CALS faculty, staff, and students pursue groundbreaking research in many places, from on-campus laboratories in academic departments to interdisciplinary, cross-campus complexes, such as the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, the Morgridge Institute for Research, and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, among others. The college also funds and houses several of its own research centers and institutes where scientists pursue innovations in a wide variety of fields, from dairy to economic policy to plant breeding and more.
Researchers utilize the college’s Agricultural Research Stations as outdoor laboratories, classrooms and education centers to study agricultural and other sciences, often working with industry partners to address specific agricultural challenges.
The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) is a sustainable agriculture and food systems research center in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Scientists at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research explore the functional, flavor and physical properties of cheese and cheese products, as well as other milk components used as ingredients and finished products. The CDR is open to working with industry partners for special projects.
The Food Research Institute (FRI) is the portal to food safety at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. FRI’s mission is to catalyze multidisciplinary and collaborative research on microbial foodborne pathogens and toxins and to provide training, outreach, and service to enhance the safety of the food supply. FRI is a leader in identifying and resolving food safety issues to meet community, government and industry needs.
The J. F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, also known as Wisconsin Evolution, is a cross-college institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose mission is to foster multidisciplinary research to address complex biological problems facing society, and to improve public understanding of evolution through education and outreach. It is housed in the Department of Genetics.
The purpose of the Renk Agribusiness Institute is to manage and coordinate agribusiness teaching, research, and extension/outreach at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the School of Business and UW Extension, and to serve as a focal point for scholarly activity relating to agribusiness on the UW-Madison campus. The Institute is housed in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
The Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center (WCIC) is 100,000-square-foot plant biotechnology/greenhouse complex that houses a state-of-the-art transgenic plant laboratory. The facility supports scientific advancement opportunities to improve plants for humans, livestock, and the environment. WCIC provides cell culture, phenotyping and plant transformation services for researchers in public and private sectors.
