Badger Talks Podcast

Buzz talks with Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology PhD student Bijit Khadka about his research into animal communities, wildlife genetics, populations, and competition dynamics in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Buzz Kemper talks with West Madison Agricultural Research Station Superintendent Janet Hedtke and Professor William Tracy about the station's important role in food and other plant growing in Wisconsin.

Jane Rotonda, Director of the Wisconsin Book Festival (October 17-20), talks with Buzz Kemper about this year's Book Festival activities and events.

As his first return guest, Sam Mulrooney, Director of the Wisconsin Science Festival and Outreach Program Manager at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery talks with Buzz Kemper about the Wisconsin Science Festival 2024, which runs October 14-20.

The state and future of Social Security and aging trends often gets put into the political blender, and it's easy to get confused. In this episode, Buzz Kemper speaks with Assistant Professor at La Follette School of Public Affairs about this important program, where it's at now, and what its future looks like.

Buzz talks with Senior Associate Athletic Director for Capital Projects and Operations Jason King about some big and exciting improvements to UW Athletic facilities.

Scientific research and sports come together in a fascinating new way which benefits both. Hear about BIOS: Badger Inquiry on Sport, as Buzz Kemper speaks with Peter Miller, professor in the School of Education at UW-Madison.

Economics. Oh yes, we all learned the basics of supply and demand back in junior high, but what does economic health mean for a country? For an individual? And how can we better understand the basics and what impacts them? Menzie Chinn, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at La Follette School of Public Affairs joins Buzz Kemper, and helps us unpack and understand this complex topic.

Buzz talks with Emeritus Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at UW Madison Steve Ackerman about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. We go far beyond what you know from Gordon Lightfoot's song in this fascinating interview.

What do you know about the Great Lakes? Buzz Kemper speaks with Moira Harrington, Assistant Director of Communications at UW Madison Sea Grant about some amazing things about our Great Lakes.

Buzz Kemper speaks with Jordan Murray, Harmful Algal Blooms Epidemiologist at UW Department of Health Services, about how Blue-Green Algae forms, and how its presence in Wisconsin lakes can affect the health of humans and animals.

Buzz talks with Botany Professor Dr. Simon Gilroy about his experiment sending plants to the space station for observation.

This time on The Badger Talks Podcast, Buzz talks about....a BIG buzz! Wisconsin's 17-year cicada emergence, with his guest, Director of UW Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, aka Wisconsin's Bug Guy: PJ Liesch.

Buzz explores how Wisconsin's Earth Day celebration evolved into a week-long Earthfest, with his guests Nathan Jandl and Emily Reynolds.

In a continuation of exploring The Odyssey Project, Buzz Kemper talks with director Emily Auerbach, and Odyssey Project alums Hezouwe Walada and Rene Robinson about their stories of courage. The UW-Odyssey Project offers University of Wisconsin-Madison humanities classes for adult students facing economic barriers to college. The majority of students that participate in the Odyssey Course are from racial and ethnic minority groups (~90%) and are often overcoming the obstacles of single parenthood, homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, incarceration, depression, and domestic abuse. Odyssey students report transformative outcomes, and some have even moved from homelessness to bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Students also say that they read more to their children, feel that they are better parents and advocates for their children in school, have more hope about their own futures, and are more likely to vote and become involved in their communities.

UW-Madison's Odyssey Project offers humanities classes for adult students facing economic barriers to college. The majority of students who participate in Odyssey are from racial and ethnic minority groups, and are often overcoming the obstacles of single parenthood, homelessness, addiction, incarceration, depression, and domestic abuse. Participants say they read more to their children, feel they are better parents, and have more hope about their own future. In this program, we're exploring how Odyssey has helped students find their voice and be heard. Buzz speaks with Director of UW Odyssey Project Emily Auerbach, and Odyssey Projects alums Keena Atkinson and Corey Saffold about their Odyssey experience.

Buzz speaks with Village of Waunakee Executive Assistant Kylie West and UniverCity Managing Director Gavin Luter about how cities, towns, and villages form alliances with UW-Madison to accomplish their goals; in this case, working with the Ho Chunk Nation to create a traveling museum about the Ho Chunk people.

What is research? We have images of labs, computer models, surveys, ivory towers, etc. but some researchers are taking research to the people: to communities and neighborhoods. We find out more with our guests, Community-Engaged Scholarship Specialist Cory Sprinkel of the Morgridge Center for Public Service and Kat Phelps, with the Wisconsin Network for Research Support.

Psychology Emeritus Professor Robert McGrath helps us tune into the meaning of Thanksgiving by talking about the benefits of gratitude and thankfulness.

It's Veterans' Day month, and on this episode, Joe Rasmussen, Director of Veterans Services at UW-Madison, talks about how the UW supports our veteran students.