Dear alumni & friends,
It is approaching winter in Madison and while the days may be shorter and a bit colder, campus still hums with the energy of our students, faculty and staff as they pursue the discoveries and innovations that push our mission forward.
As we approach the year’s end, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on one of our top priorities for Letters & Science: enhancing our research excellence. In my last update, I noted that Letters & Science ranks second only to the medical school in terms of research dollars awarded at UW-Madison. Our history of research excellence—from breakthroughs in climate change research to developing public policy that improves millions of lives around the world—is an immense point of pride and one that should make all L&S alumni proud. You can read about some of this research in Fueling Discovery, our annual publication in the Wisconsin State Journal where faculty and students share the impact of their extraordinary discoveries. Visit go.wisc.edu/fuelingdiscovery22 to learn more about their amazing work.
How will we meet tomorrow’s challenges? How can we build upon our history of excellence and broaden the impact of our research enterprise? First, by supporting our world-class faculty, staff and students in the work they do. Second, by expanding our existing networks and establishing new connections with industry partners. Building stronger associations with industry will not only accelerate our ability to win patents and create shelf-ready products, but will also generate additional research dollars that, in turn, allow researchers to pursue projects that may not have immediate impact but ask fundamental questions about science that can lead to extraordinary discoveries.
Chemist Ive Hermans understands the critical importance of forming partnerships with industry. Hermans has partnered with companies, including ExxonMobil, Dow and PPG, to create less hazardous, more sustainable methods to produce catalysts—substances that boost chemical reactions but are not consumed in the process—that are used throughout the plastics and petrochemical industries. “We urgently need more collaborations between academia and industry, so that we can make the carbon industry more sustainable,” says Hermans, the John and Dorothy Vozza Professor of Chemistry, Evan P. and Marion Helfaer Professor of Chemistry, and an H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellow. Hermans has leveraged this support into new projects, including his work with the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics consortium which seeks to expand industry’s capacity for more sustainable plastics recycling technologies.
The second way to expand our research profile is by seeking support from private institutions. Many of these organizations are mission driven and seek projects that will have broad societal impact. And that’s where Letters & Science has an advantage that most other colleges do not: our belief in the Wisconsin Idea and that the work we do here should positively affect people’s lives beyond the classroom.
Baby’s First Years project, directed by Katherine Magnuson, is an outstanding example of how philanthropic support can change lives. Magnuson, a Vilas Distinguished Professor of Social Work who researches poverty and childhood development, launched the nation’s first study to assess how poverty reduction impacts the cognitive and emotional development of infants and toddlers. Baby’s First Years provides monthly direct cash benefits to low-income families, a means of poverty reduction that could only occur through private institutional support. The impact is profound. “We’ve seen huge findings since we began collecting data in 2018,” says Magnuson. “Mothers are more likely to engage their children in activities that are enriching such as reading books and playing games.” What started as a $6 million project in Omaha has grown into a $17 million study supporting families in New Orleans, Minneapolis and New York City. The study’s initial success has also brought in new partners, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
In the year ahead, Letters & Science will continue to expand our research enterprise through strategic partnerships with industry and private leaders who share our values and our belief in pursuing research that benefits our communities, our environment and our society. Individual philanthropy is also critically important as it gives us the flexibility to strategically invest in promising new areas of research and scholarship that affect lives across the state, the nation and the world.
Thank you, and On, Wisconsin!
Eric M. Wilcots, Dean
Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy
College of Letters & Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison