A university research communications conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee this week attracted editors and writers from Canada, Great Britain and across the United States.
About 50 people attended the annual gathering of the University Research Magazine Association.
Attendees heard presentations from notables such as Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Kathleen Gallagher and Mark Johnson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for their “One in a Billion” series about how doctors for the first time used gene sequencing to treat a dying boy.
They also heard from Associated Press chief medical writer Marilynn Marchione, Discover magazine editor in chief Becky Lang, science journalist Michael Lemonick and from researchers and communicators who handled the announcement of the LIGO gravitational waves discovery.
“We learned valuable lessons from colleagues in research communications this week,” said Rachel Coker, URMA president and director of research advancement at Binghamton University in New York. “UWM did a fantastic job hosting and made sure our group had a chance to see and experience some of Milwaukee’s most interesting and beautiful places. We’ll all be going home with new ideas about how to do our jobs more effectively.”
The conference also showed off UWM – sessions were held at the School of Freshwater Sciences, the Zilber School of Public Health and the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex – and Milwaukee, with visits to Summerfest and the Newsroom Pub downtown.
