Quick Takes: Spring 2013

UW researchers helped achieve the second-biggest scientific breakthrough of 2012, according to the journal Science. Physics professor Karsten Heeger led a team that made precise measurements of anti-neutrinos, nearly massless subatomic particles, and this work may help researchers understand why the universe is dominated by matter rather than antimatter. The number-one discovery, according to Science, was the Higgs boson, another finding for which UW scientists played a key role.

The UW’s College of Engineering has named Ian Robertson as its new dean. Formerly a professor at the University of Illinois, Willett succeeds Paul Peercy, who served as dean since 1999.

Dennis Chaptman photo

The Class of 2012 has given the UW a gift to honor the Wisconsin Idea: a boulder proclaiming that university tradition of service. The boulder, which is located between North Hall and Bascom Hall, has a plaque with a quotation from former UW President Charles Van Hise: “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every home in the state.”

Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson may have had a hit with A Star Is Born, but UW researcher Alyson Brooks has topped them. She’s created a video that shows the birth of an entire galaxy. The NASA computer model of the creation of a disk galaxy is available online.

Jeff Miller photo

Michael Fiore, director of the UW’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine, one of the nation’s premier scientific organizations. Fiore was featured in the Winter 2005 issue of On Wisconsin.

The magazine Kiplinger’s ranks UW-Madison thirteenth among the top 100 universities for best value. National Taiwan University ranks the UW twenty-second in the world for research output.

The UW’s annual fund campaign reached its financial goal of raising $10 million in 2012 — and even surpassed it. The campaign, called Share the Wonderful, brought in $10.2 million, nearly doubling the $5.4 million raised in 2011. Annual fund dollars are unrestricted and can be spent on what the university deems its areas of greatest need.

Jeff Miller photo

This year’s incoming freshman class — the incipient Class of 2016 — was the largest in UW history, with 6,279 students.

Published in the Spring 2013 issue