Agriculture – Badger Talks – UW–Madison

Nesli Akdeniz

mreinfeldt — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:15:25 +0000

Nesli Akdeniz is an assistant professor and extension specialist in Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research and extension program focuses on livestock housing, greenhouses, energy-efficient ventilation design, and air quality. She conducts computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to model microclimate conditions within agricultural buildings. Her approach to ventilation design is holistic, considering not only heat stress but also energy use, noise levels, and access to natural light. She also teaches BSE 367: Renewable Energy Systems, where she often incorporates sustainability concepts into her research and extension efforts.

Alan Attie

fpuleo — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 19:45:56 +0000

Alan Attie’s research focuses on the genetics of diabetes and disorders affecting cholesterol metabolism. His lab takes advantage of natural variation in mouse strains to look for genes that affect these disease processes. He believes scientific thinking is important for everyone, not just scientists, so he’s happy to talk about this subject, too.

Allyson Bennett

jnweaver — Thu, 04 May 2017 16:12:34 +0000

Allyson Bennett’s research centers on how the interplay between early environments, experiences, and genes contribute to individual variation in psychological and physical health across the lifespan. A longitudinal and multidisciplinary research approach with nonhuman primates provides a controlled experimental avenue for better understanding the long-term consequences of early experiences and environments, as well as areas of plasticity and potential for recovery. A central question in her work is how aspects of physical and social environments affect biobehavioral development. Thus, part of her research takes a comparative approach to evaluate specific features of the environments and experiences of laboratory animals. In turn, the work provides empirical evidence to inform evolving standards for animal welfare, particularly those that also affect scientific outcomes. The quality and progress of both science and animal welfare depend on policies and practices that are evidence-based. Her expertise in psychological science, coupled with a commitment to science education allows her to contribute to public dialogue and collaboration with diverse stakeholders in evolving standards for humane and responsible research to promote health for people and nonhuman animals.

Bradley Bolling

mreinfeldt — Wed, 15 May 2024 19:10:56 +0000

Dr. Bolling’s research focuses on the health and sustainability of foods. His group is working to understand the composition and health benefits of underutilized fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products. Their current research focusses on improving immune health, reducing chronic inflammation, and reducing the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. Dr. Bolling is a Scientific Editor for the Journal of Food Science and Chair of the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Food Science, including Food Preservation, Advanced Food Chemistry, and Food Bioactives.

Adam Borger

jnweaver — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 19:44:39 +0000

Adam Borger has worked in the food industry for 14 years as a microbiologist before joining the UW-Madison Food Research Institute. His area of expertise is food microbiology and food safety, focusing on both consumers and food manufacturers. He now works closely with industry, government, academia and the general public to provide education on prevention of food borne illness and frequently gives public talks, seminars and also teach undergraduates.

Yury Bukhman

mreinfeldt — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 20:34:28 +0000

Bioinformatician with >20 years of research experience in academia and the biotech industry. Interested in genomes, evolution, and the analysis and integration of high-throughput biological data. Earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Johns Hopkins University in 1998. Received postdoctoral training in Bioinformatics at Scripps Research Institute and Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Contributed to peer reviewed studies in several fields of biomedical research, including mammalian genomics, insect ecology, bioenergy, molecular mechanisms of psychiatric disorders, breast cancer, proteomics, structural biology, and thermodynamics of RNA folding.

Dr. Bukhman’s talks can also be offered in Russian.

Victor Cabrera

mreinfeldt — Tue, 21 May 2024 19:43:02 +0000

Dr. Cabrera combines applied research, interdisciplinary approaches, and participatory methods to deliver practical, data-driven, user-friendly, and scientific decision support tools for dairy farm management. These scientific tools are improving dairy farm profitability, environmental stewardship, and long-term sustainability. Dr. Cabrera’s research and extension programs have a global impact. Dr. Cabrera and his workgroup have developed 50 decision support tools, published 90+ refereed articles, and 10+ book chapters. Dr. Cabrera has presented in 100+ scientific sessions, and given extension talks in 400+ extension meetings in Wisconsin, other States, and around the world. Dr. Cabrera’s work in the past 14 years has been pivotal to attract $5.5+ million to support his research and extension initiatives.

Dr. Cabrera’s talks can also be offered in Spanish.

Steve Carpenter

jnweaver — Wed, 03 May 2017 01:20:55 +0000

Dr. Carpenter has worked on water quality and fisheries problems of Wisconsin’s lakes since 1974. He was a co-founder of the Resilience Alliance for studies of social-ecological change. He served as a co-chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the first global evaluation of the services that people obtain free from nature. Dr. Carpenter is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Peter Carstensen

mreinfeldt — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:42:02 +0000

Peter C. Carstensen is the Fred W & Vi Miller Chair in Law Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has a BA from the University of Wisconsin. He earned his LLB at Yale where he also received a master’s degree in economics. From 1968 to 1973, he was a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division of the United States Justice. He joined the UW faculty in 1973 and received emeritus status in 2014. His scholarship focuses on antitrust law and competition policy issues. One area of particular interest is competition issues in agriculture. His book, COMPETITION POLICY AND THE CONTROL OF BUYER POWER: A GLOBAL ISSUE (2017) received the Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award for best antitrust book of 2017.

Min Chen

mreinfeldt — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:12:42 +0000

Dr. Min Chen is an assistant professor of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a faculty member affiliated with the UW Data Science Institute, the Nelson Institute Center of Climatic Research, Department of Geography, and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Before joining UW-Madison, he was a research scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and an adjunct professor of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University majoring in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Remote sensing & GIS and Computer Sciences, respectively, both from Beijing Normal University in China. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a Barbara McClintock Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Sciences at Stanford University.

Areas of expertise, continued: Climate change