Category: Research

research related stories

175th Anniversary edition of the Science Expeditions!

This year UW–Madison held its Science Expeditions Open House in conjunction with UW’s 175th Community Open House for a truly special event. There were a host of activities that ranged from visiting the Botany greenhouses to exploring dance as medicine at the Health Learning Center. Dr. Sabrina Chin of the Gilroy Lab organized the Plant …

Herbarium Collections Manager Mark Allen Wetter retires after 39 years of service

By Mary Ann Feist On February 1, 2024, Mark Wetter retired from the Wisconsin State Herbarium (WIS) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, after 39 years of service. The Botany Department held a gathering with cake and champagne to honor his service and departure. An outpouring of graduate and undergraduate students, staff, volunteers, and faculty …

Graduate Student Spotlight -Katherine Charton

Katherine is currently a PhD student in the Damschen lab. Katherine plans to graduate this summer. Check out her spotlight article to learn about Katherine, her research, and more. 1.Explain your research so that your grandparent or a 5-year old would understand it? Grasslands around the world are threatened because of the increasing presence of …

Graduate Student Spotlight-Elizabeth (Biz) Locke

Biz is currently an MS student in the Orrock lab. She plans to graduate this summer. Her research areas are ecology and animal behavior. Learn more about her dream job, hobbies, and more in her spotlight article. 1. Explain your research so that your grandparent or a 5-year old would understand it? I am using …

Graduate Student Spotlight-Nathan Kiel

Nathan is currently a PhD student in the Turner lab. Nathan plans to complete the degree this spring, check out his spotlight profile and learn more about Nathan and his experience at UW–Madison. 1) Explain your research so that your grandparent or a 5-year-old would understand it. I study how forests are changing with a …

Community Highlight – Nathan Kiel

Nathan Kiel is a Doctoral candidate in iBio graduating May 2024. Before he transitions to the next phase in his career, we talked with him about his research and graduate student experience in iBio and UW–Madison. Nathan’s research focuses on understanding how forests are changing with a warming climate and widespread wildfire. He has done …

Associate Professor Grace Wilkinson receives 2024-25 Vilas Associates Award

Congratulations to Grace Wilkinson for receiving a 2024-25 Vilas Associates Award!

The Eyes Are a Gateway to Evolution… of Daddy Longlegs at Least.

Congratulations to Dr. Guilherme Gainett, former iBio graduate student, and Professor Prashant Sharma on their paper published last week in the Journal Current Biology. They report that a living species of daddy longlegs has two additional sets of underdeveloped eyes as embryos, implying that the species diversified earlier in the evolutionary tree than scientists believed. …

These tomatoes are out of this world…or they will be soon

By sending tomato plants to the International Space Station, UW researchers hope to better understand how plants grow without gravity and whether there are ways to help plants cope with the stressors involved with growing in space flight. Read the full article at: https://news.wisc.edu/these-tomatoes-are-out-of-this-world-or-they-will-be-soon/

When Wildfire Makes the Forest Understory the Star

PhD candidate Nathan Kiel and Dr. Monica Turner explore what happens to Yellowstone’s understory plant communities when forests don’t come back after wildfire.