UW-La Crosse

  1. Freshwater science: Mentorship and insecticide insight

    Photo of Austin Draper, whose love of fish led him to a career in water sciences.

    January 19, 2022

    Collaborative grant provided opportunity for faculty and students at two UW schools to study potential emerging water contaminants. Austin Draper never considered a career in freshwater science. Although he was an extremely curious kid — and asked a lot of questions about nature, particularly fish — he struggled academically in high school. After graduation, he attended community college […]

  2. UW-La Crosse student creates non-profit benefitting K-12 athletes

    Photo of UW-La Crosse football player Rusty Murphy, who was worried about the impact of COVID-19 on local K-12 student-athletes. So, he co-founded Rising Athletes, a non-profit that strives to help youth sports programs by organizing, creating and sustaining opportunities for K-12 students.

    December 16, 2021

    COVID-19 affected athletes in many ways — an abrupt end to competition, canceled and shortened seasons, fewer conference and national championships, and more. But UW-La Crosse football player Rusty Murphy was more worried about the impact on local K-12 student-athletes. “The biggest thing was realizing that, due to effects of COVID-19, a ton of kids […]

  3. The future looks fresh: New collaboration will boost Wisconsin water research, policy, and economy

    Photo of faculty from five UW campuses who met in July at the UW-Waukesha field station for a daylong retreat to plan Freshwater Science 101, a new course to be offered to students at UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-La Crosse, UW Oshkosh, and UW-Parkside. Pictured are Eric Strauss, Robert Stelzer, Jake VanderZanden, Mike Carvan, Greg Kleinheinz, Jessica Orlofske, and Marlin, who gave them a tour of the station. Taking the photo was Tracy Boyer. Photo courtesy of Heidi Jeter.

    November 30, 2021

    On a sunny afternoon in late September, a group of undergraduate students boarded Limnos II, UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology (CFL) pontoon boat, for a field trip on Lake Mendota with CFL director, Jake Vander Zanden. Onboard, they learned about the formation of Wisconsin’s lakes, tried their hand at using limnological tools like Secchi disks and zooplankton […]

  4. UW-La Crosse summer internships with JF Brennan create hands-on experiences

    Photo of Peyton Paulson, a senior geography major at UWL, who traveled across the Midwest conducting bathymetric surveys as part of an internship with JF Brennan this summer. The internship helped him land a full-time job with the La Crosse-based company following his graduation in December.

    November 16, 2021

    Peyton Paulson’s summer included visits to seven states and two Great Lakes. But he wasn’t your usual tourist, and this wasn’t your usual road trip. Paulson, a senior geography major at UWL, was conducting bathymetric surveys for JF Brennan, a La Crosse-based company specializing in construction, environmental services and harbor management. As part of his summer […]

  5. UW-La Crosse campus toy drive for Afghan children a success

    Photo of Lisa Klein, UW-La Crosse Community Engagement Coordinator, loading toys collected for Afghan children at Fort McCoy. The two-week, campus-wide effort netted around 400 toys.

    October 15, 2021

    Children of Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy will have new toys to play with thanks to a UW-La Crosse toy drive. The campus-wide effort over a two-week period involved students, staff, faculty and community members. Around 400 toys were collected, ranging from simple games like Checkers, Jenga and Connect Four to simple puzzles, as well […]

  6. UW-La Crosse alum finds calling as museum marketer

    Photo of Sean Mobley, '12, a social media and content specialist for the Museum of Flight in Seattle. As a student at UW-La Crosse, Mobley recorded podcasts in his residence hall using a Guitar Hero microphone — experience that has come in handy throughout his career.

    October 4, 2021

    Sean Mobley came to UWL to study engineering — his first step toward a career designing roller coasters for Walt Disney World.    But there was one problem: Mobley hated calculus.  His struggles put him on a personal roller coaster, which bottomed out when he was declared academically ineligible. He then shot skyward when he found a new major […]

  7. Making a difference: Thomas Harris a driving force for UWL, area social justice

    Photo of Thomas Harris, who graduated with a master’s in college student personnel in ’01, and has received the 2021 Academic Staff Excellence Award that recognizes excellence in performance and service. Among his service on campus was a stint as hall director in Wentz Hall.

    September 24, 2021

    When Thomas Harris was graduating with a bachelor’s degree, three of his UW-Stevens Point mentors told him he had what it takes to make a difference among college students. Harris drove to La Crosse in August 1988 to discover how to do that through UWL’s college student personnel master’s program. He started classes that fall — the […]

  8. Kwik quip: UW-La Crosse alum is the witty voice behind Wisconsin’s favorite convenience store

    Photo of Paige Forde, UWL ’19, is the witty voice behind Kwik Trip’s social media accounts. In recent years, Kwik Trip’s brand has evolved into a symbol for the Midwestern way of life — in part thanks to effective use of marketing and social media.

    August 18, 2021

    Every time a rainbow appears over a Wisconsin town, the messages start rolling in. “People love sending us photos of Kwik Trip at the end of a rainbow. We’ll get about 50 of them,” says Paige Forde, ’19, a social media specialist for the La Crosse-based convenience store chain. “It’s awesome to see people reaching […]

  9. Resilient researchers: UW-La Crosse students adapt their research amid COVID-19

    Photo of Nico Lang and Cullen Schull, both May 2021 graduates, who found success adapting their biochemistry research amid COVID-19.

    August 6, 2021

    A pair of UW-La Crosse biochemistry students didn’t let COVID-19 stand in the way of their research. Cullen Schull and Nico Lang, who each graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in May, had spent the past couple years researching “greener” routes of synthesis for high-purity curcumin, a powdery orange chemical produced by certain plants. Curcumin, the […]

  10. Top-notch presenter: UW-La Crosse senior aces WiSys research competition

    Photo of UW-La Crosse senior Jason Martin, who took first place in the second of three Student Research & Innovation Showcases at the WiSys SPARK Symposium on June 9, 2021. Martin's research explores how scientists can use electrochemistry to coat steel plates with zinc while controlling the properties of the zinc film (hardness and roughness, for example) by altering the electric source.

    July 29, 2021

    Jason Martin’s presentation was the best of the bunch. The UW-La Crosse senior studying chemistry and biochemistry took first place in the second of three Student Research & Innovation Showcases at the WiSys SPARK Symposium on June 9. The symposium, held virtually this year due to COVID-19, included presentations by student researchers from across the UW System. […]

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