The Flow Cytometry Facility offers researchers the opportunity to examine cells in a way that allows them to identify characteristics and sort various populations. With the help of an expert staff and state of the art equipment, researchers can have their cell samples examined at a rate of up to 100,000 cells/second and accurately sorted in the facility located in the Veterinary and Animal Science Department in Paige Laboratory. The lab is currently interested in attracting researchers from industry and other organizations to take advantage of its facilities. Read more.

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The Research Area has launched a new monthly Brown Bag series that offers faculty and departmental staff insights on matters that affect research. The first presentation, given on March 28th, was titled “From Grant Opportunity to Proposal Submission: All You Ever Wanted to Know about the Inner Workings of OGCA.” The next presentation called “My Proposal Was Awarded, but Where's My Money?” is scheduled for April 25th. The series, which is targeted toward new faculty and their support staff, is also open to the UMass Amherst community. Contact Kimberley Broderick (413) 545-5898 in OGCA for more information.

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OGCA has revised sponsor assignments for its growing pre-award administration staff. With the addition of Kimberly Lowney and the promotion of Kimberley Broderick to the pre-award staff, the new assignments reflect the office’s increased resources. The staff will also take on other responsibilities, including training and outreach related to their sponsor area of expertise, preliminary budget review and budget development assistance, and cross-training for backup with high volume deadlines. Click here to view a list of new sponsor assignments and the official announcement from OGCA. Contact OGCA (413) 545-0698 with questions.

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UMass Amherst offers students a number of opportunities to conduct research through summer Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) programs. These programs, the majority of which are in STEM areas, serve current UMass students and also help recruit underrepresented groups into their programs. The Research Area features these programs in a REU web portal to allow students and faculty easy access to program information.

The campus is increasing its competence in the area of undergraduate research opportunities through the recently created Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Network. The Network works with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS) and allows members from departments to share ideas about summer research programs for undergraduates. For information about the Network or REU programs, contact Barbara Pearson, Academic Liaison, RL&D (413) 545-5023.

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New STEM faculty at UMass Amherst have the opportunity to connect with their peers and other faculty who might share their interests through the New STEM Faculty Network. The Network hosts several dinners sponsored by the Deans of Engineering, Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Natural Resources and the Environment at which members get to know each other and present their current work in “Research Snapshots.” Barbara Pearson, network coordinator, says, “The Network’s ultimate goal is to get people in different colleges doing research together.”

To facilitate connections, the Network is launching a new Web site this semester. The site will allow browsers to view profiles and research interests and to follow commonalities of new STEM faculty. Since the portal is still in its early stages, the Network welcomes any feedback about its design and content. Send comments or questions to Barbara Pearson, Academic Liaison, RL&D (413) 545-5023.

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Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers Program
Deadline: April 27 for internal notification; June 29 for letter of intent
UMass Amherst is eligible for funding from the NSF for another Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) in Engineering or Computer Science. Researchers who would like to propose the creation of a new center that seeks to make ties with industry are encouraged to apply. Currently, The NSF’s Center for e-Design and Realization of Engineered Products and Systems at UMass Amherst in the campus’s only funded I/UCRC. Click here for more details about the NSF I/UCRC program or contact RL&D for strategic planning services. Please notify Bev Strakose (413) 545-5283 in the Office of Research Affairs by April 27th with your intention to submit.

NCIIA Grant for Curriculum Development and E-Team Projects
Deadline: May 11
National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) grants support and strengthen invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship education through curricular development and the work of Advanced E-Teams. Grants are awarded for either developing courses and programs or bringing an innovative product from idea to market. The campus has received NCIIA grants previously. For submission information and an application, go to the NCIIA Grant for Curriculum Development and E-Team Projects Web site.

American Water Works Association Research Funding
Deadlines: May-July
The American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwaRF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the science of drinking water, has issued 15 requests for proposals (RFPs) totaling more than $4 million in research funding. The RFPs, available on the AwwaRF Web site, are due in May or July 2007, as specified in each RFP. Collectively, the projects represent a wide range of topics of critical importance to the drinking water community, including: asset management, water use patterns, water source protection, impact assessments, etc. The grants require a 25% match from the proposing institution in either cash or in-kind. The campus has submitted proposals to AwwaRF previously. Contact OGCA (413) 545-0698 to discuss your proposal ideas and to get information about the terms and conditions of these grants. OGCA staff can help PIs understand how the terms may impact their objectives. Chris Rayburn (303-347-6188), director of Research Management at AwwaRF can provide submission information.

National Science Foundation GOALI Program
Deadline: Rolling
The Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program through the NSF continuously accepts applications from faculty working on projects that promote university/industry synergy. GOALI aims to go beyond funding that is available directly through industry by focusing on high-risk/high-gain research that leads to collaborative educational programs, direct knowledge transfer and new problem-solving approaches. Interested researchers should check out the GOALI Web site and contact OGCA (413) 545-6098 with any questions.

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CVIP Technology Funds Awarded

The development of two UMass Amherst technologies is being supported by grants from the President’s Office CVIP Technology Development Fund. Associate Professor S. “Thai” Thayumanavan, Chemistry, received $30K for his work with sub-micron sensors in a project titled “Functionalized Nanoporous Polymer Membranes for Biosensors.” Professors D. Julian McClements and Eric A. Decker and Assistant Professor Jochen Weiss from the Food Science Department also received $30K for their project “New Technology for Encapsulation of Emulsified Lipids in Food Beverages.” Over 40 proposals from the 5 campuses were submitted to the fund, eight of which were chosen for awards. For more information about the CVIP Technology Development Fund, click here.

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Cyberinfrastructure Report Now Available

The National Science Foundation has published an updated version of its report, Cyberinfrastructure Vision for the 21st Century Discovery. The document maps the Foundation’s vision of Cyberinfrastructure that will shape its future investments in the field. The report lists UMass Amherst’s center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) as a research community of note. Dr. Christopher Greer, NSF Program Director and member of the report’s strategic planning committee, was the featured speaker at the campus’s first Digital Quadrangle Series event last April. Click here to access the full report.

RTC Launches Growing a Business Series

The Materials & Manufacturing Technology Network (MMTN) of the Regional Technology Corporation (RTC) will hold a series of workshops during 2007 called “Growing a Business: From Inspiration to Reality.” The series kicked off on April 3rd with the interactive program, “Your New Venture: An ‘Entrepreneurial Seizure’ or Workable Business Model.” Subsequent workshops are slated for June, September, October and December. For details and a full schedule, visit the RTC Web site.

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April 17: The Massachusetts chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) will sponsor a presentation titled “Women in Science: Changing the Climate from the Bottom Up and Top Down.” The event will feature a panel discussion with faculty and student leaders. SOM 112, 5 PM – 7 PM. A light dinner will be served. RSVP to Barbara Pearson, Academic Liaison, RL&D (413) 545-5023.

April 25: The Office of Grants and Contracts Administration will host the second installment of the Research Area’s Brown Bag Series, with a presentation called “My Proposal Was Awarded, so Now What?” 104 Research Administration Building. Contact Kimberley Broderick for more information about the series.

April 28: The Sustainable Energy Summit hosts its 2007 event, “Community Action for a Clean Energy Future.” The summit will feature several keynote speakers and participatory workshops. Smith College Performing Arts Center, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM. Click here for more information and registrations. For information about advanced energy research at UMass Amherst, visit the Advanced Energy Portal.

May 15: The Animation Lab, Center for Knowledge Communication presents the Multimedia and 3D Computer Graphics Showcase of multimedia projects, games and computer animation from spring 2007 classes. Meet the artists, programmers and producers. See 3-D creatures and great animated motion. Interact with outstanding Flash projects. 6 PM, Computer Science building, rooms 150/151.

May 15-18: The Center for UMass/Industry Research on Polymers announces its spring 2007 Polymer Event. Participants and presenters include the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, MassNanoTech and NanoNetwork. Details, including event agendas, an electronic RSVP form and links to local hotel accommodations, can be found on the CUMIRP Events Web site.

The following Research Leadership in Action- sponsored events will take place this spring:

May 1-2: The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology presents the Protein Misfolding Diseases Symposium. The event includes panel discussions, a seminar, speakers and a poster session. Campus Center, May 1st 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM and May 2nd 8:30 AM – 6 PM. To register and for more information, click here.

May 17: The Center for Public Policy and Administration presents the first in a series of workshops on societal dimensions of nanotechnology entitled “Nanotechnology and Innovation: Perceptions and Policy, Disputes and Diffusion.” The workshop features distinguished researchers and other decision-makers from industry, government and academia. 8:30 AM, UMass Amherst. Contact Karen Pelto or check out this story from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for more information.

May 29-June 2: The International Trumpet Guild will hold its 2007 conference at UMass Amherst. Eric Berlin of the UMass Amherst Music Department hosts the event, which will feature performances, master classes, workshops and networking. Check out the event flyer or contact Eric Berlin for more information.

June 9-15: “3-D Model Building for Finite Element Analysis: A Workshop for Biologists & Bioengineers.” Attendees will learn to use VGStudioMax 1.2, Geomagic Studio 9.0, and the Strand7 Finite Element Analysis package to build, simplify, and analyze a 3-D model of their data. Details of the event can be found in the UMass press release or at the FEA event Web site. Contact Betsy Dumont to register.

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OGCA processed 183 proposals for a total of $18,609,048 in March 2007. How does that stack up against last year and previous months? Have a look at the histograms to find out.

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In this issue of ACCESS, we welcome new faculty from the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

Tameka Gillum. Public Health. Research interests: Intimate partner violence within racial/ethnic minority and sexual minority populations; development and evaluation of culturally specific prevention and intervention efforts; health clinic based intimate partner violence interventions and the intersection between HIV and IPV.
Aline Gubrium. Public Health. Research interests: Gender socialization; narrative dimensions of reproductive technologies in the everyday lives of women of color; Black women’s experiences with breast cancer.
Hiromi Gunshin. Nutrition. Research interests: Iron absorption and diagnosis, prevention and treatment of iron overload in the liver and heart.
Kristen Polzien. Kinesiology. Research interests: Behavioral weight control interventions.
Christine Rogers. Public Health. Research interests: airborne microbial exposure assessment for evaluating their role in respiratory diseases such as asthma.
Melissa Troester. Public Health. Research interests: Cancer genomics; toxicogenomics; use of genomic data in epidemiologic studies; biomarkers of breast cancer susceptibility and breast cancer progression.
Brian Umberger. Kinesiology. Research interests: Energetics of human locomotion; computer modeling and simulation.
Lisa Wexler. Public Health. Research interests: Social and cultural context of behavioral health disparities suffered by minority groups; suicide and suicide prevention.
Nathaniel Whitmal. Communication Disorders. Research interests: Speech intelligibility; signal processing for hearing aids and cochlear implants; electroacoustics.

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Each month ACCESS includes a selection of grants and contracts awarded to faculty from across campus to provide a sense of what's going on in research at UMass Amherst. These listings reflect only a small fraction of the total sponsored activity for any given month. Since this is just a snapshot in time and grant/contract terms vary, actual award totals may be higher than the amounts listed.

Julie A. Caswell
Resource Economics
Sponsor: University of Connecticut
Title: Structure, Strategies, and Food System Performance. Food Marketing Policy Center for Research.
Total Award: $85,000

Lisa Chasan-Taber
Public Health
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Title: An Exercise Intervention to Prevent Recurrent GDM
Total Award: $472,041

Stuart Chipkin
Kinesiology
Sponsor: Marlene Drewski
Title: Diabetes Studies
Total Award: $10,000

Jeffrey M. Davis
Chemical Engineering
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: CAREER: Investigation of Marangoni and Evaporative Effects in Microscale Free-Surface Flows Over Uneven Topography
Total Award: $400,000

Scott C. Garman
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Title: Structural Studies on Lysosomal Storage Disorders
Total Award: $280,549

Roderic A. Grupen
Computer Science
Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Title: Force Guided Control for Mobility and Manipulation
Total Award: $200,000

Brigitte M. Holt
Anthropology
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: On the Verge of Modernity: Post-Pleistocene Evolution of the European Skeleton
Total Award: $17,383

Robert W. Jackson Jr.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sponsor: Raytheon Corporation
Title: X-Based IC Technologies and Architectures for Low Cost Radars
Total Award: $400,000

Martha E. Mather
Natural Resources Conservation
Sponsor: MA Division of Marine Fisheries
Title: Developing Automated Video System to Count Anadromous Herring
Total Award: $153,706

Christopher G. Potts
Linguistics
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Expressive Content and the Semantics of Contexts
Total Award: $82,210

Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey
Sociology
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Equal Employment Opportunity Progress in Private Sector Workplaces Since 1966
Total Award: $150,993

Daniel Wang
Astronomy
Sponsor: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Title: Decomposing the X-Ray Emission from the M31 Bulge
Total Award: $72,080

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