July 20, 2020  |  News & Events, Provost's Updates, Timely Announcements

Good morning, colleagues. Here is this week’s update from Academic Affairs.

Kudos

Yin Wang (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Xiaoli Ma (Materials Science and Engineering) received a $199,980 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to develop a technology that enables quantitative assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in contaminated sites and promotes the development of cost-effective PFAS management practices. Congratulations, Yin and Xiaoli!

Kristine Lize (Teaching and Learning) was selected for participation in Cohort 10 (2020-2022) of the National Council of Teachers of English’s Conference on English Leadership’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship program. Applicants are competitively selected based on their potential to become leaders in the field of English Education. Well done, Krissy!

Yin Wang (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and his collaborators were also awarded $419,999 by the National Science Foundation Environmental Engineering Program to develop a novel class of molybdenum- and Tungsten-based catalysts for water and wastewater treatment. He is working with researchers at UC Riverside and George Washington University. UWM’s share is $109,999. Congratulations, Yin!

Kimberly Blaeser (English and American Indian Studies) is the featured author in the online journal, “Siwarmayu: un río de colibríes/Siwarmayu: a river of hummingbirds.” The feature, “Balance on the Verge of Vision,” presents her poetry and picto-poems in Spanish and English. Well done, Kim!

Spring 2020 graduate Giorgio Sarro (Atmospheric Sciences) was awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Father James B. Macelwane Annual Award in Meteorology! This award, one of the most prestigious student research accolades in the atmospheric sciences, recognizes the most outstanding original research paper by an undergraduate student. Congratulations, Giorgio!

Pradeep Rohatgi (Materials Science and Engineering) was selected for the International Association of Advanced Materials Association Scientist and Medal Award from Sweden last week. He gave a webinar on July 15 on “50 years of Cast Metal Matrix Composites and Future Prospects.” Well done, Pradeep!

Last Friday: Academic Affairs ‘Planning for the Fall’ meeting

Last Friday, I invited all of the department chairs, advisors, shared governance leads, the leadership of our student association, associate deans, assistant deans and deans to a meeting where we discussed our planning for the fall semester. More communication will be following (including the city’s current order on education), but I encourage you to update yourself on where we are with our current planning. The meeting has been recorded and you can view the meeting here.

The Week

Monday
I start the week with my daily Crisis Management Team (CMT) Leadership meeting, followed by my weekly meeting with Robin Van Harpen, a meeting on our freshwater collaborative, I’ll join the Academic Staff Committee for part of their fall planning retreat, the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet meets, I have my weekly staff meeting, and my “end of day” meeting with Dev Venugopalan and Laura Pedrick. There is also a special Board of Regents meeting today to discuss Title IX.

Tuesday
In the morning, I have another CMT Leadership meeting, an M3 meeting with Chancellor Mone, and a School of Education Summer Work Group meeting. In the afternoon, I will attend to administrative tasks and I have my weekly meeting with the Chancellor, followed by a discussion regarding the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute.

Wednesday
Today, I have a CMT Leadership meeting, followed by the Deans Morning Meeting, a meeting with CEMAT leads, my one-on-one with Dave Clark, a meeting with Mark Harris, the weekly UW System Provost Council teleconference, my regular check-in with Dev and Laura, and at the end of the day I will join a Teams Town Hall meeting with prospective students.

Thursday
In the morning, I have the daily CMT Leadership meeting, my standing meeting with Brian Thompson, an Enterprise Directions Council meeting, and a meeting with the Chancellor to discuss Phase II of Think Tank 2030. In the afternoon, I meet with direct reports.

Friday
I start the day with my final CMT Leadership meeting for the week, followed by a Zoom conference with Chris Marett, President of EAB’s Enrollment and Advancement Marketing Services. Later, I’ll make closing remarks at the American Indian Science Scholars Camp, then I’ll head over to Cunningham where we will make a recording for the Virtual Commencement.

Announcements

Call for SURF Proposals
The Office of Undergraduate Research invites proposals by August 15 for its Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program for fall 2020 or the 2020-21 academic year. Through this program, UWM faculty and academic staff can provide financial support to undergraduates to work as research assistants.

Other

Go Arsenal . . .

Take care,
Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs