News

New UMass Poll Shows Markey with Wide Lead in Massachusetts Senate Race

 
Democratic Rep leads GOP’s Gomez by 11 among likely voters
 
AMHERST, Mass. – The results of a new statewide UMass Poll released today by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows Democratic U.S. Representative Edward Markey with a strong 11-point lead over Republican Gabriel Gomez among likely voters in advance of the Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election scheduled for June 25. Markey and Gomez are contesting the open Senate seat created by John Kerry’s ascension to Secretary of State.
 
Markey leads 51 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, and among registered voters

Governor Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Announce Over $100 Million in Capital Grant Funding for Projects in Western Massachusetts

 
Grants to fund new life sciences research and industry partnerships
at UMass Amherst and the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute
 
AMHERST, Mass. – Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) today announced over $100 million in grants for life-sciences-related capital projects in western Massachusetts, including $95 million for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst and $5.5 million for the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI), a joint venture of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and UMass Amherst.
 
“Our Life Sciences strategy is

Governor Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to Announce Major Capital Grants for Projects in the Pioneer Valley

 
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
 
When: Thursday, June 6, 2013, at noon
 
What: Governor Deval Patrick will join the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and officials from the University of Massachusetts tomorrow to announce more than $100 million in grants for life-sciences-related capital projects in the Pioneer Valley. Through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Massachusetts is investing $1 billion over 10 years in the growth of the state’s life sciences supercluster.

Unauthorized Intrusion into Health Data Reported by UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst is notifying clients of the university’s Center for Language, Speech, and Hearing that their protected health information was possibly revealed after a workstation was inadvertently infected with a malware program.
 
The malware infection was detected on April 5, 2013. A subsequent investigation by the university’s Office of Information Technologies found no evidence suggesting or indicating that any data was copied from the workstation.

UMass Amherst Climate Scientist Raymond Bradley to Receive Honorary Doctorate from Ontario’s Queen’s University

AMHERST, Mass. – Climate scientist Raymond Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Queen’s University in ceremonies to be held June 12 in Kingston, Ontario.
 
Described as “a celebrated global warming whistleblower known for championing integrity in science,” Bradley joins actress Glenn Close as one of two honorary degree recipients from the United States.

Detective Lieutenant Ian Cyr Named UMPD Deputy Chief of Operations

AMHERST, Mass. – Ian Cyr, detective lieutenant in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Department (UMPD), has been chosen to be the department’s deputy chief of operations, Chief John Horvath has announced.
 
“Lieutenant Cyr participated in an extensive search process that included numerous interviews with members of the campus community, as well as outside law enforcement professionals,” said Horvath. “He possesses a unique combination of education, training, and experience that will afford him the opportunity to succeed as the department’s deputy chief of operations.

UMass Amherst Isenberg School Alumni to be honored at Inaugural Business Leadership Awards Dinner

AMHERST, Mass. – The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will honor two of its notable alumni – Ben Cherington ‘97 M.S. and Alex Ambroz ‘05– at the inaugural Business Leadership Awards Dinner on June 17 at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston.
 
Cherington, who is executive vice president/general manager of the Boston Red Sox, will be the evening’s principal honoree. Ambroz, an associate with J.P. Morgan Securities, will receive Isenberg’s Young Alumni Award.
 
A graduate of Isenberg’s Mark H.

Paul Dauenhauer, UMass Amherst Chemical Engineer, Receives DuPont Young Professor Award

 
As the award is announced, lab reports another breakthrough
 
AMHERST, Mass. – A University of Massachusetts Amherst chemical engineer, Paul Dauenhauer, is one of only 14 scientists worldwide to receive recognition for scientific innovation from the 2013 DuPont Young Professors Program, the company recently announced. He will receive $75,000 over three years to advance progress on his discovery of a process for making renewable plastics and chemicals from biomass.
 
Specifically, Dauenhauer and colleagues use inorganic catalysts such as low-cost zeolites in high-temperature processes for

UMass Amherst Chemical Engineers Discover ‘Ultraselective’ Process to Make Valuable Chemical from Biomass

AMHERST, Mass. – Chemical engineering researchers Wei Fan, Paul Dauenhauer and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report this week that they’ve discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ingredient of common plastics, at 90 percent yield from lignocellulosic biomass, the highest yield achieved to date. Details are in the current issue of Green Chemistry.
 
As Dauenhauer explains, the chemical industry currently produces p-xylene from more expensive petroleum, while the new process will make the same chemical from lower-cost, renewable biomass.

Fulbright Takes UMass Amherst Doctoral Student to Australia to Study Aboriginal Movement Roots in Black Power

AMHERST, Mass. – Alex Carter, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a Fulbright award to study the political and cultural dialogue between the Black Power movement in the U.S. and aboriginal Australian activists in the 1970s.
 
Carter plans to examine the Black Panther Party of Australia and the National Black Theatre of Sydney, building on his continuing investigations of cross-cultural theater and political collaboration.
 
“These cross-cultural and transnational connections between

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