Research News Roundup: Stories About Research at UW–Madison
Dinosaurs roamed the northern hemisphere millions of years earlier than previously thought, according to new analysis of the oldest North American fossils
David Lovelace removes sediment from around a fossil in plaster cast as he works in the UW Geology Museum’s specimen preparation room. Photo: Jeff Miller
Fossils of a newly described dinosaur were uncovered by University of Wisconsin–Madison paleontologists and that finding is evidence that the reptiles were present in the northern hemisphere millions of years earlier than previously known.
The UW–Madison team has been analyzing the fossil remains since they were first discovered in 2013 in present-day Wyoming, an area that was near the equator on Laurasia. The creature, named Ahvaytum bahndooiveche, is now the oldest known Laurasian dinosaur, and with fossils estimated to be around 230 million years old, it’s comparable in age to the earliest known Gondwanan dinosaurs.
UW–Madison scientists and their research partners detail their discovery Jan. 8, 2025, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Read the story here: https://news.wisc.edu/dinosaurs-roamed-the-northern-hemisphere-millions-of-years-earlier-than-previously-thought-according-to-new-analysis-of-the-oldest-north-american-fossils/
Extension’s Health and Well-Being Institute (HWB) has launched a new website
The website connects community leaders and Wisconsin residents with resources, programs, and success stories that advance health and well-being across Wisconsin. Explore tools for building healthier communities by supporting:
- Community Leaders: Find resources to strengthen collaborations and foster impactful programming.
- Wisconsin Residents: Discover health initiatives and programs that enhance well-being across the state.
Why do birds make so many different sounds? A new UW–Madison study gets at the underlying factors
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have conducted the first-ever global study of the factors that influence bird sounds, using more than 100,000 audio recordings from around the world. The new study, recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, revealed insightful patterns for why birds make certain noises and at what frequency.
Aldo Leopold’s handwritten journals have been transcribed and made searchable online.
Dozens of volunteers, including Arboretum naturalist Kathy Miner, helped with the transcription work.
Mentor Awards
Nominations are due by March 3 for the annual Awards for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, recognizing faculty, academic staff, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students for outstanding mentoring of undergraduates. These awards provide $2,000 of university expendable funds (supplies and expenses).
UW–Madison’s Odle highlights direct admissions as education development on the rise
Taylor Odle does research around direct admissions.
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education utilized the expertise of UW–Madison’s Taylor Odle in its recent “Year in Review” article reflecting on trends across higher education in 2024.
Odle, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies, spoke about streamlining pathways between high school and college as a positive development this past year.
Read the full article to learn more about developments in higher education this past year and what may come next in 2025.
UW–Madison scholars publish groundbreaking American Educational Research Journal article on supporting trans students
Leaders of elementary and high schools need more training on how to implement policies that support
Mollie McQuillan (photo by Sarah Maughan UW–Madison)
transgender and gender-diverse students, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The study, published in the American Educational Research Journal, conducted and analyzed interviews with 36 school administrators and policy consultants in Illinois to determine school leaders’ knowledge of existing legal and policy protections for transgender and gender-expansive students in their state, as well as how to link those policies to administrative actions. It found a number of administrators demonstrated limited or incorrect understanding of federal and state policies.
Mollie McQuillan, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, was the lead author of the study.
Published in the Harvard Business Review: “Research: Why Forming Diverse Teams Is Harder in Uncertain Times,”
Ma, who is an assistant professor of management at Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin–Madison, studies how employees experience agency, such as having choice and control, and the wide-ranging — and often counter-intuitive — consequences of these experiences.