Join our graduate students as they present five-minute ‘flash talks’ related to their research in during our Lighting Round Talks event which will be hosted as part of our Prospective Graduate Student Welcome event on Friday, February 6, 2026, from 4:30pm – 5:30pm in L140 of the Elvehjem Building.
Lightning Round Talk presenters will include:
Richard Ellis is a Ph.D. Student whose research is centered around Islamic calligraphy, painted manuscripts, and ceramic ornament from Persia. Richard’s talk will feature image(s) from a Folio from a Falnama (Book of Omens) of Ja’far al-Sadiq. “Muhammad Revives the Sick Boy.” Qazvin, Iran. ca. 1550s. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 50.23.1.
Sarah Ganzel is a Ph.D. Student who is interested in the socio-material and tactile dynamics of medieval art and especially in how medieval manuscripts mediated users’ relationships to the self and others. Sarah’s talk will feature image(s) from the Royal Order of the Golden Fire Dog, the Asafo (or military protectors) of the Royal House of Sefwi Obeng-Mim in Ghana.
Maria Hellenbrand is a dual-degree master’s student in UW Madison’s Art History and Library Science department whose research focuses on reception of the Greco-Roman tradition. Maria’s talk with feature image(s) from Dony MacManus. Coronation of the Virgin Mary Queen of Heaven exterior mosaic. 2017, Gold and venetian glass mosaic. St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center, Madison, WI. From: RDG Planning & Design.
Xiaoyan Jiang 
is a Ph.D. Candidate with research interests in Visual Culture, Queer and Gender Studies, Soviet Russia and Germany, Cold War Europe, Modernism, and Material Culture. Xiaoyan’s talk will feature image(s) Yellow-Red-Blue (1925) by Wassily Kandinsky.
Katie Juneau is a Ph.D. Student who studies Victorian art with a focus on the genre of fairy painting, which she uses to explore the intertwined worlds of Victorian natural science, folklore, and material culture. Katie’s talk will feature image(s) The Intruder by John Anster Fitzgerald, ca. 1865. Chazen Museum of Art.
Claire Kilgore is a Ph.D. Candidate studying late medieval art and religious practice. Claire’s talk will feature image(s) from Master of the Miracles of Mariazell, Miracle Resolving Infertility (Die Wunder von Mariazell: Ein Paar aus dem Land ob der Enns empfängt 1503 nach drei Jahren endlich ein Kind), ca. 1520, Woodcut, Sheet: 23.8 × 16.4 cm; Image: 19.3 × 14.4cm. Albertina (Vienna, Austria), DG2014/16/13.
Sophie Longo is an M.A. Student with research interests in European Renaissance and Baroque period female patrons and artists. Sophie’s talk will feature image(s) from Banksy.
Wendy Wu 
is a Ph.D. Student with research interests in Buddhist art, Monsoon Asia, Maritime trade routes, Cultural exchanges, Rituals, and East Asian Portraiture. Wendy’s talk will feature image(s) of Portrait Vase of Jacobus Boon, China, 18th century; hard-paste porcelain with overglaze black enamel and gilt, made for a Dutch patron. Hans Lachmann Collection, bequest of George L. Mosse, Chazen Museum of Art.
