UW-Madison Dept of Bacteriology

• Department Overview
• Message from Chair
• Values and Vision Statement
• History
• Mission
• Teaching
• Research
• Outreach

Outreach

Bacteriology has a long tradition of outreach to the State of Wisconsin through its responsiveness to research needs of our state's citizens. Our efforts are aligned with the Wisconsin Idea to affect people's lives through education beyond the classroom.

The Department has offered the Farm Bacteriology Short Course Program since 1907. Recently, Bacteriology Instructional Faculty member John Lindquist was awarded the 2007 J.S. Donald Short Course Teaching Award from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences for his efforts in outreach education.

New spaces in the Microbial Science Building will allow us to expand our outreach programs to better serve the public. These features include The Microbe Place, a discovery center dedicated to promoting microbiology outreach.

The Microbe Place will contain both static and interactive displays to teach K-12 students and the public about the role of microbes in their lives. During the opening celebration for the building (October 26 and 28, 2007), The Microbe Place was equipped with several eye-catching exhibits, including:

• A leafcutter ant installation, complete with a digital camera showing the ants' activity on a large 40-inch television monitor. Researchers who study this system were on hand to interact with the public and to explain the intricacies of this complicated symbiotic interactions
• An exhibition about the microbiology of food production, including examples of microbially-fermented foods, a list of all microbially fermented foods, and food microbiologists who were on hand to explain how microbes are used to produce food
• A Winogradsky Column, which is used to display different microbial types in a replica of the natural environment of a lake, such as Lake Mendota
• Two microscopes that displayed their subjects on two 30-inch television screens, using high-resolution cameras to capture and display the microscopes' field of view. Bacteriology Instructional staff were on hand to interact with visitors and explain the microbes that were on view
• A large poster displaying highlights from the University of Wisconsin's long and illustrious history in microbial science

Our current plans are to develop permanent, interactive displays based on these themes, and to complement the displays with educational and outreach programs that enhance learning in microbiology.