News

Leiden ranking of scientific impact places UMass Amherst at No. 42 worldwide

The Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University, The Netherlands, recently ranked the University of Massachusetts Amherst 42nd in the world, just after University College London, and 35th in North America in its Leiden Ranking for 2013, based on the science publication performance of 500 major universities worldwide. The ranking, an “advanced indicator of scientific impact” covers five areas: biomedical and health sciences, life and earth sciences, mathematics and computer science, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities.
 
“Using a

Middle East expert David Mednicoff named lead investigator for $1 million research study

David Mednicoff, assistant professor of public policy and director of Middle Eastern Studies, has been awarded a $1.01 million grant to be principal investigator for interdisciplinary research on legal development and practices in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
 
The three-year project titled “The Rule of Law in Qatar: Comparative Insights and Policy Strategies,” has been funded by the Qatar National Research Fund.

Fulbright takes Alex Carter to Australia to study Aboriginal movement roots in Black Power

Alex Carter, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, has received a Fulbright award to study the political and cultural dialogue between the Black Power movement in the U.S. and aboriginal Australian activists in the 1970s.
 
Carter plans to examine the Black Panther Party of Australia and the National Black Theatre of Sydney, building on continuing investigations of cross-cultural theater and political collaboration.
 
“These cross-cultural and transnational connections between Afro Americans and Aboriginal Australians is a vital component of

Isenberg alumni to be honored at first Business Leadership Awards Dinner

The Isenberg School of Management will honor two of its notable alumni, Ben Cherington and Alex Ambroz, at the inaugural Business Leadership Awards Dinner on June 17 at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston.

Cherington, who is executive vice president/general manager of the Boston Red Sox, will be the evening’s principal honoree. Ambroz, an associate with J.P. Morgan Securities, will receive Isenberg’s Young Alumni Award.

A graduate of Isenberg’s Mark H.

Chemical engineers discover ‘ultraselective’ process to make valuable chemical from biomass

Chemical engineering researchers Wei Fan, Paul Dauenhauer and colleagues report this week that they’ve discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ingredient of common plastics, at 90 percent yield from lignocellulosic biomass, the highest yield achieved to date. Details are in the current issue of Green Chemistry.
 
As Dauenhauer explains, the chemical industry currently produces p-xylene from more expensive petroleum, while the new process will make the same chemical from lower-cost, renewable biomass.

Chemical engineer Paul Dauenhauer receives DuPont Young Professor award

Chemical engineer Paul Dauenhauer is one of only 14 scientists worldwide to receive recognition for scientific innovation from the 2013 DuPont Young Professors Program, the company recently announced. He will receive $75,000 over three years to advance progress on his discovery of a process for making renewable plastics and chemicals from biomass.
 
Specifically, Dauenhauer and colleagues use inorganic catalysts such as low-cost zeolites in high-temperature processes for converting wood, grasses and agricultural byproducts into monomers to make plastics and chemicals through rapid,

Doctoral oral exams for June 3-7

The graduate dean invites all graduate faculty to attend the final oral examinations for the doctoral candidates scheduled as follows:

Karen Riska, Ph.D., Kinesiology. Monday, June 3, 8 a.m., 153 Totman. Dissertation: “The Role of the Extracellular Matrix in Mediating Muscle Soreness.” Barry Braun, chr.

Daniel Pope, Ph.D., Comparative Literature. Monday, June 3, 3 p.m., 301 Herter Hall. Dissertation: “Enigmatic Realism: Doing Justice through Postmodern Use of Photography and First-Person Figuration in the Works of Sebald, Marías, and Hemon.” William Moebius, chr.

Max Lein, Ph.D., Chemistry.

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

Obituary: Paul Procopio, professor emeritus of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning

Paul Procopio, 94, alumnus and professor emeritus of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, died May 12 in Southbridge.

Born in Brockton, he graduated from the University in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture. During World War II, he was a civilian camouflage designer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
 
He was hired as an instructor of Horticulture in 1947. He earned his master’s degree in Horticulture in 1954.
 
In 1977, he served as acting head of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.
 
He retired in 1983 as professor A and associate head of the

NEPR airs Springfield Symphony performances

New England Public Radio continues its decades-long tradition of broadcasts of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra with a series of seven concerts starting May 26.
 
The broadcasts can be heard, with one exception, on Sunday afternoons starting at 1 p.m. on WFCR, and will feature conversations on each selection between conductor Kevin Rhodes and New England Public Radio music director John Montanari.
 
The schedule is as follows: 
 
Sunday, May 26, 1 p.m. "Opening Night." Franz Liszt: Festklänge ("Festive Sounds"). Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3, with Peter Serkin, piano.

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