Learn more about FlexRide Milwaukee, a pilot transit project that connects workers from the city, including three segregated neighborhoods on Milwaukee’s north and northwest sides, to employers in Butler and Menomonee Falls seeking workers.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with two urban planners leading the project. Lingqian “Ivy” Hu is professor and chair of the urban planning department at UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Kevin Muhs is executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. FlexRide Milwaukee is funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Two UWM researchers are uncovering the history of covenants language added to deeds stipulating that only white people could own or live on a property. Covenants were commonplace by the turn of the 20th century. Their use declined in the 1950s when they were no longer enforceable, though covenants did help to shape what housing in Milwaukee looks like today.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with Anne Bonds, associate professor of geography, and Derek Handley, assistant professor of English, about their project, “Mapping Racism and Resistance in Milwaukee County.” They’re studying the history and impact of covenants, as well as the precedent that protests to covenants set for today’s racial equity movements.

A century ago, a Negro League baseball team called Milwaukee home. With the Major League Baseball lockout leaving the start of spring training this month in doubt, Brewers fans can take this opportunity to look back at the Milwaukee Bears.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with Ken Bartelt, a UWM doctoral student in history, about his work looking at the Negro Leagues in Milwaukee. He’s joined by Neal Pease, a retired UWM professor of history who taught a course on baseball and American history. Pease inspired Bartelt to use his interest in baseball to look at how history influences contemporary issues.

Scientists are closing in on identifying the exact genetic components that fish and amphibians use to regenerate their optic nerve after injury. The work may one day provide new treatments for human eye diseases and prevent permanent vision loss.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with two scientists studying regeneration. Ava Udvadia, a UW-Milwaukee associate professor of biological sciences who is researching regeneration in fish; and Fiona Watson, an associate professor of biology at Washington and Lee University who is studying regeneration in frogs.

Has the avalanche of misinformation shared on Twitter harmed people’s health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States? UWM geographers tested the question by mapping the locations of tweets. Researchers found a direct correlation between locations where Twitter misinformation originated and subsequent spikes in COVID-19 infections and deaths in those areas weeks later.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk about research into misinformation and the pandemic with Rina Ghose, the UW-Milwaukee professor of geography who led the study of social media activity in 2020, and graduate students Amir Forati and Rachel Hansen.

As the holiday song goes, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Around the world, families and friends are gathering this month, whether virtually or in person, to exchange gifts, share stories or feast on homemade treats. The holidays also give people an opportunity to celebrate their cultural traditions and heritage, sometimes with the help of technology or social media.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk about holiday origins, traditions and customs with Simon Bronner, dean of UW-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies, distinguished professor and internationally known folklore expert; and Meghan Murphy-Lee, a senior lecturer in Russian and expert on Slavic folklore.

The stresses of everyday life build up and can be detrimental to our health and sleep – and not just during the holidays. Two health psychologists say that more easy-access resources are needed to help people cope.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with Marcellus Merritt, an associate professor in UW-Milwaukee’s College of Letters and Science, and Matthew Zawadzki, an associate professor at the University of California-Merced. Their research has shown that tapping into leisure activities can be a powerful tool to manage everyday stress. Merritt and Zawadzki are studying why leisure activities can help protect our health.

For many of us, the holiday season is a time to go to the movies. But some people remain wary about returning to the cinema because of the pandemic. How have theaters responded? And what does the future hold for how we take in films?On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk about movie theaters and the movies with Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, an associate professor and director of the film studies program at UW-Milwaukee; and Andrew Mencher, director of programming and operations at the Avalon Theater in Washington, D.C.Mencher also is owner and operations director of The Cinema Club, a national organization that, in non-COVID times, offers sneak previews to new independent and foreign films. Szczepaniak-Gillece is a co-moderator of the Milwaukee chapter of The Cinema Club.

Meet a water policy expert whose new book lays out a blueprint for creating alternate corporate business models called “cooperatives,” which incorporate green practices, pay living wages and preserve jobs in the community. The best ones have an auditing system in place to show that they’re producing those triple bottom-line returns, says Melissa Scanlan, director of the Center for Water Policy at UW-Milwaukee.On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with Scanlan about cooperatives and her new book, “Prosperity in the Fossil-Free Economy: Cooperatives and the Design of Sustainable Businesses.”

The season of shopping is upon us, and retailers and marketers are bombarding us with messages about purchasing. The average person is exposed to more than 4,500 commercial messages every day. So what is it about an ad – whether it’s traditional or digital – that stops us in our tracks? And what features of advertising actually lead us to buy? Insights are coming from a tsunami of data provided by buyers themselves, thanks to digital advertising and social media. On this episode of Curious Campus, we talk with Purush Papatla, a professor of marketing at UWM, about how social and data scientists are mining this sea of information to uncover the secrets of consumer behavior.