University of Massachusetts Amherst - Office of News & Information

Sunday, November 22, 2009

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UMass Amherst Chemical Engineer Develops System to ‘Detonate’ Cancer-Killing TRAIL inside Tumors on Command

November 17, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – Experiments at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI) at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., reported in a recent British Journal of Cancer, confirm that University of Massachusetts Amherst chemical engineer Neil Forbes’ delivery and trigger system has for the first time successfully placed TRAIL, a cancer-fighting protein, directly into solid tumors and on cue, turned it on. The treatment improved the 30-day survival time of mice with mammary tumors from 0 to 100 percent. More...



UMass Amherst Psychological Services Center Offers PTSD Program

November 16, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The Psychological Services Center (PSC) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is now offering services to veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), focusing on those with experiences living or working in high-risk environments. More...



Fluorescent Microscopy is the Topic of First Gupta Lecture at UMass Amherst on November 19

November 16, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – Christopher Salthouse, the new Dev and Linda Gupta Assistant Professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will deliver the first Gupta Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center. A reception follows the talk. The event is free and open to the public. More...



UMass Amherst Breaks Ground for $12.5-Million Police Building

November 13, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst broke ground today for a new, $12.5 million police station. The building, located at 585 East Pleasant St. across from the North Fire Station, will be one of the most advanced, energy-efficient structures on campus. More...



UMass Amherst Labor Center Hosts Conference on Immigration and the Future of Work in Massachusetts

November 13, 2009

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

DATE: Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

TIME: 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

PLACE: Gordon Hall, 418 North Pleasant St., Amherst

 More...



Talk on Climate-Change Denial and Conservatism Concludes Environmental Lecture Series Nov. 16 at UMass Amherst

November 12, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The Environmental Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst holds its final fall 2009 Environmental Lecture Series on Monday, Nov. 16 with “Climate-Change Denial and Conservatism: Exploring the Connections,” a talk by Riley Dunlap, Regents Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University. The lecture will be in the Cape Cod Lounge at the Student Union at 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to all. More...



Statement from Robert C. Holub, UMass Amherst Chancellor, on Reports That Ray Luc Levasseur Has Been Denied Permission to Travel to Amherst to Speak

November 11, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. - We are pleased with this outcome. The administration at UMass Amherst has consistently questioned the appropriateness of this speaker in an academic setting. Without equivocation we have condemned his past violent acts and the notion that violence is an appropriate way to accomplish social change. More...



University Administration Statement on Ray Luc Levasseur Talk

November 10, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. - The university administration does not in any way support the presentation by Ray Luc Levasseur and was very clear in supporting the library’s recent decision to cancel its talk. The university administration did not invite this speaker and would not invite him. More...



UMass Officials to Break Ground for New Police Station Nov. 13

November 9, 2009

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

DATE: Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

TIME: 1 p.m.

PLACE: 585 East Pleasant St., Amherst, opposite the Amherst Fire Department North Station.

Officials from the University of Massachusetts Amherst will break ground for a new $12.5 million police station on Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. The 27,130-square-foot complex will serve as the new home of the 76-member UMass Amherst Police Department. More...



Next Hillside Salon Will Be Held at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst on Nov. 17

November 9, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The third in a series of monthly Hillside Salons hosted by Sabine Holub, wife of Chancellor Robert C. Holub of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 17 from 6-8 p.m. at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst. It will feature one of the museum’s architects, Kevin Chrobak of Juster Pope Frazier, Northampton. More...

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UMass Research

UMass Amherst Computer Scientists Create Virtual Laboratory to Test Experimental Weather Sensor Network

AMHERST, Mass. – As modern systems increasingly rely on networks of small, specialized computers and sensors to operate train and bus systems or monitor weather, for example, testing performance and reliability at scale becomes more important. A group of University of Massachusetts Amherst computer scientists recently joined with 61 other teams nationwide to participate in building and deploying a virtual laboratory funded by the National Science Foundation for experimenting with future Internet architectures, or networks.

Mount Kilimanjaro’s Ice Fields and Glaciers Continue to Shrink, says UMass Amherst Geoscientist

AMHERST, Mass. – Ice fields on Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro are rapidly shrinking and thinning, according to a research team including geoscientist Douglas Hardy of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with colleagues at Ohio State University. They report in today’s online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that “new aerial photo analysis shows that 26 percent of the area covered by ice in 2000 is now ice-free and whereas 79 percent of the area covered with ice in 1912 was ice-free in 2000, 85 percent now is.”

UMass Amherst Physicists Propose an Explanation for Bizarre Properties of Solid Helium 4, a Likely Supersolid

AMHERST, Mass. – Writing in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters, theoretical physicists Boris Svistunov and Nikolai Prokofiev of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with their student Gunes Soyler, propose a new explanation of certain striking properties of solid helium 4.

Grand Canyon ‘Trail of Time’ Developed by UMass Amherst Geoscientist Lets Visitors Walk 4.6-Billion Years of History

AMHERST, Mass. – Most of the 5 million annual visitors to the Grand Canyon leave with plenty of photographs of the 2-billion-year-old northern Arizona landmark, but with little knowledge of its geologic history. Mike Williams, a geoscientist at University of Massachusetts Amherst, is aiming to change that by creating a walkable trail that teaches visitors about the vastness of geologic time.

UMass Amherst Chem Engineers Propose Model to Improve Hydrogen Storage Capacity for Briefcase-Sized, ‘Green’ Car Batteries

AMHERST, Mass. – Hydrogen fuel, because its only byproduct is steam, should be the ultimate in green alternatives to fossil fuels, but it hasn’t delivered on its promise yet because of one enormous stumbling block, storage. Now a team of chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a computational model that shows that carbon nanotubes may offer a surprising solution. Results are presented in the current online issue of the journal, Applied Physics Letters.

Can’t Lose Weight Even with Exercise? UMass Amherst Kinesiology Researchers Secure Large Grant to Figure Out Why

AMHERST, Mass – Exercise researchers have long wondered why two people following the same exercise program can get different results, one losing weight and the other not, for example. This is one of the questions to be explored by Patty Freedson, chair of the department of kinesiology and leader of a research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who recently received a two-year, $985,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

UMass Researchers, Psychological Services Center, Have New Program for Families of Hyperactive Preschool Children

AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have designed a new program for parents of hyperactive preschool children. The program involves 11 to 14 weekly group sessions and one individual session at the university’s Psychological Services Center.

UMass Amherst Nutrition Researchers Track Down How Soy Reduces Diabetes Risk

AMHERST, Mass. – Nutrition scientists led by Young-Cheul Kim at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified the molecular pathway that allows foods rich in soy bioactive compounds called isoflavones to lower diabetes and heart disease risk. Eating soy foods has been shown to lower cholesterol, decrease blood glucose levels and improve glucose tolerance in people with diabetes.

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