Driving discovery, innovation and real-world solutions
CONTACT:
Jeanan Yasiri Moe
Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
[email protected] | (608) 960-9892
MADISON, Wis. – From transforming agriculture and preserving digital culture to training the next generation of scientific leaders, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s support of the University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to fuel research that makes a difference in Wisconsin and around the world.
Engineering precision agriculture
At the Laboratory for Printed Electronics and Sensors, UW-Madison engineering professor Joseph Andrews and his team are advancing next-generation electronic sensors that support personalized medicine, data-driven diagnostics and the “Internet of Things.” Their work has applications in biomedical research, “smart” objects, wearable sensors and more.
With support from WARF Accelerator, Andrews is bringing one project closer to real-world use: a field-ready, in-soil nitrate sensing probe that helps farmers optimize fertilizer application, boost crop yields and reduce groundwater pollution without labor-intensive soil sampling.
Andrews is one of the thousands of researchers across UW-Madison 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 totaled $160.7 million across all grant categories and programs for the 2025-26 academic year. A significant portion, $115.9 million, was made available to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research to fund university researchers, research projects and research initiatives in strategic priority areas.
WARF’s operational, investment and inventor support to UW-Madison, valued at $39.6 million, and a grant of $5.2 million to the Morgridge Institute rounded out the total.
“WARF’s role is to help turn great ideas into real-world impact,” says Erik Iverson, WARF CEO. “Through our long-standing support of UW-Madison research, we’re empowering discoveries that strengthen communities, drive innovation and improve lives far beyond campus.”
Fostering innovative campus research
Programs like the Fall Research Competition, Research Forward (formerly UW2020) and Igniting Interdisciplinary Innovation — which support bold, high-impact research at UW-Madison — received funding from WARF’s annual grant, often helping researchers secure additional sources of support.
“UW-Madison’s greatest strength has always been its people, and WARF’s partnership invests directly in them, supporting researchers and scholars at all stages of their careers and providing our students opportunity to take part in innovative and transformative research,” says Eric Wilcots, interim chancellor of UW-Madison. “I’m grateful for WARF’s remarkable partnership, aligned with our mission and our priorities, which has long helped move discovery forward and enhance UW-Madison’s ability to pursue ideas that benefit the state and the nation.”
Jeremy Morris, professor of media and cultural studies, studies how digital technologies shape media industries such as podcasting, music and software. He is the author and editor of several books on digital media and the founder of PodcastRE, one of the largest public databases for podcast research.
With support from WARF through the UW2020 initiative, Morris helped grow PodcastRE from a small local collection into a searchable archive of nearly 5 million podcast episodes. “UW2020 not only helped make the site possible; it was the seed that fueled our success with the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) grant we received for the same project,” says Morris. “Simply put, PodcastRE.org would not exist were it not for the UW2020 program.”
Fast-tracking drug development
Morgridge Institute for Research investigator and UW-Madison chemistry professor Joshua Coon is driven to advance the capabilities of analytical chemistry to tackle big questions in biological research. His latest innovation in mass spectrometry may also have a profound impact on drug development and safety.
Coon developed a way to eliminate a time-consuming step in a process called peptide mapping, which the pharmaceutical industry relies on to determine a drug’s effectiveness. Normally, a single lab can complete only about eight of these tests in any given day. With Coon’s technique, they can complete as many as 600 — offering the promise of getting life-saving drugs to market much faster.
Coon and UW-Madison chemistry colleague Lloyd Smith teamed together to launch a new spinoff company, called CeleramAb Inc. WARF played an essential role in supporting Coon’s research through its Draper Technology Innovation Fund, aimed at helping technologies mature to the patenting and licensing stage. WARF also steered Coon through the patenting process and granted a license agreement to his spinoff company.
“Josh’s story encapsulates the tremendous impact WARF makes by investing in fundamental scientific discovery,” says Morgridge CEO Brad Schwartz.
Supporting students and future leaders
WARF’s impact extends to graduate student education and training. Brian Foster, a Graduate Research Scholar in electrochemistry, works in Kyoung-Shin Choi’s lab.
Foster helped develop a patented electrochemical method to recover valuable elements from used lithium-ion batteries more efficiently and with less chemical waste. He says WARF’s fellowship support influenced his decision to attend UW-Madison and strengthened his successful 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship application.
“The resources that WARF provides are very useful for my work in particular,” Foster says. “I’m extremely grateful and thankful for all of the funding that they’ve given.”
“As chair of the WARF Board of Trustees and a UW-Madison alumna, I’m continually inspired by the researchers whose work reflects the Wisconsin Idea,” says Deborah Keller. “WARF’s support helps ensure that discovery on campus translates into solutions that improve lives in meaningful ways.”
Pushing the boundaries of discovery
Emily Stanley, professor in integrative biology and the Center for Limnology, has led the North Temperate Lakes Long Term Ecological Research program since 2009. Her work examines long-term change in aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on nutrient and carbon cycling in streams and lakes. A fellow of multiple scientific societies, Stanley also teaches limnology and stream ecology.
She says WARF support, including a Kellett Mid-Career Award, has enabled her to push boundaries in her research. “WARF funding has provided me with the opportunity to take risks and expand my perspective on how we see and study aquatic ecosystems through developing new tools and bringing together collaborators with different expertise. To me, this latter opportunity is one of the hallmarks of UW-Madison: collaborations across campus and being able to work with some of the best scholars in many different fields.”
“WARF’s partnership gives UW-Madison researchers the confidence to pursue ambitious ideas and the resources to turn those ideas into discoveries that benefit society,” says Dorota Brzezinska, vice chancellor for research at UW-Madison. “From supporting groundbreaking work in our laboratories and field stations to investing in the people who drive innovation, WARF helps create the conditions that enable curiosity and application driven research, collaboration and excellence to flourish across our research enterprise.”
Fueling high-impact research
WARF recently made a large investment in a special initiative, requested outside the annual grant program, awarding $27.0 million to accelerate specific facets of UW-Madison’s research enterprise. The funding will expand the university’s research capacity in fusion energy, quantum computing and sensing, and brain health, with a focus on psychoactive medicines and neuroplasticity. The award also establishes the Wisconsin Initiative for National Security.
“These special initiatives align with WARF’s mission of supporting cutting-edge research and innovation and come at a critical time as the federal government is placing substantial emphasis and investing in these areas of research,” says Brzezinska.
A model that multiplies impact
WARF’s total support in fiscal year 2026 reflects a sustained commitment to fueling innovation at UW-Madison. Most universities must cover the costs of technology commercialization and asset management within their own budgets. UW-Madison benefits from WARF’s mission-driven, in-kind operational, investment and inventor support, equivalent to $575 million over the past 15 years, in addition to direct financial grants.
This unique model, which means the university does not have to bear the cost of its technology transfer office, has stood alone in U.S. higher education since 1925 and has helped transform bold ideas into real-world impact, advancing such breakthroughs as AI-powered software and cancer diagnostics to next-generation battery materials and lifesaving vaccines.
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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