University of Massachusetts Amherst - Office of News & Information

Sunday, November 8, 2009

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Author of New York Times Best-Seller ‘Look Me in the Eye’ Speaks at UMass Amherst Nov. 16

November 6, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – John Elder Robison, author of The New York Times best-seller “Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s,” will speak at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Monday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. in the Bernie Dallas Room in Goodell Building. More...



New DVD Collection of Last Films from East Germany Released by DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst

November 6, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – “The Wende Flicks Collection,” a new, 12-DVD set of feature films and documentaries from the former East Germany is being released Nov. 9 by the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. More...



UMass Amherst Libraries Cancel Talk by Ray Luc Levasseur

November 5, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries has canceled a Nov. 12 talk by Ray Luc Levasseur, a former leader of the United Freedom Front. More...



U.S. Senate Candidates’ Forum on Sunday, Nov. 8 at UMass Amherst with Democratic and Republican Candidates

November 5, 2009

*****MEDIA ADVISORY*****


Event: League of Women Voters of Massachusetts U.S. Senate Candidates’ Forum

Date: Sunday, Nov. 8, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public

Participants:
Democrats: U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, Alan Khazei, and Stephen Pagliuca; Republicans: State Sen. Scott Brown and Jack E. Robinson have committed to attending.

Attorney General Martha Coakley has not committed due to a schedule conflict More...



New Plans for New WORLD Theater to Be Explored

November 4, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has engaged theater artist Talvin Wilks to explore the future direction for the New WORLD Theater. Operations at New WORLD Theater were suspended at the end of September 2009 due to budget cuts, even as the theater company received new grant awards from the Ford, Surdna and the Nathan Cummings foundations, totaling $375,000. More...



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

November 4, 2009

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. More...



Clean Energy Connections Conference and Opportunity Fair is Set for Tuesday, Nov. 10 in Springfield

November 4, 2009

UMass Amherst convenes 2nd annual green economic development event

AMHERST, Mass. – Job coaches say networking is a key strategy for plugging into a new career, and the new green energy economy promises many fresh opportunities. Organizers of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Clean Energy Connections Conference, set for Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Springfield’s MassMutual Center, say it should provide superb networking opportunities because representatives of more than 50 area businesses, agencies and higher education programs are expected to attend. More...



UMass Amherst Professor Ralph Whitehead Joins Vice President Biden for Discussion of Economic Challenges Faced by Middle Class

November 3, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – Ralph Whitehead, Jr., journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will participate in a forum with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on the challenges facing the American middle class in the 21st century on Thursday, Nov. 5 at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. More...



MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass Amherst Among Tops in Nation, Says Poets & Writers Magazine

November 3, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – The Master of Fine Arts Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is among the best graduate creative writing programs in the country, according to Poets & Writers Magazine. More...



M.V. Lee Badgett Gives Distinguished Faculty Lecture at UMass Amherst Nov. 9

November 3, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – M.V. Lee Badgett, professor of economics and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will deliver the first lecture in the 2009-10 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series on Monday, Nov. 9. The talk will be held in the Bernie Dallas Room in Goodell Hall at 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public. More...

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UMass Research

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.

UMass Amherst Lands $7 Million in Federal Stimulus Funds for Lab Renovations, Total Stimulus Grants Now Top $33 Million

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has been awarded just over $7 million in federal stimulus money from the National Institutes of Health for renovations to create shared lab and instrument space and build two new laboratories in the Lederle Graduate Research Center (LGRC) on campus. The funds will be combined with campus funds to undertake an $11.7 million renovation of three floors in the biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry departments.

Why Female Water Buffalo Have Horns but Impala Do Not, Discovered by UMass Amherst Evolutionary Biologist

AMHERST, Mass. –The reason some female hoofed animals have horns while others do not has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, even the great Charles Darwin. But now a survey of 117 bovid species led by Ted Stankowich, professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggests an answer: Females that can’t readily hide in protective cover and those who must defend a feeding territory are more likely to have horns than those who live in protective habitat or don’t defend a territory.

Upgraded Hubble Space Telescope Will Help UMass Amherst Astronomers Understand the Universe

AMHERST, Mass. – Today, as NASA announces that a “fully rejuvenated Hubble Space Telescope” with new cameras and other equipment is ready to begin a new decade of observations, two UMass Amherst astronomers, Daniela Calzetti and Todd Tripp, with a colleague at Smith College, are excited to begin using those instruments to explore the origins and evolution of galaxies and stars throughout the Universe.

2,000-Year Study Shows Dramatic Arctic Climate Reversal, Say UMass Amherst Researcher, International Study Team

AMHERST, Mass. – A new reconstruction of Arctic climate compiled from temperature indicators over the past 2,000 years shows persuasive evidence that until about 1950, the Arctic had been naturally cooling over the previous 1,900 years. This trend reversed about 50 years ago, according to a research team that includes Raymond Bradley, director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Climate System Research Center.

UMass Amherst Licenses Biofuels Startup Firm, Anellotech, to Produce Green Gasoline and Other Fuels

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst recently granted a biofuels startup company, Anellotech, exclusive global rights to the university’s catalytic fast pyrolysis technology developed by chemical engineer and UMass Amherst faculty member George Huber for producing clean, green “grassoline.”

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