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Rich addresses Lyme Disease Physicians Forum

Medical zoologist Stephen Rich of the Microbiology Department was an invited speaker on May 16 at the annual Lyme Disease Physicians Forum sponsored by the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension and the Cape Cod Lyme Disease Task Force.
 
About 100 physicians from the Cape and Islands heard leading clinical researcher and physician Benjamin Luft of Stony Brook University speak on diagnosis and treatment; Catherine Brown, the state’s public health veterinarian, speak on incidence and Rich speak about passive surveillance for newly emerging tick-borne diseases.
 
Rich says, “I highlighted the

Nahmod named Simons Fellow for 2013-14

Professor Andrea R. Nahmod of Mathematics and Statistics has been awarded a Simons Foundation Fellowship in Mathematics by the Simons Foundation. 
 
With the award, Nahmod will spend her 2013-14 sabbatical year as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she will pursue ongoing research with MIT’s Gigliola Staffilani on deterministic and nondeterministic aspects of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs).
 
Nahmod’s research lies at the overlap of nonlinear Fourier analysis, harmonic analysis, and nonlinear partial differential equations, integrating

Obituary: Judith Todd, former assistant controller

Judith (Wilkinson) Todd, 71, of Amherst, alumna and former assistant controller for grants and contracts, died May 9 at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, after a long illness.

She was a graduate of B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River and received her bachelor’s degree Mathematics from UMass in 1963. She married Robert Torla later that year.
 
After teaching in Somerset, she earned a master's in Accounting from UMass and then joined the Controller’s Office, where she worked until 1988.

In 1981, she married David Todd.
 
She leaves her husband, David, her sons Michael Torla of

Obituary: Stephen Constantine, senior lecturer in Computer Science and Engineering

Stephen M. Constantine, 58, of Florence, a senior lecturer in the School of Computer Science and the College of Engineering, died suddenly May 4 at his home.

Born in Racine, Wisc., he earned his undergraduate degree in economics at Harvard University, his master’s degree in mathematics at Cornell University, and his doctorate in English at UMass Amherst in 2006.
 
He joined the Computer Science Department in 1997, first with a graduate assistantship while completing his Ph.D. in English and later as a lecturer. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 2009.
 
Over his years on campus, he also

Hallock elected fellow of Massachusetts Academy of Sciences

Distinguished Professor Robert Hallock of the Physics Department was recently elected a fellow of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences (MAS) along with 17 other Bay State scientists; all were recognized at a reception at Boston’s Museum of Science. Academy peers identify candidates for fellowship based on their significant professional achievement in scientific research or science education.
 
MAS president and founder, Biology professor Margaret Riley, said, “Our fellows encompass true passion for and expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and we are thrilled to have

Obituary: Kathleen M. Prentice, former clerk in News Office

Kathleen M. (Wasielewski) Prentice, 61, of Trout Creek, Mont., alumna and former principal clerk in the News Office, died April 25 at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont.
 
Born in Greenfield, she went to brown University, Boston University and UMass Amherst, where she earned a master’s degree in Special Education.
 
She began her campus service as a junior clerk and stenographer in the English Department and held clerical positions in language departments before moving to the News Office. She resigned in 1990 to pursue her graduate studies.
 
After obtaining her degree, she taught in

Rallis serves on faculty of national seminar for education doctoral students

School of Education professor Sharon Rallis of the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, was an invited distinguished seminar faculty member at the David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration and Policy Research in San Francisco on April 26-27.

The seminar, which originated in 1966 and is sponsored by Divisions A & L of the American Educational Research Association, the University Council of Educational Administration and Sage Publications, brings together selected doctoral students in educational administration and policy

Tracy headed back to China as Chu Tian Scholar

Professor Steve Tracy of Afro-American Studies will make the second of five Chinese government-sponsored trips to Central China Normal University in Wuhan as a Chu Tian Scholar from May 11 to July 16.

While there, he will teach two courses, advise graduate students, work on co-editing a collection of essays by Chinese and American scholars, and offer musical performances. He will also lecture at the university, as well as undertake a lecture tour at eight to 10 universities in Beijing, Three Gorges, Shanghai and other locations.

Back in the U.S. on Aug.

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.
 
In

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