Clifton E. Dowell, Jr., 79, of Madison, Wis., retired associate professor of Microbiology, died Sept. 22 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Born in McKinney, Texas, He attended Texas Christian University and received his doctorate in microbiology from the University of Texas.
Prior to joining the faculty in 1969, he taught at Caltech, Tulane and the University of California, Davis. His research spanned many areas, focusing on the DNA of viruses that infect bacteria.
After his retirement in 1994, he worked with Promega in Madison to produce viruses that could test for safety
Biophysicist Jenny Ross has won one of the top national honors in her field, the 2013 Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award, from the Biophysical Society of Rockville, Md. It is given to a woman who has achieved prominence for “substantial contributions to science,” while showing very high promise for ideas and leadership in the early stages of her biophysical research career.
Baoshan Xing, professor of environmental and soil chemistry in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, has been elected a fellow of both the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA).
Members of each society nominate worthy colleagues based on their professional achievements and meritorious service. Only 0.3 percent of each organization’s active and emeritus members may be elected fellows.
Doctoral students Akshaya Shanmugam and Jalil Johnson have been awarded the 2012-13 Hluchyj Fellowship, which annually supports two graduate students in in the College of Engineering and the School of Nursing. The fellowship provides students with stipends so they can conduct interdisciplinary research in the area of clinical healthcare.
President Robert Caret is planning a four-day, 500-mile bus tour next week to visit alumni start-ups, business incubators and UMass research centers to highlight 150 years of the University’s academic excellence and economic contributions since the signing of the Morrill Land Grant Act.
Stolen or lost property can often be hard to trace because owners don’t record serial numbers or other identifying information, but a new initiative by the UMass Police Department’s Community Outreach Unit is making it easier for student and campus employees to register their valuables.
The state Department of Public Health’s Western Massachusetts Hospital in Westfield honored associate professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Annaliese Bischoff and alumnus Owen White on Sept. 21 at the grand opening of its therapeutic garden.