African Storytelling on Wheels
Project Leaders: Moji Olaniyan, Assistant Dean, College of Letters and Science, Student Academic Affairs and James Delehanty, Faculty Associate, African Studies
Duration: Three years
This project will bring UW-Madison’s renowned African storytelling program to elementary schools across the state, with a special focus on districts that lack racial diversity.
Amplify the Wisconsin Idea for a Global Agenda
Project Leader: Sarah Schutt, Senior Outreach Specialist, Division of Continuing Studies and Cynthia Williams, Program Manager III, Division of International Studies
Duration: Two years
One of the university’s most popular international outreach programs, “Global Hot Spots” is a monthly lecture series by campus experts on current events around the world. This project will create an online video archive of two years’ worth of lectures, giving it greater state exposure.
Bringing the Wisconsin Idea Back Home — Using a 3D Globe for Outreach Programs
Project Leaders: Richard Kohrs, Associate Instrument Technician, Space Science and Engineering Center and Margaret Mooney, Educational and Public Outreach Specialist, Space Science and Engineering Center
Duration: Three years
The Space Science and Engineering Center helped create an interactive weather globe for a Virginia museum that provides the perception of looking at world weather patterns from outer space. Organizers are going to reproduce the awe-inspiring exhibit for K-12 students in Wisconsin.
Creating Connections in Northern Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Health and Animal Science Initiative
Project Leader: Alexandra Brower, Professor, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Duration: Two years
More than 600 northern Wisconsin students will participate in this workshop, which uses veterinary medicine as a pragmatic tool to show the real-world value of science. It’s based on successful pilot programs run by the UW System Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Evolution Literacy Project
Project Leaders: Dana Geary, Professor, Geology and Geophysics, David Baum, Professor, Botany, and James Stewart, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction
Duration: Three years
A team of science and education faculty at UW–Madison is planning public education projects on the importance and relevance of evolution science — a timely issue given recent political battles over teaching evolution.
First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble Outreach Initiative
Project Leaders: William Ney, Director, Office of Multicultural Initiatives and Deborah Jenson, Interim Director, Center for the Humanities
Duration: Three years
The First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble is comprised of members of the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community, a dynamic new multicultural arts and leadership program for incoming students at the UW–Madison. The First Wave Learning Community is the first program in the country centered on spoken word and hip-hop culture. This program will provide workshops and performances at educational and community-based institutions across Wisconsin including K-12 schools, juvenile detention centers, college and universities and other public venues.
K-12 School Partnership
Project Leaders: Julie Underwood, Dean, School of Education and David Nelson, Professor Biochemistry and Director, Center for Biology Education
Duration: Three years
This project coordinated by the School of Education and the Center for Biology Education will help the university better serve schools across Wisconsin by connecting students and teachers to science-based programs. Literally hundreds of science outreach programs already exist on campus, but a more coordinated effort will help match interested parties with the right service.
Local and Regional Food Distribution
Project Leaders: Brent McCown, Director, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Michelle Miller, Associate Director, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
Duration: Two years
This project could have a wide-ranging impact on both farmers and consumers in the state. The project will look at tackling distribution challenges that make it difficult to get more regionally grown food into mainstream grocery chains.
Madison and Dane County Encouraging Literacy in Pediatric Environments
Project Leader: Dipesh Navsaria, Resident, Pediatrics
Duration: Two years
Tapping into the great influence health care providers have over families, this project will get nursing and medical staff directly involved in an early-childhood reading program at the American Family Children’s Hospital and other clinics in Dane County.
Madison Metropolitan School District Math Curriculum Assessment
Project Leader: Terry Millar, Professor, Mathematics, Associate Dean Graduate School
Duration: One year
This project will help the Madison Metropolitan School District conduct a review of its K-12 math curriculum and develop a report on effective math teaching and learning strategies that can be shared statewide.
Mircrobe Place: Learning Science Through Small Things
Project Leader: Jo Handelsman, Professor, Bacteriology
Duration: One year
The new Microbial Sciences Building will be home to an interactive science museum called “Microbe Place: Learning Science through Small Things.” This grant will help fund an exhibit of leafcutter ants that illustrate the world of microbiology.
Sharing in the Discovery
Project Leaders: Clive Svendsen, Professor and Co-Director, Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center and Tim Kamp, Professor and Co-Director, Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center
Duration: Three years
This effort seeks to build a greater understanding of the potential of stem cell research and regenerative medicine into science outreach programs. The program will harness many existing programs, including “Science Expeditions” and “Grandparents University.”
Smart Prevention: Improving Invasive Species Prevention Programs in Northern Wisconsin Lakes
Project Leaders: Jake Vander Zanden, Associate Professor, Center for Limnology and Jeff Maxted, Research Specialist, Center for Limnology
Duration: Three years
Only a small fraction of the state’s lakes are vulnerable to infestation by damaging invasive species. This project will arm lake associations with the research knowledge to put their prevention efforts to the best possible use against problem species.
The Changing Landscapes of Wisconsin: A Digital Archive of Historic Aerial Photographs
Project Leaders: Mark Harrower, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Peter Gorman, Head of UW Digital Collections Center, Memorial Library
Duration: Three years
This project takes a rare and fragile resource and opens it to the public online. UW–Madison’s Robinson Map Library has a collection of the oldest aerial photos on record of Wisconsin, taken from 1937–41 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. One out of every three visitors to Robinson Library come to access this unparalleled collection to investigate issues such as invasive species, property disputes, real estate development, urban sprawl and other land use changes. By making the collection available online, every resident of Wisconsin and elsewhere will have a much easier time getting the information they need or want.
Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts
Project Leaders: Lewis Gilbert, Associate Director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Steven Pomplun, Outreach Program Manager, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Duration: Three years
This interdisciplinary Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies initiative will team UW–Madison experts with the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to look at the real policy impacts of climate change in Wisconsin — on agriculture, business, recreation, city management and other areas.