With the exception of my daughter (and even she, a contrary 13yo, is weakening), it seems that we are all glad to see the snow melting and to imagine a prolonged period of seasonal temperatures:
First let me get a bit of not-so-pleasant business out of the way. As many of you are aware Governor Doyle has recently introduced a budget repair bill in an effort to address a revenue short fall. A complement to the budget cuts of the repair bill is a parallel effort to reduce spending; and in that context, state agencies (the UW-System is one) are now under a hiring freeze and strict restrictions on out-of-state travel. Fortunately for us, many university positions are exempted from the hiring freeze and travel restrictions are primarily focused on GPR-funded travel. But that said, the University will be under pressure to show reductions in hiring and in travel. With respect to the budget cuts, these are one-time lapses and the Chancellor’s Office is doing every thing it can to absorb those cuts centrally.
On a more cheery note, WICCI has begun to allocate its startup funds (provided by a Baldwin grant, with matching funds from DNR and NI) across its activities. In the immediate future, it is likely that the majority of its effort will be focused on developing climatic parameters that can support further impacts research. They are also exploring ideas for fast turn-around impacts work that can be undertaken without rigorous climate time series and / or scenarios. In addition to the cash on the table, both the DNR and the Nelson Institute are devoting in-kind resources in the form of staff to the project.
Bill Bland has made great progress in the preparation of a “permission to plan” proposal for a coordinate environmental studies undergraduate major. He has been seeking feedback from a range of departments and schools across campus and our objective is to have the proposal before the UAPC later this spring.
Recent papers (Fargione et al in Science & Searchinger et al in ScienceExpress) regarding the indirect land-use impacts of biofuels production provided another opportunity for the Nelson Institute to engage with State policy makers. In particular Environment & Resources / SAGE graduate student Holly Gibbs, whose thesis research is closely related to those papers, participated in a meeting with Gary Radloff, Director of Policy and Communications from DATCAP Secretary Rod Nilsestuen’s office, Tia Nelson, Co-chair of the Governor’s Global Warming Task Force and others. In that meeting we had the opportunity to present the UW-Madison as a place where clear explanations of complex scientific frontiers can be found. Follow-up from that meeting included a meeting with Radloff and Ben Miller from CALS to discuss general approaches to providing timely support to State policy making needs.
Doug Bruggee gave a very well attended Gaylord Nelson Lecture on the evening of the 27th of February. While he made a number of arguments against increased use of nuclear power to mitigate GHG emissions, his primary argument focused on the health impacts of uranium mining and management. His is the third of our series this year focused on environmental justice. The Outreach Committee meets soon to consider, among other issues, the topic for next year’s lectures. Michel Gelobter will give our final Nelson Lecture on 9 April 2008.
Through a range of venues, our work on interdisciplinary merit guidelines is being looked to as an important first step toward more nuanced evaluation of the full range of scholarship pursued by our faculty and staff. While I am beginning to have some concern that interdisciplinarity is becoming an end unto itself rather than a means to an end, it remains the fact that the Nelson Institute is a leader in facilitating interdisciplinary scholarship and we can continue to distinguish ourselves in this regard if we continue to bring rigor to such scholarship.
Spring break next week - Good luck with mid-terms, and I hope that you can catch up with what ever it is that needs catching up on.
