#LifeatPromega

Stories about the people, places and activities that make Promega Corporation all that it is to our customers and the communities where we work, live and play.

Creating Sonic Sculptures with Artist-in-Residence, Joe Willie Smith

Posted on by Mariel Mohns
Joe Willie Smith’s instrumental art installation is a collaborative experience of sound and color.

Joe Willie Smith has always been a creator. As a young child growing up in Milwaukee, his mother encouraged him to make art and find beauty in the everyday. Following years of work in printing and graphic design (including posters for Gil-Scott Heron and Chaka Khan), Smith began channeling his inspiration and creativity into building playable “sonic sculptures” out of found objects. “They’re not all considered instruments…sometimes I just make soundscapes out of them,” Smith says.

As the artist-in-residence for the Promega Fall Art Showcase, Smith set out to create a sonic sculpture from collected items from the Promega campus. He planned to perform on the instrument at the opening of the Art Show, but his creative process led to something much more—a collaborative experience in sound and color.

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Seeds of Change Award Recognizes Commitment to Local Community

Posted on by Promega
Nicole Haselwander and Stephanie Shea accept the Seeds of Change award for Promega.

Community Shares of Wisconsin presented Promega with its Seeds of Change award for our workplace giving efforts. The award is presented to a local business that shows innovation, growth, and commitment to Community Shares of Wisconsin. Over the past 15 years Promega and our employees have collectively contributed more than $717,000 to Community Shares work! Our 100% corporate matching helps employee gifts go twice as far to member nonprofits and the community.

Charitable giving programs and paid time off for community service are examples of Promega’s commitment to corporate responsibility. Learn more at https://www.promega.com/responsibility #corporateresponsibility

Nicole Haselwander and Stephanie Shea were on hand at the Community Change-Maker Awards hosted by Community Shares of Wisconsin to accept the Seeds of Change award on behalf of Promega Corporation. “It was an incredibly inspiring and uplifting program,” says Stephanie.

Related Posts

Meet the Mighty Masked Masters of Measurement

Posted on by Michele Arduengo, PhD

Scientific investigation is an iterative process, for which reproducibility is key. Reproducibility, in turn, requires accuracy and precision—particularly in measurement. The unsung superheroes of accuracy and precision in the research lab are the members of your local Metrology Department. According to Promega Senior Metrologist, Keela Sniadach, it’s good when the metrology department remains unsung and behind the scenes because that means everything is working properly.

Holy Pipettes, Scientists! We have a metrology department?! Wait…what’s metrology again?

Callibration technician checks out a multipipettor

Metrology (the scientific study of measurement) got its start in France, when it was proposed that an international length standard be based on a natural source. It was from this start that the International System of Units (SI), the modern metric system of measurement, was born.

Metrology even has its own day: May 20, which is the anniversary of the day that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) was created by the Meter Convention in Paris in 1875. The job of BIPM is to ensure worldwide standards of measurement.

For life scientists, metrology centers around making sure the equipment used everyday—from pipettes to heating blocks to centrifuges—is calibrated and measuring correctly.

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Curiosity and Collaboration: A PhD Journey

Posted on by Mariel Mohns

Concepcion Sanchez-Cid didn’t know she wanted to be a scientist when she was older. She grew up with a love of music and played the violin, but her curiosity and eagerness to learn drove her down the path for a career in biomedical research.

Hear more of Concepcion’s story:

As a Master’s student at the University of Granada, Concepcion studied biotechnology and landed an internship at the Promega Europe Training and Application Lab (PETAL) in France. She worked with the Applications Team to develop protocols for DNA and RNA extraction from soil. When she decided to pursue a PhD, she received a sponsorship from Promega and enrolled as a student at the University of Lyon while also remaining an employee at PETAL.

Concepcion says that the balance between both worlds—academia and industry—provide her with technical skills and a unique support network that has helped shape her PhD thesis work. “Working at a university and a company at the same time…you get very different feedback from people that are very specialized, and they really know what they’re doing, so at the end you integrate everything,” she says. “It’s one of the things I appreciate most about my PhD.”

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Nothing Beets Locally Grown

Posted on by Kassidy Steyer

A great way to purchase fresh fruits and veggies is by attending a farmer’s market. Farmer’s markets are community centerpieces. Shopping at markets helps support local agriculture and recirculates money back into the community. Many times, shoppers can find food that is pesticide-and herbicide-free. Since food is sourced from nearby, shopping at a market helps save the energy and petroleum that is used to ship food around the world. Plastic waste can also be prevented, just remember to bring your own reusable produce bags.

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What Packaging Dog Food Can Teach You About Science Writing and Other Tales

Posted on by Kassidy Steyer

Cartoon drawing of two workers drinking coffee

Believe it or not, the most unglamorous jobs teach us all a thing or two about life. I asked Promega staff members to discuss the most impactful lessons they learned at their first jobs. Check it out.

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Celebrating Bike-to-Work Week 2019

Posted on by Promega

Every day at the Promega Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, many Promega employees trade the crowded Beltline Highway for a scenic route along the bike trails. As our colleagues wind around the lakes and prairies of south-central Wisconsin, they’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions and getting some fun exercise in the process. This week, during National Bike-to-Work week, we’re taking time to recognize our colleagues who opt for a healthier and more sustainable commute. In the video below, hear about how Promega supports our bike commuters from Sam Jackson, an avid biker and Multimedia Specialist at Promega.

Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day by Reducing Your Plastic Use

Posted on by Michele Arduengo, PhD

One of the most noticeable phenological events of Spring in the Midwest United States is the arrival of the red winged black birds in March. These birds fly in from the South and take up residence on fence posts, power lines and tall reeds, creating a a weaving of red and yellow and black against a still brown backdrop. Shortly after the blackbirds arrive, the first robins of spring greet us and sandhill cranes fly in along with many other species.


These migratory birds that serve as heralds of spring are celebrated on World Migratory Bird Day (#WMBD #WMBD2019 #BirdDay). This day is celebrated twice a year, on the second Saturday in May and the second Saturday in October.

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There’s Something About Trees: Arbor Day 2019

Posted on by Michele Arduengo, PhD
two girls climbing a tree
Climbing The Old Willow Tree is best with a friend

My daughter has a favorite tree, The Old Willow Tree, at Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Madison. I don’t know exactly how much time she has spent in that tree, but I suspect it is significant.

Trees have served as the source of inspiration for scientists’ careers, writers’ metaphors, and musicians’ nostaglia.

One of our science writers at Promega tells this story about an early “botanical” experiment he and his grandmother performed:

“When I was four, my grandma helped me plant a ‘helicopter’ in a butter dish. It slowly graduated to a Cool Whip container, then a family-sized takeout tub from a spaghetti joint. It’s now the largest tree on my parents’ property.” –Jordan Villanueva

When I was in college, the campus quad was lined with ancient Ginkgo trees that filled my morning walks to my fall classes with shimmering gold leaf. I remember those trees with such fondness that the first tree I planted when I moved to Wisconsin was a Ginkgo tree.

There’s something about trees…we wax poetic and become nostalgic; we include them in our literature and art as important symbols and teachers of life lessons.

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Oh, the Places You’ll Go, Thanks to Science!

Posted on by Promega

Today’s guest blog is written by Aparna Shah, a Post-Doc at Johns Hopkins University. Aparna visited the Promega campus in Madison, Wisconsin on January 18, 2019 and offered to share her experiences.

Aparna poses with her artwork at the Promega Employee Art Showcase

I don’t recall ever having won a contest before, let alone the grand prize! In fact, I did a double take when I first read the email informing me that my SciArt submission had been selected as a winning entry for the Promega Art Contest for Creative Scientists. What did I win, you ask? A free trip to Madison, WI to meet with the team behind the contest and explore Promega’s headquarters!

I first heard about the contest on the HelloPhD podcast and considered participating primarily to support the SciArt movement. A couple of days later, I came across a perfectly-timed tweet about the contest that nudged me out of procrastination mode and reminded me to follow through with it. I’m going to take a second here to pitch both HelloPhD and Twitter to you. Regardless of whether you’re an undergraduate student interning in a science lab or a senior postdoc, the HelloPhD podcast is incredible at calming you down while you’re on the roller coaster ride called academia. As for Twitter, I can think of several pros for using it. But in the context of this post, it is one of the best resources for discovering opportunities that match your interests.

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