University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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Dijones may be significant in the future. While this is the case, a projectts significance : ., isn,t always apparent to the outside 1 observer. One can easily understand why researchers try to discover what causes cancer, but the justification of studying why flies can,t escape flyswatters isn,t ,5 'L M J; as obvious. For most of us, houseflies f g L ' ' , serve us best simply by being dead. I i b However, a study of their nervous f! '7 3 V! i5 M 5 M + reflexes may add to what is known about nervous systems in more com- plex animals. In the long run, the study could prove to be invaluable to the field of medicine. Working in the UW research labs can be as frustrating as it is interesting. It is rather unfortunate that professors and assistants involved in scientific pioneering are also teaching; because news of fascinating discoveries and enthusiasm tend to creep into under- graduate lectures and labs. Too often professors are forced to end a semester of suspense by announcing that a student has hjust scratched the surface? Although this is invariably the case in scientific research, such an announcement is difficult for a profes- sor to make and frustrating for an interested student to hear.

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28 Experimenters and students share the triumphs and sits- pense 0f laboratmy research. One integral part of university life cannot be found near any dormitory, college classroom, or State Street bar. It operates quietly - you could spend years on campus and never really know its there. Research at the University of Wis- consin-Madison is a massive effort involving everything from collecting gas samples to carillon music, from analyzing the smallest sub-atomic par- ticles to modeling the human body mathematically. Very few people are aware of how large the program has grown. A gradu- ate program which awarded its first PhD. degree to Charles Van Hise in 1892 awarded 248 PhD. degrees in May, 1977, with a budget of $95.mil- lion. A 1971 study ranked 20 of the UWls graduate programs in the top ten in the US. Allocating portions of the annual budget among the various departments is a complex task. In 1977, $90 million was provided and administered by sources outside the state, such as the federal government. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation tWARFl supplied about $4 million in W 4, , funds derived mainly from patent income on Warfarin, a substance more commonly known as rat poisons. Only about $1 million of all research funds came from state taxes. L i Students of nearly every Classifica- tion, from freshmen to fourth-year ' graduate students, are involved in SOme sort of experimentation.-The Ph.D. candidate doing his first original research will find that existence in a huge research department is a trying experience Departmental research requirements are often higher than the minimums set by the university, and there are many ways one can err in experimental and departmental proce- dure. Occasionally the graduate stu- dent will find that his original research a may no longer be so original, meaning 2 someone at another school is already a ' working on the same project. A UW-Madison requires a certain amount of published research from each faculty member, a policy which is sometimes crudely stated as, llpublish or perish? The university also has tried to direct its research toward areas which are rel- evant to current scientific problems or

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Treats from Babcock Hall attract custom- ers of all ages all year round. Patrons agree that the calories donlt weigh on the tongue as heavily as the pleasure titillata the taste buds.