| UMass Amherst Weblog Debuts on MassLive.com |
The campus has a new weblog on MassLive.com. With a variety of content being posted several times per week, this weblog gives the campus a new way to share stories about the exciting events, accomplishments and people that comprise this fine institution. Please visit it often.
MassLive.com has been a good partner to UMass Amherst and their "Best Local Jobs" is the trusted local source of employment listings and resources for western Massachusetts as well as the online home of The Republican. If your department is hiring and needs to post advertisements, consider MassLive.com's "Best Local Jobs" as an effective means of reaching more than 465,000 active job seekers every month. Contact MassLive.com's Dawn Creighton, Employment Specialist at 413-731-1845.
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Campus Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive and Active |
Two UMass Amherst entrepreneurs were recently featured on the nation's premier angle investing blog, The Frank Peter's Show. As students, Richard Tortora and Derek Lyman founded Dexrex, an internet company leveraging the power of instant messaging. Peter's, himself a UMass Amherst alum, shines the spotlight on startup companies. Download and listen to the podcast from the Frank Peter's Show here.
The campus has a number of resources available to students and faculty that support entrepreneurship including The Innovation Challenge, the UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative, and events such as the upcoming Invention to Venture (I2V) workshop being held on campus September 27 (see announcement section for more details) |
| Funding Opportunities |
Faculty Research Grant/Healey Endowment Grant
Deadline: October 10, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Varies
Offered by the UMass Amherst Office of Research, the Faculty Research Grant/Healey Endowment Grant (FRG/HEG) program encourages scholarly research and creative activities by members of the campus faculty. The program's goal is to increase extramural sponsored research activity and as such the expectation is that the award will enhance the researcher's capacity to acquire future outside funding. New members of the faculty are especially encouraged to apply. Examples of research and creative activity funded by FRG/Healy include funding for new faculty to start research/scholarly activity; funding for publication of books, support of theater productions which included scholarly activity; central research facility support; support for grant development and writing and more. Contact Bev Strakose, ORA for more information at 545-5283. UMass Amherst Research Leadership in Action Awards
Deadline: November 1, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Up to $25,000; The Fall 2008 RFP for the Office of Research's Research Leadership in Action Program (RLA) is now available (PDF). The program supports faculty interested in showcasing leadership in their field by helping identify and foster external contacts which will ultimately result in increasing support for research and scholarly activity. Grants will support highly visible, results-focused campus events, such as conferences, professional meetings, and performances. These events, intended to be annual, should be designed to bring together researchers and scholars from other academic institutions, industry, government and the public with goals of:
- Enhancing the faculty's ability to develop sponsored activities;
- Building tangible, working ties with external funding sources that expand collaborative opportunities and expand the knowledge base of the discipline;
- Raising the campus' profile as an institution that drives the directions of research and scholarly activity on a national and international level.; More information about RLA, including application materials, can be found online.
Corporate Fellowships
Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship Program
Deadline: September 19, expression of interest
Microsoft Research seeks nominees for its 2008 New Faculty Fellowship Program. Nominees should be early-career, tenure track faculty who are advancing computing research in novel directions with the potential for high impact and who demonstrate the likelihood of becoming thought leaders of the field. Each fellow is awarded a $200,000 (U.S.) gift to stimulate creative research in their respective fields. A Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellow has full freedom to use the funds to advance his or her research agenda. Only one faculty member can be nominated for the program from campus. Deans, Chairs and Heads from the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Mathematics are reminded to nominate any suitable candidates from their faculties. Interested parties should send application materials, including a CV, to Bev Strakose in ORA (413) 545-5283. PhD Fellowships Offered Microsoft Research & Live Labs PhD Fellowships
Deadline: October 17, 2008; Estimated Award Size: 2 years tuition & fees; $28,000 stipend; $4,000 professional activities allowance
Microsoft invites applications for two-year fellowships from outstanding Ph.D. students. During or after their studies, recipients will be offered the opportunity to complete salaried internships with either Microsoft Research or Microsoft Live Labs in Redmond, Washington. Applicants must be nominated by their universities, and their nominations must be confirmed by the chair of the eligible department. Student must be enrolled in a Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mathematics department and starting their second or third year in an eligible Ph.D. program in the academic year 2009. A maximum of three applicants per eligible department, per eligible university will be accepted. More information is available online.
Foundation Funding
Faculty interested in applying for the following foundation-sponsored opportunities are encouraged to contact Susan Worgaftik (413-547-2956) for assistance. Arts Writers Grants
Deadline: September 22, 2008; Estimated Award Size: $3,000 to $50,000
The Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant is dedicated to supporting a wide range of writing on contemporary visual art - from general-audience to scholarly; the program awards project-based grants to individual authors.
Intel Corporation Inspire/Empower Challenge
Award: $100,000; Deadline: September 30, 2008 (Registration Deadline) Intel's Inspire/Empower Challenge seeks proposals for technology solutions to address four areas of global need - education, healthcare, economic development, and the environment. The contest will award seed funding of $100,000 to one winner in each category. The challenge is designed to inspire developers, individuals, and organizations to innovate and empower them to deliver new ways to apply technology to these issues. The contest is open to all individuals, developers, and organizations worldwide as well as the general public. More information is available online. ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowships
Deadline: October 3, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Up to $55,000 stipend and $25,000 project costs
The American Council of Learned Societies Digital Innovation Fellowships support digitally based research projects in all disciplines of the humanities and humanities-related social sciences.
American Cancer Society Funding Opportunities Symptom Control & Palliative Care Research Funds; Deadline: October 15, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Varies; ACS is creating a new peer review committee in Symptom Control and Palliative Care Research in January 2009, to enhance research funding in this area. Applicants may apply for one of the following 5 mechanisms: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mentored Research Scholar Grant, Research Scholar Grant, Clinical Research Professorship, RFA: Pilot and Exploratory Projects in Palliative Care.
MEN2 Thyroid Cancer Consortium; Deadline: October 15, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Varies; ACS seeks applications for its Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type-2 (MEN2) Thyroid Cancer Consortium. The Consortium will consist of up to 12 outstanding junior investigators and a single renowned senior scientist who will be awarded the American Cancer Society MEN2 Thyroid Cancer Professorship and facilitate the interactions among the members. Up to 7 Research Scholar and/or Mentored Research Scholar Grants, and up to 5 Postdoctoral Fellowships will be awarded. The intent is to combine the strengths of the individual investigators to more thoroughly understand MEN2 and acquire new insights into better prevention, detection, and treatment of the disease.
Digital Media and Learning Grants; Deadline: October 15, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Varies (see below); The MacArthur Foundation seeks applications for its annual competition for awards to innovators shaping the field of Digital Media and Learning. The two categories are:1. Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards ($30,000 to $250,000) to support projects that demonstrate new modes of participatory learning, in which people take part in virtual communities, share ideas, comment on one another's projects, and advance goals together;2. Young Innovator Awards ($5,000 to $30,000) are designed to encourage young people aged 18-25 to think boldly about "what comes next" in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen. Winners will receive funding to do an internship with a sponsor organization to help bring their most visionary ideas from the "garage" stage to implementation.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowships; Deadline: October, 22, 2008; Estimated Award Size: $86,000 in the first year and $89,000 in the second; The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Program helps to develop a new generation of creative health policy thinkers and researchers within the disciplines of economics, political science and sociology through two-year fellowships at one of three nationally prominent universities with the expectation that they will make important research contributions to future United States health policy.
American Health Assistance Foundation; Deadline: October 22, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Up to $400,000 over three years; or up to $100,000 - $150,000 over two years; The American Health System Foundation's Alzheimer's Disease Research program supports promising research in the field ranging from molecular biology to epidemiology. Grants are awarded on the basis of scientific merit of the proposed research and the relevance of the research to understanding certain aspects of the disease that lead to improved treatments, prevention strategies and diagnoses. For more information see the rfp.
William T. Grant Foundation / Spencer Foundation
Awards: $50,000 to $500,000; Deadline: November 3, 2008 (Letters of Inquiry)
The William T. Grant Foundation and the Spencer Foundation have announced their joint 2009 Request for Proposals for the Development and Improvement of the Measurement of Classroom Quality. This RFP is part of the foundations' broader effort to build theory and evidence about how classrooms affect youth and how to improve those effects. For more information is available online.
American Council of Learned Societies Collaborative Research Awards; Deadline: November 12, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Up to $140,000; The ACLS Collaborate Research Award program offers teams of two or more scholars funding to collaborate intensively on a single, substantive project in the humanities and related social sciences or in relevant interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary studies.
National String Project Consortium Grants; Deadline: November 17, 2008; Estimated Award Size: Up to $10,000 per year for 5 years; The National String Project Consortium seeks to create up to ten new National String Project Centers which will be centers of excellence in the training of string teachers around the country, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of children playing stringed instruments and addressing the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S.
Geography and Conservation Grants; Deadline: Rolling; Estimated Award Size: $5,000 to $15,000; National Geographic provides funding to support critical scientific research, geographic exploration, and environmental and cultural conservation worldwide. The National Geographic Society Waitt Grants Program funds projects that require venture capital, supporting exceptional projects while foregoing a time-consuming peer-review process.
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| Announcements |
Biofuels Conference Registration Deadline Extended
The early registration deadline for the Sept. 19 Conference on Cellulosic Biofuels been pushed back to September 11. Register at the lower early registration rate on or before Sept. 11. See "Events," below, for details on this conference.
OGCA Brown Bag Series
The fall OGCA Brown Bag Lunch Series kicks off September 16 with a NIH Electronic Submissions: Terminology + Q & A Session. 12pm-1pm; Research Administration Building Room 104. Bring your lunch. To register, contact Helen Bishop. Click here for a listing of the complete series.
Passport UMass Fall 2008 Now Available
The UMass International Relations office promotes: study-abroad for undergraduate and graduate students at UMass; programs that bring faculty, visiting scholars, and students from other countries to UMass; and UMass faculty research, teaching and service around the world. It publishes an e-mail newsletter, Passport UMass. View the 2008 edition here.
VPR Invites Faculty to Attend Invention to Venture 2008
Invention to Venture (I2V) UMass 2008 is a fast-paced day of practical information and networking opportunities that can help take your ideas to commercialization. The workshop consists of seven critical-to-success sessions led by real-world entrepreneurial speakers, practitioners and panelists. This even will take place on Saturday, September 27, 2008 from 8:00 am to 4:15 pm in E Lab 2 Auditorium, College of Engineering. The Vice Provost for Research will pay the registration fee for any UMass Amherst faculty or Pioneer Valley Life Sciences scientist who would like to attend. Please contact Marla Michel, Research Liaison and Development, to arrange for free registration. I2V is hosted by the Isenberg Program for the Integration of Engineering, Management and Science with support from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). For more information go to: I2V:UMass 2008.
Fall TEI Environmental Lecture Series
The TEI Environmental Lecture Series Building Green Communities, kicks off on Thursday, September 25th at 4:00 pm (Campus Center Rm 163) with a double feature THE ARCHITECT and THE BUILDER: Five Houses: Sustainability Redefined: Stephen Kieran, FAIA, Architect and Author, Kieran Timberlake Associates and Adventures in Prefabrication: Tedd Benson, Builder and Author, Benson Woodworking Co., Inc.
Other talks in the series will address building sustainable cities for a carbon scarce future, life cycle analysis and LEED, and green energy and reconfiguring the North American power grid for the future. For the complete schedule and speakers visit the TEI website.
Fall 2008 INFORMS Speaker Series Announced
The UMass Amherst INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Speaker Series lineup for Fall 2008 is now available on the INFORMS website. The talks take place on scheduled Fridays at the Isenberg School of Management in Room 112 from 11am to 12pm and are open to the public. The series is organized by the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter. This is the ninth semester of this Speaker Series, which is multidisciplinary in nature. UMass Amherst Library Announces New Branch
The UMass Amherst Libraries is pleased to announce a new branch, the Image Collection Library, dedicated to assisting campus faculty, students, and staff in the use of images in the classroom and in research. The Image Collection Library provides over 750,000 digital images and content for classroom use and provides assistance for faculty who want to bring high quality images into the classroom experience. The Image Collection Library, located in room 225 Bartlett Hall, is open from 12:00 noon - 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and can be contacted at 545-3314. Faculty members and teaching assistants are encouraged to contact the Image Collection Library to discuss needs for images in the classroom environment. For more information, contact Brian Shelburne, 545-4061, Head of the Image Collection Library or Stephen Folsom, Metadata Librarian, 545-4978.
Campus Compact Seeks Nominees for New Leadership Award
Deadline: October 17, 2008; Estimated Award Size: $2,000 and Recognition Plaque Campus Compact, of which UMass Amherst is a member, seeks nominees for its new Leadership Award for Campus and Community Engagement. The objective of the Award is to recognize the work of community engagement professionals who advances their campus's civic vision and the field by creating and/or coordinating high-quality campus and community engagement initiatives, contributing significantly to the development and sustainability of strong, reciprocal partnerships between higher education and communities, and fostering a deep culture of engagement on their campus.
Research Area's New Consolidated Website for Funding Opportunities
In order to provide easier access for faculty seeking funding, the Research Area has recently redesigned its website to include a single, consolidated webpage listing grants, awards, and other sponsored research opportunities. The information on this page brings together opportunities that were previously listed by ORA and OGCA separately.
Research Liaison and Development Staff Changes
This month we say goodbye and thank you to Matteo Pangallo, our very gifted assistant editor for Research ACCESS. Matteo is a PhD candidate in Renaissance literature here at UMass Amherst who has taken an exciting opportunity to travel and do research focused on renaissance script translation. During his time as ACCESS assistant editor, Matteo helped raise the visibility of research with internal and external audiences and contributed to expanding ACCESS content relevant to the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. With his departure, we welcome our new assistant editor, Eesha Williams. Eesha is a master's student in the History Department. He has been a staff reporter at a daily newspaper and at an NPR member station. Since 2003, he has been a contributing writer at the Valley Advocate newspaper. He is the author of a book, Grassroots Journalism. We look forward to having Eesha on the Research ACCESS team. |
| Events |
September 11: IGERT Seminar: Christopher J. Gintz (CTO, NANOHOLDINGS LLC) on "Commercialization of Nano-Energy discoveries, partnering with universities and scientists". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
September 18: IGERT Seminar: Alan Shalleck (President, NanoClarity LLC) on "Evaluating and Commercializing Nanoscale Science". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
September 19: The first annual Conference on Cellulosic Biofuels will be held at the UMass Amherst Campus Center and will feature the latest developments in biofuels research at UMass Amherst, other universities, and government labs; reports from state policy makers on what lies ahead for cellulosic biofuels in the region; and opportunities to network with leaders in the advanced biofuels sector representing industry, academia, and government. This event is sponsored in part by a grant from the Vice Provost of Research's Research Leadership in Action Awards Program. Registration for this conference is available online.
September 19: Professor Daron Acemoglu (Applied Economics, MIT) opens the Fall 2008 INFORMS Speaker Series with a talk on "Bayesian Learning on Social Networks". Presented in partnership with the Isenberg School's Finance Seminar Series. 11am-12pm, Isenberg 112.
September 25: IGERT Seminar: Oleg Gang (Brookhaven National Lab), title TBA on the subject of current research in nanotechnology. 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
September 27: Invention to Venture (I2V): Hosted by the Isenberg Program with support from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). 8:00 am to 4:15 pm, E Lab 2 Auditorium, UMass Amherst College of Engineering. For more info or to register go to: I2V:UMass 2008.
September 27: Renaissance Dance Conference, including performances from the ballets Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth, along with research presentations. All day, at the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies.
October 2: IGERT Seminar: Jane Fountain (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Director of Science, Technology & Society Initiative, UMass Amherst) on "Societal Implications of Nanotechnology". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
October 3: Part of the Fall 2008 INFORMS Speaker Series, Dr. Grace Lin (CTO & Director of Innovation and Emerging Solutions, IBM Global Business Services) will speak on "Enterprise of the Future". 11am-12pm, Isenberg 112.
October 3: Second annual Nanotechnology and Society: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges workshop focusing this year on "Networks, Risk, and Knowledge Sharing". Keynote speaker Julia Lane, Program Director of Science & Innovation Policy, NSF, and a panel of 12 distinguished nanotech and public policy scholars from around the country. 8am-4pm, Lincoln Campus Center.
October 3-4: 7th Annual UMass Amherst Food Science Alumni Weekend, including a symposium, networking opportunities, and tours of the Chenoweth Lab.
October 6: UMass Dartmouth's Marine Renewable Energy Center hosts an Ocean Energy for New England Conference. Keynote speaker, Congressman William Delahunt on relevant federal initiatives, followed by panelists from industry, government, technology development, and public policy. 8:30am-5pm, conference and networking breaks; 5pm-7pm, reception and clambake. At the Advanced Technology & Manufacturing Center, 151 Martine Street, Fall River, MA.
October 9: IGERT Seminar: John Fabel (Director of New Technologies, SunEthanol) on "Energy Industry". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
October 14-16: The Center for UMass/Industry Research on Polymers, Polymer Science & Engineering Department, and Materials Research Science & Engineering Center present the Fall 2008 Polymer Event at the UMass Conte Center for Polymer Research. Featuring lectures, workshops, poster sessions, and a symposium on topics such as polymer uses in biofuels, ionic liquids, and biomedical applications.
October 16: IGERT Seminar: Cengiz Ozkan (Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UCal Riverside) and Mihri Ozkan (Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCal Riverside) on "Massively alignment of nanowires and carbon nanotubes using block copolymer patterns for high speed electronic applications". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
October 23: UMass Amherst Chemistry Department's annual William E. Mahoney Seminar featuring Dr. Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Student Union Ballroom.
October 23: IGERT Seminar: Mohan Manoharan (Manager of Coatings and Surface Technologies Laboratory, General Electric), title TBA on the subject of current research in nanotechnology. 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
October 24: Part of the Fall 2008 INFORMS Speaker Series, Professor Senay Solak (Finance and Operations Management, UMass Amherst Isenberg School) will speak on "Air Traffic Flow Management in the Presence of Uncertainty". 11am-12pm, Isenberg 112.
October 30: Chemistry Department's Proctor & Gamble Lecture Series featuring Professor Victoria McGuffin from the Center for Integrative Toxicology at Michigan State University. 10:45am, Lederle 1634 Math Lounge.
October 30: IGERT Seminar: David L. Carroll (Director of Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials and Professor of Physics, Wake Forest University) on "Nanoscale Product Commercialization: FiberCell Systems Inc, PlexiLight Inc". 4:30pm, Conte Research Center A110-111.
October 30-31: The UMass Amherst Center for Research on Families, with funding from the Vice Provost of Research's Leadership in Action Award, hosts a symposium on Women and Work: Choices and Constraints, focusing on key workplace challenges for women in the 21st century by reconsidering the notion of "opting out." Keynote speaker Joan Williams (Professor of Law, UCal Hasting College of Law, and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law) on "Opt Out or Pushed Out: The Real Deal Re: Women and Work"; workshop panels led by sociology, economy, and public policy scholars from around the country. Go to Top |
| OGCA Histograms |
OGCA processed 103 proposals for a total of $10,482,831 in August 2008. How does that stack up against last year and previous months? Take a look at the histograms to find out.
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New Faculty
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The Research Area looks forward to working with the over 60 new faculty this year from schools and departments across campus. This month Research ACCESS welcomes new faculty from the College of Natural Resources and the Environment, School of Education and College of Engineering. Click on a person's name for their email address. Click here for a listing of these faculty and their research interests.
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August Grants & Contracts Snapshot |
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.
Mary V. Andrianopoulos
Communications Disorders
Sponsor: US Dept of Education
Title: The Training of Leaders in Speech Language Pathology as Effective Collaborators in the Public Schools
Total Award: $200,000
Genevieve Elizabeth Chandler
Nursing
Sponsor: Johnson Fdn, Robert Wood
Title: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing Scholarships
Total Award: $80,000
Lori Ann Clarke
Computer Science
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Collaborative Research: Process-Centered, Analysis-Driven System Development Applied to Human-Intensive Medical Processes
Total Award: $500,000
Lila M. Gierasch
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Title: Mechanism of Allostery in Hsp70 Molecular Chaperones
Total Award: $324,423
Julie Hemment
Anthropology
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Youth Organizations, Voluntary Service and the Restructuring of Social Welfare in Russia
Total Award: $82,495
Francis Juanes
Natural Resources Conservation
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Collaborative Proposal: Comparative Analysis of Salmon and Cod Population Responses
Total Award: $208,207
Michael J. Maroney
Chemistry
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Nickel Superoxide Dismutase
Total Award: $146,000
Lisa M. Minter
Veterinary and Animal Sciences
Sponsor: Aplastic Anemia and MDS Int'l Fdn Inc
Title: Evaluating PKC-Theta as a Therapeutic Target in a Mouse Model of a Severe Acquired Aplastic Anemia
Total Award: $30,000
Robert N. Pollin
Economics
Sponsor: US Dept of Energy
Title: UMass Renewable Energy Economy Expansion Project (MA)
Total Award: $196,800
David A. Reckhow
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Sponsor: AWWA Research Fdn
Title: Establishing Guidelines for the Use of Ozone-GAC for Control of Endocrine Disruptors and Related Compounds in Water
Total Award: $126,000
Maria Santore
Polymer Science and Engineering
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Surfaces that Selectively Manipulate and Kill Bacteria
Total Award: $149,372
F. Peter Schloerb
Astronomy
Sponsor: National Aero and Space Administration
Title: US/Mexico Large Millimeter Telescope
Total Award: $677,909
Lisa M. Wexler
Public Health
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Title: Collaborative Research: IPY: Negotiating Pathways to Adulthood: Social Change and Indigenous Culture in Four Circumpolar Comm
Total Award: $151,105
Beverly Park Woolf
Computer Science
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences
Title: Teaching Every Student: Using Intelligent Tutoring and Universal Design to Customize the Mathematics Curriculum
Total Award: $890,419
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