College of Letters & Science
By Elise Mahon Daijiang Li, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, has been granted a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build new tools that will help scientists understand, analyze, and forecast urban biodiversity. Cities around the world continue to expand with more than half of the world’s people living …
Theju Vembakkam, who graduated with a BS in Neurobiology in 2023, is one of 16 Badgers selected as ’26-’27 Fulbright Scholars. The grant will allow Vembakkam to pursue research on antimicrobial resistance in Laos. Read More.
A paper by Nathan Kiel (PhD iBio ’24), undergraduate student Eileen Mavencamp (’23), and Professor Monica Turner has been awarded the W.S. Cooper Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Fields of Geobotany and/or Physiographic Ecology. Their paper, “Sparse subalpine forest recovery pathways, plant communities, and carbon stocks 34 years after stand-replacing fire“, emphasizes that post-fire …
Three University of Wisconsin–Madison juniors have received 2026 Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences in the United States. The students are juniors Aletta Bergman, Krithi Gopinath and Eva Stafne. Both Bergman and Gopinath are students in the Department of Biology. Read the full article.
Professor Seth McGee and graduate student Joseph Walston have each been recognized for their outstanding mentorship of undergraduate students.
Ives, awarded the Steenbock Professorship in the Biological Sciences, is a member of the Department of Integrative Biology. He joined the faculty in 1990 as a theoretical ecologist, and his work bridges between mathematical theory and ecological experiments to understand complex ecosystems. Ives received bachelor’s degrees in biology and mathematics from Rochester University and his …
Ellen Damschen, professor of conservation biology and ecology, an ecologist and professor of integrative biology, studies what determines plant community diversity and how global change affects plant communities. She is interested in how local and regional ecological processes affect species diversity with a particular emphasis on how human-induced global changes affect their relative importance. Her …
We are incredibly proud to announce that Botany Professor Anne Pringle has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is being recognized for her distinguished contributions to mycology, especially fungal spore dispersal and the effects of invasive fungi on ecosystems worldwide. Congratulations, Anne! Read more about Anne and …
On April 11, 2025, the Honors Program hosted the 2025 Senior Honors Thesis Symposium—a hallmark event recognizing the culmination of years of research by undergraduate Honors scholars at UW–Madison. Held at Union South, the day-long symposium featured student presentations spanning disciplines from astrophysics to art history, spotlighting the intellectual curiosity and dedication that define Honors …
Congrats to Emily Stanley, a faculty member in our department, for being one of this year’s Hilldale Award winners. Read the full article here.