( applause )
hear in particular about the >> Thanks to all of you for coming out on a Wednesday night to hear about science, and to
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. It's really a treat for me to
have a chance to talk about our college in a venue like this. And that's exactly what Tom has asked me to do, is talk
about the college.
that I've done. But really, I'm here to tell you very end to tell you just a little bit about the science
about the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
and where we see our future lies.
So with that, as Tom said,
of the College of Agricultural I have the great personal honor and privilege to assume the deanship as the 12th dean
and Life Sciences on August 1st of last year.
another Cornelian, our first I follow in the footsteps of
dean, who arrived here in 1880, at the age of 30, with a brand new PhD.
Nobody with experience
apparently was willing to accept the job.
establishing a College of Agriculture here at the University of Wisconsin. And the very daunting task of
had been declared the Land Grant The University of Wisconsin
University of the state of Wisconsin beating out Lawrence
So Dean William Henry arrived in University and Red Pine College.
Now that land grant status 1880, 20 years after University of Wisconsin had achieved the land grant status.
And an education needed to be obliged practical.sity to provide an education for common people.
and the vast majority at that time were in agriculture, who were in rural areas, were not timable to obtain educations,
sufficient to meet the admission
standards of the University of Wisconsin.
Dean Henry arrived, some So about the time that
important changes were made. One of which was to allow for the possibility that as students
were recruited for this college they may, especially coming from
requirements. As a consequence of this rural backgrounds, be unable to meet the high school graduation
situation, when Dean Henry arrived, he had, as he put it,
he faced a severe shortage of students. That is, he had none in 1880. And so, his first task was to
become a college and to recruit students, which he did by building a course that we still value very highly today called
the Farm and Industry Short Course. Today, our college has 19 academic departments.
We recently consolidated one, and another voted to merge. We have 19 academic departments,
approximately 700 academic staff about 310 full-time faculty,
to that 2,300 undergrads and 700 classified employees, 2,300 undergrads, about 1,000 in addition
fall into the Biology major that Dave Nelson is involved with that is a joint major
across the university.
Our college still has a very large number of graduate
And this is one of the reasons students.
why I came here to take this job.
University of Wisconsin-Madison and in our college has been a very important part of the Graduate education at the
It is among the most threatened of our enterprises, because of fabric of our intellectual life.
constituency. Yet if you ask our leading the cost and because graduate students don't have a political
crucial part of our success and our ability to retain outstanding faculty is in fact faculty, you'll find that a
programs. Our undergraduates will also the quality of our graduate
tell you that graduate mentors have been very important to them
as they've built their careers
unparalleled excellence on our here. For a college of our size and type, we have literally
faculty. This is something I hear as a remark broadly across the
campus. We have a sort of inexplicable
We face all the usual kinds of elegance. We're a medium-size state.
budgetary challenges. And yet, somehow we have achieved a faculty profile that
is unmatched in colleges of our type. One metric of that that is a
number of our faculty that are very rigorous indicator is the
members of the National Academy of Sciences. This is the highest honor that a
scientist can achieve.
We, as a college, have 23 living members of the National Academy of Science.
That is several-fold more than
any other college of our type. And many colleges that we are comparing ourselves to have as
many as a hundred more faculty. So this is just a shocking
We have had one college faculty member awarded the Nobel Prize, although Oliver Smithies who was achievement really.
was 50% CALS, so I should've just recognized this year
updated the slide. We have a number, again,
who've been awarded a designation with a Howard Hughes an unmatched number of faculty
investigator or professor. And a number of faculty have
been recognized as Fellows of the American Association for the
an amazing resource. Advancement of Science. So our faculty really represent
We find ourselves as a college embedded in a world class university.
We were pretty happy to trade in
tslide. Newsweek justmber One Party School" for the one you see listed at the top of this
designated us the "Hottest Big State School" in 2007.
We are very proud of, again,
some kind of interesting and almost paradoxical metrics about
We have both produced more our students' achievements.
Peace Corps volunteers than any other university or college, and led the nation in Peace Corps
volunteers in 19 out of the last
Poor's 500 Company CEOs. 20 years. But we rank only behind Harvard in the number of Standard and
That's an interesting juxtaposition. This slide also needs updating.
We just recently surpassed
the number three position to be put into the number two position by the National Science
Foundation for federal research expenditures nationally.
slots since about the 1950s in large research universities We are the only university that has occupied one of the top five
by these NSF criteria. And we are now ranked
only behind Johns Hopkins,
which has a very large private Naval research lab funded by
If you take that research lab away from Johns Hopkins, the Department of Defense dollars.
research expenditures. University of Wisconsin-Madison leads the nation in
We're also one of the top ten national U.S. biomedical research centers, according to
various objective and reliable
researchers is really enormous, and again achieves a profile So our investment in research and in the training of future
that is really very distinctive. We excel nationally, but we
also, in the College of Ag, retain our focus on the state of
Wisconsin. A little known fact about our
college is in addition to our presence here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we manage 12 research stations, we call
them Ag Research Stations, but
actually they're research stations around the state, for a total of about 6,500 acres that
are managed to promote a variety
The station up at Kemp is a natural resources station. agricultures, but natural resources.
southwest, does our grazing and animal operation. RhinelaO.J. Noor is turf.atoes. Lancaster, down in the
these stations that allow us to take the work we're doing and extend it to the state. So>> Can I ask a question?f
Sure. >> If you look at the demographics, it does a pretty
southeast part of Wisconsin. good job, except for the
Is there any outlook for being able to get like a horticultural
largest concentration of experiment station over near the
population, people in Wisconsin? >> It's interesting that you'd
We have the offer of a small ask that question.
piece of land in the vicinity of Milwaukee that has been sustainably managed for
agriculture for 40 years. So we're looking at the possibility of accepting that gift.
It's always important in looking
at a gift like this to ensure that we also will have the resources to take care of that
gift through time.
So there is a focus on, in fact, there's a strong focus in the college on agriculture, sort of
peri-urban, smaller-scale agriculture.
Clearly, this discussion would be a potentially important
advance toward that objective.
So about the college itself. The college is now always ranked
often ranked number one when all in the top three ag schools, and
different parameters of activity are evaluated.
number one ranking that came out We're especially proud of a
in 2005 that reflects research productivity and impact of that research.
When a research article is
published, it goes into the scientific literature. That article is then cited by
other researchers.
And the number of times that article is cited, and the way that article is cited can be
measured. So our college was ranked top among land grant colleges of
according to this type of a metric. Again, paralleling UW-Madison's overall performance, our college
is always first among our land
from the National Institute of grant peers in total research expenditures. And first in research awards
Health, which really is an indicator of our phenomenal strength and balance strength in
the life sciences, as well as in
agricultural science. So we typically lead the nation, always in NSF, and often in some
of the other agencies.
So in addition to this research profile, from very early on in the college's history, there was
a commitment to ensuring that that innovation, that discovery,
that investment in research, translated into improved lives.
So there are a number of
wonderful stories. I could give you a seminar
wonderful stories that relate to completely focused on these
early work that has had just a phenomenal impact on human
A couple of important ones focus health and on agriculture.
on the discovery of vitamins and the understanding of that discovery with respect to its
implications for human health.
Another very important discovery occurred when a farmer appeared holding a bucket of blood and a
dead calf.
And the analysis of the blood and the feed of the calf indicated that spoiled silage
had resulted in the formation of
a compound we now call coumerin. So coumerin has had enormous
It's still a very widely used pharmaceutical. But it's also the basis of, or implications.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, WARF, because of its one of the early products of the
deployment as rat poison, also known as Warfarin.
Even today, our college accounts
for 70% of WARF's annual income. WARF was founded and led by the second dean of this college,
Harry Russell.
And Walt Goodman, here in the audience, was kind enough to give me a biography of this
remarkable man, who went from the college to found WARF.
WARF was really the first of a couple of very big activities
that have benefited, not only the university tremendously, but
the community. The University Research Park
being another.
significant economic impact on CALS partnered with UW-Madison. We donated land that now houses 114 companies, with a very
the state of Wisconsin. We're very proud to have, as Tom said, opened a new building that
really represents a statement about the way our future can
photograph, because this is a photograph taken looking at the glass wall of our Microbial But Sciences Building.this
And in that wall is reflected one of our earliest college buildings, Hiram Smith, also
we hope at the end of this year, newly renovated, to be re-opened
or early next year, to house our Life Sciences Communications
If you haven't had a chance to Department.
walk through Microbial Sciences, I invite you to do so.
And as you enter into the atrium It's a stunning building.
that lies behind that glass wall, you see Hiram Smith framed in a way that honors our past, I
think, but also creates a space in Microbial Sciences that is all about crossing disciplines, crossing administrative
boundaries, creating
conversations between scientists who have a great deal in common.
century, lived in departments that didn't connect very well. We've, for much of the 20th
My colleague Paul Peercy, in the College of Engineering says that
this 20th century in science was
the century of disaggregation, disintegration of science.
of labeled disciplines, separate from each other. He says, and I agree completely, And the appearance of a number
the century we put those that the 21st century will be
disciplines back together. I would suggest also that the original land grant missions,
now captured by the words:
research, instruction and outreach, that we are seeing again an integration of those
missions as well. And Microbial Sciences
museum in the lobby that has represents that, too. We have sort of a boutique
some very interesting exhibits. And we hope will be a space that is welcoming to the public, in
terms of highlighting the impact
that Microbial Sciences has, not only on this campus, but across science and across the state.
Of course, Microbial Sciences underlies some of the most
Cheese is a product of important industries we have in this state.
fermentation. Beer is a product of fermentation.
And in fact, we're looking at-- Miller Brewery was pretty excited to see this, and plans
It's been the subject of some discussion about how to exactly manage the products of those to donate a micro brewery.
( laughter ) experiments.
It looks like we have a volunteer! And so we're seeing, I think, a
re-engagement of a number of the
industries in Wisconsin and across the nation that rely on Microbial Sciences.
Not the least of which is bioenergy.
One is the CALS Department of Bacteriology. And the other is the School of this building.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. Medicine and Public Health's
easy when you come out of your It's a building designed, and the scientists in it say, very
lab, you're in a very exposed space. And apparently, it's very easy
for one colleague to say, "Come on over here, I've got something
collaborations already that have to tell you." We're hearing about
started just in the matter of weeks that this building has been occupied.
The Microbial Sciences Building,
and I sort of mentioned, it is now the largest academic
neighborhood that Tom was describing. The Microbial Sciences Building, building on campus, sits in this
upper right hand corner. on this map, is shown in the
My office, right here, is in Ag Hall, one of our beautiful original buildings.
In fact, I sit in the very room that the 11 deans before me have sat in.
Biochemistry is located. Here's the area where
Here's where we sit right now, in Genetics and Biotechnology.
these areas of advanced science involve interactions with the College of Engineering. In fact, this partnership, down
Henry Mall, is a very old one,
resulting in the formation of a group that still meets, called the West End Club.
Apparently, an engineering
dean's wife in the early 1890s suggested that we should bridge that space.
And even today, that club meets.
We have this site, as Tom mentioned, soon to undergo demolition for the creation of a
really interesting experiment with respect to the university's
engagement in cutting edge science.
And then we have disciplines
housed around there that we know will be crucial.
of Hygiene, Physics, Chemistry Medical Sciences, the State Lab
and Computer Sciences, all located in a section
will foster that re-integration and synergy that we know of this university that we hope
So, as we think about where we to be crucial for our success in this century.
are now, one of my tasks as an incoming dean was also to work
of dialogues that are about finding our way forward. with our faculty and be a part
One of the processes we went through early on was to define
our scope.
This is essentially a scope statement, to clarify what we do and who we work for.
So this is a statement that we
We serve the citizens of have offered to the community and had considerable discussion about.
Wisconsin, we are still a 20% state-supported institution, and obviously, far beyond our
citizens here in the state, by
natural resources and social finding solutions and promoting opportunities in the areas of agriculture, life sciences,
science. These four areas really represent, in my experience,
four neighborhoods in our college community, depicted on
this next slide. Each one of these neighborhoods
is occupied by typically, several departments.
and are ranked still number one in the nation. A number of those departments were the first of their type,
across these neighborhoods. In the center, we've listed our traditional land grant missions. excellence is also distributed
deans like me like to highlight, There's a famous metaphor that
called the three-legged stool, where the three different missions are portrayed as all
integral parts of our operation.
challenge to the Wisconsin Idea, And in fact, that very metaphor was developed here at the University of Wisconsin in
that early commitment from the 1890s, that this university and certainly our college is a part
of it, would serve the state. And our borders would extend to the borders of the state. So as I have had the opportunity
to get to know my college better, I could define these
cases, the boundaries are quite clear. four neighborhoods. And like neighborhoods, in some
That is a strength. And like neighborhoods, sometimes the most interesting boundaries are not clear.
interfaces. And those interfaces are defined action is actually at the
For example, the interface of agriculture and the environment is now understood to be one of very crucial, crucial places.
college operates. Similarly, with respect to the the most important places our
life sciences. Clearly we have a vibrant
biotechnology industry here in
Madison. Those life sciences contribute
across the world, to broadly across the campus and
agriculture, to medicine. And in fact, many of the technologies pioneered here have
gone on to facilitate discoveries in a whole array of other disciplines.
staff and students, and listen As I listen to our faculty,
to our stakeholders, four words really emerged as the focus of the college: food, health,
environment and energy. I'm going to take just a second to comment on this last word. Energy, historically, has not
been understood to be extremely crucial, or an integrated issue in all of these three areas.
major challenges in the 21st But we now know that one of the
century will be an environmentally sensible, energy
It'll be important in agriculture. economy.
And how that develops, in fact, calls forward our social It'll be important in our society.
So energy represents a topic scientists in some very interesting and important ways.
In partnership with engineering thaand others on campus, weot been understood to fall in this college's province.
certainly include considerable recognize that the dialogue about our energy future will
discussion on the creation of fuels, the creation of sources of energy, and the creation of
energy itself.
But as I arrived on campus, a Department of Energy opportunity opened up.
And Tom mentioned, it was really
a very large grants program, the first five-year chapter in
the Department of Energy a 15-year road map that
has sketched out. And a number of our scientists were part of creating that road
map.
We brought forward a proposal that was awarded at the end of June.
It is certainly the largest proposal in our college's history to be funded. And on an annual basis, equal to
the other large award this
campus has, which is IceCube, the Antarctic observatory. So on an annual basis, it is a
budget of that size.
That's a ten-year award. And we're pretty determined to
time ourselves. To house this activity, we have coined something called the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.
We can't do colleges. We can't do departments, even,
very quickly at the University of Wisconsin.
We have this very, very powerful
of our excellence is an immediate consequence of that gtradition. I'm convinced that at least part
So we sat at our table in my But we can do initiatives.
office and decided we would call this future the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.
That allowed us, not only to
bring forward, this successful award, which is called the Great
That center is the award itself. Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.
It is housed for now in the Microbial Sciences Building. And Tim Donahue, whom you'll
hear from, it sounds like, in the future, is getting that off the ground. We just recently successfully
concluded some fairly harrowing contract negotiations.
And I think have found some good balance with that.
We also know, though, that as a college and as a university, in order to be responsible, we need
conversations that are about to reserve space for
energy conservation. Simply plugging in renewable
kind of difference we hope, and the Department of Energy hopes, without a focus on the way we fuels iuse that energy.ake the
And without recognition of the
fact that we'll have lots of choices, regardless of the
We'll have new technologies. technology.
we create energy from other than The issues and questions that will, in the long run, probably be certainly as important as how
fossil fuels will be the ways we deploy those strategies.
only finalist proposal that brought forward any discussion So, interestingly, we were the
of the sustainability of the enterprise.
I would attribute that directly to our land grant status and our
awareness of the importance of bringing forward comprehensive
discussions on topics.
Again, I need to highlight the crucial partnerships that went
our College of Engineering, but with Michigan State University into this award, not only with
start-ups right here in Madison. and a number of other entities, including some private sector
So the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative we hope some day will
Bioenergy Institute. grow into the Wisconsin
Our state has promised a physical home for this
large enough by any means to institute, which will not be
house the faculty involved. But we hope will allow a focal point for the discussions
outlined on this slide. Not only the creation of energy,
and discussions about the implications in the shifts in the way we use energy in the focused on energy conservation
I mentioned food is another major theme. near future.
I want to just highlight some of the interesting things that are
happening on campus.
But we're seeing some interesting, new opportunities about food for a long, long time, a millennia.
of food production with environment, with health, and twith local economies.d aSo we have, I just thought I'ds
highlight some interesting
discussion. tWe have a food science group.f We have a Food Research A lInstitute, which hasary
historically focused on food
public health. safety. And we have a Nutritional Sciences Department, focused on
separately. We know that in fact they have a entities had operated quite separately, really very
great deal to do with each other.
And if we are going to go on and
compete for other large awards like the Department of Energy award, we need to present these
activities in a more integrated way.
So the Food Research Institute also housed in our Microbial
Sciences Building has just
undergone a kind of a process where it's adopted new bylaws, more flexible bylaws, bylaws
that present some guidelines for
oldest consortium we have on expanded interaction with the private sector. It is already, though, the
campus. It moved here from the University of Chicago in the
1960s, and it was set up at the University of Chicago in the
1940s. Again, a very strong link
between our researchers and the private sector. Our newest institute in the area
Sustainable Agriculture, is the Wisconsin Institute for
approved by the University governance process just this
McCown. This brings together activities that really expand campus from last summer, to be lead by Brent
environment, to the social agricultural production, to the
sciences, focused on, again, sustainable agriculture systems.
just focus on sort of boutique No longer does this institute
agricultural production. We're very excited about a
scaling up locally sourced food. Kellogg award that is about
Now, as an Ag dean, I like this, because I deal with groups
production and the agricultural economy from across the spectrum. So from large-scale commodity
agricultural producers to all kinds of people interested in very small-scale production.
something everyone can get But buy local, grow local is
Yeah? >> Is it a conflict that Buy Our Farm Bureau loves it. Our non-profits enjoy it.
Local in Wisconsin exports 85% of its milk, and cheese, all
over the nation?
>> We want them to buy our cheese there. >> I have some struggle with
this Buy Local. It's a nice idea, but you know, Wisconsin's a small state.
after all. But it's our largest industry,
>> Well it is. And it's actually-- ( inaudible )
That's right. We're also very close to some major metro areas that are
enormous markets. So one of the really, really not in our state, but represent
interesting issues in this Kellogg grant is to figure out
what we mean my local.
What do we mean by regional. How do we measure it. Because actually, metrics are
not available for most of the dynamics that need to be
cheese, local means where it's examined. >> Maybe the definition for
best produced. We've proved that our bacteria's
It's our happy cows. actually better.
So, the other thing that's extremely interesting and very
is many people are interested in challenging for this community
this concept. Because they feel that it is really good for small-scale
producers.
But to have the kinds of positive environmental impacts
like to see from organic that people, for example, would
agriculture, guess what? You have to do it on
And so that has big impacts for how you aggregate products, how you distribute products. large-scale.
call. So I had a group in my office yesterday discussing this. And it's really a fascinating
philanthropist that is very interested in this. It's Wal-Mart. And in fact, there is one
people who are working here, So the question is, to the
well how do you feel about Wal-Mart supporting your work?
Yes? It's an interesting time.
>> I have one more question. Is anything being done about, or
emissions from animals? >> Oh, absolutely. thought about basically
Because I was shocked to hear that that was one of the largest >> Is that something that the university--
sources of air pollution, of greenhouse gases.
Without a doubt.
The question is, is anything being done about animal agriculture and its relationship
to damaging environmental issues. The answer is yes.
especially air emissions, but water is a big deal. Or really, about emission,
The answer is yes. One of the reasons we're so
interested here in Wisconsin
about bioenergy, is it could turn manure, one of our biggest environmental liabilities in
this state, one of the most challenging issues for our ag producers, into an asset. We are the number one state for
manure digesters. These are very impressive things, and represent, I think, a really interesting way to turn
something that right now is a big problem into potentially an asset.
an ag digester is peat moss, The material that comes out of
essentially. I have a wonderful photograph.
our chair of Animal Sciences I didn't show you, actually, of
This last point on this slide represents a recognition that in something you wouldn't mind putting in your garden.
addition to traditional research science as we've done it, these
very large awards, like the Department of Energy award, represent an important option for universities and colleges,
because they do provide a substantial, typically more substantial and longer-term resource.
But it is going to be very
important for us as a research institution to maintain a balance of single investigator
awards and these very large, we call it, big science awards.
Health has always been a big focus in our college, and
continues to be a big focus in
our college. This is one of our very articulate junior faculty
members, Gabby Cesar, who is
working in doing stem cell research, focused on both animal
In fact, our School of Medicine and Public Health is and human health.
Health quite recently. transforming, or has become the School of Medicine and Public
There's a committee charged with ensuring that transition
That committee looked at me when happens.
And in many respects, our college has historically had a actually you're the School of Public Health, aren't you?
very strong effort in this area. We are launching a new
institute, jointly with the Med School, the Wisconsin Institute for the Prevention of Obesity and Diabetes.
Obesity is now not only a problem in the developed world, but increasingly, a very
the developing world. So this focus is very well significant nutritional issue in
proud of, as well as globally. placed, for both Wisconsin, our stats aren't anything to be too
We are bringing forward a concept of a college that is really relevant to efforts
around the campus, focused on poverty.
This is led by Michael Carter, one of our outstanding
economists. We are energizing a number of different partnerships, focused primarily on farm safety, food
safety, and personalized
medicine with the Marshfield Clinic. And finally, we are taking a
comprehensive look with a group called the Life Sciences Task Force, chaired by Hector DeLuca,
Mark Bugher, chair of our Research Park. a very eminent biochemist, and
And this is really taking a look at our future in the area of
Life Sciences, and how to keep
Wisconsin at a very high profile, and able to contribute.
we call environment, we have With respect to the neighborhood
a new department. This department represents a merged department between
Aldo Leopold's Department of Wildlife Ecology and our Department of Forestry, Ecology and Management.
We're very excited about this new community.
It's larger. We've placed two new faculty
positions there.
And as a consequence of this energy, we're also looking
on campus. toward re-energized discussions
This is not just a CALS issue, but on campus, towards an environmental science major,
which we still lack.
Nelson Institute for Those discussions are occurring in earnest all across campus, but especially with the Gaylord
Environmental Studies. So when we ask ourselves why
In the College of Ag and Life Sciences, we understand that this matters so much.
important, if not more important that mission, that land grant mission, is every bit as
for us in this century, than it was in the 19th or 20th century. But we can't do what we did in
the 20th century and get where
we want to be now. We know that science is moving
Science is moving incredibly incredibly fast.
quickly. The integration, the power of information, the transformation
and the challenges are on scales
that really are unprecedented. So we know that it's going to be
recognizing the relationships between these different entities about partnerships of all type,
on campus. And I'm going to close with just
highlighting some important pieces of biology that are
contributing to all of this. As Tom said, I was a plant
breeder.
I worked in plant genetics at a time when we all worked on our own favorite little crop.
Well, I happen to work on vegetables, because vegetables
were important nutritionally and vegetables are a very important
source of income in the developing world. But we were always sort of the
corn. We don't have a big presence in Congress. What has happened to the science
in the 15 or 20 years that I
have studied this, is that genetic information in plants has collapsed to a very, sort
of, simple set of-- To really almost, not one genome, so-called genome, but where I can take information in
my favorite crop, which one of
things that I never would have them happened to be the pepper. I can pull information from across all biology to learn
been able to discover otherwise. This collapsing of information
re-integration is so important. I studied a gene for virus is one of the reasons why this
because these viral diseases resistance in pepper. And I was interested in it
I was interested in the gene. There was a gene I knew about prthat controlled that virald some other parts of the world.
That virus, it's a pepper virus, disease.
looks a whole lot like Polio. So I looked to Polio for candidates that might account
for the identity of that gene.
my favorite pepper plant as to It turns out this system, Polio and mouse, yielded some suggestions that I could test in
the identity of my gene, and I guessed right.
that's involved in the genetic It turns out it's a protein
system of the plant that the virus has pirated, and uses,
introduced, it means the virus except when a mutation is
can't infect anymore. We've had a chance to take a look at that molecule up close
and personal, and then to use that information in both crop breeding and in crop genetic
This story probably wouldn't engineering.
have happened. It would've taken a career. And in my case, it happened so
fast that I got to where I
wanted to be about 20 years too soon, which meant when the phone rang and it was UW-Madison,
I said, well, hmm, that's an
interesting possibility. And I recognized that as a
story, how important communities consequence of my personal
are, how important scientific communities are, how important for me the integration of the
mission is. For me, it was like that calf blood.
caught my attention. It was a wrecked crop that
But it was work going on in medicine that led me to an answer that is now actually in
trials in West Africa, back to
where we started, with a novel strategy that we think is now broadly applicable well beyond
pepper. So with that, I'm going to
close, with a favorite quote from a very eminent scholar,
part of that early land grant movement. I admit, he was at Cornell. But I like this idea.
I like this quote because in
We can teach our students facts. field that is moving as rapidly as our science is, it's not the facts that we can transmit.
Clearly, facts are very important. But in this college, we are
striving, in addition to
disciplinary excellence, and in addition to the facts, to create a vision that is communicated
and shared, developed in
dialogue, and to encourage our students to acquire the tools necessary to create and
challenge their visions as they move forward. So with that, I'll close and
the discussions we've begun or I'll be glad to continue any of
( applause ) answer any other questions. And I thank you very much for your attention.
And we here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are farthest, you have to stand on the shoulder of giants.
extremely fortunate in that is exactly where we're standing.
Without a doubt.
And you're one of them. >> How are we doing on the switchgrass?
Well, fortunately,
switchgrass is a perennial grass that is the object of some
respect to bioenergy. It's a crop that does not have considerable interest with
to be planted on an annual basis.
It does not have to be
breeding program in the U.S. right here. And we're lucky in that we have about the only switchgrass
That actually highlights something that I didn't mention
that's really a very important
asset of this campus, which is our partnerships with federal agencies, such as the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Because that switchgrass geneticist is actually a USDA employee, who happens to be
based here. We also have the Forest Products
Lab. So that is a very large federal
laboratory with a huge interest in cellulosic ethanol, as well
as many other things that have to do with wood.
So as an asset moving forward,
especially focused on energy, these federal partnerships are also going to be very, very
crucial in all respects, really,
Absolutely. >> How far do we have to go now? >> Change the whole face of everything.
we are and reorient. Is it a real long shot? >> Well let me sketch out where
The question is how far do we have to go before we're really in a very different energy
economy.
I would say we're already there with corn-based ethanol. And there's a lot of very
interesting discussion about how
we got here. Some will say that this focus on
not about national security, but corn-based ethanol is in fact
evidence for that. is actually about high corn prices. And in fact, there's some
I don't have time to explain, but of course, one of the ways that, for example, this DOE
program has been essentially
to us when we accepted that solaward is that we are to beof national security issues. The challenge that the DOE made
cellulose sourced ethanol. contributing to a shift in that energy economy from grain to
But it is a crystalline sugar So cthat occurs in plants.ust like the starches we now use in grain.
It's very difficult to access, It's the most abundant material on the planet.
access. It requires harsh chemical Unlike the sugars in corn kernels, it's very difficult to
ethanol. pre-treatments and then complicated conversions to
And it can not be done on very It can be done now. It can not be done very efficiently.
large scale. So our challenge with this DOE
to remove the bottlenecks in the award is literally, specifically
I don't know. But I can say that this grant will pull on disciplines and How long will that take?
away from chemical will take a focus that moves
pre-treatments to enzymatic treatments, and to the integration of various enzymatic
reactions in one environment so that the reactions can occur in one container, as the material
source, the plant, to a form is moved out of its original
that's accessible for conversion to energy to energy.
is switchgrass, getting it >> One of the challenges there
through the process. >> That's right.
Engineering Department We have a Biological Systems
They, clearly, are going to be a in the college. I just met with them as a department this afternoon.
very integral part in these discussions. That observation, though, is one
of the reasons why there's so much interest in this possibility in Wisconsin, because biomass is bulky.
And it's unwise and not economical to transport it very far.
the state, in rural communities that are surrounded by either the forest source biomass or So there's considerable hope in
that conversion processes will production ag source biomass
have to happen in those communities. >> There's a lot of land in
southwest Wisconsin that's
un-glaciated, and would be ideal for this scenario.
erosion. It's a matter of reducing
>> That's right. And there's a lot of land in the
number one paper pulp state in northern part of the state, the
this nation, where that even after the use of those forests
lot of residual biomass in the for paper and pulp, there's a
north. So there's considerable interest
depends on forest based resources, that this may be a real boon in areas where forests in the section of the state that
Wisconsin really represents a microcosm of a number of are very prevalent.
And this was one of the other features that the Department of Energy recognized when our grant into a very small geography.
That we were able to bring was funded.
forward economic positioning arguments about why Wisconsin,
very powerful. why the Midwest that were really
We have this northern forest based economy.
prairie based economy. We have the production ag,
We also have a very strong manufacturing sector that stands
of technologies that are created to benefit from the deployment
here. And we're a metro state. We export $18 billion a year in
energy costs. So there were a lot of reasons
why changing some of those dynamics could be extremely good
for Wisconsin.
>> We're a net exporter of energy? >> We're a next exporter of
energy dollars. We send dollars out of the
state. So we're an importer of energy,
because we buy it from outside
the state. >> When you have cellulose, which is wood, what's the best
way to get the energy out of it?
Burn it, or to ferment it, or to change it to nitrocellulose and blow it up?
What's the best way to get
energy? >> So the Department of Energy's strategy is focused on
essentially fermentation style
reactions. But we know, in fact
biomass with coal. our generating plant here burns
And there are a number of interesting strategies focused on gasification strategies that
are being explored. So that's why we think it's so
important in the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative to have a
capacity built into the conversation that assesses
what's the best way forward. What are the efficiencies; what
are the economic implications;
what are the environmental implications of a particular
particular harvest practice, production system or a
and a particular set of technologies used
Do you create a fuel like ethanol, or do you create electricity as is the case for to create the energy.
There's lots of different ways our manure digesters.
this can work. Other waste streams, other
production ag source biomass and sources of biomass besides
state. forestry, clearly manure is a terrific asset in this state. Or a terrific factor in this
to synergy, especially the idea of interactions between the College of Ag and Life Sciences >and the School of Medicine andy
Public Health.
We've all heard a lot about the $150 million building. We haven't heard so much about
this $158 million Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research
School building. that's almost finished near the UW Hospital, at the new Medical
There's a footprint already built for another tower of equal size that would mean about a
$300 million complex. It's going to shift, I believe
here, which is in our neighborhood, a mile west. an awful lot of the researchers in the Medical School building
the Medical School and the What effect do you think that might have on synergy between
College of Ag and Life Sciences, and are there any ways that you can keep the interactions high
as we get a mile apart? >> I think there is a commitment
to keeping scientists, regardless of their college
affiliations, who are working primarily on fundamental biology
in this section of town. So much of what's discussed,
much of what will move is primarily focused on more clinical applications, research oriented toward that.
We actually think that if we are
that those researchers will need, is actually related to focused on bioenergy, much of the technology that will need,
chancellor's favorite site for biomedical science. And the favorite site, our
that building right now is actually in between the Med School and where we are right
now.
So I expect we will have people moving around. I know one think we're trying to
do, particularly near Nutritional Science, where we have a tremendous overlap with
creating things like seminar the Med School, is we're
series that pull people back and forth.
apart. You know, it's still a mile
But if you know exactly where you're going, you know where your friend lives, you have a
reason to go there. It becomes much easier. And of course, bus service in absence of some of this
construction will really help.
>> A people mover system on this campus. It'd be the perfect place for
it. It's almost ideal.
We've got a whole backbone here, like West Virginia.
As you've talked about these
farmer and his family, can maybe exciting ideas and changes, I'm thinking about the technical on a middle-aged Wisconsin dairy
handle 50-60 dairy cows. And wondering how the College of
information and activities will continue to relate to and help Agricultural and Life Sciences
For a typical Wisconsin dairy farmer, actually now has about them in the future. >> It's a really good question.
85 or so cows. ( inaudible )
That's right. And that number is increasing,
of the nation, which is really, really interesting. We have a very diverse dairy increase is way behind the rest
I think it's really without parallel in terms of its industry in this state.
diversity. I find our dairy farmers to be
incredibly entrepreneurial. We've had some very exciting
incremental modernization of our initiatives in the last five to ten years that focus on
dairy farmer, who lives three hours away from here, And waccess to all kinds ofllow your typical Wisconsin
implemented in a reasonable manner. So I find, just like on campus, there is an energy among our ag
producers and a commitment to staying ag producers, and making
strong businesses for the next generation.
It's really very exciting and very strong.
We still partner very extensively with the University of Wisconsin-Extension System. actually crucial informants.
partner. Extension is a deeply integrated
And our Extension specialists, who are our faculty on campus,
out in the county. connect with Extension faculty
So we still maintain here in Wisconsin, a very strong kind of
Extension service. traditionally structured
But in addition to that, there is a good example.
organized groups that get onto We have a whole host of producer
campus on a regular basis. They tell us what they need.
I'll tell you one very exciting thing that was typical, dairy producers are doing for us right They ask us for what we have.
that we simply couldn't have now, is helping us build a barn
done any other way. We have a research barn going up in Arlington.
It's going up for, I think, 20% of the price of one that
That's because those typical recently went up at River Falls that houses five time the cows.
Wisconsin dairy farmers keep in close touch with us, and partner with us where there's research.
So we keep in very close touch
innovative partnerships. through a whole host of mechanisms, both fairly traditional and some pretty
These guys are excellent business people.
They ask for what they need and insist that we are accountable They get what they need.
Thank you. for delivering it, which is the best thing they could do for us.
>> Thank you. I notice the hour is late. I don't want to keep you too
late. Good, I want to thank you all. ( applause )