This week we spoke with Patricia Tran, a graduate student in Katherine McMahon’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Patricia is from Montreal, Canada and studied environmental science and bioinformatics for her Bachelor of Science with Honors at McGill University.

Engineering Physics Assistant Professor Stephanie Diem has been selected as a member of the New Voices in Science, Engineering and Medicine Program’s 2021-2023 cohort of 22 early-career leaders from academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations.

This summer, we saw Wisconsin Energy Institute researchers comment to the press on topics of soil, drought, and addressing the impacts of climate change.

On a long, straight stretch of Seminole Highway in Fitchburg, bikers and drivers encounter an arresting sight: tens of thousands of gleaming solar panels on either side of the road, tilting in unison to follow the sun over the course of the day.

Researchers at GLBRC and the South China University of Technology have developed a faster and less chemically intensive spectroscopy-based procedure called the Cysteine-Assisted Sulfuric Acid (CASA) method. The approach uses a new reagent combination of the amino acid cysteine and sulfuric acid to completely dissolve lignocellulosic biomass under less extreme conditions than traditional methods.

Josh Cook, UW–Madison Geological Engineering class of 2015, became interested in renewable energy while participating in a summer intensive Mandarin language program in China.

This week we sat down with Surajudeen Omolabake, a graduate student in Shannon Stahl’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, to talk about creating useful chemicals from wood, his dogs Sky and Cecille, and what led him to UW–Madison.