People

Obituary: Ercole Canale-Parola, professor emeritus of Microbiology

Ercole Canale-Parola, 83, professor emeritus of Microbiology, died March 29 in Amherst, following a brief illness.

Born in Frosinone, Italy, his early years were heavily impacted by the loss of his father at age 5, and the hardships of World War II.  As a child, he witnessed first-hand the Nazi occupation of Rome, the aerial bombing of the San Lorenzo neighborhood, the partisan attack in Via Rasella and the triumphant entrance of American forces into the fallen city.
 
In 1951, he left his studies at the University of Florence to join his mother, who had moved to Chicago and remarried.

Obituary: Otto Vogl, pioneering polymer scientist

Otto Vogl, 85, of Amherst, professor emeritus of Polymer Science and Engineering, died April 27 at home.
 
Born in Traiskirchen, Austria, near Vienna, he studied organic chemistry, receiving his doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1950, having completed his thesis on steroids. He became an instructor at the Chemical Institute of the University of Vienna.
 
In 1953, he came to the U.S.to the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow. He moved to Princeton University where he continued his research. In 1956, he joined the polychemicals department of Du Pont in Wilmington, Del.
 
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Chasan-Taber earns Spotlight Scholar honors

Epidemiologist Lisa Chasan-Taber, an internationally recognized expert whose research explores how modifying behavioral risk factors can decrease disease rates in mothers and their offspring, is being recognized as a Spotlight Scholar.
 
Chasan-Taber, who is a professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, led a national research team in 2000 that developed the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ), the first scientifically validated instrument for determining guidelines for exercise during pregnancy.

Page awarded Rome Prize for cross-disciplinary study in Italy

Professor Max Page of the Art, Art History and Architecture Department, is one of three scholars nationally named to receive the Rome Prize for Historic Preservation and Conservation, awarded annually by the American Academy in Rome to honor “the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities.”
 
The prize includes a fellowship that provides a stipend, studio or study, room and board in Rome for up to two years—and the opportunity for recipients to expand their own professional, artistic or scholarly pursuits.

Hayes awarded MWPHE scholarship

Karen Hayes, director of Research Communication and Outreach in University Relations, received the Massachusetts Women in Public Higher Education (MWPHE) 2013 Professional Development Award at the organization’s statewide conference in Wrentham on April 15.

Hayes received the $1,000 award in recognition of her professional development goals and for her dedication, perseverance and leadership in the higher education community.

MWPHE is a non-profit organization committed to strengthening the status of women as professionals and enhancing the quality of higher education.

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