Grain & Chaff

Leading roles

Karl Ryavec, professor emeritus of Political Science, has been elected to the executive council of the Society for Slovene Studies, an international association of scholars interested in Slovenia. ... Psychology professor Susan Krauss Whitbourne is the new chair-elect of the Society for the Study of Human Development, a professional society representing multiple disciplines that takes an integrative, interdisciplinary approach to ages/stages across the life span, generational and ecological contexts of human development, and research and applications to human development policies and programs. After two years as chair-elect, Whitbourne will become chair of the society in 2005.

Tiny subjects spawn big story

Campus research on zeolites was featured on the cover of the April 18 issue of the journal Science (www.sciencemag.org/content/vol300/issue5618/index.shtml). The article, "Microstructural Optimization of a Zeolite Membrane for Organic Vapor Separation," was written by Chemical Engineering graduate students Zhiping Lai, Griselda Bonilla and Khristina Sujaoti, postdoctoral associates Isabel Diaz and Jose Geraldo Nery, assistant professor Efrosini Kokkoli, professor Michael Tsapatsis, adjunct professor Dionisios G. Vlachos, Osamu Terasaki of Tohoku University in Japan and Robert W. Thompson of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The cover photograph was contributed by Tsapatsis.

Zeolites are crystalline aluminosilicates that have very regular, nanometer-sized pores. In principle, zeolites can be used to separate molecules exquisitely well by size, but defects in their structures cause poor performance. The work in the Science article describes a method for creating zeolites with very low numbers of defects. An oriented seed layer is used, and key additives keep growth proceeding along the right direction.

Research of note

The work of assistant professor of Political Science Laura S. Jensen on the contracting of public functions to private entities drew praise in the April 4 issue of PA Times, the monthly newspaper of the American Society for Public Administration. Columnist H. George Frederickson called attention to an "excellent and under-appreciated article" in the Public Administration Review by Jensen and Robert S. Gilmour that reviewed the state of the law regarding whether public functions delegated by contract or grant are still public functions and a form of state action.

On stage

Guitarist Patrik Hlavenka and pianist Beata Hlavenkova, master's candidates studying jazz composition and arranging in the Department of Music and Dance, were among 28 young performers chosen to participate at Betty Carter's "Jazz Ahead" held March 21-29 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

During the weeklong program, the husband-and-wife team from the Czech Republic performed three times on the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage in concerts that were broadcast live on the Internet.

The program included a week of intense training in performance, composing and arranging led by trumpeter Jimmy Owens, bassist John Clayton, saxophonist Nathan Davis, trombonist Curtis Fuller, drummer Winard Harper and vocalist Carmen Lundy.

"Jazz Ahead" participants were selected for the program through an audition application that considered both composition and performance skills.

Poll position

The men's crew club is ranked first in the varsity eight for a second consecutive week in the latest New England Rowing Championship coaches poll. The UMass club moved into first place two weeks ago after defeating top-ranked Holy Cross, which dropped to third place in the standings. Trinity College is ranked second among the 15 competing schools.