 Recently, Pauketat has been working with Danielle Benden (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Robert Boszhardt (independent) as part of "The Mississippian Initiative" (funded by the National Science Foundation).They are working in western Wisconsin to study sites such as Trempealeau, which they believe may have been a short-term Cahokian mission or colony.They believe that the effects of Cahokians colonizing the ancient north country resulted in profound, long-term change in the regional ancient American Indian world.