Research Matters - UWM's Research Podcast

What should researchers ask before exploring the past beneath the Great Lakes?

In this episode of Research Matters, we explore research from UWM scholars Ashley Lemke and Mark Freeland on Indigenous connections to underwater heritage and archaeology in the North American Great Lakes.

At the center of their work is naandamo, an Anishinaabemowin concept of pausing to think clearly about what you are going to do and say. As technology gives archaeologists greater access to submerged landscapes, Lemke and Freeland ask researchers to pause and consider not only what can be discovered, but who the research serves, what responsibilities come with it, and whether the research should take place at all.

The result is a conversation about archaeology, Indigenous knowledge, place, reciprocity, and what responsible research can look like beneath the waters of the Great Lakes.

Featured Research:

Naandamo: Indigenous Connections to Underwater Heritage, Settler Colonialism, and Underwater Archaeology in the North American Great Lakes

Ashley Lemke and Mark Freeland, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

What if AI isn't floating in the cloud, but rooted in the materials beneath our feet and the language we've inherited across generations?

In this episode of Research Matters, we explore Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies, a collaborative exhibition by artist, researcher, and educator Nathaniel Stern and poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles.

Through sculpture, generative poetry, artificial intelligence, and immersive installations, Stern and Stiles examine the evolving relationship between humans and technology, inviting us to consider the environmental, cultural, and creative systems that make digital life possible.

Together, their work explores questions of language, memory, ecology, machine creativity, and technological inheritance, challenging us to think critically about what future generations may receive from the technologies we build today.

Featured Research & Creative Work:

Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies

Nathaniel Stern, Sasha Stiles, and collaborators

Produced by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Division of Research.

Learn More

Nathaniel Stern: https://nathanielstern.art

Sasha Stiles: https://sashastiles.com

Follow the artists

Instagram: @nathanielstern

Instagram/X: @sashastiles

Audio production may include licensed music, sound effects, and content created with Adobe Creative Cloud tools.

Why do businesses often charge the same price for very different products?

In this episode of Research Matters, we examine new research from UWM's Zuhui Xiao on class pricing and the psychology of consumer decision-making. The study suggests that loss aversion and price comparisons can make fewer price points more effective than highly customized pricing, even with modern AI tools. [xiao-2026-...ss-pricing | PDF]

Research Featured

Consumer-Driven Class Pricing by Zuhui Xiao, Marketing Science (2026). DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2023.0133. [xiao-2026-...ss-pricing | PDF]

Produced by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Division of Research. Audio production may include licensed music, sound effects, and content created with Adobe Creative Cloud tools.

In this episode of Research Matters, we explore the 2025 article Addressing Split Collections in NAGPRA Compliance by Jennifer Haas, Kevin Garstki, and Adrienne Frie. The authors examine how Indigenous Ancestors and cultural belongings from the same archaeological sites often become dispersed across museums, universities, and historical societies, creating challenges for repatriation under NAGPRA.

The discussion highlights collaborative strategies developed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, including Tribal consultation, site-history reconstruction, shared records, and regional partnerships. Through Wisconsin-based examples, the paper demonstrates how institutions can work together to reduce burdens on Tribal Nations and support more complete and culturally responsive repatriation efforts.

Research Matters is produced by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Division of Research. Learn more at www.uwm.edu/researchpodcast.

Episode 3 of UWM's 'Research Matters' Podcast explores ongoing work in Professor Ching Hong Yang's Biology Lab where he and his students explore biological agents to disarm bacteria that drive Fire Blight in apple trees.

Paper URL: Erwinia amylovora Type III Secretion System Inhibitors Reduce Fire Blight Infection Under Field Conditions | Phytopathology®

Research Matters is a new podcast format from the UWM Office of Research that leverages generative AI to summarize faculty publications and create an audio file to disseminate their research results.

Episode 2 of UWM's 'Research Matters' Podcast explores ongoing work at the Leonard E. Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics exploring the nature of black holes by the gravitational waves they produce and distinct signals detected by the LIGO instruments.

In the pilot episode of UWM's new Research Matters podcast, we explore UWM's cutting-edge research in Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM), a molecular imaging process allowing us to see conformational changes in signaling proteins like never before.