If this email does not include graphics or links, click here.

Current and archived issues are now searchable by keyword from the Research ACCESS index page.

TAKE THE ACCESS SURVEY! Research ACCESS is seeking your feedback. We're looking to improve our content and readership and we need your input to do it right. Please take a few minutes to complete our brief survey. Click here.

Researchers at UMass Amherst are one step closer to demystifying the intricacies of the human brain by analyzing images using state-of-the-art equipment. Thanks to a partnership between the campus and Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA, researchers in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and interested colleagues across campus will have access to their own brain imaging facility. Read more.

Go to Top

There are more than one thousand UMass Amherst faculty-led projects impacting 280 communities across the Commonwealth. From Springfield to Woods Hole and all points in between, UMass Amherst is making a difference in Massachusetts communities. For the full report see: Cross-Campus Collaborations. Commonwealth Connections.

Go to Top

Microsoft Corporation is building its presence in Massachusetts. With its new facility in Cambridge and almost 600 employees in Massachusetts, the IT giant has found a comfortable home in a state that is a leader in many aspects of IT and life sciences research. In an effort to strengthen its ties to the Western Massachusetts community, Microsoft recently joined the Regional Technology Corporation. Its partnership with UMass Amherst is longstanding and membership with the RTC bodes well for continued collaboration between the campus and Microsoft. To learn more about the Microsoft/UMass Amherst relationship, contact Karen Hayes, Research Liaison and Development (413) 545-9586. Find out about Microsoft funding opportunities through the Research Area's corporate funding webpage.

Go to Top

Principal Investigators and campus communicators can be better prepared when publicizing research results by working with the staff in the campus's Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property Office (CVIP). CVIP helps faculty properly protect their research results so that future opportunities are not compromised as a result of public disclosure. Also, information prepared for distribution such as press releases should include the CVIP phone number (413) 545-3606 and general email address (cvip@research.umass.edu) so that parties interested in the technology have access to CVIP's commercialization services. Contact Nick DeCristofaro, CVIP director.

Go to Top

Faculty Research Grant/Healey Endowment Grant
Deadline: October 12. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research offers UMass Amherst faculty this internal grant program to encourage scholarly research and creative activity. The program has a required co- investment from the campus deans and is intended as seed money for faculty to increase their capacity for externally-sponsored research. For more information and for application details, check out the Research Area's Internal Grants Programs web site. Contact Bev Strakose (413) 545-5283 in Research Affairs with questions.

NCIAA Sustainable Vision Grants
Deadline: October 19. This grant program sponsored by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) will fund proposals to support innovative educational programs that move ideas to commercialization for the benefit of the environment and people in need. Grants will support collaborative teams representing education and industry that apply technology entrepreneurship to address poverty and environmental degradation, and/or meet basic human needs such as clean air and water, nutrition, health care, and shelter. Contact Jennifer Keller Jackson (413) 587-2172 to discuss your proposal. Visit the NCIIA web site to learn more.

Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center Investigation Awards
Deadline: October 22 for Letter of Intent. Ten grants of $40,000 will be available for researchers through the Mass Tech Transfer Center's (MTTC) Investigation Awards. The awards are intended to support commercial viability of a technology by encouraging the development of prototypes or gathering of initial data. The Open Solicitation to Apply will be officially posted on September 24th. Complete applications are due November 19th. Go to the MTTC grants and awards webpage for information and an application. Contact Michele Bernier at the MTTC office with questions.

Outreach Program Innovation Fund
Deadline: October 31. The UMass Amherst community is encouraged to submit proposals to the Outreach Program Innovation Fund. Sponsored by the Vice Provost for Outreach, the Fund welcomes submissions that will serve as catalysts to enhance and expand the campus's outreach activity, particularly activity that can be self-sustaining. The Fund proactively seeks to support new, innovative programs that could be launched through Arts Extension Service, Continuing & Professional Education, UMass Extension, University Without Walls, or WFCR. View the announcement and application form here.

Go to Top

CVIP Welcomes New Staff
The Office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property welcomes new licensing associate Surya Rao. Surya will assist researchers during the licensing process by soliciting invention disclosures, evaluating technologies for patentability and commercialization potential and performing market analyses of commercialization potential. Surya has a professional background in research and product management. Most recently, he was the Manager of Strategy and Product Management at AptoTec Inc. in Athens, GA. He holds an MBA from the University of Georgia and an MA in microbiology from University of Texas, Austin. Surya's arrival marks the second new licensing associate hire in the CVIP office over the last three months and reflects the campus's increasing commitment to providing researchers with customized support. Contact Surya at (413) 545-3606.

Call for Panelists and Sponsors
The Commonwealth Alliance for IT Education (CAITE) seeks participants for its fall 2007 "Women in IT" event to be held September 27th at UMass Amherst. The conference will showcase women working in IT in various careers and companies. The event will feature panels on business, healthcare, communication, arts and social responsibility. In addition, a career networking pavilion will feature tables from local and national companies, including Microsoft and Partners Healthcare. Anyone interested in being panelists or sponsoring a career networking table should contact Michele DesAutels (781) 363-3712. For more information about the event, click here.

Display Panels Call for Content
Visitors to campus will soon have a new way to learn about UMass Amherst research. A new tri-panel wall display outside of the Vice Provost for Research's office at 239 Whitmore features two informative panels promoting the strength and value of campus research. The other panel is available for schools, colleges and centers to promote upcoming research events and other research activities. To submit content to this rotating panel contact Karen Hayes, Research Liaison and Development (413) 545-9586 with submissions or suggestions.

Nanotechnology and Society Presentations Available Online
Video presentations from the Science, Technology and Society Initiative's highly successful workshop, "Nanotechnology and Society: The Organization and Policy of Innovation", are now available on the STS Spring 2007 Workshop website

The 20 minute video includes segments on nanotechnology and the body, nanotechnology in manufacturing, nanotechnology and commercial products, and public concern around nanotechnology. The workshop brought together more than 80 national and international faculty, public officials, scientists and students to discuss a range of issues related to the societal implications of emerging nanoscale technologies. The series was made possible through a grant from the Research Leadership in Action (RLA) program.

COE Researcher Receives AwwaRF Funding
Environmental Engineering Professor John Tobiason has been awarded a grant from the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwaRF) Unsolicited Research Program. Dr. Tobiason's project, to be conducted with PhD student Anh Nguyen, will explore the fouling of low pressure hollow fiber membranes that are used in purification of drinking water and the treatment of wastewater. The project is one of ten to be funded through the program, which granted $1.5 in awards this cycle. AwwaRF is the largest nonprofit in the U.S. dedicated to research on drinking water. The Research Area features AwwaRF requests for proposals and other grant opportunities on its Corporate Funding web page.

President's Office Awards S&T and Creative Economy Grants
The UMass President's Office has announced the 2007 awardees of its S&T Initiatives Fund and the inaugural round of its Creative Economy Initiatives Fund. The RFPs for these programs are usually issued in January. Concept papers are due in March and full proposals in April. Congratulations to all those collaborating on the winning initiatives. Participating UMass Amherst faculty are listed with the projects. For more information on this year's guidelines for these grants, click here.

UMass President's Science and Technology Initiatives Awards:

• UMass NanoMed Institute (with Lowell and Worcester) - Professor T.J. Mountziaris, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Massachusetts Center for Networked Sensing in Challenged Environments (with Dartmouth, Lowell, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) - Associate Professors Brian Levine and Prashant Shenoy, Department of Computer Science
• UMass Amherst Wireless Center for Excellence - Associate Professor Dennis Goeckel, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• University Collaborative for Intelligent Transportation Systems (with Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell) - Professor John Collura, Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering
• UMass Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine (with UMass Worcester) - Dean George Langford, Natural Sciences and Math; Professor Sam Black, Vet and Animal Sciences; Vice Provost for Research, Paul Kostecki

Creative Economy Initiatives Awards:

• "Dance in Three Stages" - Professor Peggy Schwarz, Music and Dance
• "Benchmarking South Coast and Pioneer Valley Creative Economies" - Joel Martin, Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts (with Eileen Peacock, Dean of the College of Business, UMass Dartmouth and UMass Donahue Institute)

Job Opportunity
Faculty are encouraged to inform qualified students for the Microsoft Student Partners program for the 2007/2008 academic year. The student will act as a Technical Representative and an ambassador between UMass Amherst and Microsoft. Tasks include increasing Microsoft product interest on campus, planning on-campus events, and assisting students with the use of Microsoft technologies. A job description is available here. Interested students can contact Edwin Guarin (617) 828-3900.

>Go to Top

Researchers Asked to Update and Contribute to UMassREFS.info
Is your research lab, center or service listed in the UMass Amherst Directory of Research Equipment, Facilities and Services ( www.UMassREFS.info)? The online searchable database showcases labs, equipment and other facilities on campus. The current database has over 100 entries and has a very high Google return rate.

REFS is updated regularly, but we need your help to ensure that it is as current as possible. Researchers are asked to check their facility listings periodically to ensure they contain updated information about instruments, capacity and contact information. Send updates or listing information to Loren Walker, Research Liaison and Development, (413) 577-3725.

Free Programs for Researchers Available through MTTC
Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC) has a number of programs in which UMass Amherst faculty and staff can participate free of charge. MTTC offers individual coaching sessions, group entrepreneur sessions, seminars, and technology showcase forums for researchers. Contact Michele Bernier or visit MTTC' s web site for more information.

Go to Top

CVIP would like to acknowledge and congratulate the following inventors for US patents issued in their names between January 1st and June 30th, 2007. Companies interested in learning more about these technologies should contact CVIP, (413) 545-3606.

• Gregory Tew, Polymer Science & Engineering - "Facially Amphiphilic Polymers as Anti-infective Agents"
• Mark Tuominen and Andrei Ursache, Physics and Thomas Russell, Polymer Science & Engineering - "Nanofabrication"
• Mark Tuominen, Physics and Thomas Russell, Polymer Science & Engineering - "Nanocylinder Arrays"
• Lloyd Semprevivo, Veterinary and Animal Science - "Lipoglycan Compositions and Methods of Treating Parasitic Infections"
• Susan Cumberledge, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - "Secreted Frizzled Related Protein, SFRP, Fragments and Methods of Use Thereof"

Go to Top

August 28: New Faculty Orientation will be held in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center. 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM. Visit the Provost Office's website for details.

September 21: The Materials and Manufacturing Technology Network of the Regional Technology Corporation (RTC) will "re-launch" itself during its September meeting. 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM, TD BankNorth Building, 1441 Main St. in Springfield. Email or call RTC (413) 755-1320 to join the network.

October 22: Save the Date. UMass Outreach will host a symposium entitled "Beyond Outreach to Scholarly Engagement." Afternoon sessions are open to the public from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM in the Campus Center Auditorium. Look for more info in upcoming issues of ACCESS.

Go to Top

OGCA processed 174 proposals for a total of $25,063,342 in June 2007. How does that stack up against last year and previous months? Have a look at the histograms to find out.

Go to Top

Go to Top