In Regents address, Chancellor Mnookin unveils bold new initiatives to innovate for the public good, address global challenges

That process appears to be underway at the direction of Jennifer Mnookin, UW-Madison’s relatively new chancellor. In her February address to the Board of Regents, Mnookin acknowledged the university has fallen from its once premier status among the nation’s top five research universities to No. 8. And she declared a goal of climbing back to No. 6. She did her homework, aptly describing the competition – including UCLA, her previous employer, which surpassed UW-Madison in the rankings several years ago.

Mnookin said she wants UW-Madison to be more strategic and better aligned with research funding opportunities, both public and private. She’s launched the Wisconsin RISE initiative to coalesce research around grand challenge problems. And she’s declared artificial intelligence (AI), environmental sustainability and entrepreneurship as key focus areas...