Wisconsin RISE Initiative

Wisconsin Research, Innovation, and Scholarly Excellence

The Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative is a multifaceted effort focused on faculty hiring, research infrastructure, interdisciplinary collaboration and student opportunity. 

Building on UW–Madison’s strengths, including the university’s broad disciplinary range and expertise in key areas, RISE will ensure dedicated focus and funding for the infrastructure and support necessary to make transformative discoveries and translate them into real-world impact. RISE also builds on UW–Madison’s successful track record of connecting with communities and industry on collaborative solutions.

Cross-campus collaboration will identify future RISE Initiative focus areas in which UW–Madison can make a considerable impact on pressing societal concerns

Working at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) is a major U.S. public doctoral degree-granting university with prolific research activity, global reach and reputation. UW–Madison was originally named the University of Wisconsin and created when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848. It continues to be Wisconsin’s flagship teaching and research university with a statewide, national and international mission, offering programs at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels in a wide range of fields, while engaging in extensive scholarly research, continuing adult education and public service.

UW–Madison will be a model public university in the 21st century, serving as a resource to the public, and working to enhance the quality of life in the state, the nation and the world. The University will remain a preeminent center for discovery, learning and engagement by opening new forms of access to citizens from every background; creating a welcoming, empowered and inclusive community; and preparing current and future generations to live satisfying, useful and ethical lives. In partnership with the state and with colleagues around the world, the University’s faculty, staff, and students will identify and address many of the state’s and the world’s most urgent and complex problems.

UW–Madison is ranked:

• #1 Best Hospitals in Wisconsin (2023)
• #13 Public University (U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2025)
• One of the Best Value Colleges (Princeton Review 2024)
• #39 in Worldwide Reputation, Top Learning Institution (Times Higher Education 2023)
• #8 Research Institution (NSF 2023)

Learn more about UW–Madison

Living and working in Madison

RISE-AI

UW–Madison faculty, staff, and students are already unlocking new applications for AI in disparate arenas — in medicine and materials science, in agriculture and communications — to answer hard questions and discover new possibilities in their research. UW–Madison researchers have employed AI to improve the diagnosis of genetic disorders, help farmers detect disease in their crops before it spreads, and to predict new materials based on the properties that would be most useful.

While AI systems are often computers able to perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence, campus-wide attention to RISE can help keep humanity central to those systems by also recruiting AI expertise in fields such as psychology, journalism and mass communication, and philosophy.

RISE-EARTH

RISE-EARTH, which stands for Environment: Adaptation, Resilience, Technology, and Humanity, will strengthen the university’s ability to address challenges and opportunities related to the environment, translating discoveries into tangible benefits at home in Wisconsin and beyond.

RISE-EARTH will focus on two themes. The first is to reimagine economic and environmental systems to, for example, find innovative ways to revitalize communities with new modes of transportation or renew agricultural lands to reduce erosion and enhance biodiversity. The other will be aimed at building sustainable energy and technical systems — for instance, developing new clean energy technologies and ways to capture and store carbon.

RISE-THRIVE

RISE-THRIVE will focus on strengthening UW–Madison’s investments and leadership in two distinct yet complementary areas: the science of immunology and the study of the health span, or the number of years a person is not only alive but healthy.

University leaders envision RISE-THRIVE as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaboration across campus. At its outset, 10 UW–Madison schools and colleges are set to contribute expertise and resources to boost research in several priority areas, including stem cell biology; immune system-microbiome interactions; social, economic and behavioral factors associated with health and well-being; genomics and epigenetics; and developing new technologies to support health.

Disability Accommodations

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Language Services

English

If you have questions please contact the Office of Human Resources at 608-265-2257 or uwjobs@wisc.edu. Please call Cultural Linguistic Services if you need assistance in Spanish (Español 608-263-2328, 608-263-0623 o 608-265-0838), Hmong (Hmoob 608-263-2217), Tibetan (བོད་ཡིག 608-890-2545), Chinese (汉语 608-890-2628), or Nepali (नेपाली 608-262-7521).

Español / Spanish

Si tiene preguntas por favor póngase en contacto con la Oficina de Recursos Humanos llamando al 608-265-2257 o mande un correo electrónico a: spanish-cls@wisc.edu. Si necesita ayuda en español llame a Servicios Lingüísticos y Culturales al teléfono 608-263-2328, 608-263-0623 o 608-265-0838.

Hmoob / Hmong

Yog koj muaj lus nug thov hu rau Office of Human Resources 608-265-2257 los hmong-cls@wisc.edu. Yog koj xav tau kev pab rau lus Hmoob, thov hu rau Cultural Linguistic Services 608-263-2217.

བོད་ཡིག / Tibetan

དྲི་བ་ཡོད ་ཚེ། ལས་བྱེད་བདག་གཉེར་ཡིག་ཚང་ལ་ཁ་པར་ ༦༠༨ ༢༦༥ ༢༢༥༧ དང་ཡང་ན་གློག་འཕྲིན་ tibetan-cls@wisc.edu ཐོག་འབྲེལ་བ་གནང་རོགས། གལ་སྲིད་ཁྱེད་ལ་བོད་སྐད་ཀྱི་སྐད་སྒྱུར་རོགས་རམ་དགོས་ཚེ། རིག་གཞུང་སྐད་ཡིག་ཞབས་ཞུ་ཁང་གི་ཁ་པར་ ༦༠༨ ༨༩༠ ༢༥༤༥ ལ་འབྲེལ་བ་ གནང་རོགས་ཞུ།།

中文 / Chinese

如果您有问题，请联系人力资源办公室（608-265-2257 或 chinese-cls@wisc.edu）。如果您需要汉语服务，请联系文化语言服务中心，电话 608-890-2628。

नेपाली / Nepali

यदि तपाईंसँग प्रश्नहरू छन् भने कृपया मानव संसाधनको कार्यालयलाई 608-265-2257 मा फोन वा nepali-cls@wisc.edu मा ईमेल मार्फत सम्पर्क गर्नुहोला । यदि तपाईंलाई नेपाली भाषामा सहयोगको आवश्यकता छ भने कृपया सांस्कृतिक भाषागत सेवा (Cultural Linguistic Services) 608-262-7521 मा फोन गर्नुहोला ।