Category: News

News items and stories about department’s faculty, programs, research, students, staff, etc.

Launching mentorship appreciation

The Botany and Conservation Biology Newsletter interviews Mark Connolly, Curriculum & Graduate Program Coordinator, about the department’s mentor appreciation initiative: Who are you? For a little more than a year now, I’ve been the Curriculum and Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Botany. Before that, I was an NSF-funded researcher who studied STEM education …

Botany Club is back!

Starting in October of 2022, a group of students, led by graduating botany major, Amanda Shalit, revitalized the Undergraduate Botany Club. Since October, the Botany Club has hosted a plethora of events. The first meeting was a plant trivia night, followed by a trip to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, and a Cocoa & Cram movie and study night. In the spring semester, Botany Club has …

Monica Turner elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Renowned landscape ecologist Monica Turner has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of her decades of contributions to the ecological study of the forests and landscapes in Greater Yellowstone. Read more:https://news.wisc.edu/monica-turner-elected-to-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/

New integrative biology researcher studies the links between the cognitive functions of birds and humans

Farrah Madison studies the neural plasticity of songbirds, particularly different species of finches and canaries, trying to track the way their brains change in response to varying hormone concentrations and social environments. Those changes can offer clues to how songbirds navigate their environment in addition to providing some insight into similar mechanisms in the human …

Two UW–Madison students awarded prestigious 2023 Goldwater Scholarships

University of Wisconsin–Madison juniors Yi Won (Paul) Chung and Carl Shirley have been named winners of 2023 Barry Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering in the United States. Read more: https://news.wisc.edu/two-uw-madison-students-awarded-prestigious-2023-goldwater-scholarships/

Tiny Trout? Study Finds Several Freshwater Species Bucking One Climate Change Trend

A new report out of Olaf Jensen’s lab was published today in Global Change Biology. Read more about it here.

Social Fish-Tancing? Study Finds Big Bump in Fishing License Sales During First Year of COVID

Ashley Trudeau, member of Olaf Jensen’s Lab, writes on the increase in fishing license sales in Wisconsin just after the COVID pandemic began.

Botany professor first to receive new Rebecca Blank Professorship

Professor of Botany Katherine McCulloh will hold the inaugural appointment created to honor Blank’s leadership and service and to celebrate recently tenured faculty who mirror her commitment to UW–Madison.Read the full article at: https://news.wisc.edu/botany-professor-first-to-receive-new-rebecca-blank-professorship/

Seed Strategy Can Help Restore a Biodiversity Hotspot

Professors Ellen Damschen and John Orrock speak about their study on the long-term value of targeted land management in efforts to restore and repair landscapes impacted by humans.

Prashant Sharma recipient of 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award

Twelve faculty members have been chosen to receive this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, an honor given out since 1953 to recognize some of the university’s finest educators.