In Focus Vol. 11, No. 12

There is a new feature in front of Merrill Hall meant to honor Milwaukee's past and present indigenous communities. The campus installed a fire circle as a gathering place and a place of celebration for UWM's Native American faculty, staff, and students. Milwaukee has the largest population of indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi River.

When energy companies drill for oil and gas, they pump up contaminated "produced water" alongside the fuel. Loaded with brine and heavy metals, produced water is usually injected back into the ground, a practice which has recently been linked to earthquakes. So, Geosciences grad student Joshua Swigart decided to find a process that could clean that water - and harvest the valuable heavy metals in it. He and his advisor, assistant professor of Geosciences Charles Paradis, just won a $50,000 UWM Catalyst Grant to help bring their idea to market.

The number of people experiencing homelessness has dropped steadily since Rafael Acevedo became Milwaukee's grant compliance manager, in charge of overseeing funding and efforts to end homelessness. Then the pandemic hit. In days, Acevedo had to empty the city's crowded shelters to prevent COVID-19 from spreading amongst an already vulnerable population. Read how this UWM alum helped the city's citizens without homes weather the virus.