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News from around Western Wisconsin

 

 

In western Wisconsin, regional economic growth has 'Momentum' of its own

Wisconsin Technology Network

MENOMONIE - In parts of western Wisconsin, the ties to Minnesota seem almost as strong as those to the Badger state. Many people in Wisconsin's border counties read Twin Cities newspapers, watch Twin Cities television stations, follow Twin Cities sports teams and, most likely of all, see their economic destinies as linked to Minnesota's metropolitan powerhouse.

Western Wisconsin's economic links to Minneapolis and St. Paul are tight, but the magnet effect of the Twin Cities' economy doesn't preclude a regional identity for the Wisconsin counties east of the St. Croix River. In fact, it helps to define it.

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UW-Eau Claire ranked sixth nationally in tally of undergraduate chemistry graduates

EAU CLAIRE - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire graduates more students with bachelor's degrees in chemistry than most other colleges and universities in the country that offer only undergraduate chemistry programs, according to the American Chemical Society.

UW-Eau Claire was ranked sixth nationally - the highest of any Wisconsin college or university - in the number of chemistry graduates among the 335 colleges and universities that offer ACS-approved undergraduate chemistry programs, the ACS's Committee on Professional Training determined in its analysis. Colleges and universities that also offer master or doctoral programs in chemistry were not included in the tally.

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Event builds interest in science, math

Eau Claire Leader Telegram

OSSEO - The wheels of the motorized, model-sized, robotic car bumped off a plastic cylinder laid across its path.

Unable to traverse the obstruction, the robot reverses and returns to two of its creators to be outfitted with a deployable ramp so it can reach the finish line before the 2 1/2-minute time limit expires.

The robot returns to the start line and Lars Olson, 14, and Nicholas Sperry, 12, deftly snap more LEGO parts onto it.

It again ventures across the tabletop obstacle course, but this time it flips down the ramp, rolls effortlessly across the obstruction and gets to the finish with a little more than 10 seconds to spare.
"It worked really well," said Leilah Kidess, 14, of Eau Claire. "The robot usually gets stage fright, but this time it went almost perfectly."

Kidess, Sperry and Olson are on The Green Ideas team with members from Eleva and Eau Claire - one of 48 teams that competed Saturday in the FIRST LEGO League Wisconsin State Championship held at Osseo-Fairchild High School. The other area team attending the championship was the Maniac Drivers, a rookie squad of third and fourth graders from Osseo.

After beginning work in September on robots they assembled out of LEGO parts and a miniature computer...

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Cray XT5 Supercomputer Recognized as
World's Fastest Supercomputer

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today acknowledges the Cray XT5(TM) supercomputer, nicknamed "Jaguar," located at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)  in Seattle, WA for achieving another supercomputing milestone. Jaguar has been recognized by the Top 500 list (www.top500.org) as the world's fastest supercomputer.

"We are pleased that the upgraded Cray XT5 system at ORNL has added this new honor to its growing list of achievements," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. "While we are thrilled to have designed and built a supercomputing system that has broken a number of firsts in the industry, we are most proud of the fact that Jaguar is used day-in and day-out to solve real-world scientific problems at sustained speeds that no other system in the world can match -- including the first two scientific applications in the world ever to break one petaflops in sustained performance."

As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray provides highly advanced supercomputers and world-class services and support to government, industry and academia. Cray technology is designed to enable scientists and engineers to achieve remarkable breakthroughs by accelerating performance, improving efficiency and extending the capabilities of their most demanding applications. Cray is headquartered out of Seattle, WA and has an engineering facility in Chippewa Falls, WI.

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Durand enjoys thriving arts scene

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UW-Stout adding new major

WEAU TV-13 News

UW-Stout is adding a new major.

The University of Wisconsin system board of regents approved a proposal to establish a Bachelor of Science degree in Supply Chain Management Friday. The University says the program will include instruction in improving customer service, minimizing costs, the application of best practices and the use of technology. The curriculum will use faculty and technology that are already at UW-Stout.

This is the 39th undergraduate major at the University. It will be available for the Spring 2010 semester.

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Bon Iver's Justin Vernon voyages back to Eau Claire

Justin Vernon is known by many as a local celebrity with his appearances on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, tours through Europe, and an album that recently went gold in the UK. Originally from Eau Claire, he left the area for bigger and better things. But he's returned and couldn't be happier about it. This article from Fader Magazine tells his story. Here's a piece of that story by David Bevin:


Eau Claire is, in many ways, just like other small towns in America. But as the world connects and cities expand, many communities like this are in danger of becoming less like individual places and more like locally-themed links between urban sprawls. Chain stores, homogeneous home builders and uninspired local leadership are at the forefront of this identity theft, but it's hard not to believe the fabric of towns like Eau Claire remains intact and unique. And though it's by no means a major trend, some of the young people who left smaller towns in search of greater economic opportunity or wilder adventures are coming back, or not leaving in the first place, to make their mark right where they started. Justin Vernon is just one.

In November of 2006, 14 months after migrating south to Raleigh, North Carolina, with a girl and the DeYarmond bandmates he'd grown up playing with, Vernon returned home to Wisconsin all alone. He'd broken up with the girl and the band, and when he arrived at his parents' house, there was no one there. Desperate for solace, Vernon gunned it to his father's hunting cabin, an isolated spot in the North Woods now forever tethered in popular imagination to the wound-licking and self-discovery that galvanized his breakout album For Emma, Forever Ago.

He spent several weeks holed up there, sifting through emotional wreckage, wrestling with chores, camping in front of the television set and, slowly but surely, recording folk music unlike anyone, even those closest to him, would have expected. Made of just a newly found falsetto and guitar, each song was more still than quiet, simultaneously lucid and totally opaque. As many fans and followers as it has gained Vernon, For Emma is still the sound of a young man alone in the woods, sweating out his sorrows while the world around him freezes.

The mythology of Vernon's voyage back to Eau Claire, and subsequent creation of his solo debut, has been endlessly retold since kids everywhere started singing along with him last year. He is the bearded and passionate poet who found himself in the picturesque place he'd left behind.

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NanoRite Board Sets Strategic Direction for the Center, Elects Officers

Jeff West, former president of Silicon Logic Engineering, and Dr. Charles Sorensen, UW-Stout Chancellor, were elected chair and vice chair of the NanoRite Advisory Board at its initial meeting November 2.

Members of the new board include Eau Claire native Mark Bugher, now the director of the University of Wisconsin Research Park; Maliyakal John, intellectual property manager of WiSys; Gwen Southard-Schuppel, CVTC Board member and development manager for the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation; Eau Claire City Manager Mike Huggins; Eau Claire County Administrator Tom McCarthy; and CVTC President Bruce Barker.

The newly created NanoRite Advisory Board will help CVTC by identifying prospective tenants, reviewing marketing activities and strategies and promoting the exchange of ideas and knowledge among businesses and educational institutions.

"The Board is one way we can ensure that NanoRite remains a premier, state-of-the art incubation and innovation center," said CVTC President Bruce Barker. "Each member has a different area of expertise and totally different business and educational backgrounds. Collectively they are a tremendous resource for NanoRite and CVTC," said Barker.

NanoRite is a 37,000 square-foot, high-tech incubation center located at CVTC's Gateway Campus. It opened in August 2007, and is currently home to five businesses new to the Chippewa Valley.

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Governor Doyle Signs Collaborative
Agreement with Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel - Governor Jim Doyle today signed a bilateral collaborative trade agreement between Israel and Wisconsin on research and development. The agreement, signed by Governor Doyle and Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Ben-Eliezer, promotes collaboration and a strong working relationship between Wisconsin and Israel in research and development.

"Wisconsin and Israel share a strong past and a bright future in research and technology development," Governor Doyle said. "This agreement creates an important framework for Israel's and Wisconsin's scientists, engineers and researchers to embark on ground-breaking research and development in many promising fields, especially water technology."

"Israel and Wisconsin have a strong history of working together," Minister Ben-Eliezer said. "We believe that there is still an outstanding potential to enhance our collaboration."

The bilateral cooperative agreement commits to investing in research and development and sharing innovative ideas that will help Wisconsin and Israel compete in the global market. Successful partnerships through Badger Meter and Miltel, among many other companies, have made Wisconsin and Israel strong trade partners. This agreement builds on vital partnerships and commits to future collaboration.

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Featured Technology

Environmentally Friendly Pesticide Formulation Aids

Chemicals category

Researchers at International Specialty Products, a global chemical company located in Wayne, NJ developed replacements for hazardous solvents in pesticide formulations. This unique blend of emulsifiers and solvents delivers a broad range of household and agricultural actives as microemulsions or emulsifiable concentrates. This approach eliminates the use of harmful solvents and enhances biological efficacy and formulation stability, and may deliver cost-savings as well.

Market Potential: Liquid formulations for herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, especially for active ingredients with low solubility in conventional solvents. A well published Hallcomid application is in Bayer's Folicure fungicide sold in Europe. P-H combination solvents can be also used outside EC formulations, like in tank mix additives as well as in the HI&I cleaning and other industrial applications of P-H blends is estimated to exceed $50 million by 2005. CATI is still in the process of reviewing other market segments and their relative sales potential.

Read more about this and over 150 other technologies.