No matter where you live in Wisconsin or what you do, chances are the research carried out in the College of Letters & Science impacts you. That’s the Wisconsin Idea — the notion that what happens in the University should benefit the whole state — at work.
As the associate dean for research, I see the enormous impact of the work we do carried out in the community daily. My job is fascinating. I oversee research projects from 37 departments and more than 50 research centers that are changing the way we think, understand and live. These projects range from improving our understanding of mental health treatments to being at the top of the field in quantum computing to searching for new worlds through astrophysics. We have researchers who study poverty and others who work in up to 40 different languages. The breadth of this work and the high level of scholarship produced by our faculty, staff and students push this research and our state forward.
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A celebratory moment from the Department of Physics and Realta Fusion when they achieved first plasma at the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory in Stoughton on July 16.
While this Fueling Discovery insert in the Wisconsin State Journal gives you an in-depth look at some of the most exciting projects happening in our College, I want to share a brief sampling of how much more there is to be excited about:
- Hiroshi Maeda, a professor of botany, and his interdisciplinary team of collaborators are transforming plants into living refineries that can directly convert atmospheric CO2 into aromatic chemicals essential in modern society simply using sunlight.
- Madison arguably has the most startup companies per capita on quantum technologies in the nation, all initiated by faculty. Physics faculty helped create Infleqtionand Qolab, both dedicated to advancing the commercialization of quantum computing and quantum technologies.
- Our chemistry department just founded SynCat, a center dedicated to working collaboratively in research with pharmaceutical companies.
- The internationally recognized Center for Limnology has studied Wisconsin lakes for decades. Through the Hasler Lab on the shore of Lake Mendota and Trout Lake Station in Vilas County, the Center addresses questions about fisheries, invasive species, pollutants, harmful algal blooms and other societally relevant issues related to freshwater.
- Physics faculty and staff are on the frontlines of the race to produce commercial fusion energy, with Realta Fusion leading the way to find paths to decarbonize the industrial heat and electricity processes.
- The history department once again ranked among the top 10 in the country. If you want to know how we got here, they are researching the answers with expertise that spans the globe. What they learn can help us figure out where we go from here.
- The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) researches the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in the United States using insights from economics, sociology, social work and demography. IRP is the only research institute in the United States entirely dedicated to the study of poverty.
- Nearly every municipality is grappling with the impact of declining mental health and increased addiction in their communities. The Department of Psychology and Center for Health Minds are working tirelessly to understand well-being and explore practical policies and treatments that can create change.
I could go on for pages and pages. And if you want to read more, I encourage you to visit go.wisc.edu/ls72, where we’ve mapped how the Wisconsin Idea is carried out in all 72 counties of the state. But impact is not automatic, and discoveries do not always translate into immediate, tangible benefits for society. It takes early targeted investment into research to create the groundbreaking discoveries that eventually translate into economic benefits, effective policies and life-saving cures. The path from discovery to impact is a long and arduous one, often referred to by researchers as “the valley of death.”
Here in the College of Letters & Science, we are doing our part to help researchers cross that valley, and to support those interested in working with partners outside of university walls. Our new Collective for Research Impact and Social Partnerships (CRISP) is meant to fill in some of the infrastructure gaps that have kept our faculty and staff from engaging directly with external partners. And in less than a year, CRISP is already making waves with more than 100 consultations, 26 grants and proposals supported, 20 new partners and eight institutional external agreements.
We are enormously proud of the teams of researchers who dedicate their lives to expand our frontiers and disseminate knowledge. It is a life of dedication and sacrifice but also great joy. We look forward to engaging fully in the broader conversation of how we can tackle society’s biggest problems.
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About the Author
Gloria MarÃ-Beffa is the College of Letters & Science associate dean for research and a professor of mathematics. She oversees research for 37 departments and more than 50 research centers. Her personal research is on Poisson geometry and integrable systems.
