UW-Platteville celebrates innovation

Innovation took center stage at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville during its inaugural Innovation Days, held Nov. 18-21. The celebration highlighted the university's commitment to innovation as a core value and showcased its efforts to solve complex problems through collaboration across disciplines.

The events kicked off with the Innovation Showcase, which highlighted creative and scholarly achievements by students, faculty and staff. More than 100 students participated, presenting research, internship experiences, engineering capstone projects and more. Faculty members also shared insights from their sabbatical research.

Throughout the week, attendees participated in workshops focusing on topics including artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and grant writing.

The celebration continued with a Lab Crawl, offering behind-the-scenes tours of some of UW-Platteville's most innovative facilities, including the Huff Family Innovation Center, Industrial Internet of Things Testbed, MEMS/Nanotechnology Lab, Automation Lab, Electronics Lab, Safety Lab, Construction Lab, Forensic Investigation Crime Scene House and facility, and Pioneer Farm.

The week concluded with the WiSys Prototype Hackathon Final Showcase, where students competed to design and present innovative prototypes with real-world applications. A panel of judges assessed each project based on functionality, market potential and presentation quality. Senior Jacob Zorea took home first place, which includes $1,000 and an automatic entry into the WiSys Big Idea Tournament in April. His prototype - a paper pulp molding device - is biodegradable and aims to replace dry erase markers, which are not recyclable.

"Innovation is at the heart of everything we do here," said UW-Platteville Chancellor Tammy Evetovich. "It is about turning ideas into practical realities that make a difference, improve lives and drive positive change for our communities. And this week has been a powerful reminder of that. It has been inspiring to see the energy, talent and curiosity of our students and faculty throughout the week."