Research Area offices that were formally housed in Goodell are moving to new space this summer on the southeast side of campus. Research Affairs, OGCA, Animal Care, Research Compliance, CVIP and ILED will move August 18th and 19th to 70 Butterfield Terrace. The new zip is 01003-9340. Parking can be accessed from Career Center Way. Phones remain the same, but phone and computer access may be offline for staff during the move. If you have an urgent matter and need to reach us on those days, please call the Vice Provost's office at 413-545-5270.

Also, after 30 years at 505 East Pleasant St., the University of Massachusetts Press has moved to the East Experiment Station at 671 North Pleasant St. near Worcester Dining Commons. The mailing address will remain the same: P.O. Box 429, Amherst, MA 01004. Packages sent via UPS or FedEx should be addressed to 671 North Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01002. Phone numbers are unchanged.

With support from IBM, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (CSBS), and an anonymous donor through Amherst Computerworks, Machmer W13 was transformed this summer into a new Linux - Open Source Software Teaching Lab. Outfitted with new desktop computers, software and a server, the lab will more widely introduce "open -source" software and operating systems to faculty for use in teaching and research. Professor Charlie Schweik, Natural Resources Conservation and Center for Public Policy and Administration, was the driving force behind getting the lab on campus. Many others, including ILED staff, worked hard to make it a reality. The lab is unique in that it's one of the first in the nation to make Linux and open source applications available for teaching in disciplines such as the social sciences.

A variety of open source software is available in the lab, including, Open Office which rivals Microsoft's Office suite, free GIS software, and "R" -- a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. Stata Corporation also donated their proprietary statistical software, STATA.

A nice perk to the lab is that IBM has donated the time of two in-house co-ops to help teach faculty to use open-source under the Linux operating system.

While the Linux Lab is supported by CSBS and administered by the research group, SADRI, it's available to faculty across the campus (including those offering courses for the IT Minor) who might have a need for such a teaching lab. The lab is open for use starting this fall. For more information or to discuss your teaching needs, contact Charlie Schweik (413) 545-1824, or Dee Weber (413) 545-5971, Lab Manager.

Do you have a large, interdisciplinary project that could benefit from state, industry, or tech association support? Contact Marla Michel or Karen Hayes at (413) 545-2706.

Dr. Jean Swinney, School of Nursing, was recently awarded over $957,000 by the Department of Health and Human Services to increase the number of minority and disadvantaged individuals employed in nursing. The project, "Embracing the Challenge: Increasing Workforce Diversity in Nursing," incorporates innovative approaches to actively recruiting and supporting minority and disadvantaged students as new nursing degree candidates. "Embracing the Challenge" builds upon best practice models from other college and university nursing programs as well as research on programs to support diversity in high school and college. The grant will facilitate partnerships with local high schools as well as faith- based and health provider organizations. Collaborative networking and support activities will be established with disadvantaged and minority students at the university and three local community colleges.

"Embracing the Challenge" addresses the nursing shortage and continuing under-representation of minority and disadvantaged nurses in the U. S. workforce. This grant complements the commitment of the Dean and faculty of the School of Nursing, as well as the University of Massachusetts Amherst to support academic and professional opportunities for individuals of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds. For more information contact Dr. Jean E. Swinney, Principal Investigator.

ILED provides support services to faculty pursuing large proposals that require or could benefit from industrial or state support. Contact Marla Michel or Karen Hayes (413) 545-2706 to find out more.

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Public Policy and Administration have formed the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Working Group in response to the increasing demand for a closer integration of natural and social sciences and public policy considerations. The group will provide a single point of contact in CSBS for faculty from other parts of campus to inquire about collaborative possibilities. As a singular conduit, it can respond more effectively to initiatives on campus and develop new STS initiatives of its own. The goal of the group is to build upon the expertise of social and other scientists at UMass-Amherst to address S&T issues. The group's purpose is to: provide a forum to discuss research topics in science and technology, build interest in S&T issues, encourage collaboration of social science faculty with S&T project proposals, vet proposals, assemble teams to work collaboratively, and develop new proposals of its own. For more information, contact John Hird (413) 545-6184, STS chair.

ILED is the campus' liaison for S&T initiatives with the state and industry. Contact Marla Michel or Karen Hayes (413) 545-2706. For a quick reference guide to the legislation, funds and organizations that are part of the state's S&T initiative, go to http://www.umass.edu/research/S&Tsummary.html.

UMass Amherst has been chosen by Microsoft Research to participate in their latest round of RFPs. Faculty are eligible to submit proposals for funding in three areas: Trustworthy Computing, Tablet PC and the Phoenix Project, which explores issues in code generation, optimization, program analysis, binary transformation, and software correctness. More than a half-dozen UMass Amherst faculty have been funded by Microsoft in recent years.

Microsoft Research expects to make several unrestricted gifts in the $10 - $75K range in each of the topic areas. Because an institution will be awarded a maximum of one grant per RFP, collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across campus are encouraged. ILED will coordinate linking up faculty who have ideas for collaborative proposals. Forward a brief "intent to submit" to Karen Hayes (413) 545-9586 by Tuesday, August 31st, identifying which request you'd like to submit to and a brief description of your project. All proposals must be processed through OGCA. Jim Ayres (413) 545-5898 is the contact for industry proposals. Final submission deadlines for these grants are in mid October and November.

Get the Microsoft RFPs

New legislation that amends the federal patent and trademark law will make it easier to preserve patent rights for inventions developed through collaborative research. The Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act will allow researchers and inventors who work for different organizations to share information without losing the ability to file a patent. This is good news for UMass Amherst faculty pursing collaborative research with industry and peers at other universities.

Supported by the Association of American Universities (AAU), the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), these proponents argue the need for the amendment to federal patent and trademark law stems from a 1997 court decision (OddzOn Products Inc. v. Just Toys) that states information shared among collaborators may be deemed a prior art, which could invalidate a patent unless there is a single owner of the invention. CREATE solves the problem by treating inventions as if they have a single owner as long as a formal, written joint research agreement is in place between collaborators before the invention is made.

The bill passed the Senate on 6/25/04. Access the full text at S. 2192, CREATE. For questions or information on the campus' patent and invention policies, contact Michael Jaremchuk (413) 577-6121, in the campus' CVIP office.

According to newly released statistics by the National Science Foundation, Massachusetts ranked third in total academic research and development expenditures for fiscal year 2002. Overall, 625 institutions of higher education in the U.S. collectively spent $36.332 billion in FY 2002, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year. UMass Amherst is ranked number 104 in the report, with $109,332 million total R&D expenditures for 2002.

Source: SSTI Weekly Digest. June 28, 2004. State Science ant Technology Institute, Westerville, Ohio. Access the full report at the NSF site Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2002.

With a campus the size of UMass Amherst, it can be challenging to understand the breadth of our research and who supports it. Each month ACCESS will include a selection of top grants and contracts awarded to faculty from across campus in order to increase your knowledge about UMass Amherst research.

Mitchell T. Mulholland
Anthropology - Archaeological Services
Sponsor: Camp Dresser and Mckee Inc
Title: Conduct an Archaeological Reconnaissance and Intensive (Locational) Survey for the Water Main Improvements Project, Holbrook, Massachusetts
Total Award: $15,909

Igor A. Kaltashov
Chemistry
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Developing a Combined Mass Spectrometry- Chemometrics Approach to Study Macromolecular Large-Scale Dynamics
Total Award: $127,500

Lisa Olstein
English
Sponsor: New England Foundation for the Arts
Title: Juniper Prize Public Readings Project
Total Award: $3000

Jonathan Rothstein
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Collaborative Proposal: Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Wormlike Micellar Solutions and Polymeric Fluids
Total Award: $114,000

William A Patterson
Natural Resources Conservation
Sponsor: US Dept of Interior/ National Park Service
Title: Fire Management Planning & Research - Cape Cod Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit Cooperative Agreement
Total Award $32,200