Talking Points

Balasubramanian awarded NSF CAREER grant to study delivery of primary care

Hari Balasubramanian of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering department has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program to research streamlining the delivery of primary care to patients.
 
Through his project, “Stochastic Models for Designing the Patient Centered Medical Home in Primary Care,” Balasubramanian intends to create new mathematical models that quantify the dynamics of patient demand and care provider availability and supply in a practice so as to ensure that patients receive primary care ASAP, see

Bromery remembered as transformational leader

The life and legacy of former chancellor Randolph W. Bromery were remembered May 17 at a memorial gathering hosted by the Chancellor’s Office at the Marriott Center for Hospitality Management in the Campus Center.
 
Bromery, who served as chancellor from 1971-79, died Feb. 26 at the age of 87.
 
The remembrance drew 150 people, including the Bromery family, administrators, faculty, friends and colleagues from other institutions that Bromery led during his long career as a geophysicist and stints as chancellor of Board of Higher Education, interim president of Westfield State College and

Campus licenses microorganism to boost corn and soybean plant health

A recent exclusive license agreement between UMass Amherst and LidoChem, Inc., a New Jersey-based wholesale turf and agricultural nutrient supply firm, means a fungus-fighting bacterium discovered and developed by Haim Gunner, professor emeritus of Environmental Sciences, will now be marketed nationally as part of an eco-management approach to plant disease protection.
 
Gunner, a co-founder of the Environmental Sciences Department in the 1960s, first identified the bacterium Bacillus amyloliquifaciens as a contaminant in a laboratory experiment in the 1990s, when he was trying to grow a

Town agrees to share cost of development study proposed by chancellor

Amherst Town Meeting members on May 15 approved a proposal by Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy to jointly hire a consultant to study strategic planning issues involving the university and the town.
 
The $30,000 for the town’s share of the cost passed on a 122-46 vote.
 
Subbaswamy addressed Town Meeting to outline the reasons for the study, which is expected to focus on housing issues but also touch on ways to strengthen boundary neighborhoods, public safety and economic development.
 
 

Senate panel’s budget plan differs from 50-50 formula adopted by House

The Senate Ways and Means Committee is proposing a $33.92 billion fiscal 2014 state budget that calls for a $35 million increase for the public higher education system, about $75 million less than the amount included in the House budget and backed by Gov. Deval Patrick.
 
The Senate plan, which was unveiled May 15, includes $454.8 million for the UMass system, an increase of $16 million from this fiscal year.

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