1 Chancellor’swelcome

2 UWMstudentworkshinesunderasolarroof

5 Combiningresourcestogrowgreenenergy

6 Engineeringhelpforindustry,poweredbystudents

9 UWMcenterdevotedtoinjuryprevention

10 Nationalbackingforfreshwaterresearch

Acquiringthepicturesthatsavelives

12 Replicatingnature:afishtale

15 Physicistscontributetonewwaysof“seeing”proteins

Adoseofsupportforstart-updrugcompanies

16 UWMResearchFoundationoffersbusinesssolutionsatthespeedoflight

18 Cancollaborationcureourpublichealthproblems?

21 Helpingthechronicallyillhelpthemselves

TailoringnewtechnologiestoAfricanrealities

22 Forgingdeepconnectionstotheworldofthearts

24 Multiplyingtheimpactofmathematicsteachingandlearning

26 Whydosomanygirlsavoidscienceandmath?

GossipingaboutAIDScanbehealthy

29 Dementia:thecommunicationlink

Understandingriskbehaviorsthroughstorytelling

30 WritingthebookonGermanMilwaukee

UWMeconomistanswersthecalloftheWhiteHouse

32 UWMStudents,alumspumpWisconsin’sfinancialheart

33 PartneringwithUWM:synergyinthechainofachievement

Research.uwm.edu

TheUniversityofWisconsin–MilwaukeemakesitshomealongtheshorelineofLakeMichigan,justafewmilesnorthoftheeconomicandindustrialcenterofWisconsin.Morethan30,000students,167degreeprogramsandaworld-classfacultydriveUWM’sprogressasatopresearchuniversityandengineofeconomicdevelopmentforSoutheasternWisconsinandbeyond.

Formoreinformationabouttheresearchhighlightedinthispublication,theUWMResearchFoundation,orpartnershipopportunitieswithUWM,visitResearch.uwm.edu.

Written,designedandproducedbyUniversityCommunications&MediaRelations.Photography:UWMPhotographicServices;MarioR.Lopez(Insidefrontcover);JosephRice(p.3top);SteveW.Lee(p.4bottom);LucVanier(p.22top).Thispublicationmayberequestedinaccessibleformat.

ACHIEVEMENTS 2010UWMRESEARCHREPORT

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ANAPPRECIATIONOFACHIEVEMENTS

In a world full of proposals and projectIons, It Is excItIng Instead to consIder and celebrate achIeve-ments. that Is what we are doIng at the unIversIty of wIsconsIn–mIlwaukee. As the pages of this Research Report illus-trate, 2010 has been a year of attainment:

• Thanks to excellent leadership and drive in our School of Architecture and Urban Planning and our College of Engineering and Applied Science, UWM made its first-ever appearance in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon international competition. We were among just 20 teams from around the globe selected.

• Green energy initiatives were put forward by a cluster of university re-searchers focusing on improving power sources for laptops and improving efficiency of wind turbines.

• Our Center for Ergonomics is applying its research findings to design prod-ucts and devices that are user-friendly, safe and comfortable to use.

• Urban fish farms are possible with the aquaculture research that has taken place at the university’s Great Lakes WATER Institute. This is especial-ly significant to the populations of yellow perch in lakes great and small across the country. With new technologies in hand, the fish are regenerat-ing at rates three times faster than in the wild. And the improvements are being made naturally and cost-efficiently.

• Health issues that hinder urban populations – among them obesity, alcohol abuse, infant mortality and childhood asthma – are being addressed by researchers from fields such as communication, sociology, nursing, public administration and health sciences.

Consistent across our achievements is the fact that we are not doing it alone. Interna-tional corporations with area roots are our most frequent partners, along with founda-tions, other universities and industry consortia that share our desire and drive to move important ideas forward. Taken together, these initiatives create great excitement for what has been achieved and allow us to look to the future with great anticipation.

CarlosE.Santiago

Chancellor

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the quest was sImple In concept, but dIf-fIcult In executIon for a group of uwm archItecture and engIneerIng students: create a small house that uses energy so effIcIently that It can generate all the electrIcIty needed to operate modern amenItIes – and then some. ”Called a ‘net-zero-energy’ house, it produces as much energy as it uses,” says Greg Thomson, assistant profes-sor of architecture. UWM was one of only 20 university teams in the world chosen to pursue this goal in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon.

The journey to design and then build the prototype house took two years and involved about 150 students altogether. It was a long haul for a dedicated core of students – some devoting nearly a thousand hours to the cause. At the competition, held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2009, the UWM team faced groups from universi-ties such as Cornell, Rice and Technische Universität Darmstadt from Germany.

Though they did not place, the fact that UWM was chosen to be at this biennial contest at all is cause for celebration, says Bob Greenstreet, dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. “They competed against some teams that have been in the com-petition before and some who have two and three times the financial backing we had,” says Greenstreet. “So for me, winning was irrelevant. The fact that we were there means that they had already won.” The UWM house, dubbed “meltwater” because its design is inspired by glacial processes that carved the Great Lakes, incorporates a host of green features besides its roof-mounted solar cells, or photovoltaics.

One is an innovative wall of perforated metal doors that act as louvers, automatically pivoting with the position of the sun overhead to block or admit direct sunlight to the house. Other novel components include countertops made with recycled wastepaper. An article in Popular Mechanics praised meltwater’s triple-paned windows, which lose almost no heat through their panes or casings. The windows were designed especially for the school by the H-Window Company in Wisconsin. The house also had the high-est percentage of home-grown materials in its construction, with about 95 percent of the home coming from within 250 miles of Milwaukee.

Besides the Department of Energy, BP Solar and We Energies made leading gifts total-ing $300,000 to UWM’s Solar Decathlon project, with additional donors throughout the state stepping forward to provide funding, materials and expertise. After the contest, the house was transported back to Milwaukee where it eventually will be donated to the Urban Ecology Center for use as a satellite classroom in the Menomonee Valley.

UWMSTUDENTWORK SHINESUNDERASOLARROOF

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AteamofUWMstudentswasoneofonly20universityteamsinthe

worldchosentodesignandbuildasolar-poweredhousetocompetein

theU.S.DepartmentofEnergy’sSolarDecathlon.

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ENGINEERINGNasiri

UWMengineerscontributefederallyfundedresearchingreenenergytoanewcoalitionofuniversities,

industriesandfoundationsdesignedtoleadinnovationin

cleanenergytechnologies.

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anyone who carrIes a laptop computer can apprecIate current research In junhong chen’s lab. the uwm assocIate professor of mechanIcal engIneerIng Is workIng on hybrId nanomaterIals to elImInate the possIbIlIty that the computer’s powerful lIthIum Ion batterIes could overheat and explode. At the same time, Chen’s materials, created by deposition of nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes, can greatly improve the voltage and life of the high-capacity rechargeable batteries. These new kinds of materials have multiple uses in advancing green energy. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore recently secured $1.2 million in federal funding so Chen can modify the method used to produce his novel nanomaterials to bring down the cost of making solar cells. Lightweight materials with the characteristics necessary for high-efficiency solar cells already exist. But Chen would develop a cost-effective way to mass produce these materials, and then train metals manufacturers and foundries to incorporate them into their existing processing lines. That translates into new jobs.

Also garnering national attention for his work in alternative energy technologies is UWM engineer Adel Nasiri, who has funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and other sources for a project that will improve the ef-ficiency of wind turbines. His system captures and stores electricity generated by turbines during high winds and wind gusts. When the wind falls below average, the stored energy is released to the grid, the interconnected network that manages energy flow to the public. Nasiri’s project has gotten the attention of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, which will feature a display on this research in the wind power section of its “Science Storms” exhibit this year.

Both Chen and Nasiri are part of a large cluster of energy researchers at UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science. Their projects are among the seven being funded through a new energy research center formed by a historic partnership of the engineering schools at UWM, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering, along with several regional companies and foundations. The Southeastern Wisconsin Energy Technology Research Center (SWETRC) is developing high-potential research in the ener-gy field, attracting large-scale funding and technology that can foster economic growth.

Federal funding for the first research projects was augmented by the Rockwell Automa-tion Charitable Corporation, the Wisconsin Energy Foundation, The Bradley Foundation, Eaton Corporation, Kohler Co., American Transmission Company, DRS Technologies and ReGENco.

COMBININGRESOURCESTOGROWGREEN ENERGY

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engIneerIng students want to work on real IndustrIal desIgn projects. manufacturIng companIes have desIgn needs, but lImIted tIme and budgets. the ansys InstItute for IndustrIal InnovatIon (aI3) at uwm Is where the two partIes Intersect. ”AI3 is a portal for industry, researchers and economic development agencies to engage easily with faculty and students at the College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS). Through a new “Product Realization” course, students are given unique opportunities to design products commissioned by industries in metro Milwaukee using AI3 technology. AI3 gives students access to the latest product simu-lation software from ANSYS Inc., and other new rapid-prototyping equipment. For area industry, AI3 offers a way to investigate projects without committing a lot of com-pany resources, says Mike Krauski, director of corporate relations for CEAS. For the first course in fall 2009, eight teams, each comprised of three engineering students and one industrial design student from UWM’s Peck School of the Arts, were paired with six companies. Participating companies included GE Healthcare (two products); ReGENco LLC; Badger Meter Inc.; Eaton Corporation; Briggs & Stratton; and TAPCO, Traffic and Parking Control Co. Inc. The eighth project was commissioned by UWM’s Great Lakes WATER Institute.

“It has given me a lot of practical experience that might not have come until several years into my career,” says senior Joel Yaekel, who led the team working with ReGENco LLC. Together with teammates Mike Bartell, Vishal Rana and Sam Leto, they collab-orated with ReGENco engineer Tim Kieffer to create a tool for placing or removing large stainless steel retaining rings on generator rotors weighing between 20 and 100 tons. “I think they did well, considering the obstacles,” says Joe Rauter, a UWM alumnus and vice president of production operations at ReGENco. “It was intimidating for under-graduates to work on such large-scale machinery.” Rauter says he will choose a project with a more limited scope next time, but the college is on the right track with AI3.

It is one of the steps CEAS Dean Michael Lovell is taking to widen research links with business and industry, which is vital to economic growth in Southeastern Wisconsin. It’s also a platform for exhibiting the growing faculty’s research strengths. Eight new faculty were recently added to bolster the college’s already robust expertise in ad-vanced and green manufacturing. Three of them work in tribology, the study of friction and wear, further strengthening this interdisciplinary cluster at UWM, says Lovell. Other research areas in which new faculty specialize include:• self-repairing lubrication mechanisms using compacted powders;• cost-efficient manufacturing plans generated directly from a CAD model;• micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS);• computational and reverse engineering;• methods for improving the sustainability of industrial operations.

ENGINEERINGHELPFORINDUSTRY, POWERED BY STUDENTS

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UWM’sCollegeofEngineering&AppliedSciencehasopeneda

“portal”thatgivesareaindustryeasyaccesstostudents,facultyand

newequipmenttomeettheirresearchanddesignneeds.

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Withnewfacultymembersandasolidnationalreputation,theUWM

CenterforErgonomicsbringsengineeringandhealthresearchers

togetherinoneofthelargestacademicclustersinthecountry.

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the recently expanded and InterdIscIplInary center for ergonomIcs at uwm not only studIes mechanIsms for musculoskeletal InjurIes from neck to foot, but also trans-fers that knowledge to IndustrIes, workers, the elderly and people wIth dIsabIlItIes. The center faculty apply their research to design work-places that increase productivity, improve quality and reduce injuries. Other goals are to design products and devices that are user-friendly, safe and comfortable to use, says Arun Garg, UWM Distinguished Professor of Industrial Engineering and the center’s director.

UWM recently added new faculty with this expertise in its College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS) and College of Health Sciences (CHS). New assistant professors include Naira Campbell-Kyureghyan (spine biomechanics), Kurt Beschorner (gait biomechanics), Na Jin Seo (hand/wrist biomechanics) and Jay Kapellusch (applied ergonomics). “Only a hand-ful of institutions in the country have this large a cluster in ergonomics and biomechanics,” says CEAS Dean Michael Lovell. “It will make us competitive with much larger universities.”

Examples of current research projects and areas of inquiry include: developing a Gas Industry Consortium to reduce injuries in gas-related industries (Campbell-Kyureghyan); re-design-ing shoes for the elderly to help prevent slipping and falls (Beschorner); developing assistive technology to help stroke patients grasp objects (Seo); improving productivity and quality while reducing injuries (Kapellusch); finding more efficient, less-fatiguing practices for housekeepers in the hospitality industry (Professor Phyllis King); and developing models to better quantify risk for low-back pain from lifting, and carpal tunnel syndrome and ten-donitis caused by repetitive motion (Garg).

Through the center’s pioneering work with caregivers in hospitals, long-term nursing facilities and home healthcare environments, researchers at the center developed and implemented the Zero-Lift Patient Transfer Program, which has prevented back pain in hundreds of thousands of nurses and aides who must move patients while on the job. The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Revised Lifting Equa-tion, which was developed by the center, is practically a household name in the occupa-tional safety and health world.

The center has numerous partnerships and collaborative projects with institutions such as the Medical College of Wisconsin, NIOSH and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); the University of Utah’s Department of Engineering and the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational & Environmental Health; Texas A&M’s School of Rural Public Health; the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biomedical Engineer-ing; Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago; the University of Louisville School of Medicine; the UWM School of Nursing; and private industry.

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ombining their individual areas of expertise in fresh-water technology research, UWM and Marquette University have joined with six area companies to form an Industry & University Cooperative Research Center in Milwaukee that is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). With the goal of applying research to industry projects and producing intellectual property around the resulting discoveries, the new Milwaukee cooperative is one of about 55 such NSF centers in the country.

“Milwaukee has positioned itself to be an international leader in water technology,” says Michael Lovell, dean of UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science. “The NSF cooperative creates a critical link between Milwaukee’s 120 water companies and the local universities to move this initiative to the next level.”

The M7 Water Council, an economic development organization, worked with the universities to identify member companies, which include A.O. Smith Corpo-ration, Badger Meter Inc., Pentair Inc., Baker Manu-facturing Company LLC, Wisconsin Water Resources Corporation Inc. and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Member companies, each of which will contribute $50,000, are currently choosing the

first research projects to pursue, after faculty from both universities submitted project suggestions.

Among the ideas from UWM is development of a mi-crobial fuel cell that generates energy while simulta-neously purifying industrial wastewater. The unique microbial fuel cell operates with the help of colonies of bacteria, which live on the organic materials in wastewater, says Assistant Professor Zhen He, who created it. Forming a biofilm on an anode electrode, the microbes release electrons as they decompose or-ganic matter, removing up to 90 percent of it from the wastewater. Other research ideas from UWM faculty include hybrid nanomaterials for low-cost detection of chemicals and bacteria in water, self-cleaning mate-rials for water industries and methods for improving the effectiveness of aeration in microbiological waste- water treatment.

Federal support of the NSF cooperative follows $300,000 in federal funds that U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl secured last year to help UWM launch a research-based, business-mentoring facility to foster rapid development of new and spin-off businesses in the freshwater field.

NATIONAL BACKINGFORFRESHWATERRESEARCH

ome of the most useful technologies for obtaining internal images of the human body have limitations. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for example, is so slow that any movement by the patient will destroy the image. Using the technique on moving organs like the heart is not possible. But several individual proj-ects by a group of UWM electrical engineers special-izing in bio-imaging aim to improve MRI and introduce a new method of seeing inside the body.

Technology that measures three-dimensional move-ment using a single camera is being developed by Pro-fessor Brian Armstrong and an international team of collaborators. Called Retro-Grate, the system is being applied to MRI for motion correction, making MRI a viable imaging option for children and other patients who cannot remain still for long. It is relatively inex-pensive and provides immediate results. The system uses tags, called Retro-Grate-Reflectors (RGRs), that are attached to the patient. Each tag has two layers of markings, one above the other, that create moiré patterns during motion. Photos are taken during move-ment, and software interprets the changing patterns to give an exact image of the body part’s location.

The team recently obtained the first “motion-compen-sated” MRI scans using the system.

Associate Professor Leslie Ying is exploring the appli-cation of a math theory called “compressed sensing” that would enable MRIs to produce real-time pictures of internal human organs that move without sacrificing the quality of the image. Compressed sensing is rela-tively new and involves eliminating redundancies in the MRI signal so it takes less time to scan a patient. Ying compares this process to the compression used to save a picture in a jpeg format on a computer.

Assistant Professor Hao Zhang and partners at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Southern California are developing a hybrid technology, called photo-acoustic ophthalmoscopy, which produces a detailed profile of blood vessels within the eye, revealing how well they transport oxygen and nutrients. The ability to measure blood oxygenation and blood flow with high precision could allow doctors to diagnose and treat disease, such as diabetic retinopathy, before the patient experiences severe vision loss.

ACQUIRINGTHEPICTURESTHATSAVE LIVES

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TheNationalScienceFoundation

helpedfundanewMilwaukee

researchcenterthatpairsuniversity

researchwithareaindustrytolead

innovationsinfreshwatertechnology.

UWMelectricalengineersare

creatingnewwaystoimprove

medicalimaging,whichcouldmean

earlierandmoreaccuratediagnosis

ofmanydiseases.

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startIng wIth 800 yellow perch raIsed from the egg at uwm’s great lakes water InstItute, natIonally acclaImed food actIvIst wIll allen’s growIng power can now raIse 10,000 of the fIsh to market sIze In just one year. That’s three times faster than they would reproduce in the wild – in a totally natural and cost-efficient process. Allen’s integration of greenhouse and fish tank brings plant and protein production under one roof in a unique central city greenhouse aquaculture enterprise. His process, called “aquaponics,” works well for warm-water fish such as tilapia, but conditions had to be altered to successfully apply it to cool-water perch, says institute Senior Scientist Fred Binkowski.

Binkowski has developed an all-natural process that coaxes yellow perch to spawn year-round, allowing more fish to be produced in a given amount of time. “This is one of the most important, if not the most important, partnership we have,” says Allen, who received a MacArthur Foundation Grant – also referred to as a “Genius Award” – earlier this year for his work in the locally grown food movement. “It’s especially important to help us move into perch production.” Soon they will begin working together to build a system at Growing Power with a capacity of 50,000 perch.

The three-year-old association is particularly satisfying for Binkowski, who has studied decreasing stocks of yellow perch in the Great Lakes for years. “Aquaculture is usually something people associate with lots of acreage in rural areas. But with new meth-ods it is now possible in any urban setting,” he says. It also accomplishes the goals of the so-called “good food movement”: It lowers the cost of the product because of decreased transportation expenses; it produces a safer product than in the wild, with virtually no mercury; and, because of consumer demand (perch, says Binkowski, “were born to be fried”) and dwindling wild stocks, it could provide much-needed jobs in Mil-waukee. There is so much potential, the WATER Institute received federal funding to establish a perch propagation cooperative with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is the only such USDA partnership in the country that is situated on the Great Lakes, and focuses on developing aquaculture in the region.

“This blend of research and engagement with business and community is part of what UWM aims to accomplish with its new graduate-level School of Freshwater Sciences,” says Acting Dean Mark Harris. “Another goal is to produce graduates who understand the complexities of freshwater science and who can contribute to the regional econ-omy.” Allen adds, “It’s what the university should be doing in the community, where feasible.”

REPLICATINGNATURE:A FISH TALE

AUWMaquaculturescientistishelpingaGeniusAwardwinnerbring

urbanfishfarmingtothecity.Partnershipslikethisarecentraltotheuniversity’snewSchoolof

FreshwaterSciences.

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Threelocalcompanieshavelicensed

compoundsdevelopedbyUWM

chemistJamesCookinthehopeof

producingnewdrugsfordiseaseslike

schizophreniaandalcoholaddiction.

UWMphysicistsaremaking

leadingcontributionstointernational

effortstoimageproteins–the

“workhorses”ofDNAthatholdvital

keystofightingdisease.

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ur bodies contain about 100,000 different proteins, which carry out much of the work necessary for life. In fact, the root cause of many diseases is protein malfunction. But scientists don’t know much about the structure of important classes of proteins because they are very difficult to image. And structure deter-mines function.

This year, two teams of physicists at UWM made significant contributions to improving how proteins are “seen.” These imagining discoveries – one at the atomic level, the other in cells – could lead to impor-tant tools in new drug discovery and a greater under-standing of the molecular basis of illness.

One team, led by Distinguished Professor Abbas Ourmazd, has focused on a new way of reconstructing the molecular structure of a single protein. The other team, led by Associate Professor Valerica Raicu, has become the first group of scientists to determine the molecular structure of a group of proteins (a “com-plex”) interacting within a living cell.

Ourmazd’s lab is developing new algorithms for imag-ing proteins by X-ray scattering, which can speed the process from one that can take years to one that is done in only days. Using X-ray scattering and a first-of-its-kind, ultra-brilliant X-ray free-electron laser at the SLAC National Laboratory, Ourmazd is testing his work by shooting a trillion X-ray photons at just one protein. Before the blast destroys it, the protein will diffract a mere 100 photons. “This is like a protein whispering a random snippet of its life story in a very noisy bar,” he says. By collecting many snippets from individual pro-teins, the scientists can reassemble the structure of the whole using an algorithm they developed.

With a new type of two-photon microscope, Raicu’s lab can view the distribution of proteins and their complexes inside a cell. But to track them as they work together, the scientists attach a fluorescent tag to different mole- cules and then watch for a transfer of energy that occurs when the molecules within a nanometer of each other are excited by a laser. In this patent-pending method, change in color tells the researchers which molecule is communicating with which.

PHYSICISTSCONTRIBUTETONEWWAYS OF ‘SEEING’PROTEINS

WM chemist James Cook and Marquette University neurobiologist David Baker have worked together for years on chemical compounds for drug discov-ery. Cook, a Distinguished Professor of Chemis-try, and members of his lab design and produce the compounds, while the Baker team creates the models and tests them. The successful partner-ship prompted Baker and fellow Marquette faculty member John Mantsch to form a start-up company, Promentis Pharmaceuticals Inc., which licensed for-mulas that Cook and Baker developed to investigate new treatments for schizophrenia and other central nervous system conditions. These formulas show promise because they act on the central nervous sys-tem by targeting specific receptors in the brain that control anxiety, paranoia and mood.

Cook has become an important player in the birth of start-up pharmaceutical companies in Milwaukee. Besides Promentis, two other new companies have tapped his vast library of compounds. Local entrepreneur Frank Langley, who launched MPP Group LLC in 2007 and its spin-off, Addiction Therapeutix Inc., in 2009, licensed several families of Cook’s compounds from

the UWM Research Foundation, the office charged with managing the university’s intellectual property.

Addiction Therapeutix, which is developing new drugs to treat alcohol addiction, is testing several of Cook’s compounds that block the euphoric effects of alcohol without the negative side effects of anxiety or sedation. They are proving to significantly reduce alcohol con-sumption in preclinical animal studies, says Langley. MPP is developing some of Cook’s compounds that are related to brain function, rather than addiction.

“Dr. Cook has demonstrated that he not only has strong science, but also an ability and willingness to work with companies,” says Brian Thompson, presi-dent of the UWM Research Foundation. “That is a powerful asset when moving discoveries from the lab to the marketplace.” The opportunities to help grow more biotech companies are made clear by Cook’s successes and have encouraged UWM to add three new faculty members who specialize in drug discov-ery to the five already in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

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removIng harmful or unusual substances and resIdues from IndustrIal wastewater Is one specIalty of advanced chemIcal systems (acs) Inc. the mIlwaukee company’s workers have extracted every-thIng from heavy metals to tIny beads of perfume from theIr clIents’

untreated wastewater so that It can be dIscharged to the sewer.

UWMRESEARCHFOUNDATIONOFFERSBUSINESS SOLUTIONSATTHESPEEDOFLIGHT

But ACS’s process, which solidifies impurities so that they can be filtered out, relies on off-site analysis of wa-ter samples, which can take weeks to return results. The UWM Research Foundation (UWMRF) recognized that a solution might be found in the work of UWM chemist Peter Geissinger, and arranged a meeting. Ultimately, Geissinger’s connection with ACS led to a UWMRF Cata-lyst Grant sponsored by the Bradley Foundation and an agreement with the company that could lead to impor-tant new tools for controlling water quality.

Geissinger, UWM associate professor of chemistry, has developed a patented fiber-optic sensor system that has the potential to provide water-quality monitoring with immediate detection of targeted contaminants. The op-tion agreement allows ACS to refine Geissinger’s system and bring it to market, once the sensors have been test-ed for concept.

The project demonstrates how UWM’s basic science ca-pabilities can meet the needs of regional water-related industries. “This illustrates a great deal of what we’re trying to accomplish under the umbrella of the economic development group the M7 Water Council – pairing solid science at UWM with an ‘industry pull’ to help transfer the technology to the market,” says Brian Thompson, president of the UWMRF. Advanced sensors for water quality and environmental monitoring are among the top technologies that garnered interest from many of the

120 water-related companies in the Milwaukee regional “water cluster.”

ACS sees a potential market for Geissinger’s research. “Dr. Geissinger’s fiber-optic sensor array could signifi-cantly improve how environmental, process control and field testing are performed,” says Christopher Fox, ACS vice president of sales and marketing.

The project also could allow ACS to apply for funding through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant program for new product development. On the aca-demic side, Geissinger would be able to use preliminary data from the project to seek additional federal funding to continue his research.

Geissinger’s and 20 other promising projects have been funded in part by $1.4 million in UWMRF Catalyst Grants made possible by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Rockwell Automation Charitable Corporation.

In addition to the option agreement with ACS, the UWMRF has racked up an impressive list of results involving UWM intellectual property in the last three years, including: 25 patent applications; three licenses of UWM intellectual property and one other option agree-ment; and an estimated $1 million in new grants from Catalyst Grant projects.

EffortsbytheUWMResearchFoundationhaveledtoapartnership–andanintellectualpropertyagreement

–betweenafacultymemberandalocalbusinessdevelopingfreshwater

technologies.

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lIke many large cItIes, mIlwaukee Is plagued by urban publIc health Issues, wIth hIgh rates of obesIty, alco-hol abuse, Infant mortalIty and chIldhood asthma. Poverty and ra-cial disparities complicate efforts to prevent illness. But UWM is providing the remedy with its new School of Public Health – and a cross-section of Milwaukee is enthusiasti-cally signing on, creating a powerful, united effort to make Wisconsin’s largest city a healthier place to live. Because it focuses on preventing disease, public health is as much about public education and psychology as it is about science. More research is needed, for example, on successful ways to convince people to make healthy choices. That’s why disciplines at UWM as diverse as communication, sociology, nursing, public administration and health sciences are part of the curricular mix.

Graduates will feed the increasing need for professionals in this field. But what really makes the school relevant is that it brings so many community and other academic partners to the research, and says Stephen Percy, director of the Center for Urban Ini-tiatives and Research (CUIR) and the acting dean of the School of Public Health. “One core value of the school will be to make sure it is a model for partnerships,” Percy says. “The problems in public health require collaborative solutions. We are looking for inte-gration of community and state organizations and agencies.”

The City of Milwaukee Health Department has aligned its work with the mission of the school and become directly involved in its structure. UWM’s College of Nursing, which operates several nationally recognized community nursing centers in Milwaukee, al-ready excels at wellness outreach. The School of Public Health’s newest component is the federally funded Children’s Environmental Health Sciences Core Center (EHSCC), a research center that combines UWM’s strength in environmental toxicology with expertise at the Children’s Research Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin. With funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, EHSCC is the only such center in the nation. Pilot research studies funded by EHSCC, such as the effects of waterborne pollutants on cardiac birth defects, give health practitioners the information they need to successfully track the roots of disease.

Finally, UWM has named Ronda G. Hughes, a national leader and researcher in improving healthcare quality, to fill the newly established Howe Chair for Health Care Transforma-tion, funded by the Aurora Health Care Foundation. Hughes is jointly appointed to the College of Nursing and School of Public Health. Aurora’s goal in establishing the chair is to work with UWM to develop specialized expertise in developing and testing healthcare innovations and helping move them into routine practice.

CANCOLLABORATIONCUREOUR PUBLIC HEALTHPROBLEMS?

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UWM’snewSchoolofPublicHealth,whichlaunchedthefirstoffourdoctoralprogramslastfall,is

creatinglinksacrossthecitytopromotehealthierurbanlifestyles.

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Workingwithcountriesacross

Africa,UWM’sSchoolofInformation

Studiesisexploringthechallenges

ofadaptingnewtechnologiesand

protocolstothecontinent.

AnursingresearchcenteratUWM,oneof

thefewfundedbythefederalgovernment,

ishelpingpeoplemanagechronichealth

conditions–ultimatelydecreasinghospital

visitsandhighhealthcarecosts.

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ne solution to this country’s healthcare crisis is to find better ways to provide care, particularly for those with chronic health conditions. At the UWM College of Nursing’s federally funded Self Management Science Center (SMSC), Director Karen Marek and her col-leagues are developing and testing ways to help people with chronic health problems better manage their own care. Such chronic conditions as heart disease, diabe-tes, arthritis and asthma currently account for more than 75 percent of medical expenditures, and with an aging population those numbers are likely to increase.

A few examples of the center’s research: Associ-ate Professor Sandra Plach is studying ways to help older people with chronic heart failure manage their symptoms, avoiding trips to the ER and/or hospital-ization. Assistant Professor Sarah Morgan’s research may help family members caring for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias better man-age family members’ pain and reduce their own stress. Assistant Professor Jennifer Doering is study-ing the impact of postpartum depression, particularly among low-income women. Figuring out ways to bet-

ter manage both postpartum depression and resulting fatigue is vital for the long-term health of both mothers and their children. Professor Beth Rodgers is studying why people with obstructive sleep apnea often find it hard to follow recommended treatment. Sleep apnea, which affects an estimated 18 million people in the U.S., is linked to stroke, heart failure, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, depression and gastrointestinal disturbances.

Nurses already play a major role in coordinating patient care and educating those with chronic conditions. With increasing and ongoing pressures on healthcare costs, nursing’s role in helping patients manage their own care will become even more important, says Marek. “We have to rethink the way we provide care. Expen-sive interventions without follow-through to support adherence and self care is inefficient and often dan-gerous. Helping people avoid hospitalization by close monitoring and supporting them in the self-manage-ment of their health is where we think health systems should be headed.”

HELPINGTHECHRONICALLYILLHELP THEMSELVES

ean Johannes Britz and colleagues at UWM’s School of Information Studies (SOIS) are deeply involved in ex-ploring the ethical and practical challenges of bringing the Internet and other communication technologies to Africa. Dick Kawooya, originally from Uganda and now a SOIS lecturer, is the lead researcher for a coalition of eight countries whose academics and policymakers study the impact of international copyright law in Africa.

“Information and communication technology are critical to economic development and an improved quality of life for people all over the African continent,” says Britz. “At the same time there is an urgent need to integrate leading African scholars and practitioners into the international ethical debate on the impact of new information and communication technologies in their countries and cultures.”

These international endeavors are supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the International Develop-ment and Research Center (IDRC), a Canadian-based funding agency; and others. Recent examples of the

work include a SOIS-led training session for govern-ment officials working in rural governments across 15 African nations. As civil servants, they face a daunting work load that is complicated by issues such as pri-vacy, identity theft, potential corruption and the use of hundreds of regional languages.

Copyright law poses an additional obstacle to commu-nity and educational development in rural Africa, but one that Kawooya is eager to take on. “Copyright is a Western concept introduced in Africa as part of the colonial legacy,” says Kawooya. “It is an imperfect fit for Africa’s predominantly oral and ‘collectivist’ societ-ies – collectivist meaning that there was no individual, but collective, ownership.

“Helping African governments and educators work together to balance international copyright laws with the need for access to knowledge is vital,” he adds. “In countries where people’s incomes are so low that they can’t afford copyrighted materials, they can’t access information to improve themselves through education and training.”

TAILORINGNEWTECHNOLOGIESTOAFRICAN REALITIES

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uwm’s peck school of the arts, the only dedIcated arts school In the unIversIty of wIsconsIn system, plays a key role In the mIlwaukee arts communIty. With more than 350 perfor-mances, screenings and exhibitions each year, the school enriches the city’s cultural milieu and contributes to the overall quality of life that makes Wisconsin a vibrant place to live and work.

The school is known for its commitment to academic and professional partnerships, interdisciplinary training and innovative research. The Dance Department’s focus on “Race & Identity” for its 2009-10 season brought Garth Fagan, Tony award-winning choreographer of “The Lion King,” to the city and challenged the entire community to explore the realities, beliefs and influences that impact contemporary art and lives. Inova, the school’s exhibition wing, is collaborating with the French government to develop “Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism,” which will travel post-Milwaukee to Chicago and Detroit.

In 2010, the Florentine Opera Company and UWM Opera will bring university students together with Robert Aldridge, composer of “Elmer Gantry,” a new American opera based on the Sinclair Lewis novel. Milwaukee Ballet Company partnerships include an exchange of faculty and visiting artists as well as shared dress rehearsals and tickets. DanceWorks presents concerts by Peck School faculty and graduate students, includ-ing Professor Simone Ferro’s choreographed response to images in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s photographic exhibition “Street Seen.”

Milwaukee’s rich theatre scene boasts more than 25 professional companies and has made a number of joint projects possible. These collaborations are truly two-way: UWM provides local groups with talent and expertise; partner groups supply venues for stu-dents to experience the challenges of professional-level performance. As Peck School Dean Wade Hobgood says, “Our goal is to be a ‘farm school’ for them.” The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s recent production of “Picnic” featured UWM faculty, staff, students and alumni as actors, designers and production personnel. “Through our collaborative effort, I was able to forge relationships with an untold number of talented, passionate, generous theater artists and theater patrons,” says C. Michael Wright, producing artis-tic director of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and “Picnic” director.

The Music Department taps the talents of Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians for a master class series and classroom instruction. The Film Department’s founding sponsorship of the Milwaukee LGBT Film and Video Festival has led to a number of partnerships with community organizations beyond the arts area, while faculty, staff, students and alumni have launched and kept other festivals operating. Peck School also maintains a deep sense of social and community responsibility. For example, the school has a tradition of “taking the show on the road,” especially into communities that may be traditionally underserved.

FORGINGDEEPCONNECTIONSTOTHE WORLD OF THE ARTS

UWM’sPeckSchooloftheArtsiscelebratedforitsacademicand

professionalpartnerships,interdisciplinarytrainingand

innovativeresearch.

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mathematIcs scores In mIlwaukee publIc schools (mps) have Increased dramatIcally. Fall 2008 test scores, released in April 2009, showed the percentage of MPS students rated as proficient or better in mathematics increased on average by five percentage points across all grades tested, with students in grades four and eight making remarkable increases of nine and 10 points. Strong evidence links the improvement to a long-term UWM-led effort to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in MPS.

DeAnn Huinker, UWM professor of mathematics education, and Kevin McLeod, associ-ate professor of mathematics, lead the Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership (MMP), a collaborative effort including teachers, mathematicians and administrators from UWM, MPS and Milwaukee Area Technical College. “The fact that scores in the rest of the state increased by just under two percentage points is an indication that we are closing the gap,” says Huinker.

Much work remains to further decrease gaps between MPS students and others in the state, in addition to narrowing the achievement gap between students of color and majority students. Still, MMP is making a visible impact as schools move into the fourth and fifth stages of the long-term improvement process. The work started in 2003 with a $20 million National Science Foundation grant, which UWM administers. Huinker is the principal investigator on the grant, the largest in the university’s history.

One key element of the work is a focus on a comprehensive understanding of math-ematics. In addition to learning computation skills, students learn mathematical reasoning and problem solving, and are able to apply mathematical principles. The MMP has promoted this deeper student knowledge of mathematics, helped teachers develop and provide descriptive feedback to students and increased the teachers’ own content knowledge. The MMP has offered approximately 100 classes for teachers to help improve their understanding of mathematics content and develop tools for teach-ing the subject well. School-based mathematics teacher-leaders work with teachers in individual classrooms to support the efforts. These leaders are mentored by district mathematics specialists who support cohorts of schools.

An MMP analysis of changes in test results from 2005 to 2008 showed that schools with a high level of involvement with the partnership had the greatest growth in student mathematics proficiency. The research also showed that schools with higher MMP involvement also had greater overall proficiency. Now the challenge is to con-tinue the improvements as NSF funding ends, says Huinker. Some changes have been embedded in the schools, but funding will be needed to continue other work. “If we have really done our work, we have established the foundation for continuous improve-ment and we have shown what it takes to help students learn mathematics.”

MULTIPLYING THE IMPACTOFMATHEMATICSTEACHINGANDLEARNING

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Testscoresarerising.Afive-year,UWM-ledefforttoimprovethe

teachingandlearningofmathematicsinMilwaukeePublicSchoolsis

startingtoclosetheachievementgap.

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ost parents and many teachers believe that if middle-school and high-school girls show no interest in sci-ence or math, there’s little anyone can do about it. But a research team that includes vocational psychologists at UWM completed a three-year study that refutes that notion. The study showed that the self-confidence instilled by parents and teachers was more important for young girls learning math and science than their initial interest in the subjects, says Nadya Fouad.

A UWM Distinguished Professor of Educational Psy-chology, Fouad is one of the authors of the research, which aimed to identify factors that steer girls toward or away from science and math. Her research also found evidence that confidence levels in math- and science-related tasks are lower in girls than in boys. “The relationship between confidence and interest is close,” she says. “If they feel they can do it, it feeds their interest.” It’s a high-priority question for members of organiza-tions like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and

the National Research Council as they ponder how to reverse the rapidly declining numbers of women in STEM careers – science, technology, engineering and math. Last summer, Fouad was asked to discuss the study before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technical Education. The NSF-funded study – the most highly detailed study on this topic to date – tracked both genders in middle school, high school and their sophomore year in col-lege, attempting to pinpoint when the barriers for girls appeared and how influential they were. Phil Smith, UWM emeritus professor of educational psychology, and Gail Hackett, provost at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, also worked on the study.

Self-confidence wasn’t the only important determinant the study found. Overall, parental support and expec-tations emerged as the top motivator in both subjects and genders for middle- and high-school students. Also powerful for younger girls were engaging teachers and positive experiences with them.

WHYDOSOMANYGIRLSAVOIDSCIENCE AND MATH?

nika Wilson, an assistant professor of Africology at UWM, researches informal communications systems in Africa – gossip, rumor, stories or notes left along the road. Her research in Malawi focuses on how women protect themselves from HIV-AIDS exposure through such informal communications. “Women were con-cerned about staying healthy within their marriages, and they had developed ways of monitoring what the people they were close to were doing and saying, to protect themselves,” Says Wilson.

“The belief is that rumors are always false,” Wilson adds, but that isn’t necessarily the case. “Many rumors contain truths, and for African women they can be an important means of gathering information about what is happening in their community.” These informal ex-changes of information and advice help women learn about HIV/AIDS and, more important, about what their husbands are doing away from home. “They can find out what their husband was doing at the local bar,” for example, says Wilson. Since having concurrent, mul-tiple sexual partners is a factor in the spread of AIDS,

that gossip gives wives much-needed information to protect their own health.

A grant Wilson recently received from the UW Sys-tem Institute on Race and Ethnicity has allowed her to write up her findings and expand her research. She’s now reviewing Malawian court records to see if the information women have about HIV/AIDS is impacting divorce rates there.

Her research on informal communications about HIV/AIDS in Malawian villages is important, Wilson says, because those kinds of information-sharing and de-cision-making methods often don’t get factored into AIDS prevention programs. “This is information com-ing from the bottom up, rather than the top down. It’s important to know what people know or believe about the disease and what the people around them are do-ing. The type of homegrown strategies the women use to avoid AIDS while preserving their marriages or deciding to divorce can be valuable in the ongoing battle against the epidemic in Africa.”

GOSSIPING ABOUT AIDSCANBEHEALTHY

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revealthatconfidencehasalot

todowithgirls’interestinscience

andmath.

UWMresearchongossipand

rumorinMalawiprovidesinsights

forAIDSprevention.

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UWMresearchismaking

breakthroughsinhelpingcaregivers

communicateeffectivelywith

spousessufferingfromdementia.

UWM’sCenterforAddiction

andBehavioralHealthResearch

takesresearchtothestreetsto

improveinterventions.

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lzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia represent an exponentially growing social and health-care challenge for American families – not only family members who face the progressive brain disease, but also those who love them. Spouses of those with de-mentia are deeply impacted as their partners deal with the disease’s effects on brain functioning, memory, motor skills and emotional health. They often assume round-the-clock caregiving responsibilities as their partner of many years faces progressive decline. Com-munication can become a particularly difficult issue.

“We found that breakdowns in communication may trigger or deepen problem behaviors in family mem-bers with dementia,” says UWM researcher Marie Savundranayagam. “These problem behaviors by those with dementia, such as agitation and aggression, have consistently been linked with caregiver stress.”

Through a 2009-10 UWM Research Growth Initiative grant and an Alzheimer’s Association New Investiga-tor Research Grant for 2009-11, Savundranayagam is working to identify communication strategies used by caregivers to resolve communication breakdowns.Sometimes, those strategies are ineffective and can

actually add to the household stress level, says Savun-dranayagam, assistant professor of social work in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare.

“For example, the wife may think that she can commu-nicate better with her loved one by talking slower. But that’s actually the opposite of what should be done. A person with dementia will actually forget what was said in the first part of the sentence before the care-giver finishes talking.”

Savundranayagam and co-investigator J.B. Orange, as-sociate professor and director of the School of Com-munication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Western Ontario, are now analyzing those communi-cation patterns. Caregiver/care receiver couples com-pleted questionnaires and were then video-recorded as they interacted in their homes − at the dinner table, for example.

“When we see that a caregiver’s appraisal is incorrect, and a strategy that they think is good really isn’t, we know that an intervention is necessary,” says Savun-dranayagam. “Our goal is to target the people who will benefit from a communication intervention.”

DEMENTIA:THECOMMUNICATION LINK

he university’s Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research (CABHR) stands at the intersec-tion of addiction research and public policy. Projects at CABHR have resulted in treatment resources and protocols for Milwaukeeans residing far outside the sphere of academia. That’s why CABHR scientists base many of their projects, and their new research center, in the heart of Milwaukee’s central city.

“Research might be simpler and faster if scientists ignored issues of cultural difference and didn’t involve the community in shaping their research, but the bot-tom line is that the results won’t be accurate, and can’t lead us to the public policy recommendations that these critical issues demand,” says CABHR Director Michael Fendrich.

Laura Otto-Salaj, assistant professor of social work, is engaged in this process with “Stories to Tell,” a study funded through a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “The study is examining which patterns lead some women to risky behaviors, such as drug use, while others remain

resilient and avoid those risks,” says Otto-Salaj. “What causes someone not to engage in risk when we might expect them to?”

The hope is that findings will lead to more effective interventions. Otto-Salaj drew study participants from several Milwaukee public housing developments, thus avoiding participants who “self-select.” Instead of “parachuting in, taking data and leaving,” the study team devoted the first year to learning about the community and attending council meetings at the housing developments. Otto-Salaj and her team col-lected feedback and tapped a focus group to create the “Stories to Tell” title. The project’s logo, based on an African symbol, also was a group effort.

“Now that data collecting has begun, we continue to work hard to assure these women that we want them to be a part of this process. Aside from just gaining information from them, and taking up a considerable amount of their time, we want participants to under-stand how much they are helping others,” says Daana Townsend, project coordinator.

UNDERSTANDINGRISK BEHAVIORSTHROUGHSTORYTELLING

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he students in Jennifer Watson’s German 341 course wrote the book on German Milwaukee – literally. “Images of America: German Milwaukee,” a book researched and written by the 17 students in an un-dergraduate German Studies seminar, was published last summer.

Watson approached Arcadia Publishing, which spe-cializes in regional histories, about a textbook for her seminar on Germans in Wisconsin and Milwaukee. Arcadia had no books on the subject – and invited her to write one. Instead, she decided to work with the students in the seminar to research and write the book as a class project.

“This all coincides with a growing interest in German immigration and emigrants to America,” says Watson, associate professor of German and Scandinavian Stud-ies and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Milwaukee, which attracted several waves of German immigrants, was known as the “German Athens of North America” in the 19th century. “This was the first book the publisher had

done this way,” says Watson, “The students were the researchers, writers and editors. They got the whole experience.” The students and Watson even had a book signing at Milwaukee’s Boswell Books.

The new history book may not make the students rich – royalties go to the College of Letters and Science, which supported the project – but it enriched them academically. “It was the best way to learn about the subject,” says student Anne Schumacher. “I’ve always loved to do research because of the extra things you learn; the incidental learning that happens.”

Working in teams, the students gathered information at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, libraries and historical sites, often using original documents in German. Then they wrote, rewrote, edited and gath-ered photos for the book’s eight topic areas.

“Images of America: German Milwaukee” is now avail-able in local stores, a fact that the students take pride in. “We can look back and see that we wrote a book,” says one student. “That’s pretty exciting.”

WRITING THE BOOK ONGERMANMILWAUKEE

eople often ask UWM economist Scott Adams ques-tions about the job market, health insurance and other aspects of the American economy. But he never imag-ined that he would be providing that information to the U.S. president during the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Adams, an associate professor, was invited to join the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in Washington, D.C., for a one-year term that be-gan in July 2008 as one of nine senior economists. He is the first UWM professor to serve at the CEA.

Crossing two presidential administrations, Adams’ appointment began just before the Wall Street melt-down in fall 2008 and continued through the end of George W. Bush’s term and into the first year of Barack Obama’s administration. “It is of considerable credit to the UWM department to have one of its junior mem-bers take this position,” says McKinley Blackburn, professor of economics at the Moore School of Busi-ness at the University of South Carolina. Adams’ role included summarizing a variety of economic issues of the day and interpreting data for use by senior White House officials. Topics changed constantly, he says,

but included hefty doses of healthcare and labor mar-ket issues, two of Adams’ specialties.

Although he didn’t report to the chief executive in per-son, Adams’ voice was one of those making sure the president had the most accurate and up-to-date eco-nomic information necessary to make decisions and communicate with the public on economic matters. Among his responsibilities was the important task of analyzing each new collection of labor market data, including monthly employment and unemployment numbers and weekly unemployment insurance claims. Obama also required a daily briefing from the CEA on critical economic matters of the day, both global and domestic. This challenged the staff to constantly moni-tor and interpret data on topics as diverse as housing construction in the U.S. and consumer confidence in Japan. Managing all that information at such an unre-lenting pace was both exhilarating and frustrating, he says. “If we had one job, it was trying to get every-thing right. It sometimes kept us up at night.”

UWMECONOMISTANSWERSTHECALLOFTHE WHITE HOUSE

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Milwaukee,”abookresearched

andwrittenby17seminarstudents

andtheirprofessor,was

publishedlastsummer.

ScottAdamstradedayearof

academiaandteachingtobecome

thefirstUWMprofessortoserve

onthePresident’sCouncilof

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UWM’sLubarSchoolofBusiness

isapricelessrecruitingresource

forleadingfinancialfirms.

ilwaukee boasts one of the largest concentrations of investment management companies in the coun-try. This dominance makes UWM’s Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business a prime location to study finance, offering a wealth of knowledge and resources that lead to internships and mid- and entry-level positions with local firms. Students meet and learn from leading CIOs and CEOs, who guest lecture on campus.

In turn, UWM faculty, staff, students and alumni play a major role in supporting the state’s economic engine. “The Lubar School is key to developing investment management expertise in-state,” says alumnus David O. Nicholas (M.S. Finance ’87), president and chief invest-ment officer of Nicholas Company Inc. “UWM grads statistically tend to stay in the state and represent a critical talent pool for our large investment manage-ment community.” Nicholas provided a $2.5 million gift to establish the David O. Nicholas Applied Finance Lab. Opened in 2008, the lab offers Lubar School students access to the financial data and tools the professionals use, and is home base for students enrolled in the new Investment Management Certificate Program.

“Because many UWM students are employed during their studies, they enter the program with a distinct ad-vantage − business experience,” says Program Director Kevin Spellman, a former analyst and portfolio man-ager. “Students have another advantage of studying in Milwaukee, with its critical mass of financial industry powerhouses. And, since they learn ‘on the job’ as analysts managing real money within the investment management program, employers can be assured they’re hiring students who can ‘hit the ground run-ning’ and add value from the start.”

These companies, with billions of dollars under man-agement, are demonstrating their support of the UWM program by contributing management expertise to the certificate’s group of board members and ad- visors, which includes leaders from Baird Funds, Dana Investment Advisors, Heartland Advisors, Holt-Smith Advisors, Nicholas Company, Northwestern Mutual and Stark Investments. These volunteers serve as speakers, guest instructors, mentors and as the “cli-ent” whom students report to during management of the program’s investment fund assets.

STUDENTS,ALUMSPUMPWISCONSIN’SFINANCIAL HEART

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uwm contInues to achIeve new levels of success. the unIversIty posted record amounts of external fundIng for Its research and natIonal recognItIon from a wIde swath of federal agencIes. In fact, federally funded research expenditures at UWM have doubled in the last seven years. For the first time, UWM ranks among the top 200 research universities in federally funded research expenditures. In addition, our researchers are joining forces with other institutions to form research powerhouses in the fields of energy, green manufacturing, public health, children’s environmental health, freshwater sciences and bioengineering. UWM is “networked for success.” We are linked to Southeastern Wisconsin in a variety of ways as the stories on these pages illustrate:• with our community to support social services

and education;• with business and industry to diversify and stoke

the regional economy in key areas of strength;• with other academic institutions to put the power of combined expertise to work;• with interdisciplinary organizations to improve urban public health and build a new vision

for managing and innovating freshwater sciences.

Internal seed funding by the UWM Research Foundation of our highest-quality research and strategic efforts to promote development of intellectual property have played a role in our suc-cess. UWM saw a dramatic jump in the number of faculty researchers on our campus, nota-bly in the College of Engineering & Applied Science, where 22 new hires began in fall 2009. But the increase in our research productivity and rankings began before this new infusion of resources. The future looks even brighter as we are now poised for greater achievement.

We appreciate the continuing partnership of companies and organizations across the region that already have joined hands with UWM research initiatives. Though so many are mem-bers of this important coalition, more connections are necessary to achieve lasting impacts. Nothing less than our region’s long-term health depends upon it. Imagine what we can all accomplish together with something great in mind.

BrianThompson, ColinG.Scanes,Vice Chancellor for President of the Research and Economic Development,UWM Research Foundation and Dean of the Graduate School (414) 229-3397, briant@uwmfdn.org (414) 229-2591, scanes@uwm.edut

PARTNERINGWITHUWM: SYNERGYINTHECHAINOFACHIEVEMENT

Brian Thompson and Colin Scanes get a look at the Hydraulic Flow Lab at Badger Meter Inc. in Milwaukee. Badger Meter is one of many area companies partnering with UWM.

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