Making a difference throughout Wisconsin and beyond
CONTACT:
Jeanan Yasiri Moe
Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
[email protected] | (608) 960-9892
MADISON, Wis. – In a field in southern Wisconsin, European corn borer larvae tunnel into corn stalks, unnoticed until the crop fails to grow. Confirming the presence of this pest requires going to the field and cutting open several of the stalks.
Emily Bick, professor of precision pest ecology and the extension specialist for field and forage crops at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has a plan to make accurate pest detection much faster and easier for farmers. The Insect Eavesdropper, which she and computer science grad student Dev Mehrotra developed, allows growers to listen to the sounds of insects eating and moving inside plants.
The non-destructive technology uses a machine-learning algorithm and audio signals captured by inexpensive microphones placed on the plants to identify infestations. It enables farmers to rapidly respond to pests, facilitating proactive and sustainable pest management.
Support from WARF’s Accelerator program is helping Bick’s team develop a wireless setup paired with an easy interface for the Insect Eavesdropper. Bick is one of the thousands of researchers across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus who receive funding from WARF each year.
This support is part of WARF’s funding and operating support to the UW-Madison research community, which totals $159.8 million across all grant categories and programs for the academic year ending in 2025. The majority of that support ($105.4 million) will be made available to the OVCR to fund university researchers, research projects and research facilities. WARF’s operational and functional support to UW-Madison, valued at $49.1 million, and a grant of $5.3 million to the university-affiliated Morgridge Institute for Research round out the total.
The support also includes a three-year, $15 million grant to help fund infrastructure and human investment in artificial intelligence through the university’s Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence Initiative (RISE), a multifaceted effort to strengthen research, scholarship and educational opportunities.
“Nothing epitomizes WARF’s philanthropic mission better than the truly inspiring stories of the many researchers we support each year,” says Erik Iverson, CEO of WARF. “The work of our campus’s research community improves the lives of people across Wisconsin and the world.”
Programs like Research Forward, which stimulate and support highly innovative and groundbreaking research at UW-Madison, receive funding from WARF’s annual grant.
Christian Capitini, associate professor of pediatrics, uses mouse models to optimize cellular therapies for treating childhood cancer and immune-related adverse effects of these therapies. With Research Forward support, Capitini has led a team in testing murine and human chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in vitro and in vivo for the treatment of neuroblastoma, a tumor of the sympathetic nervous system in children.
This research has helped him, and co-investigator Krishanu Saha, develop a virus-free platform for manufacturing CAR T cells to treat solid tumors using CRISPR/Cas9, which was recognized as the “Best Immunoengineering and Immune Cell Therapy Paper” in the Journal for the Immunotherapy of Cancer. Ongoing efforts are moving this platform to clinical trial.
Capitini has leveraged the Research Forward award to obtain extramural grants, including a pilot award on an NCI-supported P01 grant with co-PI Reinier Hernandez, an NCI-supported R01 grant, a Hyundai Hope on Wheels Scholar Grant and philanthropic support from the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer Fund.
“We are grateful for WARF’s strong and continuing investment in cutting-edge research including strategic initiatives to advance transformative projects on campus,” says Dorota Brzezinska, UW-Madison vice chancellor for research. “WARF support also fuels the cycle of innovation for inventions and emerging technology. It also enhances our faculty recruitment, retention, and important and deserving recognition through fellowships. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together to advance the Wisconsin Idea with WARF’s contribution.”
A project at the Morgridge Institute for Research has provided the UW-Madison research community with an essential resource for conducting artificial intelligence and machine learning research, a top campus priority. Machine learning relies heavily on computing systems powered by graphic processing units, or GPUs, which are well-suited for the sophisticated neural networks that AI needs.
Recognizing growing campus demand for machine learning and AI capabilities, and therefore more GPU power, Morgridge investigator Anthony Gitter, a UW-Madison associate professor of biostatistics and medical informatics, turned to the UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative, which supports innovative projects to transform a particular field of study. Gitter joined forces with the Center for High-Throughput Computing to create a centralized campus resource and training center devoted to GPUs.
In FY24, the GPU Lab’s capacity has more than tripled to 320 GPUs, which are offered free for campus research users. In the past year, more than 350 campus users from 40-plus campus departments have tapped into the lab.
“The GPU Lab is a great example of how WARF investments provide a margin of excellence for campus research, helping elevate an area of strategic importance such as artificial intelligence,” says Morgridge CEO Brad Schwartz. “WARF helps Morgridge and UW-Madison capitalize on emerging opportunities in science in ways that many research institutions can’t.”
Research on magnetic particle imaging (MPI) from Ilhan Bok, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, has earned journal publication for its potential to pave the way for scientific advances in brain and organ imaging. MPI can create images more quickly and with better resolution than more commonly used tools like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MPI works by tracing concentrations of nano-scale magnetic particles throughout organ systems, including the brain.
“Magnetic particle imaging with nano-transducers has untapped potential to improve our understanding of neurobiological processes and neurochemical dysfunction,” Bok says. “The simplicity, affordability and high resolution of this imaging platform offer a competitive advantage over existing modalities [like MRI].”
Bok aims to prepare these brain imaging techniques for use in clinical settings. In a May 2022 paper published in Scientific Reports, Bok, his advisor Aviad Hai and undergraduate students tested the feasibility of magnetoelectric particles as nanosensors using computer models. The results provided theoretical evidence for using such particles in brain imaging. Bok received WARF funds through his advisor’s Fall Research Competition award and a UW-Madison Global Health Institute Graduate Student Research Award to support the project.
“Stories like these demonstrate that UW-Madison research makes a difference in people’s lives …each and every day,” says WARF Board Chair Deborah Keller. “As WARF enters its centennial year, our alumni Trustees remain committed as ever to supporting the long and proud Wisconsin legacy this research represents.”
Brian Burt, associate professor of educational leadership and policy analysis, examines graduate student experiences and institutional policies and practices that influence students’ pathways. He explores team-based research experiences and the experiences of underrepresented graduate students of color in engineering. He seeks to understand science participation and the experiences that might attract students to turn towards or turn away from science pathways.
As a leading expert on Black males in science and engineering, and designing supportive and effective research groups, Burt’s work embodies the Wisconsin Idea. He also serves as the director and chief research scientist of the Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), an incubator for educational research, theory and policy, and a hub promoting promising practices for higher education and workforce pathways.
Support from the H.I Romnes Faculty Fellowship, funded by WARF, aids Burt’s efforts toward conducting equity-centered work and translating and sharing this work to stakeholders committed to improving the experiences of marginalized population.
The $15 million grant approved to support the chancellor’s bold RISE-AI Initiative will help accelerate the pace of attention to artificial intelligence, building programs and people. The grant will invest across all divisions at UW-Madison, including the social sciences and humanities and human ecology as well as the physical and life sciences.
“UW-Madison is more focused than ever on addressing grand challenges through the sort of interdisciplinary scholarship led by world-class faculty and talented students drawn to the exceptional opportunities to learn and grow offered on our campus,” Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin says. “WARF’s investment is critical to maintaining those invaluable resources and to giving us the flexibility to turn them toward new priorities for the benefit of the people of Wisconsin and the world.”
WARF’s total support during fiscal year 2025 continues a century-long tradition of investing in UW-Madison. While most universities bear the cost of technology commercialization and asset management through their own budget, the foundation has provided mission-driven operational and functional support to UW-Madison equivalent to $443 million over the last 15 years. This unique model has stood alone in U.S. higher education since 1925 and has advanced countless discoveries, including AI-enabled software platforms, cancer diagnostics, advanced materials for batteries and vaccines and much more.
About WARF
Incorporated in 1925, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) patents and licenses discoveries from UW-Madison research, manages an investment portfolio generated from licensing and investment proceeds, and provides annual grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research to support further scientific investigation and research. By driving collaborations among researchers, investors, industry and entrepreneurs, WARF commercializes innovations from campus through various initiatives. WARF Accelerator improves the commercialization potential of university intellectual property through industry engagement and investment in proof-of-concept milestones to validate market potential, demonstrate commercial value and de-risk technology. WARF Therapeutics partners with UW-Madison and Morgridge Institute researchers employing an industry-focused approach to improve the value propositions of drug candidates. WARF Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests in startups based on UW/WARF technologies. Learn more at warf.org.
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