Talking Points

Special landscape projects boost campus color and appeal

With at least four major building projects across campus, a visitor might easily miss some the more subtle and immediate campus improvements – landscaping projects that just might make everyone, including visitors, feel a little serene amid the construction. 
 
The new traffic circle at the north end of campus, for instance, has blossomed with color. Viewed from above it becomes clear that the color embodies five gently curved “blades,” like those on a windmill, each arching toward an entry point on the rotary.
 
Each of the blades is planted with a designated seasonal annual against an

Campus awarded $308,000 for life sciences research project focused on regional growth

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) announced Sept. 26 the approval of a $308,000 capital grant to support a research project titled  “Life Sciences Research & Innovation: Growth Strategy for UMass Amherst in the Massachusetts Bioeconomy.”

The project is a formal study of opportunities to catalyze life sciences and life sciences-related economic development in Western Massachusetts. The grant will:

• Enable UMass Amherst to increase the breadth and depth of industry collaborations;
• Enhance access of other stakeholders to assets at UMass Amherst and in the Pioneer Valley, such

State Street career development program creates jobs for 100 students

State Street Corporation has created a new career development program that creates skilled, part-time jobs for 100 UMass Amherst students who will be based in a new office in Hadley.
 
The students will join State Street in a part-time capacity beginning this fall with responsibility for performing select back-office functions and supporting business lines across the company. The new program is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.
 
“We’re pleased to welcome these students from UMass Amherst to State Street and provide them with a unique opportunity to gain ‘real-world’ work experience in

Kinesiology doctoral student awarded AAUW American Fellowship

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) awarded a 2012–13 American Fellowship to Christina “Nina” Moore, a doctoral candidate in Kinesiology.
 
Moore studies the molecular mechanisms that result in higher rates of injury and prolonged healing in smokers through her research on the effects of cigarette smoking on skeletal muscle and systemic inflammation. She will pursue a career in research, specifically in physiology and health. A single mother of two, she is committed to supporting and promoting young women in the sciences.
 
“This award was serendipitous, said Moore.

Computer Science, Engineering programs win $20,000 Google RISE Award

Renee Fall, project manager of the Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) in Computer Science, with Paula Rees, director of diversity programs at the College of Engineering, recently attended the two-day 2012 Google Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE) Global Summit at its offices in New York City, where they took part in activities with representatives from 26 other winning institutions from around the world.
 
They had collaborated on a $20,000 winning proposal, “Career Day and Middle School Outreach” to Google, aimed at enhancing Women in Engineering &

Study tailors exercise, nutrition for pregnant Latina women, aiming to prevent adult-onset diabetes

Over the next five years, 300 Latina women in western and central Massachusetts with a history of diabetes while pregnant will receive personalized exercise, weight loss and other healthy lifestyle support to help them avoid developing type 2 diabetes after they give birth. The effort is funded with a $2.56 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases to Lisa Chasan-Taber, professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS).
 
Chasan-Taber will lead a team to study the effects of individually tailored, culturally

Trustees approve $3.1 billion capital plan

A proposed five-year, $3.1 billion capital plan for the UMass system was approved Sept. 19 by the Board of Trustees at its meeting in Worcester.
 
The plan proposes spending $1.8 billion on new construction, $1 billion on deferred maintenance, with the rest earmarked for information technology upgrades, new equipment and other improvements. Of the $3.1 billion capital plan, $1.1 billion is slated for the Amherst campus.
 
The plan covers 249 projects, including 10 projects totaling $43.3 million new to this year’s capital plan.

Campus named a 'military friendly' school by G.I. Jobs magazine

UMass Amherst ranks among the 15 percent of schools that are the most “military friendly” in the country, offering the best education, value and welcome to service members and veterans, according to G.I. Jobs magazine.
 
Based on a survey of 12,000 universities, colleges and trade schools, the magazine selected schools that offer a range of academic programs, support services and policies that help veterans and their dependents achieve their educational goals.
 
The campus was cited for having full-time veterans counselors on staff, its Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, career

Dining Services ranked No. 7 nationally by The Daily Meal

The Daily Meal, a food and beverage website, has ranked UMass Amherst seventh among the “Best 52 Colleges for Food in America.”
 
The website evaluated the dining programs at more than 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide. Schools were graded on several criteria, including healthy food, events such as themed dinners, programs that support the community with local purchases, incorporating eco-friendly practices into the dining program, accessibility and service, and the “X Factor, something that made our jaws drop,” says the website.
 
Here’s what the site has to say: “Pork carnitas with

Researchers solve long-standing mystery of how cellulose chains break down

One would think that scientists had long ago cracked the secret of cellulose, the most abundant polymer on Earth, in order to break its chemical bonds and harness its wealth of energy. But in fact, only recently have theoretical chemist Scott Auerbach and colleagues discovered how cellulose chains break down with heat, which is critical information for efficiently converting cellulose to biofuels.

 
Reporting in the current issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Auerbach and chemical engineer Paul Dauenhauer, with others, for the first time model at the molecular level the

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