All That’s Wild and Wooly

For many decades the first dinosaurs were thought to be restricted to the southern hemisphere due to major climatic barriers. It was thought that there was al 10-15 million year lag between their first appearance and when they finally made it north of the equator. However, UWGM-led expeditions to the Popo Agie Formation of Wyoming have uncovered several new taxa that tell a different tale, one that overthrows the ‘southern hemisphere origins’ of dinosaurs and supports an early cosmopolitan distribution.

David Lovelace is a vertebrate paleontologist whose research over the last decade has focused on Late Triassic paleoecology of the Popo Agie Formation of Wyoming. Broadly speaking, Dave’s research combines the study of ancient bones, trackways, and soils to build a picture of what ecosystems looked like 230 million years ago — when the first mammals, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and dinosaurs evolved. Dave’s field teams have made numerous discoveries, including the oldest known turtle tracks, and the oldest dinosaur in the northern hemisphere.

Strier will describe her initial discoveries about these amazing primates, and how what we have learned about them over the last 40 years can help them survive into the future.

Strier is a Biological anthropologist who specializes in the behavioral ecology and conservation of wild primates. She is an authority on the northern muriqui, a Critically Endangered primate found only in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Her work has expanded our understanding of primate behavior and has contributed to the conservation of muriquis and their habitat.

Riding in the Moment: A Community-Based Program Using Equine-Assisted Services to Improve the Health and Quality of Life of People Living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and their Families is funded through a Community Impact Grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Jolie Hope: I spent the first 20 + years of my career in corporate and entrepreneurial sectors focused on environmental services, research, and marketing. I have managed relationships with Fortune 500 companies, built strong teams, and bootstrapped a startup. I joined Three Gaits as the Executive Director in November of 2023 and it has given me the opportunity to take my years of experience managing people, strengthening partnerships, and developing strategic initiatives and combine it with my love of horses to make a difference in lives of people living with a disability. The experience has positively impacted me personally and has brought a much needed and fresh perspective on the power our community has to make a difference in people’s lives. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my husband and three kids, riding and caring for our horses, hiking, gardening and cooking.

Beth Fields: I am a board-certified occupational therapist, an Associate Professor of Kinesiology, and a geriatric health services and caregiving researcher. I went to Colorado State University and the University of Pittsburgh for occupational therapy and postdoctoral training. My research focuses on developing, testing and implementing person and family-centered assessments and interventions in the hospital and home settings. I’m hugely passionate about finding ways to improve the quality of care and life of aging adults and their family member or friend care partners.

Buzz Kemper talks with Dr. Alyson Fleming, Director of Public-Private Partnerships for the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW Madison about the amazing life, feeding habits, and evolution of whales, including why in their case, size DOES matter.

Alyson Fleming is the director of public-private partnerships for the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. With a background in oceanography, Dr. Fleming has worked in academia and policy, researching top predators and climate change, developing federal policy recommendations, and contributing to international fora across fisheries, climate, and protected species management. Prior to joining UW–Madison, she was a professor of marine biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. While at the U.S. Department of State she assisted with the Presidential Task Force on IUU Fishing, helped produce Secretary John Kerry’s first Our Ocean conference, and collaborated with the Office of Global Partnerships to advance global ocean conservation. She earned a BS from Tufts University and a PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.