Skip directly to content

News

NSF Grant Will Create Dedicated UMass Amherst Computer Network to Handle Large Volumes of Research Data

AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received a two-year, $867,040 grant from the National Science Foundation to build a high-bandwidth optical data network to handle large amounts of computerized research data. The new network is designed to separate research data traffic from the rest of the data traffic on the Amherst campus.

Researchers in fields such as genomics, remote sensing, biostatistics and planetary science, who require high-speed transport of very large amounts of data, will be the major beneficiaries of the new network.

“This project is

UMass Amherst Climate Modelers See Possible Warmer, Wetter Northeast Winters by 2070

Winter contracting, snow season expected to be shorter
 
AMHERST, Mass. – A new high-resolution climate study by University of Massachusetts Amherst climate scientists, the first to apply regional climate models to examine likely near-term changes in temperature and precipitation across the Northeast United States, suggests temperatures are going to be significantly warmer in all seasons in the next 30 years, especially in winter. Also, they project that winters will be wetter, with more rain likely than snow.
 
Writing in the current issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, Michael

UMass Amherst Researcher Helps Develop Supermagnets Using Materials That Mimic Iron-Nickel Found in Meteorites

AMHERST, Mass. – Joseph Goldstein, an engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is part of a research team trying to produce an iron-nickel alloy that is currently only found in meteorites, for use in making supermagnets. The goal of the research is to develop bulk quantities of commercially viable, environmentally sound supermagnets, which can be used in electric vehicles, wind-turbine generators and many other machines.
 
The first phase of the work is funded by an 18-month, $3.3-million grant from the U.S.

UMass Amherst Sunwheel and Sky-Watching Events Mark the Winter Solstice on Dec. 21

AMHERST, Mass. – The public is invited to witness sunrise and sunset associated with the winter solstice among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel on Friday, Dec. 21, at 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
 
Sunwheel events mark the astronomical change of seasons when nights are longest and days are shortest in the Northern Hemisphere and the sun rises and sets at its most southerly azimuth, or location along the horizon, over the southeasterly and southwesterly stones in the Sunwheel, respectively.
 
UMass Amherst astronomers Judith Young and Steve Schneider will discuss the astronomical

After $12 Million NIH-Funded Renovation, Modernized Labs Reopen for Research at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst officials praised the completion of a two-year, $12.3 million laboratory renovation in the Lederle Graduate Research Center today, saying the project will enhance research in the biological and physical sciences and make the campus competitive nationally.
 
They celebrated the reopening of 15,000 square feet of lab space that was rebuilt with $7.1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and $5.2 million from the university.
 
Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said he

UMass Amherst, Holyoke Celebrate Partnerships

 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
DATE:           Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012
TIME:            5:30-8:30 p.m. 
PLACE:         PCS80 Gallery, Gateway City Arts, 92 Race St., Holyoke
 
The concluding event in the Envision Depot Square Holyoke project will showcase and celebrate architectural designs and proposals developed by University of Massachusetts Amherst architecture + design students in response to recent community dialogues.
 
Other UMass Amherst students who have been engaged in community-based learning and projects through the efforts of UMass Civic Engagement & Service Learning will also be on

National Award Recognizes Du Bois Afro-American Studies Department for Recruiting and Advancing Underrepresented Students

AMHERST, Mass – The W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is being awarded this year’s American Historical Association’s Equity Award recognizing success in training and placing nearly 100 percent of its minority historians in academia.
 
The award was announced in the November issue of Perspectives on History, and will be presented on Jan. 4 at the AHA annual meeting in New Orleans, prior to the group’s president’s address by William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin.
 
“The association is extremely pleased to confer this honor on

UMass Amherst Biochemists Trap a Chaperone Machine in Action, Opening Pathway to Possible New Cancer Treatment

AMHERST, Mass. – Molecular chaperones have emerged as exciting new potential drug targets, because scientists want to learn how to stop cancer cells, for example, from using chaperones to enable their uncontrolled growth. Now a team of biochemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by Lila Gierasch have deciphered key steps in the mechanism of the Hsp70 molecular machine by “trapping” this chaperone in action, providing a dynamic snapshot of its mechanism.
 
She and colleagues describe this work in the current issue of Cell. Gierasch’s research on Hsp70 chaperones is supported by

UMass Amherst Innovation Challenge Pitch Phase Distributes $10,000 in Prize Money to Seven Teams of Entrepreneurs

AMHERST, Mass. – Seven teams of aspiring entrepreneurs shared $10,000 in prize money from the initial phase of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Innovation Challenge competition held Dec. 4. The awards were based on executive summaries that each team submitted in advance to a panel of judges plus an elevator pitch followed by questions from the judges during the competition.
 
Two teams received $2,500 awards.

UMass Amherst Celebrates Reopening of Laboratories after Completion of $7 Million Renovation Funded by NIH

 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
DATE:           Monday, Dec. 10,2012
TIME:            1 p.m. 
PLACE:         745E Lederle Graduate Research Tower
 
University of Massachusetts Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and other campus officials will celebrate the completion of a $7 million renovation of laboratory and research space funded by the National Institutes of Health through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
 
Other speakers at the event will be Steve Goodwin, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, and James Kurose, former executive associate dean of the college.
 
Tours of the

Pages