***MEDIA ADVISORY***
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 2013
TIME: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 3:45 p.m. is best for team robot competition
WHAT: Girls’ team workshop to build and program LEGO NXT robots
WHERE: UMass Amherst Computer Science Building, 140 Governor’s Drive
Dozens of middle school girls will converge on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus on Saturday, April 6, for the fourth annual “Girls Connect,” where they will learn how to build and program LEGO robots.
Eight teams of girls ages 9 to 13, in grades 4 to 8, from western Massachusetts towns with their adult
AMHERST, Mass. – Scientists studying how early land vertebrates evolved from fishes long thought that the animals developed legs for moving around on land well before their feeding systems and dietary habits changed enough to let them eat a land-based diet, but strong evidence was lacking. Now, for the first time fossil jaw measurements by Philip Anderson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and others have tested and statistically confirmed this lag.
AMHERST, Mass. – A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is proposing a new investigative roadmap for the field of evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo devo,” to better understand how innovation at the genetic level can lead to ecological adaptations over time. Evo devo seeks to understand the specific genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary change.
AMHERST, Mass. – Geoscientist Michele Cooke and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst take an uncommon, “Earth is lazy” approach to modeling fault development in the crust that is providing new insights into how faults grow. In particular, they study irregularities along strike-slip faults, the active zones where plates slip past each other such as at the San Andreas Fault of southern California.
AMHERST, Mass. – New recommendations by a National Research Council (NRC) expert panel on green and sustainable building performance could lead to a revolution in building science by creating the first large building performance database, says panel member Paul Fisette, a nationally recognized sustainable building expert at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
AMHERST, Mass. – Evolutionary ecologist Sonya Auer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has won the Elton Prize, one of only five British Ecological Society (BES) young investigator awards given each year to recognize the best research papers published in the society’s journals by early-career scientists.
AMHERST, Mass. – Leading scholars on Venezuela and Hugo Chávez will gather at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday, April 19, for a conference titled “Venezuela: Change or Continuity? The Legacy of Hugo Chávez and the Future of the Bolivarian Revolution.”
AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst microbiologist Derek Lovley, the discoverer of the multifaceted Geobacter bacterium, will speak on “Microbes: the Small Organisms Generating Big Economic Impact” on Thursday, April 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts Club, 225 Franklin St., Boston.
AMHERST, Mass. – Just three months before the University of Massachusetts Amherst joins more than 750 other colleges and universities that have become tobacco-free, a public awareness campaign is being launched to inform students, employees and visitors about the new policy.
AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst biologist Sheila Patek will talk about “Speed: Life in the Fast Lane,” exploring some of the world’s fastest animals – but maybe not the ones most people think of – at a Science Café on Monday, April 15 at 6 p.m. at Esselon Café in Hadley.
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst will honor and celebrate the life of the late Randolph W. Bromery on Friday, May 17 from 2-4:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center on the 11th floor of the Campus Center. The memorial event will be hosted by UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy.
AMHERST, Mass. – Dining Services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is hosting the fourth annual “UMass 5K Dash and Dine” on campus Saturday, April 6.