An Ever-Growing Collection of News, Features & Achievements
Professor John Philip Walters passed away on August 18, 2026, at the age of 88 years old. He was born in Elgin, Illinois, on July 4, 1938. Professor Walters joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin—Madison’s Department of Chemistry in 1965, following his undergraduate education at Purdue University and earning his Ph.D. from the …
For Jim Maynard, the dream of becoming a scientist at UW–Madison started young — around age six, in fact, when his sister used to sing “If you want to be a Badger” around the house. That early spark stuck, but the path to Madison ran through six years in the U.S. Navy first, more than …
Department of Chemistry Bids Farewell to Two Instrumentation Stalwarts August 2026 The Department of Chemistry is marking the end of an era this month as two long-serving members of its instrumentation staff, Bob Shanks and Martha Vestling, retire after decades of dedicated service supporting research across campus. Vestling joined the department in late December 1996 …
When Pete Ellingson arrived at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to pursue a PhD in physical chemistry, he was looking for a program that offered both academic excellence and a collaborative environment. He found exactly that in the UW–Madison Department of Chemistry. “The department had the perfect combination of many faculty members whose research interests meshed …
Dr. Bob Bergman’s advice to future scientists is simple but demanding: choose work you genuinely love, because science requires patience, resilience, and intrinsic passion. His own path was marked by hard work, curiosity‑driven research, and transformative teaching. Bergman reflects on his unlikely path into chemistry, the discoveries that shaped his career, and his belief that …
Emeritus Professor Charles P. Casey passed away in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
Charles Daniel “Dan” Cornwell, 100, passed away on October 13, 2025, in Madison, WI. He was born on December 27, 1924. According to his obituary, Charles Daniel (“Dan”) Cornwell was born in Williamsport, PA, on Dec. 27, 1924, son of John Gibson Cornwell, Jr., and Anna Moul Cornwell, the latter of Hanover, PA. He was educated …
Students returning to class for the spring semester last week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were greeted with a new academic building at the heart of campus.
Goodbye, crowded chemistry labs. So long to space crunches so severe that some 20% of UW-Madison students took introductory organic chemistry at a different university. UW-Madison opened its gleaming nine-story Chemistry Tower to students this semester after months of construction delays. The new building at 1101 University Ave. will ease enrollment bottlenecks that have plagued the department for decades.