UW-Madison Graduate School

05/29/2026

Congratulations to Economics PhD student Caitlin Dutta for receiving the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy award for outstanding dissertation research! https://www.horowitz-foundation.org/2026

05/28/2026

New research led by PhD student Aya Klos and professor Betül Kaçar found that early life on Earth relied on a surprisingly scarce metal: https://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/2026/05/06/early-life-on-earth-relied-on-a-surprisingly-scarce-metal/

05/27/2026

PhD student Danielle Burke has received a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship to create a digital map of craftspeople from the Handicraft Movement and invite the people who still have or use those handiworks today to contribute to the site.

PhD student Danielle Burke has received a fellowship to help her create a digital map of craftspeople from the Handicraft Movement and invite the people who still have or use those handiworks today to contribute to the site.

05/26/2026

The UW–Madison Postdoctoral Association has recognized six postdocs and three faculty with Postdoc Excellence Awards to acknowledge their excellence in mentoring, teaching, and service. https://grad.wisc.edu/2026/05/26/postdoc-excellence-awards-highlight-outstanding-postdocs-and-faculty-mentors/

05/22/2026

PhD student Monica Rico and a team built and analyzed a mathematical model to help strategically place official medication collection boxes, aiming to reduce environmental issues and prescription drug abuse. Full story:

A plastic bottle of prescribed painkillers—extras from a surgical recuperation—lurks in the back of your medicine cabinet. If you’re like most Americans, you’ll either let the pills linger, flush them down the toilet or toss...

05/21/2026

In carbon-storing wetlands, viruses help shape ecosystem health. A new study led by PhD student James Kosmopoulos shows they could even be indicators for ecosystem health.

  It’s well-known among scientists that viruses can alter the makeup and function of ecosystems. For example, they promote microbial diversity by infecting and killing select bacteria, and the…

05/20/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Haley Kottler on receiving the WISL Award for Communicating PhD Research to the Public! Dr. Kottler is now a Senior Data Analyst in Curriculum Analytics for Western Governors University.

After completing her thesis, Haley started a position as a Senior Data Analyst in Curriculum Analytics for Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT.

05/19/2026

Computer science PhD student Daniel Killough designs programs that can make VR and AR technology accessible to people with low or no vision. Read about this work in his own words:

For Daniel Killough, accessible technology is personal. After his own unexpected health challenges and watching his father struggle with everyday software, he became driven to ensure that emerging devices like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets are built for everyone. (In Their...

05/18/2026

UW–Madison PhD candidates Farah Basit, Tony DelaRosa, Benjamin Lebovitz, and Curtis O’Dwyer are among the 35 selected to receive 2026 National Academy of Education (NAEd) and Spencer Dissertation Fellowships. Congratulations!

Four UW–Madison doctoral students are among the 35 selected to receive 2026 National Academy of Education (NAEd) and Spencer Dissertation Fellowships.

05/18/2026

Congratulations to postdoc Aditi Gargeshwari and graduate students Valerie Hammer, Joseph Walston, and Ziyan Wu – all recipients of the 2026 Awards for Mentoring Undergraduates!

The 2026 Awards for Mentoring Undergraduates recognize outstanding contributions to student growth from the classroom to the lab.

05/15/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Ziyan Wu on receiving the WISL Award for Communicating PhD Research to the Public! Dr. Wu's thesis explores a method to detect microplastics and nanoplastics in freshwater.

"Detection of Low Micrometer Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Freshwater by Coupling Raman Spectroscopy, Membrane Sensors, and Machine Learning Algorithms"