Four CALS-affiliated projects are among 17 recipients awarded grants in the inaugural year of the of the Igniting Interdisciplinary Innovation (I³) initiative. The initiative was launched in November 2025 to bring together researchers from across disciplines to develop transformative research ideas aligned with, or complementary to, UW–Madison’s RISE initiatives in Artificial Intelligence, Earth and Health.

The program is led by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research with support from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and was also designed to position teams to compete for future large-scale external funding opportunities. The full list of recipients along with descriptions of each project can be found on the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research website.

The four projects with CALS affiliation are:

A Machine Learning Prediction Model of Weather Extremes for U.S. Agricultural Industry

PI: 
Stephanie Henderson, assistant professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Co-PIs:
Christopher Kucharik, professor of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
Zhou Zhang, associate professor of Biological Systems Engineering
Fraser King, assistant professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Sara Gragg, professor of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Jason Otkin, research associate professor Space Science and Engineering Center
Steve Vavrus, senior scientist UW Extension/State Climatology Office

Co-Investigator:
Jim Luedtke, professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Harnessing the rumen to mitigate PFAS exposure and improve herd and human health

PI:
Kimberely Stietz, associate professor of Comparative Biosciences

Co-PIs:
Jeffrey Martell, assistant professor of Chemistry
Laura Hernandez, professor of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Hilario Mantovani, associate professor of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Sathish Kumar, professor of Comparative Biosciences

Launching a visionary Critical Minerals Working Group at UW–Madison

PI: 
Julie Klinger,  geographer and associate professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and co-chair of the Critical Minerals Working Group

Co-PI:
Luca Mastropasqua, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering

Co-Investigators:
Xia Zhu-Barker, associate professor of Soil and Environmental Sciences
Matt Grinder-Vogel, professor of Environmental Chemistry and Technology
Sue Swanson, State Geologist and director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, affiliate UW Extension
Andrea Hicks, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Leah Horowitz, associate professor of American Indian & Indigenous Studies, affiliate Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Annemarie Schneider, associate professor of Geography, affiliate Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Rahul Sujanani, assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Shawn Kaeppler, professor of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, affiliate WI Crop Innovation Center
Tricia Gorby, director of the Natural Resources Institute Extension

Preserving Skeletal Muscle, Vascular, and Psychosocial Health in the GLP-1/GIP Pharmacotherapy Era (PRESERVE-GLP Lifestyle Trial)

PI:
Christopher Sundberg, assistant professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology

Co-Investigators:
Dawn Davis, professor of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Adam Konopka, associate professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology
Jeffer Sasaki, assistant professor of Kinesiology
Jill Barnes, associate professor of Kinesiology
Jacob Meyer, assistant professor of Kinesiology
Adam Kuchnia, assistant professor of Food and Nutritional Sciences
Rachel Fenske, scientist in Food and Nutritional Sciences