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Talking Points

6 women to be honored by Center for Women & Community

Six area women will be honored for their achievements in the arts, politics and social justice advocacy on Friday, Feb. 22 when the Center for Women & Community (CWC) marks its 40th anniversary with a gala from 7-10 p.m. in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center.
 
Janet Aalfs, former poet laureate of Northampton, is receiving the Arts award in recognition of the enormous positive impact that creative contributions have on the local community. Aalfs is a poet and writer, movement artist, community educator, performer and international peace activist.

Family Science Day programs, faculty speakers raise campus profile at AAAS

Student teams, faculty and staff were among more than 8,000 participants at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting held Feb. 13-18 in Boston. In addition, Maria Santore, Polymer Science and Engineering, and Danny Schnell, chemistry, were officially honored as newly elected AAAS Fellows during the meeting.
 
On Feb.

Irwin receives $461,434 CAREER award from NSF to study energy efficiency in buildings

David Irwin, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a five-year, $461,434 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund research on energy efficiency in houses and buildings. The grant is from the NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program.
 
Irwin says understanding how and why individual electrical devices consume electricity is critical to improving a building’s overall energy efficiency. Irwin plans to create a “Wikipedia-style” website to collect electricity use data from thousands of specific brands and models of appliances.

Zoeller's Distinguished Faculty Lecture focuses on endocrine disrupting chemicals

Biologist R. Thomas Zoeller will discuss ways in which chemicals in the environment may disrupt the body’s endocrine system in a Distinguished Faculty Lecture on Monday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. in the Massachusetts Room at the Mullins Center. His lecture, titled “The Brain on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals,” will be followed by a reception. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.
 
Zoeller’s research laboratory has pioneered the study of the role of thyroid hormone in brain development of the fetus.

Campus meetings to explain July 1 ban on tobacco use

A series of open meetings to explain the campus’s plan to prohibit tobacco use starting July 1 will begin later this month, according to Associate Chancellor Susan Pearson.
 
In a Feb. 12 broadcast e-mail to the campus, Pearson said the ban, which was approved by the Campus Leadership Council and the Faculty Senate in 2011, applies to everyone on campus, including students, staff, faculty, contractors and visitors and covers all buildings and grounds as well as vehicles. All tobacco products and electronic cigarettes will be prohibited.
 
“In doing so, the campus joins more than 700 colleges

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