UW–Madison geography PhD candidate Allen Xiao has been awarded a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Xiao’s dissertation explores how residents of Lagos, Nigeria, tell stories of and relate to their life experiences in the largest city in Africa.
graduate student research
Coronavirus sequencing leads to insights on transmission, vaccine development
Graduate student Katarina Braun and Gage Moreno’s work with sequencing the 2019 novel coronavirus has helped scientists better understand how the virus has traveled in Wisconsin and whether the protective equipment and safety protocols used in local hospitals are effective.
PhD candidate Villarroel explores the concept of the feminine through art and history
Art history PhD candidate Fernanda Villarroel has received two national fellowships that support her scholarship exploring the concept of the feminine through historical and contemporary art in Africa.
In times of trouble, Puerto Rican women turn to dance
In her dissertation, anthropology PhD student Sarah Bruno uses bomba as a site and a method for exploring the emotions of Afro-Puerto Rican women on the island of Puerto Rico and throughout its diaspora. She has received a 2020 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship for this work.
Mathematics research builds better ways to identify gerrymandering
Mathematicians use algorithms to identify cases of gerrymandering, but even computer-generated results can be biased. PhD student Elle Najt’s work aims to identify the signatures of deliberate algorithm manipulation to prevent the extreme excesses of gerrymandering.
Graduate student studies how snake fungal disease could spread
While scientists have studied the symptoms and behavior of snakes infected with snake fungal disease, few studies looked at whether the fungal pathogen responsible could spread to other species. That was the central question for Savannah Gentry, a botany PhD student in Anne Pringle’s lab, who wanted to find out whether snake fungal disease could affect other reptiles.
Dairy science research aims to mitigate low calcium levels in cows
Dairy cows usually experience their lowest calcium levels in the first day or two after giving birth. As cows rapidly produce milk to feed the calf, low calcium levels in their bloodstreams can lead to a disease known as milk fever. Researchers at the UW–Madison Department of Dairy Science are exploring methods for regulating cows’ calcium levels in the days after calving, aimed at improving cow health.
Student’s MBA education helps MIA project see patterns among the missing
When service members have gone missing around the globe, and when pieces of information about their life or disappearance are scattered, where do you start to bring someone home?
U.S. Army Captain Christopher Zaczyk, a second-year MBA student at the Wisconsin School of Business, starts with making sense of the information they have, and bringing it to a level where people can interact with it.
The UW Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project (UW MIA RIP) partners with the federal government to investigate cases of those who have gone missing during service and advance their recovery efforts.
Grad student develops a family tree for corn varieties in North America
When plant breeders develop a new line of crops, plant variety protections allow that breeder to keep the rights to it. Plant varieties, many of which are created by private seed companies, are protected this way for 20 years before their genetic information becomes publicly available. As of May 2019, the genetic information for 460 varieties of corn alone are available this way. “The material is quite elite still,” said graduate student Mike White. “Even though it’s 20 years old it is a large source of elite germplasm for companies to use and improve on.”
PhD student promotes peacebuilding through theater and drama
When PhD student Vincent Ogoti finished writing his play, A Shadow in the Sun, he approached his former professors at the University of Nairobi in Kenya hoping to publish his work. Through this, the university’s theatre group found out about Ogoti’s play and decided to bring it to the stage. The University of Nairobi Traveling Theatre performed A Shadow in the Sun in August.