence have often come from people who are outsiders to the field. Consider one the major developments in biology from the last century associated with (James) Watson and (Francis) Crick – this is a partnership between a biologist and a physicist. And consequential ideas tend to emerge in open, supportive environments. There are places and times that make innovative ideas more likely to happen. If you ask someone how that environment came about, they never say, ‘Well, I got all the money I wanted.’ It’s always, ‘I was with the most amazing people.’ You can’t engineer the ultimate collaboration. You can engineer an environment where people feel comfortable collaborating. iUW: You’ve said WID needs to make visitors say “Wow.” How do you do that? Krakauer: We have a head start with the building. It’s beautiful, and that’s good. But there’s a vibrancy to a place that makes it exciting, and that’s up to the people who inhabit it. So when I say, “Wow,” that’s people on the ground. That’s a conversation happening that includes some amazing people and this is going to take a while to develop, but Madison has something that many places do not. People here — faculty included — are predisposed to get involved. If you can help provide them some time to allow them to get out from behind their desks and an interesting conversation to join, we can take advantage of that. And then as they say, the sky is the limit.   Thu Dec 01 06:01:00 -0600 2011

Thu Dec 01 10:41:20 -0600 2011

98 Barncard Chris barncard@wisc.edu 20088 Slide show: A Building Abuzz The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery offers proof positive that promises can be kept. Since opening in December 2010, the 300,000-square-foot building is delivering on original plans for an innovative, sustainable space, and is providing an environment that fosters collaborative science and hosts public outreach activities. Wed Nov 30 16:55:00 -0600 2011

Wed Nov 30 20:51:24 -0600 2011

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wid-one-t.jpg false 75 75 4236 20084 Discovery building marks first anniversary with Gold LEED When the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery celebrates its first birthday this Friday, Dec. 2 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, visitors can learn a new "first" about the building while taking a behind-the-scenes "green" tour or sharing locally sourced cake with Bucky. When the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/">Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery</a> celebrates its first birthday this Friday, Dec. 2 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, visitors can learn a new "first" about the building while taking a behind-the-scenes "green" tour or sharing locally sourced cake with Bucky. The innovative building, which houses two research institutes and a main floor designed to engage the public in science, is the first laboratory building in Wisconsin to achieve LEED Gold certification as established by the <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/">U.S. Green Building Council</a>. "We initially aimed for silver due to the inherently high volume of energy and water used in a lab building," says George Austin, building project manager for the <a href="http://www.warf.org/">Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation</a>, the partner in the private-public initiative responsible for construction. "We knew it would be challenging because laboratories require frequent air exchanges, purified water for lab experiments and often run equipment over nights and weekends. But as we completed certification documentation, we realized we had a chance for gold and applied for it. We were elated to learn the evaluators agreed." Campus and community members can see some of the behind-the-scenes features that impressed the LEED evaluators, and hear about the innovative science taking place on the facility's research floors, during the one-year birthday celebration being held between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday. Tour guides will lead new "green" tours every half-hour and full building tours on the hour. Visitor can take fossil and Mesozoic garden tours, go on a scavenger hunt to win prizes, and try hands-on stem cell, scientific instrument and computer gaming demos in the upper-floor teaching labs. Seven "mini talks," most presented by scientists in the building, will take place on the half hour. Between noon and 1 p.m. Bucky will visit and birthday cake will be served with all activities taking place at the <a href="http://www.map.wisc.edu/?initObj=0212" title="View this building on the campus map">Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery</a>, 330 N. Orchard St., between University Avenue and Campus Drive. The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, designed to use 50 percent less energy than a typical lab building on campus, achieved LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and building materials as well as incorporating other sustainable strategies. By using less energy and water, LEED certified buildings are designed to save money, reduce green house gas emissions and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community. LEED is the nation's preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED certification was based on a number of green design and construction practices and features, such as: <ul> <li>Recycling 98 percent of materials from site demolition to keep 7,000 tons of debris from being added to landfills and salvaging or recycling 92 percent of construction-related debris;</li> <li>Sourcing recycled and regionally manufactured products for more than 20 percent of the new building materials;</li> <li>Placing 75 geothermal wells 300 feet below ground to use the earth's temperature to help heat or cool the building;</li> <li>Installing solar panels to generate hot water and reduce other energy used to heat the building;</li> <li>Capturing groundwater in cisterns and using it to water plants and using wastewater left over from water purification to flush low-flow toilets;</li> <li>Flushing hot or cold air from the building at night and directing desired energy back into the building;</li> <li>Installing chilled beams cooled by groundwater in warm areas such as computer rooms;</li> <li>Using glass for natural lighting and automatic window shades to limit exposure to heat and cold;</li> <li>Using high-performance terra cotta and recycled insulation on the exterior walls that act as a rain screen and provide exceptional air-tightness and resistance to outside temperatures, and;</li> <li>Providing "green" screens with real-time energy use data that allows building residents to track how their own behavior affects energy use. </li> </ul> "We couldn't have selected a more talented and committed building team for this project," says Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF and chair of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building committee. "On behalf of our partners in this initiative, donors John and Tashia Morgridge, the state of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin-Madison, we commend our architects, engineers, planners and construction professionals for completing an innovative and sustainable construction process. And, even more importantly, for building features into the facility so it will continue to conserve resources in its daily operations over many years to come." While the facility's quest for LEED Gold has been completed, the tracking of its energy use and the study of the building occupants' influence on it, are just beginning. "The facility is becoming a living learning tool in a study by UW-Madison's College of Engineering," states John Nelson, an adjunct professor in Civil Engineering who also served as an engineering consultant on the project. "We want to find out if the building is performing the way we built it to perform. This study will hold us accountable and inform future building practices." The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery has received 14 design and construction awards to date. The design and building team of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery includes: Ballinger; Uihlein Wilson; Findorff| Mortenson, a joint venture; Affiliated Engineers; PSJ Engineering; UW-Madison Facilities, Planning and Management; Graef; Olin Partnership; Terra Engineering & Construction; Champion Environmental Services; General Heating and Air Conditioning; Westphal and Co.; Hooper Corporation; H.J. Martin & Son; and Construction Supply & Erection. The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is a unique public/private initiative designed under one roof to facilitate interdisciplinary research and breakthrough discoveries to improve human health and wellbeing. It opened Dec. 2, 2010, in the heart of the campus and houses the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research, the UW-Madison's public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and a main floor called the Town Center that is designed to engage the public in science and learning. Wed Nov 30 12:08:00 -0600 2011

Wed Nov 30 12:43:59 -0600 2011

83 Kelly Janet jkelly@warf.org 19827 Nobel Prize winner to speak at UW–Madison Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom will visit the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus to deliver a Hilldale Lecture on ecological and social diversity. Nobel Prize winner <a href="http://elinorostrom.indiana.edu/">Elinor Ostrom</a> will visit the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus to deliver a Hilldale Lecture on ecological and social diversity. Ostrom, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, will speak at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, 330 N. Orchard St. Ostrom is a global leader in research on "common pool resources," or natural- or human-made resources that have many users and face excess use, such as forests, fisheries, oil fields, aquifers or the global climate system. Her work looks at how humans and ecosystems are inseparable and how they must be managed to retain long-term benefits for the well being of humans. She is a distinguished professor of political science at Indiana University and research professor at Arizona State University. Her lecture on "Polycentric Institutions to Cope with Ecological and Social Diversity" is part of an annual fall symposium hosted by Wisconsin Ecology, a campus-wide interdisciplinary organization of scholars working on ecological and environmental challenges. Ostrom's visit should appeal to a wide cross-section of natural and social scientists across campus, as the breadth of her work makes her a natural fit for Wisconsin Ecology, says Stephen Carpenter, Stephen Alfred Forbes Professor of Zoology, director of the Center for Limnology and winner of the Stockholm Water Prize, often called the "Nobel Prize of water." "Ostrom's research has triggered new insights that link ecology, political science and economics, and she is one of the most innovative interdisciplinary thinkers working today," Carpenter says. From 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., Ostrom will also visit the UW Law School's Program in Real Estate, Land Use and Community Development to participate in a panel discussion about issues in common pool resources. The panel will include UW–Madison experts in law, business, economics and freshwater science talking about how law and policies in their fields should address common property. The panel discussion will take place in Lubar Commons of the Law School, 975 Bascom Mall. The Hilldale Lecture Series, which began in 1973 and is administered by the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, is sponsored by the faculty's four divisional committees — Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Studies — and funded by the university's Hilldale Fund. All lectures are free and open to the public. Thu Sep 29 12:43:00 -0500 2011

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19822 Krakauer chosen to lead Wisconsin Institute for Discovery David Krakauer may have lofty plans for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, but he believes that is exactly why he was chosen to be its first director. David Krakauer may have lofty plans for the <a href="http://wid.wisc.edu/">Wisconsin Institute for Discovery,</a> but he believes that is exactly why he was chosen to be its first director. “I’m ambitious, yes,” says Krakauer, a professor at the <a href="http://www.santafe.edu/">Santa Fe Institute</a> in New Mexico. “But the university built the building. They supported it. The vision from the beginning was grand and part of the Wisconsin idea” Krakauer will take over leadership of WID from interim director John Wiley in November, and bring hopes to elevate the institute to a status enjoyed by few such organizations around the country. “When people walk in, I want the feeling to be, ‘Wow, what is this? This is something completely different,’” he says. “The MIT Media Lab has that. The Santa Fe Institute has that. Bell Labs had that. I want it for the WID.” Much of that wow factor comes with an approach to problem solving that transcends traditional divisions by scientific discipline. Trans-science, as Krakauer and his wife and collaborator Jessica Flack refer to it, is a major tenet of the research they will bring from their Collective Social Computation Group in Santa Fe to WID and the university. “Jessica and David bring a unique perspective and a long list of accomplishments to campus,” says Martin Cadwallader, UW–Madison vice chancellor for research and dean of the <a href="http://www.grad.wisc.edu/">Graduate School</a>. “I am confident that with David’s leadership the Institute will achieve its full potential as a driver of trans-disciplinary research.” The world needs more organizations like WID, according to Krakauer, where it’s understood that society’s pressing problems never correspond with a single scientific discipline. “The future of research can not be restricted to something you would recognize as disciplinary,” says Krakauer, who has spent nine years at the Santa Fe Institute, including two as chair of the faculty. “You’ll recognize pieces of it – that’s genetics, that’s mathematics – but the whole will demand a wider view.” The institute’s newest scientists are well acquainted with that view. Flack will co-direct (with Krakauer) a center for complex systems analysis and collective computation that builds upon their work in Santa Fe, which looked at the evolution of adaptive systems. “Take the neurons in your brain,” Krakauer says. “One at a time, they’re useful enough. They perform individual functions. But when you aggregate many of them, billions of them, new capabilities emerge — vision, motion, even considering the past to make predictions about the future.” From genomes to human culture to computer networks, similar processes are at work. “The underlying mathematical description is shared by all of them. We’re interested in their algorithmic nature,” says Krakauer, who earned his doctorate in evolutionary theory and taught at Oxford and was a resident at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study. Flack studied evolution, behavior and cognition at Emory before joining the faculty in Santa Fe, and her work on robustness, social niche construction and collective behavior has been featured in “The Economist” and in BBC programs. “Jessica’s approach brings together canonical ideas from social evolution, the study of networks, computation and pattern formation to study the emergence of multi-scale organization in biological and social systems,” Krakauer says. “Her trans-disciplinary approach is one I would like to see as much as possible at the WID.” The institute’s great strength is the incredible research resource at its doorstep, according to Krakauer. UW–Madison boasts such a wide pool of world-class science faculty, laboratories, social scientists and humanists. “I want to expand the WID to encompass elements of the social sciences and humanities,” Krakauer says. “I want them in the WID, because I don’t think you can make a meaningful contribution to society without incorporating the people who study society.” In Santa Fe, the task of mixing representatives from different sides of the academic fence was eased by the lack of laboratory walls. “Everyone there is a theorist. So there aren’t any labs,” creating an environment particularly conducive to blurring the line between disciplines, Krakauer says. “And this is where the WID is such an appealing challenge. Can this philosophy, looking for the intersections between our areas of expertise, could that be expanded and modified to suit Wisconsin, which is really the prototype of the large research university with the glassware and computers and large lab equipment? “It’s an opportunity to ask if a non-traditional approach would work at the larger scale,” he says. At the Santa Fe Institute, Krakauer introduced to the mix artists considered non-traditional even in their own fields — including author Cormac McCarthy’s turn as a research fellow. “People were asking me regularly, “Now, why is Cormac McCarthy here?’” Krakauer says. “But the same people are gushing. They’re so excited to have talked to this person at lunch about particle physics. They’re so amazed by their responses to his questions.” It’s a scene that completes the connections between Krakauer’s research, vision for trans-science and plan for WID: more neurons, bringing more expertise to the network, gives rise to new capabilities. Krakauer wants to establish new productive connections, and increase the energy and thought that goes into fostering exploratory research projects. “I view the theme leaders and myself as the hosts for the community as well as the research residents,” he says. “I think it’s going to be very exciting for people who might have been put off science. It won’t be narrow and doctrinaire, but open and conscious of the breadth of contributing lines of study.” And better equipped for leveraging the public-private partnership with the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/morgridge/">Morgridge Institute for Research</a>. “On of the big challenges for the director is to make risk acceptable,” he says. “In that sense, WID will be more entrepreneurial. There is a kind of venture capital flavor to what I’m thinking, in which I’m willing to let people extend themselves and fail as long as we have a home run somewhere.” To be a productive research center is not enough. “If the science done at WID is comparable to the science going on elsewhere at the university, by normal metrics that’s great,” Krakauer says. “But that would be an unacceptable to me. I mean, why build this beautiful new building for business as usual?” Thu Sep 29 06:07:00 -0500 2011

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98 Barncard Chris barncard@wisc.edu 19791 WID grant program to explore intersection of arts, sciences Proposals are being accepted for $2,500 Emerging Interfaces awards that would draw graduate-level students from arts, humanities, social sciences and education departments to the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery during the spring 2012 semester. <a href="http://www.engr.wisc.edu/che/faculty/yin_john.html">John Yin</a> plays the cello in his off-hours and was enrolled in Columbia’s great books program while earning his chemical engineering degree, so maybe it’s natural that the leader of the <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/">Wisconsin Institute for Discovery</a>’s Systems Biology theme hopes to tap the humanist’s perspective to advance lab science. “The idea is that we’d form a community of humanists here at WID in an attempt to explore together this intersection between art and humanities and science,” says Yin, a professor of chemical and biological engineering who is now accepting proposals for $2,500 Emerging Interfaces awards that would draw graduate-level students from arts, humanities, social sciences and education departments to the institute during the spring 2012 semester. Interplay between arts and sciences has always been part of the Institute's goals, and Yin would argue that the two are kindred disciplines. “Discovery shouldn’t be limited to science. It’s something we all do as humans,” he says. “This creative endeavor we practice — science — isn’t unique. There are other fields that are also trying to push frontiers in their own way.” It may, however, be pushing scientists' comfort zones to suggest they pay more attention to their humanist colleagues. “A scientist may look at this and say, ‘I don’t see how this is going to help me get my next grant or my next study published,’” Yin says. “But if you can grasp how people think of problems in a different way, and how you might apply different approaches to solving your research problems? Then you’ve got scientists saying, ‘I’ve gotta get more humanists involved in my lab!’” The Emerging Interfaces Awards aim to draw 10-12 students with a stipend and desk space in WID labs during the spring. Winners would be tasked with completing a project exploring the intersection between the particular discipline and science — with particular interest in the WID focus areas of bioscience, nanoscience and information science and technology. Emerging Interfaces participants would also be charged with producing an event at WID to bring the university community and the public in on the Interface experience. “If we've got a grad student here from a department on campus that isn't otherwise represented in WID, the people from that department may better appreciate our work if they get a look at it through the eyes of someone who understands their perspective,” Yin says. “Understanding our different perspectives could be mutually beneficial.” Just how to bridge that gap, Yin says, is a question open to applicants' creativity. “I’m not asking them to open new fields, just to get us to think differently,” he says. “If science can inspire music or dance or poetry, maybe we can understand how music and dance and poetry can inspire science. I wouldn’t be surprised if a pathway exists.” Proposals for Emerging Interfaces grants must be received by Oct. 15. For more information on applying, visit the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery <a href="http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/wisconsin/research/emerging-interfaces-award/emerging-interfaces-award-home.cmsx">website</a>. Thu Sep 22 07:00:00 -0500 2011

Wed Sep 21 11:00:36 -0500 2011

98 Barncard Chris barncard@wisc.edu