Talking Points

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

Campus must continue to inspire public confidence, says Subbaswamy

In his first Faculty Convocation address, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy last week pledged to be a “tireless advocate and ambassador” for the campus and laid the groundwork for a strategic plan that will guide the campus forward.
 
Speaking at the Sept. 14 event in Bowker Auditorium, Subbaswamy praised the assembled faculty, clad in their colorful academic robes.
 
“You are the innovators and creators at our university and you are the sources of inspiration for our students,” said the chancellor. “Your passion, expertise and innovations are the fire at the core of UMass.”
 
While the campus is

New website matches undergraduates with research labs

With roughly 1,000 undergraduate majors and 30 research faculty, it can be a challenge for Biology students to find a research position with one of the department’s laboratories. But a new website developed over the past year and introduced this semester is making it simpler than ever before.
 
And much of the credit goes to Mike Selden, an undergraduate with associate professor Sheila Patek’s lab, who designed a new Drupal-based website over the summer.

Vigil, carillon concert planned in memory of George N. Parks

Minuteman Marching Band members and alumni will remember the late director George N. Parks with a vigil and carillon performance on Sunday, Sept. 16, the two-year anniversary of his death.
 
Parks, who led the band to national prominence during his 33 years as director, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Ohio, where the band was staying while en route to play at a fooxtball game at the University of Michigan.
 
The memorial vigil will run from 3-6:30 p.m. outside the Old Chapel, the one-time home of the band.

Chemists develop nose-like sensor array to 'smell' cancer diagnoses

In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy’s exact identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers, those that spread between organs and tissues. Now chemists led by professor Vincent Rotello of the Chemistry Department have developed a rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many different metastatic cell types in living tissue. Findings appear in the current issue of the journal ACS Nano.
 
In a pre-clinical non-small-cell lung cancer metastasis model in mice developed by Frank Jirik and colleagues at the University of Calgary, Rotello’s

Sleep researchers study value of preschool naps

Parents may feel it’s clear that missing a nap means their young children will be grumpy and out-of-sorts, but scientists who study sleep say almost nothing is known about how daytime sleep affects children’s coping skills and learning.
 
Now neuroscientist Rebecca Spencer of the Psychology Department has received a five-year, $2 million grant from NIH’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to significantly advance knowledge about how napping and sleep affect memory, behavior and emotions in preschoolers.
 
Spencer says with pressure mounting in some school districts to eliminate naps, “we

U.S. News ranks UMass Amherst among top public universities

UMass Amherst again ranks among the nation’s top 50 public universities, according to the 2013 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released this week.
 
In the top public national universities category, UMass Amherst ranks No. 42, tied with three institutions. Among all national universities, public and private, UMass Amherst ranks No. 97, tied with three other institutions. The engineering program at UMass Amherst ranked No. 58 in the country.
 
The United States has more than 2,700 four-year colleges and universities. The national universities category created by U.S. News

Trustee committee approves 5-year, $3.1b capital plan for system

The Board of Trustees’ Committee on Administration and Finance voted Sept. 12 to approve a plan that proposes spending $3.1 billion on new construction, renovations and other upgrades across the five-campus system over the next five years.
 
“There is a direct correlation between the quality of our facilities and the quality of the student experience and achievement,” said President Robert L. Caret.

Concerns over mosquito-borne illnesses prompt cancellation of evening outdoor activities

Campus officials have cancelled nighttime outdoor activities as a precautionary measure against mosquito-borne illnesses such as eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). Departments, programs and students are being advised to reschedule outside events or, if possible, to move them indoors.
 
The dusk-to-dawn ban (approximately 6:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.) on outside events is in accordance with recommendations from the state Department of Public Health for towns designated at high or critical risk for EEE.

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