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article Fall 2016

Quest for ANTibiotics

By Stacy Montgomery As antibacterial-resistant disease prevalence and seriousness increase, are scientists desperately searching for new antibiotics. Traditionally, researchers look into bacteria-rich soil for the antibiotics; however, continuing with this strategy has yielded little novelty. In the Currie Lab at UW-Madison, researchers like graduate student Heidi Horn have focused on a different, unique niche to […]

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article Fall 2016

A Foundry Feature

By Nathan Friar Since the dawn of the Bronze Age over 5000 years ago, humans have been extracting metal from the earth and manipulating it to fit our needs. From tools and weapons to engine blocks and coins, it is almost impossible to look around and not observe some sort of metal creation today. Unfortunately, […]

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article Fall 2016

Metrics on Markets

By Madison Knobloch Not everyone has the luxury of hearing a Wisconsin cheese curd squeak as their teeth sink in. Or letting the aroma of huge loaves of spicy cheese bread invade their senses. For almost four years now, Alfonso Morales, associate professor in the department of urban and regional planning at UW-Madison (and former […]

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article Fall 2016

From Ideas to Industry

By Emily Morzewski Industrialism was the driving force behind the economy in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Now at the start of the 21st century, the growing industry is that of startups. Industrialism has become ideas and startups are at the core. Built on the idea that startups are our […]

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article Fall 2016

Grainger Foundation Commitment Funding Undergraduate Innovation

By Gabriela Betancourt The silence and relative calm of Engineering Mall were broken by the sounds of marching band music and palpable excitement during the early afternoon on September 17th as students and faculty awaited the “special announcement” that the College of Engineering had stated would be shared with the public that day. The crowd […]

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article Fall 2016

Your Next Flight is On-Track

By Chris Hanko While the United States consistently showcases their impressive engineering and advanced technology on the global stage, there seems to be a large void of progression in one of the most substantial fields: high-speed rail transportation. Sure we have cars, taxis, buses and airplanes, but it seems we are missing a key ingredient […]

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article Fall 2016

Moving Spacecraft with Microwaves

By Stephen Eick Designing methods of launching an object beyond the gripping claws of Earth’s gravity is one of the most challenging problems an engineer can expect to tackle. Even more challenging is creating new methods of propulsion that push physics beyond its edge while opening new doors for the future of humanity. Right now, […]

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article Fall 2016

Flush Forward

By Kelsey Bright The world is overflowing with waste. The trash we throw in our garbage cans piles up in landfills, taking up space that could otherwise be used for more productive purposes. But what about the waste we’re flushing down our toilets and rinsing down our sinks? Wastewater is treated and reused, but the […]

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article Fall 2016

Advice from a Freshman Engineer

By Krishna Patel It is back to square one for the one-time seniors of high school, now finding themselves amongst a pack of wolves called college freshmen. As an engineer, much of the college adaptation process sounds very scary; the workload is greater, classes are farther from each other, and you are away from loved […]

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article Fall 2016

Gridcoin and BOINC: ‘Crowdsourcing’ Scientific Discovery

By Brandon Grill Scientific advancement relies on numerous resources, many of which are hard to come by. Skilled faculty, equipment funding, and adequate research assistants are all needed in order to take a proposal and turn it into a discovery. Often overlooked, but increasing in demand, is the need for computational power. Whether in astronomy, […]