The mythical road to riches in the American West has always been tied to a deeper coal mine, a bigger clear-cut, a greater take from the earth. But those boom-and-bust operations have produced more ghost towns than prospering ones.

Builders will discover new ideas to incorporate into their designs and recommend to their clients at the annual Wisconsin Frame Builders Conference and Tour, Jan. 12-13 at the Radisson Hotel in La Crosse.

Each year CALS forestry students spend the first weekend of December in the Stock Pavilion for their annual Christmas tree and wreath sale. The event raises some money for the club and give students a little taste of an important Wisconsin forestry business. The club also sold maple syrup donated by agronomy professor Gordon Harvey, who has a sugar bush in the Baraboo Hills.

Each year CALS forestry students spend the first weekend of December in the Stock Pavilion for their annual Christmas tree and wreath sale. The event raises some money for the club and give students a little taste of an important Wisconsin forestry business. The club also sold maple syrup donated by agronomy professor Gordon Harvey, who has a sugar bush in the Baraboo Hills.

Melanie Barker, a graduate student in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been awarded the Pfizer Fellowship in Microbial Physiology.

Eugene A. Wilkening, Professor Emeritus of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, passed away Oct. 15, 1998, in Middleton, Wis. at the age of 82.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison molecular biologists will receive $1.8 million over three years to help develop a system to rapidly identify the function of genes specific to plants.

For the fourth straight year, Wisconsin will lead the nation with a cranberry harvest forecast at 2.4 million barrels of the tart, native fruit. From Tomah to Manitowish Waters the colorful harvest means income and jobs. Cranberries are the state’s most valuable fruit crop, with the 1997 crop valued at $162 million.

Of all the eye-catching features in UW-Madison’s new biochemistry building, visitors might start at their feet, with the mosaic of swirling shapes sealed into the lobby floor.

Joseph Buongiorno, a University of Wisconsin-Madison forest economist, will be the first individual to receive the Award in Forest Science from the Society of American Foresters. He will be honored at the group’s 1998 national convention in Traverse City, Mich. on Sept. 20.