For Wisconsin and the World: Focusing a Great University on its Core Mission, Public Purpose, and Global Reach

Third-Year Progress Report

Invest in scholarly domains in which we have existing or potential strength and impact

The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, a public-private research facility, was named 2012 Laboratory of the Year by R&D Magazine in an international competition recognizing high standards in architecture and lab design, and innovative concepts for science buildings.
After nearly five decades of work, the fifth and last volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), which captures the differences of American English spoken language, was published. The entries are derived from interviews that UW researchers conducted in more than 1,000 communities across the country. Next steps include supplemental materials, such as maps, and an electronic edition.
The Graduate School established an Office of Industrial Contracts to negotiate research contracts and help faculty and academic staff work more efficiently with the private sector.
The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), a consortium of universities, the U.S. Department of Energy, and businesses led by UW–Madison, issued its first patent on technology that will enable the transfer from laboratory to industry the ability to convert biomass to ethanol and other advanced biofuels. The Wisconsin Energy Institute, which will house the GLBRC, will provide scientists and engineers a collaborative, state-of-the-art environment to advance energy solutions on campus and beyond.
A public-private consortium of the Morgridge Institute for Research, the UW, SHINE Medical Technologies, Phoenix Nuclear Labs, and several national labs received a Department of Energy cooperative agreement — and state and local support — to design and build a medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin that is expected to employ 150 people and meet half of the U.S. demand for Mo-99.
The illusive Higgs boson was the remaining missing piece of the Standard Model of physics. The cornerstone of its discovery — announced in July 2012 by the European Organization for Nuclear Research — was strongly based upon the work of the ATLAS UW group led by UW–Madison.
In May 2012, the School of Nursing broke ground for Signe Skott Cooper Hall, a $52 million facility that will house cutting-edge learning environments, including simulated-care settings designed to support clinical teaching and research. The new building will allow the school to grow by at least 30 percent during the next decade.
As of October 2011, 279 start-up companies with UW–Madison associations were recorded; 105 were formed around technology licensed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Building on its first-year success, 12 teams were awarded grants under a research collaboration program between UW–Madison and UW–Milwaukee. Eight joint-research teams received grants when the program was launched in 2010.
With participation of faculty and staff from across the arts, a proposal was developed to create a College of the Arts. The proposal calls for the departments of art, dance, and theatre and drama, and the School of Music to be united. The proposal will continue to be reviewed by campus committees during fall 2012.
Computer Science, the CIO Office, and DoIT network engineers, in partnership with NSF and Cisco, are building an experimental Open Flow network on campus that will enhance science research capabilities by providing flexible and fully programmable high-capacity networking.
The UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research received a $41 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to educate trainees and support clinical and translational research in laboratories, clinical settings, and the community, all designed to improve human health.