A project led by Nelson Institute’s Jack Williams, professor and chair of the Department of Geography, is among 16 selected for a Research Forward award by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education. Research Forward, supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), is a competition that promotes “highly innovative and groundbreaking research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.”
Williams works with other researchers, including Nelson Institute affiliate Jake Vander Zanden, to study ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) and observe how past species were affected by past climate changes. These findings will then be applied to predict how biodiversity will adapt to climate change today. Williams’ project is said to “position UW–Madison at the leading edge of the rapidly growing field of aeDNA and its transformative insights into the effects of environmental change upon biodiversity.”
Williams’ aeDNA project, as well as the other Research Forward award recipients, will receive funding from WARF for the next one to two years. Read more about the Research Forward competition and other award-winning projects here.