FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with John Garnetti, UW-Madison Office of Business Engagement; UW leadership forms search committee for UW-Oshkosh chancellor

November 22, 2024

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with John Garnetti, managing director of UW-Madison’s Office of Business Engagement.

He discusses the office’s impact on Wisconsin’s business community, providing examples of how the OBE works with companies in the state through a variety of programs. It’s existed for more than 20 years, helping to identify the best department or institute for where companies can connect.

“UW-Madison works with a lot of Wisconsin businesses, and we want to work with more … It’s not a question of if we have something we can work on together, but what that is, where that is, and how we can do it together,” he said.

Along with serving as the “front door to campus,” the office also helps coordinate ongoing relationships with business partners.

“We go into all of our relationships, all of our conversations thinking about win-win outcomes,” he said. “How does it benefit the company, how does it benefit the university around shared interests? And if we can make it a win-win-win, where that relationship benefits a larger community, the larger Wisconsin community … that’s a home-run for us.”

Garnetti highlights internship opportunities or co-op programs that give students real-world work experience, as well as companies working with the university on sponsored projects. In one example, the Department of Computer Science’s senior capstone program connects students with companies that have a project or challenge they’re facing in hopes of finding an innovative solution.

“A lot of times, those solutions are actually implemented,” Garnetti said, noting major businesses like Virginia-based bank Capital One as well as Wisconsin-based startups have gotten involved with similar programs at the university.

Garnetti also touches on the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium, “something that’s very specific and beneficial” for Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry.

The conversation spotlights the federally funded Small Business Development Center on campus, as well as long-running partnerships with established corporations such as American Family Insurance in Madison and GE HealthCare in Chicago.

“UW-Madison has so much to offer Wisconsin businesses, and in fact, you have so much to offer us, so let’s find a way to partner because we want to do it,” he said.

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— Universities of Wisconsin leadership has formed a search committee to find the next chancellor for UW-Oshkosh.

Board of Regents President Amy Bogost and system President Jay Rothman have appointed the 14-member Search and Screen Committee, which will be chaired by Regent Ashok Rai. Andrew Smock, associate professor in the Department of Radio TV Film in the College of Letters & Science, will be vice chair.

Bogost says the next leader of UW-Oshkosh “must be prepared to embrace the opportunities and challenges facing the university as it pursues financial sustainability and academic renewal — all while focusing on student success.”

The release notes the committee is expected to convene soon to begin the search process.

See the release.

— Renew Wisconsin has announced more than $220,000 in grants and solar panel donations through the Solar for Good program.

Through the Madison-based nonprofit’s fall 2024 grant round, 14 recipients will install 16 projects totaling $2.3 million in renewable energy investments. These groups include affordable housing organizations, places of worship and schools.

Kelsey M. Hood-Christenson, president and CEO of Family & Children’s Services of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, says the Solar for Good funding “has allowed us to equip our Next Steps Family Resilience Center with solar power that will be vital to the long-term sustainability of this programming” for homeless parents with young children.

Meanwhile, Susan Zach Burns, solar project lead for Holy Spirit Parish in Stevens Point, says the congregation is grateful for the support. The program is providing the church with half of the solar panels needed for a solar array project, which will install 90 rooftop solar panels.

“By reducing our reliance on fossil fuel and turning to solar for a good share of our energy needs, we are joining with you and others to address greenhouse gas emissions and to care for our common home, our beautiful Earth,” she said in a statement.

The Solar for Good program has now provided grants to more than 200 nonprofits in the state, helping to fund more than $29.4 million in renewable energy investments.

See the release.

— A UW-Madison engineering research group has announced $10 million in additional funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, supporting efforts to understand how “pulsed microwaves” can affect the brain.

The university this week said its PANTHER initiative will be the first program in the world to “comprehensively investigate” this topic. The research is prompted by a series of mysterious health issues reported in more than 150 U.S. personnel serving in foreign countries including Russia and China, according to the release.

These “anomalous health incidents,” which involve sudden concussion-like symptoms including severe headaches, nausea and dizziness, have been reported since 2016. The announcement references findings of the National Academy of Sciences and U.S. intelligence experts, which found these cases could be explained by exposure to “directed, pulsed radio-frequency energy,” such as microwaves.

PANTHER scientists will be exploring how pulsed microwaves affect and possibly injure the brain, ranging from the molecular level to a more broad assessment. Christian Franck, the initiative’s director and a professor of mechanical engineering at UW–Madison, says the work could lead to clinical diagnoses for affected personnel, possible treatments and even ways to prevent related injuries.

“Do pulsed microwaves have a physical effect, such as causing stretching, deforming or heating of the brain tissue?” Franck said in the release. “And at what power level are these microwaves potentially harmful to the brain? There are a lot of unanswered questions.”

The research group’s previous work has involved the effects of blunt impacts and explosions on brain tissue, the release shows. It’s gotten more than $50 million in funding from the Office of Naval Research since launching in 2017.

See more in the release.

— The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a $4.3 million grant for the state Department of Workforce Development to help address impacts of the opioid epidemic.

The National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Grant will create disaster-relief positions to address “humanitarian needs” linked to opioids, while also funding employment and training to help eligible people rejoin the workforce or transition to certain fields.

Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training José Javier Rodríguez says the grant “provides critical support to Wisconsin by providing jobs to affected workers and training to assist professions in the areas of addiction treatment, mental health and pain management.”

See the release.

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