The pandemic disrupted lives in many ways, but it also gave birth to some innovations, including one that is helping children who have experienced displacement as refugees, asylum seekers or immigrants.

In 2020, the Lynden Sculpture Garden began reaching out to youngsters ages 4 to 8 with its virtual HOME: Story Time, featuring children’s books read in a variety of languages.

One of the leaders of the project is Claudia Orjuela, an alumna who earned her master’s degree in art education at 51ÁÔĆć and serves as art educator at Lynden.

The idea grew out of a World Refugee Day celebration in 2019, when Lynden worked with the Milwaukee Public Library to set up a multilingual book corner.

“Searching for relevant titles, we found that there are many children’s books about refugees, but very few books are written or illustrated by them,” Orjuela said.

A way to start conversations

When the pandemic hit, the educators decided to take the idea and expand it to a virtual story time.

“The story time is an opportunity to start conversations with children about displacement, adaptation, and belonging,” Orjuela said. “Children were not going to school, and we had families who did not speak English as their first language.”

, which uploads and screens a new episode on the third Wednesday of every month, offers stories read by community members in multiple languages in addition to English, and combines books with art projects.

Stories are streamed on Facebook Live and posted on the Home-at-Lynden virtual platform, and are recorded so they are available at any time, along with handouts and, most recently, a guide for teachers, parents and advanced learners. Themes often focus on refugees and immigrants and are designed to appeal to the Milwaukee area’s diverse communities. The program has featured books in Arabic, French, Vietnamese and Korean. Other languages now include Spanish, Burmese, Dari/Farsi, Pashto, Hmong, Ojibwe, Japanese and Mandarin.

While Lynden hasn’t been able to track specific demographics, feedback through community organizations has been positive, including from partner organizations, according to Orjuela. Since the start of the HOME multilingual story time program, its videos have had a total of 5,000 views.

Orjuela, who was born in Colombia, coordinates the program with Lynden’s Kim Khaira, community engagement specialist, whose homeland is Malaysia.

Collaboration and community participation

Community participation has been an important component. HOME: Story Time is a collaboration with Milwaukee Public Library, the Islamic Resource Center, Hanan Refugee Relief Group, Alliance Francaise de Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee African Women’s Association, among other organizations. Orjuela designs an art activity and contextual materials for readers from the community to go with each story to give the children a deeper understanding of the stories.

The art activity at the end of each episode is an invitation to further reflect on the book through hands-on art making. For example, children created a window mural responding to breaking boundaries and frontiers, and created compositions using found materials.

“Children need to be given the opportunity to express themselves through multiple ways, not just verbally,” Orjuela said. Integrating art and literacy is a great way to reach a wide range of learners. Learners with different abilities and non-English speakers gain access through the visual language of art, she added.

In addition to her work with the HOME project at Lynden, Orjuela also designs and implements arts-based and environmental programming and instructional materials; develops and leads classes, outdoors experiences and summer camps for children, youth, and families; and leads moonlight nature walks and other story and art activities.

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Milwaukee is a city of opportunity—if you live in the right neighborhood. The proof is mapped out in .

This map (accessible at ) was made as part of the Mapping Opportunity for the Milwaukee Metro Area project. Created by 51ÁÔĆć Center for Economic Development graduate fellows Tathagato Chakraborty and Yotala Oszkay as a collaborative project, the interactive guide is a visual representation of opportunity available to residents in each U.S. Census tract listed in Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs. The map expands to the four-county Milwaukee Metropolitan region including Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.

To Chakraborty, working toward his PhD in urban studies at 51ÁÔĆć, and Oszkay, a PhD student in sociology at UCLA, opportunity is complex and multidimensional. In this case, Chakraborty said, opportunity means that there are avenues for a person’s socioeconomic upward mobility—that they have ways to foster growth and well-being.

“So, where you are living really affects your ability to be upwardly mobile. The spatial dimension is a really important aspect of opportunity,” Oszkay said.

The map shows all 478 census tracts in the Milwaukee metro region. For each tract, Chakraborty and Oszkay poured over thousands of pieces of census and other data sources to pull out three main dimensions that, together, determine a neighborhood’s “opportunity index.” They are:

1. Economic Dimension

The main indicators determining a tract’s economic health included median household income, level of employment, number of people with high-paying jobs, and income level.

Measuring economic indicators to determine economic opportunity is an obvious move, but those indicators also hint at other avenues—or barriers—to success.

“Economic disadvantages create a number of rippling effects to neighborhoods, especially in accessing quality services and resources that may hinder a person’s well-being. So if you are not in a desirable neighborhood, you may face certain barriers,” Chakraborty noted.

2. Education Dimension

Here, the researchers looked at the highest level of education that people had obtained and what percentages of households had internet access.

As one might expect, “Education is an essential tool for you to get to jobs, especially get a job that pays enough (to enable economic mobility),” Chakraborty said.

3. Housing Dimension

The main indicators here included median home value, what percentage of people in the area owned homes, and what percentage of households are cost burdened (that pay more than 30% of their income into their mortgage or rent).

Housing is an important indicator, Chakraborty explained, because “housing is an asset which moves intergenerationally. If you have a well-valued housing situation, over time the equity increases. So, over a period of time, you actually accumulate wealth that may be passed on to the future generation or used to invest futuristically.”

They classify five types of neighborhoods with varying level of opportunity. Areas with higher opportunity index values are marked in dark blue on the map; lower index values are marked in light blues and whites. Chakraborty and Oszkay ranked each tract for easy comparison between neighborhoods. They want the map to be easily read by everyone, not just academics.

The map also includes each area’s demographic information. However, the researchers stressed, that the index was designed to be race-neutral when they determined the dimensions of opportunity. The map strictly shows the opportunity index for each area, but does not speculate why a particular area might have a low index.

But Milwaukee is among the most racially segregated cities in the United States, and areas of high opportunity and low opportunity seem to fall along racial lines. Oszkay, who grew up in Milwaukee, was not surprised.

“It confirmed what I qualitatively understood. That gave me confidence, actually, for what we were doing—seeing how the data really shows what I experienced as a resident,” she said. “You can see how I-43 divided two areas, where there’s affluence (on one side) and lack of opportunity (on the other).”

Chakraborty went a step further.

“As an experiment, I did overlay the redlining map and the famous segregation map on our index (this image was not published as part of the project). The geographic symmetry of those areas that are redlined, that are segregated, and that are showing in our index as nice or very low opportunity areas coincide perfectly!” he said. “It confirms the historical trajectory of why we are here and how we are here.”

The extremely detailed work builds off some of the research performed by 51ÁÔĆć associate professor of sociology Marcus Britton, who studies how location impacts social and economic outcomes, and by associate professor of geography Anne Bonds and English assistant professor Derek Handley, who are currently mapping the modern impacts of historical racial housing restrictions in Milwaukee.

Chakraborty and Oszkay hope that their map will help viewers understand the full scope of opportunity and inequality in Milwaukee in racial-spatial terms, although it does not include any race-specific indicator. And if they understand it, the researchers said, perhaps leaders can work to change it.

“Policy makers could very easily take a glance at this map and see where investment needs to go and which areas need reparations,” Chakraborty noted. Oszkay added, “Where you live is going to shape who you are and what you become. I think that’s an important perspective for a broader audience to consider when understanding their lived experiences.”

The Mapping Opportunity for the Milwaukee Metro Area project is finished, and both Chakraborty and Oszkay are taking a pause on research to finish up their PhD work—Chakraborty here at 51ÁÔĆć, and Oszkay in sociology at UCLA. They both thanked the researchers at the 51ÁÔĆć Center for Economic Development—Joel Rast, Yaidi Cancel Martinez, and Lisa Williams—as well as 51ÁÔĆć’s American Geographical Society librarian Stephen Appel, for their support and help in completing the work.

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Duncan Brown (51ÁÔĆć PhD, Physics, 2004), the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics and an accomplished physicist, has been appointed Syracuse University’s next vice president for research, effective Aug. 15.

“Duncan’s career here at Syracuse University is truly a model of leadership, scholarship, innovation, academic excellence and mentorship,” said Gretchen Ritter, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. “He has all the professional experience and personal qualities necessary to lead the research, scholarship and creative enterprise and secure our position as a world-class research university.

“Duncan is well respected among his peers, both on campus and at some of the world’s most preeminent institutions. Duncan is uniquely suited to support Syracuse University’s faculty scholars in their efforts to pursue and secure external funding that advances their research, scholarship and creative work.”

In his new role, Brown will report directly to Provost Ritter; oversee $100 million in extramural funding across the natural sciences, engineering, education, social sciences and law; support and empower Syracuse’s internationally recognized creative and scholarly excellence from artists, architects, directors and writers; and advance centers and institutes that lead the world in fields, including in the humanities, aging studies, autonomous systems policy, disability studies, environmental and energy systems, biological and smart materials, national security, veterans and military families, and quantum computing.

Brown will also lead the Office of Research and its component units, including the Office of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Research Integrity and Protections, the Office of Technology Transfer and the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement. Together, these departments serve as the backbone of Syracuse University’s research, scholarship and creative support enterprise.

“The role of the vice president for research is to advance all areas of the University’s research, scholarship and creative work,” says Brown. “We have extraordinary faculty, staff and students at Syracuse University, and we attract gifted students from around the globe who want to expand knowledge through innovation, creativity and discovery. Our vibrant intellectual environment across a wide range of disciplines allows us to recruit world-class scholars.

“I am excited to help everyone in the University community secure the resources that they need to pursue their research, scholarship and artistic endeavors. Together, we can sustain and build upon our Carnegie R1 designation, reach new heights as a premier research university, and change our community and our world for the better.”

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As a pioneering sort of woman, 51ÁÔĆć alumna Cynthia Vernon (MS, Biological Sciences, 1981) fits right in. She’s the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s chief operating officer, responsible for overseeing the institution’s exhibitions, facilities, animal care, guest experience, and education programs, among other duties.

Vernon is set to retire soon after decades of working in the zoo and aquarium business. She sat down to reflect on a satisfying career of helping people get in touch with the natural world.

Biological sciences alumna Cynthia Vernon is the chief operating officer at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Vernon.

I feel like every naturalist has stories coming home with frogs in their pockets as a child. Were you that kind of kid?

Yes, absolutely. My mom sometimes would tell a story about me in second grade. I came home from school, clutching a giant book that I had taken out of the library about animals of the world or something like that. I announced that I was going to be a naturalist when I grew up. So, I’ve always been focused on animals and the natural world.

Where did you do your undergraduate work, and what brought you to 51ÁÔĆć for graduate school?

I consider myself a Cheesehead. I grew up in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. My undergrad degree is from DePauw University and I have a BA in zoology. After graduation, I was working with students at Oconomowoc High School on self-guided projects. The school district wanted me to grow the program and I needed to a teaching credential, which I didn’t have. 51ÁÔĆć was the closest option, and a really good school. I enrolled in the School of Education and spent a semester in the formal education world. I just felt like it wasn’t for me. I transferred to biological sciences and decided I was going to pursue my real interest, which was animal behavior and the natural world.

When did you start getting involved in the world of zoos and aquariums?

I got a preceptorship, basically an internship, at the Milwaukee County Zoo (while) I was still doing my studies. My last rotation was in the education department where I worked with the staff to develop a program for kids, and it was like I had found my true calling.

After graduating, you worked at the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Children’s Zoo before you landed at Brookfield Zoo, just down the highway from Milwaukee. What was your time like at Illinois’ biggest zoo?

I was there for 13 years. I started as an Education Specialist, developing and delivering education programs. I also got experience creating exhibitions. They just kept giving me more things to do. I was promoted Curator of Education and then Director of Communications.

The Swamp was one of the first exhibitions that I worked on. I also worked on The Living Coast and Habitat Africa. Probably the one that resonates the most, though, was the Hamill Family Play Zoo, which was groundbreaking for its time. Its foundation was around how kids develop connections to the natural world through nature play. By providing them with experiences and play partners, they are able to learn about the natural world. That was a really important project for me.

How did you come to the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

My wife and I wanted to be on the west coast. I was encouraged to apply to an opening at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for Vice President of Education and Conservation. I was very fortunate to be selected.

For those of us who have never been there, can you talk about the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

It’s a fantastic place right on Monterey Bay. We sometimes joke with visitors that our best exhibit is the bay. You can go out on our back decks, and just yesterday as a matter of fact, we were out watching humpback whales. You can see their tails flukes go up and see their spouts right from the aquarium.

I think the other thing that we’re known for is that we are first and foremost a conservation organization. Our mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean. We do that by getting people excited about the wonders in the bay and the ocean, and then telling them how they can do more to protect it. We get them jazzed up about very cool animals—otters and Mola Mola and octopi –

everything that makes up Monterey Bay and the ocean. Through our programming and our interpreters, we inspire people to take some next steps about what they can do, including choosing sustainable seafood and producing less plastic pollution, which is a huge issue for the ocean.

Part of your job involves ‘conservation psychology,’ or finding ways to make people care about the environment. With zoos, it seems easy to get people engaged with cool or cute and fuzzy animals. With aquariums, it strikes me as a bit harder; fish aren’t cuddly.

It’s about showing them the ‘wonder.’ We just opened a new exhibition called “Into the Deep,” and it’s the first time that anybody, any place, has shown some of the species of jellyfish and other deep-sea animals that we have on display. These are all animals from the deep ocean and they’re just beautiful. I think one of the things that we’re known for is taking some of those things and using exhibition techniques, lighting, and music to help evoke some emotions.

You can tell people the facts that you know, but that’s not going to be as powerful as an emotional response. We’ve been able to display things in just spectacular ways that get people to say, “Wow, that’s so beautiful; it really needs to be saved. I’m going to do something about it.”

We do have some cute and cuddly things to see. Otters are pretty cute. We’ve got a lot of different sharks. We were the first aquarium to ever be able to display white sharks for more than a week. And we had six juvenile white sharks over a period of time. No other aquarium has ever been able to do that. And that was an incredible draw for visitors to come and see white sharks up close, and to learn about them and how important they are. We were able to change their feelings about those predators.

Do you have a favorite exhibit at the aquarium?

I guess it would be the Kelp Forest. I would say it’s our signature exhibit. There is a massive kelp forest, of course, right out in the bay. The founders of the aquarium were able to recreate that so that people could see right into the kelp forest, which supports an amazing diversity of life. (But) kelp forests need direct sunlight, and they need movement in the water. So, we were able to figure out how to create a wave machine and the exhibit is open to the sun and air. I love to go and stand in front of the exhibit when the surge machine is on because it has a very calming effect. We’ve got schools of sardines in there, and we’ve got all these amazing rock fish and little leopard sharks, all kinds of things. It’s just beautiful with the sunlight coming down through it.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is also known for its “Seafood Watch” list. What is that and how did it start? Do I need to stop eating tilapia fish tacos?

You’re good! Tilapia is good. It’s usually responsibly farmed.

There are so many different types of seafood out there and that’s one reason why we created the Seafood Watch program. It started from an exhibition that talked about the hidden costs of our seafood in terms of bycatch, and habitat destruction. As we talked about it, guests were like, “Should I not be eating seafood? What should I eat?” So, we got the idea to create a little consumer card that would help people. It started out with a color-coded, green-yellow-red system—green meaning, it’s good to eat this kind of seafood. It’s caught or farmed responsibly. Yellow is okay every once in a while, but give it a break. Red means you really shouldn’t be eating this kind of seafood.

That program really took off. People took their card to their supermarkets or restaurants. We have a whole science staff that provides the input into those ratings. We work with seafood industries to help them improve and we work with folks in Thailand and in Mexico and other parts of the world to improve their seafood fishing practices or their aquaculture practices. So, it’s a very big and, I think, successful program that helps individuals as well as corporations make the right choices.

You started out as the Vice President for Education and Conservation, and rose until you were the Chief Operating Officer at Monterey Bay Aquarium. In a profession that can be male dominated, how do you make space for yourself as a leader?

I’ve been fortunate to have come to Monterey. We have a very strong, female-led leadership group. That’s been a very affirming place to grow and develop. In terms of my leadership style, I do a lot of listening and coaching. I enjoy seeing people grow and helping them attain what they want to do. I rely a lot on my emotional intelligence to read the situation and help people find what they want to do—their true spark. I try to be a cheerleader for my staff and absolutely be a champion for women scientists. I have more opportunities to be able to elevate other women into those (science and leadership) roles.

You’ve had a great career and you’re retiring in January. Looking back and looking ahead, what are you most proud of? Is there anything that you still want to accomplish?

I’ve had some amazing experiences. I was very involved in the creation of the aquarium’s Bechtel Family Center for Ocean Education and Leadership. It expanded our ability to deliver education programs to all kinds of communities. That was a huge accomplishment that I feel proud of.

And, gosh, the number of exhibitions that I’ve been involved with developing here in Monterey, and also at Brookfield Zoo—I feel very proud to have been a part of that. (I’m proud of) my professional association with the AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. I’m currently on the board of directors. I have been very involved in promoting the principles of conservation psychology, environmental behavior change, and in creating a culture of conservation within organizations. I want to create space for the next generation of leaders coming up, so I feel like this is a good time to sail off into the sunset.

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From Wauwatosa School District

LaShawnda Holland (51ÁÔĆć MS, Curriculum and Instruction, 2003) is the Wauwatosa School District’s director of diversity and inclusion effective July 1.

Holland is an exceptionally dedicated, forward-thinking educator with an incredible record of effective leadership, student results, and family engagement.

She has proven experience in meeting the needs of historically marginalized students and creating equitable yet challenging school conditions in which all students and staff can thrive. In her roles as principal in the Milwaukee Public School District, as well as at Cross Trainers Academy and La Casa de Esperanza Charter School,

Holland demonstrated success in the development of instructional programs focused on academic improvement, strategic transformation and expanding access to critical opportunities.

In addition to her 51ÁÔĆć degree, Holland earned a BA from UW-Whitewater and a master of education with an administrative leadership focus from National Louis University.

“I am very excited to join the Wauwatosa School District as the new Director of Diversity and Inclusion,” Holland said. “As a change agent, I will work diligently to ensure that students feel safe, welcomed and represented within their specific schools.

“I plan to work directly with students and families to ensure their voices are heard. My goal is to help the team in the Wauwatosa School District become comfortable with being uncomfortable as we address challenging areas that are hindering student growth.”

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She also noted all four have fascinating teaching ideologies that have helped students embrace the spirit and passion they each have for their respective subjects.

Susan Kerns, Associate Professor, Cinema and Television Arts

An Iowa native, Kerns wanted to teach ever since she was little. Kerns said she has a deep-rooted recollection of a teacher who gave her unused worksheets she usedto play “school” withduring the summer.

“It seemed weirdly magical,” saidKerns, who also serves as the associate chair in her department. “It was something that stuck with me that education could be exciting and it could be fun and it could be play. It didn’t just have to take place in a classroom proper.”

Today in Kerns’ classroom, she saidstudents have helped her view professionalism in the film industry differently.

“Filmmaking can be kind of a dream job; there tends to be some bad behavior that people [in the industry] let go and the next generation is not having it, and I think that’s great. It’s been awesome to work with younger people because they keep me on my toes in terms of my assumptions about what professionalism is,” Kerns said.

Kerns also teaches cinema and media theory at Columbia.

“I like teaching theory,” Kerns said. “It opens students’ eyes to seeing movies and what content they deal with, the way they’re shot, the way that they’re put together and how they relate to society.”

Tasha Oren was Kerns’ Ph.D. adviserfrom the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Catherine MacGillivraywas Kerns’ master’s adviser at the University of Northern Iowa. Kerns said she credits bothmentors for why she received the Excellence in Teaching Award.

Being recognized as one of the Excellence in Teaching Awardrecipients feels great, Kerns said. She said she bought a new dress as a reward for winning because she thinks it is important to celebrate accomplishments.

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Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the City of Milwaukee Arts Board (MAB) honored the 2022 Mildred L. Harpole Artists of the Year—51ÁÔĆć alumni Ck Ledesma (BFA, Painting/Art History, 2013) and Nirmal Raja (MFA, Art, 2011)—and 2022 Friends of the Arts award recipients—Cynthia Henry and Rayhainio Boynes (Ray Nitti)—at a ceremony June 14. These honorees represent excellence and exceptional service in Milwaukee’s arts community.

Nirmal Raja – MFA, Art, 2011

Raja is an interdisciplinary artist living in Milwaukee. She lived in India, South Korea and Hong Kong before immigrating to the United States 30 years ago.

Raja holds a bachelor of arts in English Literature from St. Francis College in Hyderabad, India, a bachelor of fine arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), and a master of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Raja is the recipient of several awards, including a 2018 Graduate of the Last Decade honor from 51ÁÔĆć and a . She was a mentor at RedLine Milwaukee, a community arts incubator, and is now a mentor for the Milwaukee Artists Resource Network.

She has participated in solo and group shows throughout the region, the nation, and the world. Raja collaborates with other artists and strongly believes in investing energy into her immediate community. Raja curates exhibitions that bring people together from different cultures and backgrounds.

Ck Ledesma – BFA, Painting/Art History, 2013

Ledesma is a transdisciplinary artist from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Currently residing in Milwaukee. They are passionate about serving their community while building authentic relationships and the liberation of all BIPOC people.

Ledesma co-founded Cosecha Creative Space, a community-focused space that centers connections, understanding, and building togetherness through creative engagement, mutual aid, and the arts.

Ledesma is a 2020 Mary L. Nohl Fellow and has served as the artist-in-residence for the Cesar Chavez Drive Business Improvement District, the Milwaukee Public Library Mitchell Street branch, and Casa Candela in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Their work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.

Mayor Johnson also recognized the that are receiving a total of $264,000 in MAB sustaining grant awards in 2022.

“Our arts community is unique and makes our city special. Artists and creators throughout Milwaukee are full of creative energy that adds value to our neighborhoods,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “I am proud to honor this year’s Artists of the Year, Friends of the Arts, and sustaining grant recipients. These individuals and organizations are leaders in Milwaukee’s creative community who are helping position this city as an inclusive arts and cultural hub.”

The Artists of the Year program was inaugurated in 1995 by former Alderman and then-MAB chair Wayne Frank. The Artists of the Year Award was renamed in 2020 in honor of late, beloved arts board member Mildred L. Harpole. Each recipient receives a $1,500 cash award. Funds used to launch the first award included a memorial bequest in honor of Milwaukee artist and former MAB member Jim Chism. Additional funds for the award come from MAB members.

The MAB sustaining grant program is funded by the City of Milwaukee, with support from the Wisconsin Arts Board, the State of Wisconsin, and the National Endowment for the Arts. See the .

Learn more about the MAB at .

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The material is molybdenum-99, the parent of technetium-99m, the most widely used radioisotope in the world for diagnostic medical imaging, according to 51ÁÔĆć Chemistry Professor Mark Dietz. (The materials are often abbreviated as Mo-99 and Tc-99m.)

About 10 years ago, after repeated disruption to supplies of Mo-99 from abroad, the Department of Energy began to encourage the development of new approaches to the production of this critical radioisotope in the U.S.

Two Wisconsin companies—NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes in Beloit and SHINE Medical Technologies in Janesville—took up the challenge of producing the needed Mo-99 domestically. (Foreign companies were using the raw material from highly enriched, reactor grade uranium, which raised some concern about nuclear proliferation.)

However, the companies needed chemists who were skilled in separations involving radioactive materials. Over the last four years, five graduates of Dietz’s research group, all trained in this highly specialized work, have been hired by these two companies, one on a temporary basis and four others permanently—two by each company.

“51ÁÔĆć and its graduates have contributed to Wisconsin employers’ ability to solve an issue of national importance,” Dietz said.

Millions of medical imaging procedures

The medical isotope derived from Mo-99 is the workhorse of nuclear medicine. It is used in more than 40 million medical imaging procedures each year for heart patients and cancer diagnosis.

Cory Hawkins, a 51ÁÔĆć alum who now works for the therapeutics division at SHINE Technologies, says it is fulfilling work. Hawkins’ division is focused on production of lutetium-177 for cancer-targeted radiotherapy.

“It makes me feel good that we are developing diagnostics and therapeutics that can help the critically ill and that we can also fill in a supply gap,” Hawkins said.

SHINE has a four-phase vision to build a profitable business and ultimately bring nuclear fusion power to market, he added. The current phase 2 involves radiopharmaceutical production.

Fascinated by nuclear science

Hawkins, who grew up in the state of Oregon, had an interest in chemistry and nuclear science from an early age. He was fascinated by articles on the atomic age in a set of encyclopedias in his parents’ garage.

When he arrived at 51ÁÔĆć as a graduate student, he heard about Dietz’s lab at a chemistry department event. “It just went on from there. I joined his group and hit the ground running on research and didn’t look back.”

He eventually went on to earn his doctorate in chemistry, a postdoc at University of California- Irvine and taught for four years in Tennessee before returning to Wisconsin and joining SHINE.

Chemistry is favorite subject

Another 51ÁÔĆć graduate, Mohammed Abdul Momen, who also works for SHINE, came into the field because he was interested in environmental issues and the safe handling of nuclear materials.

Momen grew up in Bangladesh, where chemistry was his favorite subject in school. After doing his undergraduate work in Bangladesh, he eventually gravitated to 51ÁÔĆć. Friends had recommended the university, and Dietz’s lab fit with his interest in applied chemistry.

He learned valuable skills.

“It prepared me for learning about separation processes and the kind of job I have now,” Momen said. “One important thing is Dr. Dietz’s skill set. He is very well-known radiochemist and so helpful to his students. Everybody in the field knows him.”

Teamwork and collaboration

James Wankowski said that the work he did in Dietz’s lab was more academic than what he does now at NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, a product-oriented and highly regulated business. But he uses the teamwork and collaboration stills he learned at 51ÁÔĆć every day.

“When I was first here, this was just a small start-up. I had to wear a lot of different hats,” he said. The company has grown from fewer than 75 employees to more than 250.

“This is cutting-edge work. We’re paving a path and walking down it.”

Television inspired his interest in chemistry in his younger days, Wankowski said. He loved shows like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and went to Carroll University with the idea of getting a degree in that field. However, when he found jobs were scarce, he branched out to follow interests in inorganic chemistry and analytical chemistry at 51ÁÔĆć, where he worked in Dietz’s lab and earned his doctorate in 2017.

NorthStar has a focus on developing and creating products in an environmentally sound way, and that’s an important part of Wankowski’s work.

“My project is essentially taking this critical and expensive raw material and helping us re-use it to benefit our customers and the patients they serve.”

Valuable skills

Kevin Wolters, who completed his doctorate at 51ÁÔĆć in December 2021, worked in Dietz’s lab and took a long-term temporary position with SHINE Technologies for two and a half years with his professor’s recommendation.

He eventually took a position at Sterling Pharma Solutions in Germantown that involves helping develop drugs. He completed his doctoral degree on weekends while working there. While he’s not directly working with radioisotopes now, Wolters said he feels his experiences at 51ÁÔĆć prepared him for his current job.

“It helped a lot. One thing Dr. Dietz taught us was to be hands-on and self-sufficient. That really helped me develop as a scientist,” Wolters said.

Hawkins appreciated the teamwork and the opportunities to do presentations.

“Other than the technical aspect, there was the discipline and networking. 51ÁÔĆć gave me the opportunity to work with a diverse population of students and staff, and that has really helped me in my career.”

Research as an undergrad

Michael Kaul was exposed to the research as an undergraduate at 51ÁÔĆć. “I had always been fascinated by radiochemistry, so when I learned more about his research and discovered there was access to a radiation lab at 51ÁÔĆć, I pursued a SURF grant to explore this field of research more.”

He went on to pursue a doctorate in the field and landed a job at NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes as a process chemist. “The opportunities that were available at 51ÁÔĆć greatly influenced my career and gave me relevant experience to prosper in the field of nuclear medicine.”

James Harvey, chief science officer of NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, got to know Dietz earlier in both of their careers and has stayed in touch as his firm looks to recruit researchers for its cutting-edge work.

“We’re very impressed with the graduates who have come out of Dr. Dietz’s lab,” he said.

“They have the skill sets we need in advancing radio imaging manufacturing. They’re well-rounded and hit the ground running.”

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When he was a college freshman at UW-Parkside, Ian Nebendahl, a graduate student from Naperville, Illinois, thought he would end up majoring in business. A class called Great Lakes Water Resources changed his mind and he realized he wanted to pursue a career in the sciences instead.

After he graduated with a bachelor’s in geosciences, Nebendahl began looking at graduate school. “I chose 51ÁÔĆć and their freshwater sciences school because it was a centralized focus of what I wanted to get into,” he says. “Plus, I love Milwaukee.”

51ÁÔĆć’s School of Freshwater Sciences is the only one of its kind in North America, and offers PhD and master’s programs in freshwater sciences, as well as a bachelor’s program with two separate tracks to choose from: aquatic sciences and water policy.

“Not a lot of schools had what I was looking for. The facilities here can’t be beat. We’re right on Lake Michigan,” Nebendahl says. The School of Freshwater Sciences also has two research vessels: the Neeskay and the Osprey. The Neeskay is the only research vessel navigating the Great Lakes year-round.

Something that impressed Nebendahl about the program was its focus on preparing students for a career after graduation, including classes related to professional development, as well as networking opportunities. Nebendahl interned at A.O. Scott as a water treatment lab intern, a position he was connected to via a Freshwater Sciences faculty member.

“I worked in the water treatment sector, where I conducted tests to determine the effectiveness of filtering out harmful chemicals from our water systems,” he says.

Nebendahl hopes more students will consider studying freshwater sciences. “There are so many careers and ways to get involved in freshwater sciences. People come in wondering what they could do in freshwater sciences, but there’s work in nonprofits and community organizations. And then there’s the research side of things, too,” he says. “Freshwater is a very scarce resource, so we need to do all we can to protect it.”

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Alexis Meyer first fell in love with UW-Milwaukee when she was looking for an accredited architecture program for her bachelor’s degree. (UW-Milwaukee has one of the only accredited architecture programs in Wisconsin.) Although she considered staying in Minnesota, she wanted to be a little farther from family but still have the option to drive home for the weekend when she wanted to.

“When I toured 51ÁÔĆć, it was perfect,” she says. It’s in a small, four-block radius, but there’s still downtown. I can get my city views but I don’t have to live in the bustling city.”

After earning her undergraduate architecture degree at 51ÁÔĆć, it was an easy choice for Meyer to stay for her master’s degree. “The faculty here, you can tell that they care and want you to do well. I had developed those connections and relationships that I wanted to continue,” she says.

Meyer also appreciated the school’s on-campus facilities, particularly the woodshop. “Being able to be hands-on and build a physical object of your design was really important to me. It’s a fully stocked woodshop—saws, sanders, a CNC machine. You can really do anything.”

Before graduation, she accepted a job offer with HGA, one of the country’s largest architecture firms, as a design coordinator. She initially connected with her employer through a weeklong, 51ÁÔĆć-facilitated externship. During that externship, she attended client meetings and workshops, and created renderings and models, all of which provided valuable real-world experience.

Meyer maintained her connections at the firm after her externship (one of several she did during her time at 51ÁÔĆć) and learned about her current job through a 51ÁÔĆć alum who works there. “Those connections are really important in architecture,” Meyer says, “and the externship was good exposure to seeing how my job would be.”

51ÁÔĆć’s Master of Architecture program prepares students for every aspect of the creative process, from planning projects to designing and building them, and it does so with an eye toward equity and community engagement. Students gain real-world experience and expand their networks through one- and two-week externships with architecture firms in Milwaukee, Chicago and New York. Each spring, the school hosts an interview day for job placement that draws more than 50 architecture firms from across the nation.

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