News

UMass Amherst Cancelling Evening Outdoor Activities as Precaution Against Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

AMHERST, Mass. – Officials at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today cancelled nighttime outdoor activities as a precautionary measure against mosquito-borne illnesses such as eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).
 
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. Amherst is considered a high-risk community, according to DPH, which is urging communities to bar outdoor evening events until the first hard frost.
 
EEE is a rare

UMass Amherst and the EPA Reach Landmark Consent Agreement on Window Glazing Contaminated with PCBs in the Lederle Research Center

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has entered into a consent agreement and final order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would safely allow the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated window glazing found in the Lederle Graduate Research Center low-rise and 16-story Tower A to temporarily remain in place. The agreement is considered a first-in the-nation solution to a problem found in many buildings built from 1950 through 1979.
 
Under the agreement, UMass Amherst agrees to encapsulate the window glazing in the two buildings, test the

UMass Amherst Alumna, Former Vermont Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin to Speak on Next Phase of Women's Progress

AMHERST, Mass. – Madeleine M. Kunin, former governor of Vermont and U.S. ambassador, will speak at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about her latest book, The New Feminist Agenda: Defining the Next Revolution for Women, Work and Family, on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 5 p.m. in 302-304 Gordon Hall. A reception and book signing will follow Kunin’s talk.
 
Kunin, a 1956 graduate of UMass Amherst, served as governor of Vermont from 1985-91, and during the Clinton administration was deputy secretary of education, then ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 1996-99. She is now a Marsh

More than 100 Students to Take Part in Service Projects in Amherst and Northampton During 'UMass UMake a Difference' Day

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

DATE:           Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012
TIME:            11 a.m.to 2 p.m.
PLACE:         Various sites around Amherst and Northampton
 
More than 100 UMass Amherst student volunteers will pitch in at 10 service locations throughout Amherst and into Northampton. Working in partnership with town departments, groups of students will take part in projects ranging from planting trees and cleaning up playgrounds, to assembling “emergency grab and go” bags for senior citizens.

UMass Amherst Sunwheel and Sky Watching Events Mark the Autumnal Equinox on Sept. 22

AMHERST, Mass. – The public is invited to witness sunrise and sunset on the day of the autumnal equinox among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 6:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.
 
At the gatherings, UMass Amherst astronomer Judith Young will give presentations that include information on the seasonal positions of the Earth, sun and moon, significance of the solstices and equinoxes, phases of the moon, building the Sunwheel, and discussion of other calendar sites such as Stonehenge and Callanish in the U.K. and Chichen Itza in Mexico.

UMass Amherst Alumna Natasha Trethewey Begins Term as U.S. Poet Laureate

AMHERST, Mass. – Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and 1995 graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, begins her duties this week as the 19th poet laureate of the United States.
 
Trethewey will open the annual literary season at the Library of Congress with a reading of her works. Her term will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the library’s Poetry and Literature Center and the 1937 establishment of the consultant-in-poetry position, which was changed by a federal law in 1986 to poet laureate consultant in poetry.
 

UMass Accessible, Affordable Choice for Most State Residents, Report Says

BOSTON – Tuition and fees at the University of Massachusetts are on average a much smaller percentage of median family income than they are at the state’s private universities and other New England public universities, and one in four Massachusetts residents enrolled as a first-time freshman in a four-year public or private school in the state attends UMass, according to a new report released today by University of Massachusetts President Robert L. Caret.

The 2012 Report on Annual Indicators: University Performance Measurement System, which takes stock of the University’s progress, found that

UMass Amherst Neuroscientist Studies Adolescent Binge Drinking and Brain Development

AMHERST, Mass. – Neuroscientist Heather Richardson and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received a $400,000 grant to study how binge drinking during adolescence affects development in the prefrontal cortex, an area that directs decision-making and controls emotions, and one of the last brain regions to mature.
 
Richardson, doctoral student Wanette Vargas, and others at UMass Amherst’s Neurobiology of Stress and Addiction Laboratory use an adolescent rat model to reflect the typical teen experience with alcohol, which includes individual variability and intermittent

UMass Amherst Explores Use of Robots to Aid Recovery from Stroke

AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers in robotics and communication disorders at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have teamed up to explore whether a personal humanoid robot may help people recovering from stroke by delivering therapy such as word-retrieval games and arm movement tasks in an enjoyable and engaging way. 
 
Speech language pathologist Yu-kyong Choe recently won a two-year, $109,251 grant from the American Heart Association to investigate the effect of stroke rehabilitation delivered by a humanoid robot, a child-sized unit with arms and a screen where therapists, doctors and

UMass Amherst Smashes Another Guinness World Record With 6,656-pound Seafood Stew on Labor Day

 

AMHERST, Mass. – Chefs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have again set a new Guinness World Record, this time by cooking a 6,656-pound seafood stew at a Labor Day barbecue that celebrates the return of students to the campus.
 
The record stew was the work of a team of culinary experts including celebrity chef Jet Tila of the Food Network, Willie Sng, UMass Amherst’s executive chef, and the award-winning UMass Amherst Dining Services team. They had help from UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy and a small army of student volunteers, administrators and staff.
 
The

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