A new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers shows solid-state batteries can offer real safety advantages over lithium-ion batteries but can still catch fire and burn in a worst-case accident scenario.

Wisconsin Energy Institute affiliate Vatsan Raman has been tapped to oversee research within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The first member of his family to attend high school, Changsu Kim is now a third-year PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW–Madison. He specializes in molecular dynamic simulations and artificial intelligence and has worked with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to design models for selecting the best solvent mixtures for isolating lignin, a chemical-rich but hard to process part of plant cell walls.

The Wisconsin Alumni Association has honored former Wisconsin Energy Institute graduate student Derek Ho with a Forward Award. 

Wisconsin Energy Institute investigator Troy Runge, an associate dean and professor of biological systems engineering, has been selected to serve as interim dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

As a microbiologist, Trey Sato occasionally witnesses a genetic interaction, a rare phenomenon that occurs when the combination of two traits results in an impact greater than the sum of its individual parts. He sees a parallel in his career. 

Samuel Chagas is a postdoctoral researcher in Rebecca Smith’s lab, where he studies the composition of plant cell walls in sorghum and corn to develop crops that are easier to digest, whether for biofuel or animal feed.