News

UMass Amherst Computer Network Researchers Help Lay Groundwork for New White House 'US Ignite' Initiative

AMHERST, Mass. – On Thursday afternoon, June 14, senior officials from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and non-government partners will announce the launch of US Ignite, a national “innovation ecosystem” for developing and deploying public sector applications and services on ultra-fast, software-defined networks to enhance the next generation of the Internet.
 
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are among those from nearly two dozen institutions tapped by NSF to take part.

Badgett Testifies Before Senate in Favor of Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act

M.V. Lee Badgett, director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today that Congress should pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because lesbian, gay and bisexual people are nearly as likely to file discrimination complaints as those already protected by federal anti-bias laws.
 
Badgett was one of five witnesses who provided the Senate committee with testimony related to the proposed bill, which would ban discrimination in hiring and other

UMass Amherst Sunwheel and Sky-Watching Events Mark the Summer Solstice on June 20

AMHERST, Mass. – The public is invited to join UMass Amherst astronomers Judith Young and Steve Schneider to witness sunrise and sunset associated with the summer solstice among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel on Wednesday, June 20 at 5 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Rain cancels the events.
 
These Sunwheel events mark the astronomical change of season in the northern hemisphere when days are longest and nights are shortest.
 
At these hour-long gatherings, there will be a talk on the astronomical cause of the sun’s solstice or standstill.

Frances Moore Lappé to Kick Off Permaculture Conference with Public Lecture at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – Internationally acclaimed author and food policy reformer Frances Moore Lappé, best known for her 1970s book, “Diet for a Small Planet,” will be the kickoff speaker on Wednesday, June 20 at 6 p.m. for the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s “Permaculture Your Campus” conference.

Her talk, which is open to the public, will be on the 11th floor of the Campus Center. It is free for conference attendees, with a suggested donation of $5-20 at the door for others. Donations will go towards scholarships for the conference. 

Lappé will discuss her new book, “EcoMind,” and how to

UMass Amherst Physicists Discover Mechanisms of Wrinkle and Crumple Formation

AMHERST, Mass. – Smooth wrinkles and sharply crumpled regions are familiar motifs in biological and synthetic sheets, such as plant leaves and crushed foils, say physicists Benny Davidovitch, Narayanan Menon and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but how a featureless sheet develops a complex shape has long remained elusive.

Now, in a cover story of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the physicists report that they have identified a fundamental mechanism by which such complex patterns emerge spontaneously.

Davidovitch says they were inspired and

Noted Writers to Give Readings During Juniper Summer Writing Institute at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – The Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will host seven nights of poetry and fiction readings by acclaimed faculty and writers in residence from June 24-30.

All readings begin at 7:30 p.m. in 135 Integrated Sciences Building. Readings are open to the public for a suggested donation of $5-10.

The series kicks off June 24 with Mark Doty and Leni Zumas. Doty is the author of nine books of poems, including Fire to Fire: New & Selected Poems, and five volumes of nonfiction. Zumas is the author of the story collection Farewell Navigator and

UMass Amherst Awarded $1.2 Million Federal Grant to Support Upward Bound Program with Springfield High Schools

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst was recently awarded a five-year, nearly $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to reestablish an Upward Bound program in partnership with two high schools in Springfield.

Upward Bound is a year-round, multi-year program for high school students who have the potential to succeed in college and could benefit from tutoring, academic enrichment, pre-college skills development, career counseling, college visits, cultural enrichment and academic and social support.

'Simple Food, Healthy Eating' is Theme of World Chef Culinary Conference Set for June 10-15 at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – Chefs, college and university food service managers and representatives of major food manufacturers from across the United States and Canada are expected at the 18th Annual Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference from June 10-15 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Picking up where they left off last year, the culinary experts will focus on the theme “Simple Food, Healthy Eating, Part 2,” according to Ken Toong, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises at UMass Amherst and host of the conference.

“We will continue to explore many simple to prepare and casual

UMass Amherst Alumna Natasha Trethewey Named U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress

AMHERST, Mass. – Natasha Trethewey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and 1995 graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named the U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress.

Trethewey, 46, is a professor of creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta.

UMass Amherst Biochemists Identify a Crucial Recognition Tag in Cellular 'Garbage Disposal'

AMHERST, Mass. – Cells must routinely dispose of leftover or waste proteins by breaking them down, but the problem for biochemists studying this fundamental process is that molecules can be toxic garbage in one situation but essential for function in another, says Peter Chien of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Figuring out how bacteria and other cells accurately distinguish waste from useful molecules has been elusive, but his laboratory’s recent progress could offer medical researchers a clue for controlling disease, such as bacterial infections and cancer cell growth.

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