Advances

(Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.)

New Trace project focuses on telecommunications access
The Trace Research and Development Center has received funding for a project to make standard telecommunications systems more accessible for people who are older or disabled.

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, awarded a five-year, $3.37 million grant to Trace to work in partnership with the Technology Assessment Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

The research program has taken on new significance and immediacy because the Federal Communications Commission recently adopted new regulations that require all standard telecommunications products to be accessible and usable by people with disabilities wherever this is readily achievable.

Gregg C. Vanderheiden, professor of industrial engineering and Trace Center director, will head up the work at UW–Madison. The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center grant will cover research into technologies including phones, video phones, pagers and messaging systems; telecommunication systems and services including voice mail and interactive voice response systems; and next-generation multimedia telecommunication systems.

Researchers will look for ways to make these systems directly usable by people with all types and degrees of disability, and to work with industry and government to enhance access.

Land reform projects planned
The Land Tenure Center has been awarded $2.5 million for research and technical assistance in two regions.

The center, a global resource institution promoting equitable access to land, plans advisory work on new projects in Zimbabwe, in southern Africa, and in Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean. Each project builds on the center’s extensive experience with land reform and land administration in these regions.

In Zimbabwe, the goal of the Land Reform and Resettlement Program is to advance economic growth and reduce poverty. The program is a collaborative effort to find policies that improve land markets, land rights and land security. The $1.5 million, three-year project will be under the direction of center staff John W. Bruce and Michael J. Roth.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the center is also working in collaboration on a land use and policy administration project. The Trinidad project is a $1 million, two-year team effort under the direction of LTC staff member J. David Stanfield.

The project focuses on a reorganization of Trinidad and Tobago’s land administration framework.

Cancer drug shows promise
Early results from an ongoing university cancer drug study show that a new agent, Xcytrin (motexafin gadolinium), shows promise as a way to control brain tumors that originate from cancer in another part of the body.

“While these results are preliminary, we saw a significant amount of tumor response and a low rate of tumor progression in the brain with Xcytrin followed by whole brain radiation treatment,” says associate professor Minesh Mehta of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We are excited by the possibility of prolonged survival and enhanced quality of life suggested by these initial findings, particularly given the lack of effective treatments for brain metastases.”
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