Wisconsin Institute for Discovery

Congratulations Discovery Fellow, @nanli.bsky.social for earning a Vilas Associate Award! The competition recognizes new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. Recipients are chosen competitively by the divisional Research Committees on the basis of a detailed proposal.

Crossroads of Ideas Part II: Productive Failure Mini-Series, The upside of AI Failure. Thursday, February 19 at 7pm. Discovery Building, DeLuca Forum. Free and open to the public. go.wisc.edu/crossroads-of-ideas

David Fields (UW-Madison Department of East Asian Studies) and Rob Nowak (UW-Madison Computer, Data & Information Sciences) will explore what happens when AI technology falls short. They’ll discuss what failure in AI can teach us, and how it can inspire innovation, critical thinking, and resilience.

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery Congratulates Dr. Cassandra Leech Wisconsin initiative for science literacy award for communicating PhD research to the public. Smiling woman in PhD regalia with her hands in the shape of a W

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery congratulates Dr. Cassandra Leech who was recently honored with the Wisconsin initiative for science literacy award for communicating PhD research to the public.

Deciphering the Regulatory Network of a Pathogenic Fungus Image credit: Katherine Baldwin  In a new study, researchers from the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID)

WID is excited to announce @sroyyors.bsky.social Lab has created a software tool that can help reveal biological pathways of a notorious pathogenic fungus. Aspergillus fumigatus, which is found worldwide, can infiltrate a human body and quickly overwhelm the immune system. go.wisc.edu/012826roy

How Failure Fuels Innovation, Wed Jan 28, 7pm, Discovery Building, Orchard View Room, Free and open to the public, go.wisc.edu/crossroads-of-ideas

Failure is often seen as a setback—but in science and entrepreneurship, it can be the spark that drives breakthroughs. In this 1st installment of our Productive Failure Mini-Series, explore how missteps, unexpected results, and strategic pivots shape discovery, strengthen ideas, & fuel innovation.

Crossroads of Ideas: Part 1: Productive Failure Mini-Series: How Failure Fuels Innovation. January 28, 2026, 7pm, Discovery Building, Orchard View Room. Free and open to the public. go.wisc.edu/crossroads of ideas

SAVE THE DATE! Part 1 of our Productive Failure mini-series! Crossroads of Ideas: How Failure Fuels Innovation. Featuring @sahakris.bsky.social, @jon-eckhardt.bsky.social, and Adhira Sunkara.www.eventbrite.com/e/crossroads...

Researchers at UW–Madison Receive Major Grant to Study the Link Between Mental Health and the Microbiome Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait with bandaged ear (1889, Courtauld Institute) Long before science caught up, Vincent Van Gogh sensed a connection between melancholy and microbes. In a letter

Long before science caught up, Vincent Van Gogh sensed a connection between melancholy and microbes. Now, 135 years later, WID, @centerhealthyminds.bsky.social, PRECISE, and MIT have a project that investigates the microbiome’s role in human well-being and the power of interdisciplinary research.

How disabling one gene protects mice against Type 1 diabetes UW–Madison researchers have discovered a mechanism that could one day help people at risk of developing the metabolic disease.

In collaboration with @enginlab.bsky.social, Khahani Eynullazada, a grad student from @sroyyors.bsky.social Lab identified gene regulatory networks capturing shared and perturbation-specific stress pathways in Type 1 diabetes using GRN inference tools on scRNA-seq data from in vivo mouse models.

TONIGHT! ❄❄❄Due to the predicted inclement weather, we are also offering a virtual attendance option (uwmadison.zoom.us/j/91451748806).❄❄❄

Crossroads of ideas Quantum Frontiers. tues, dec 9, 7pm, Discovery Building, Orchard View room. go.wisc.edu/crossroads-of-ideas. Free and open to the public

SAVE THE DATE! This Crossroads of Ideas conversation will pull back the curtain on quantum science, revealing its surprising role in shaping the present, and the future, we all share. Presented in celebration of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

WID Seminar series. collaborative Complex Systems: The Year of Discovery Fellows. Designing for Integration: Bringing Embodied AI into the Real World. Bilge Mutlu, PhD. Introduced by Daniel Pimentel-Alarcon. Nov 21, 10am. https://wid.wisc.edu/all-events/wid-seminar-series/

Join us on November 21 at 10am for WID Discovery Fellow Bilge Mutlu to share his research 'Designing for Integration: Bringing Embodied AI into the Real World'. A truly timely presentation open to the public. More info on WID Faculty Seminars at wid.wisc.edu/all-events/w...

Living and learning with animals, Wednesday, November 12 at 7pm. Discovery Building, Orchard View room. go.wisc.edu/crossroads-of-ideas. Free and open to the public

Join UW–Madison’s David Drake and Carroll University’s Mindy Waite to explore the relationship between humans and animals, both wild and domestic. How retrofitting animals into the human world has enabled new insights into behavior, adaptation, and the possibilities for living together.

Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

Our director @johandelsman.bsky.social weighs in with @nytimes.com essayist @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social about the value of basic research and its relation to the #NobelPrize.

We congratulate Chandrani Kumari from the @sroyyors.bsky.social Lab for her first place poster at the 2025 UW–Madison postdoctoral symposium.

We congratulate Chandrani Kumari from the @sroyyors.bsky.social Lab for her first place poster at the 2025 UW–Madison postdoctoral symposium.

Shaoqin "Sarah" Gong creates novel biomaterials and nanomaterials, bridging engineering with materials science, chemistry and the life sciences. #WARF100 @uwchancellor.bsky.social‬ @widofficial.bsky.social‬ https://www.warf.org/commercialize/uw-madison-inventor-profiles/gong/

Why work with WARF?

"It is extremely challenging to be a professor and work to translate technology from your laboratory to the commercial sector. WARF has drastically facilitated this process," says Randolph Ashton, CEO and co-founder of Neurosetta.

#WisconsinInnovates

Congratulations to WID faculty member Rupa Sridharan on earning an H.I. Romnes award.

Congratulations to WID Discovery Fellow, Tim Kamp on his WARF named professorship.

Congrats to Giulia Scimonelli from the @sahakris.bsky.social Lab. The research award, funded by grants from Brittingham Wisconsin Trust, Knapp Bequest, and UW Division for Teaching and Learning, allows her to study T Cell Phenotype Enrichment Through mRNA Delivery for Enhanced CAR-T Manufacturing.

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery Congratulates Tianyi Xu, Solis-Lemus lab, Nolan You, Yin Lab. Photos of each recipient and the Phi Beta Kappa Logo and words with the University of Wisconsin College of Letters and science crest.

Congratulations to WID: undergraduate researchers, Tianyi Xu, Solís-Lemus Lab; and Nolan You, Yin Lab for recently being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. We acknowledge your hard work in your labs and contribution to our institute.

CLS stormed Capitol Hill Thursday, delivering our message of the terrible consequences from abrupt terminations of grants.

www.coalitionforlifesciences.org/cls-calls-on...

@needhibhalla.bsky.social @johandelsman.bsky.social

New advanced optimization course provides industry preparation - College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison Industrial engineering students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who are interested in learning the basics of optimization—mathematical techniques that can solve problems such as choosing the qu...

My department did a story about a new optimization course I’ve been working on- Something between “Intro modeling” and “Nuts and bolts of methods/theory” that I felt was missing

engineering.wisc.edu/news/new-adv...

Final WID Seminar of the semester! Join us on April 29 at 1pm for Schloss Lab presenting Perceptual semantics for visual and haptic communication. More info at wid.wisc.edu/all-events/w...

CLS Calls on the Trump Administration to Restore Research Funding - The Coalition for the Life Sciences On April 14, 2025, CLS Chair Jo Handelsman and Exec Director Adrienne Hallett sent a letter outlining the tremendous consequences of terminating research and asking that it be reinstated.

Please share the letter from the Coalition for the Life Sciences re termination of ongoing NIH grants. It's a breach trust betw researchers and govt, bad for trainees, potentially fatal for patients in clinical trials, and diminishes the US science. www.coalitionforlifesciences.org/cls-calls-on...

THIS FRIDAY! Featuring Christopher Taylor on piano.

Join us on April 22nd! We are part of the Earthfest Celebration!

Welcome back home @wildtypemc.bsky.social! We are beyond excited for the reunification! 🧪🏒🥅🧀

Now would be a great time to reserve your seat for our final SoundWaves of the season taking place at the beautiful Hamel Music Center, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall (740 University Avenue) on April 11th at 7:30pm. Invite your friends and make a night of it! go.wisc.edu/soundwaves

Opinion | The Authoritarian Endgame on Higher Education This is a moment to trumpet the strengths of higher education and address its weaknesses.

Strong column from @nytimes.com editorial board. “The people who are attacking higher education are talking nonstop,” said Holden Thorp. “And the people leading higher education are not saying very much.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...

You will not want to miss this. Shruthi Magesh is brilliant.