Quick Takes: Winter 2014

The UW’s Games and Professional Simulations Research Consortium received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a system for virtual internships: the Internship-inator. David Williamson Shaffer, a professor of educational psychology, will lead the effort, which will enable content developers to create programs that are modeled on professional training and cultivate interest in science and engineering.

The opening of the fall semester also meant the opening of a new building for the UW’s School of Nursing. Signe Skott Cooper Hall, a five-story building located just south of the School of Pharmacy on the west campus, offers a high-tech training facility complete with simulated hospital suites.

UW football player Kyle Costigan x’15 discovered the power of the Badger community this summer. After his mother was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer, his family set up a fundraising site. Teammates and fans offered support, pledging nearly $11,000 in just a month.

When members of the UW men’s basketball team went to the Final Four last spring, they earned their alma mater more than glory. The trip was also worth $98,000 in royalties from the sale of related merchandise.

The UW revealed its plans for the first phase of a new School of Music performance center in September. The facility, which will include a 325-seat recital hall, will provide the school with a new home at the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue; it’s currently housed in the Mosse Humanities Building. Anonymous donors provided $22 million to fund construction of the new center.

This year, the UW was awarded a total of $4 million for three nuclear power research projects. The largest, led by Michael Corradini, aims to develop advanced safety sensors.

Raise a glass for ophthalmology researcher Ronald Klein, who discovered that moderate alcohol consumption may prevent vision loss. Using data from the UW’s long-running Beaver Dam longitudinal study, Klein found that 11 percent of abstainers developed visual impairment over the course of twenty years, compared to only 4.8 percent of occasional drinkers. Regular drinkers did even better, scoring just 3.6 percent. Cheers!

Published in the Winter 2014 issue