Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Discovery Challenge Research Symposium!

  • Matthew Bruss – An in vivo metric of autophagic flux to improve cancer treatment
  • David Kiefer – Herbal medicine use: A comparison between two research sites
  • Kaitlin Mitchell – Extracellular matrix mannan in Candida albicans biofilms contributes to antifungal resistance
  • Harisha Rajanala – Biochemical characterization of bacterial actins
The Discovery Challenge, part of the WARF Student Ambassador Program, aims to promote campus-wide cross-disciplinary research. It is a forum for students to share research results, exchange ideas and improve their communication skills. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers competed for a total of $2,000 in cash prizes at a research symposium held on Monday, May 20, 2013. Participants and those who attended the symposium are eligible to participate in part two of the Discovery Challenge: a mini-grant competition to be held in the fall of 2013. Up to three mini-grants of $5,000 each will be awarded to research teams to advance their innovative and collaborative projects.
 

Overview

The Discovery Challenge is a competition for young scientists at UW–Madison who are pursuing original research with the potential for real-world impact. The goal of the Discovery Challenge is to jump-start the realization of promising research by providing emerging researchers with both an opportunity to identify collaborators from across the campus and to compete for funding to advance their projects through collaboration.

The first step involves participation in a campus-wide research symposium that will bring together graduate students and postdocs in the sciences, engineering, arts, humanities and beyond to present their existing work and participate in an open exchange of ideas with a view to identifying potential cross-disciplinary collaborators.

The second step is a research competition for small grants to actually carry out these collaborations with the goal of advancing each party's research projects.

Step 1: Research symposium

A total of four cash prizes of $500 each were awarded at the research symposium on May 20, 2013. Posters were judged by an interdisciplinary panel of faculty, students and UW–Madison and WARF staff according to the following criteria:

  • How well the presentation describes the project and the need for collaboration to advance its goals
  • The potential of the project to lead to significant advances in the field and/or significant impact on society
  • Innovation and creativity

Step 2: Mini-grant competition

All presenters and symposium participants are eligible to participate in a competition for a $5,000 research mini-grant. Eligibility for the competition requires presenters to work with collaborators outside their own discipline. Teams will submit a brief grant proposal describing an original research idea. Up to three proposals will be selected to receive as much as $5,000 in grant money to fund work on the grant project. Winners of the Discovery Challenge will have the opportunity to present their work at the 2014 Discovery Challenge Symposium.

Important dates

May 20, 2013 – Discovery Challenge Research Symposium
September 10, 2013 – Due date for mini-grant competition proposals