News & Events for Fall 2007

Annual Alumni Gathering at the American Public Health Association Meeting, November 5, 2007

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William Bartosch awarded grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

 

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Elaine Puleo co-authors study of w unsafe neighborhoods and physical activity.
Unsafe neighborhoods affect physical activity of urban residents, says study Health researchers have found that residents, especially women, who live in low-income housing in neighborhoods considered unsafe at night are less physically active than those who live in safer neighborhoods. In addition, the study, conducted in the Boston area, found that feeling unsafe may also diminish confidence in the ability of residents to become physically active. Physical activity is considered a key tool for preventing colon cancer.

Elaine Puleo, associate professor of Biostatistics, co-authored the study whose findings were published recently in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine. The study’s lead author was Gary G. Bennett and the principal investigator was Karen M. Emmons, both faculty members
at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The study looked at residents of 12 urban and predominantly minority public housing
communities in metropolitan Boston and is one of
several commissioned as part of a colon cancer
prevention and awareness program called “Open Doors to Health” launched by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Boston affordable housing community. The program aims to develop new strategies for increasing physical activity and colorectal cancer screenings in hopes of preventing colon cancer, the second leading cause of
cancer deaths for men and women combined in the
United States.

According to the study, physical inactivity remains very common among racial and ethnic
minorities with low incomes, despite widespread recognition of the benefits of regular exercise. Perceived neighborhood safety has been suggested as a possible cause of this sedentary behavior since the same groups are also the most likely to rate their neighborhoods as unsafe.

The study found that 80 percent of respondents felt safe during the daytime, while only 37 percent felt safe at night, with men tending to report feeling safer at both times of day. While no association was found between feelings of safety and total physical activity for men at any time or women during the day, women who felt unsafe at night were significantly less active than those who felt safe.

To measure physical activity, participants were asked to wear a pedometer at all times except when bathing, showering or sleeping. In addition they filled out surveys about their physical
activity and rated how safe they felt walking alone in their neighborhood during the day and at night.

The study also looked at physical activity self-efficacy, which is a person’s belief in the ability to become and remain physically active. Participants were asked if they believed they would make time for and continue a regular fitness regimen even if they were tired, depressed, under stress
or doing so alone. Compared to those who felt safe in their neighborhoods, men who reported feeling unsafe were 51 percent less likely to have high physical activity self-efficacy whereas women who felt similarly were 32 percent less likely.

The study’s authors suggested that the negative consequences of feeling unsafe in one’s neighborhood should be a primary consideration when attempting to improve physical activity in low-income areas, concluding that, “Physical activity promotion strategies may be ineffective without considering strategies to assist individuals to identify safe, convenient, and comfortable contexts in which to be physically active.”

Puleo, who joined the Biostatistics Program in 1995, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree from Colorado State University and a doctorate from UMass Amherst. Other co-authors of the study are Lorna McNeill of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Gary Bennett, Dustin Duncan and Karen Emmons of the Harvard
School of Public Health, and Kathleen Wolin of the Washington University School of Medicine.

The results of this study will be included in the full analysis of the “Open Doors to Health”
program, which is scheduled to be completed this spring.
December 31, 2007.
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SPHHS Receives CEPH Accreditation for 7 Year Term
Accreditation

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is accredited by the Northeast Association of Schools
and Colleges. In addition, the School itself is a member of the Association of Schools of Public Health and accredited, since 1979, by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The School of Public Health and Health Sciences was most recently notified by CEPH on October 9,
2007 that it has been awarded accreditation status for the next 7 years. 

School of Public Health & Health Sciences Final Self-Study Report
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Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor, Charlena M. Seymour receives highest honor from ASHA
Charlena M. Seymour, provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs,
recently received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA)
Honors of the Association award, the highest tribute the organization can give one of
its members.

The award is given in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of speech, language
and hearing through research, administration, or service to state or national organizations. Seymour received the award during the ASHA’s annual convention, held Nov. 15-17 in Boston.
The ASHA is the national association for more than 127,000 professionals in the fields of
speech-language pathology, audiology and speech, language and hearing scientific research.

The ASHA says it gave the award to Seymour because of her work both as an exemplary
scholar and mentor and as a leader, administrator and staunch advocate for diversity issues. Seymour is a fellow of the ASHA and served as ASHA president in 1997. She was the first
ASHA president invited to South Africa following the end of apartheid.

“It has been an honor to serve the ASHA and my discipline and to receive this award for doing things I love to do,” Seymour says. “I am proud of the professional contributions I have been
able to make as a researcher, mentor and a leader.”

In 2004, following an interim appointment in the position and a national search, Seymour was named permanent provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. Seymour
previously served as dean of the Graduate School from 1994 to 2001 and prior to that she
chaired the Department of Communication Disorders from 1984-92. She joined the faculty
as an assistant professor in 1971, was an associate professor from 1978-89, when she was promoted to
professor.
November 28, 2007.
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Four graduate students from the Kinesiology Department received awards at the
2007 New England American College of Sports Medicine Conference held in
Providence, RI on November 15th and 16th. 2007

Todd Hagobian, PhD student, received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Presentation Award
for his presentation entitled, “Sex differences in energy regulating hormones during short-term exercise training.”

Kevin O’Fallon, MS/PhD student, received the Outstanding Masters’ Student Presentation Award
for his presentation entitled, “The effects of Quercetin on oxidative stress-induced cell death in C2C12 muscle cells.”

Kim Sewright, PhD student, received the David Camione Doctoral Scholarship Award.

Rob Hyldahl, MS/PhD student, received the Mark Connelly Memorial Masters’ Student
Scholarship award.
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Public Health Faculty Present at 135th APHA Annual Meeting

Three faculty members from the Department of Public Health, Division of Community Health Studies, presented their research at the 135th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, held Nov. 4-7, 2007 in Washington, D.C.

Rosa Rodríguez-Monguio, Assistant Professor of Public Health, gave a paper focused on the analysis of the patent and pediatric exclusivity life of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) and new
molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1987
to 2006.

The analysis was performed for the first and last patents listed in the Orange Book for each
NME. The study found a statistically significant different in effective patent life of ARVs versus
other therapeutic classes. ARVs had an average of 2.9 years more effective first patent life than other therapeutic classes. ARVs had an average of 2.8 years more effective last patent life than other therapeutic classes. Pharmaceutical companies marketing ARVs have more years of patent protection than other therapeutic classes in the U.S. and therefore a longer period without
generic competition. The study was conducted in collaboration with Enrique Seoane-Vázquez, assistant professor at Ohio State University.

Michael Begay, chair and Associate Professor of Public Health, presented his research at a scientific session panel on “National Health Care: Heating Up in an Election Cycle,” sponsored
by the Socialist Caucus. His research examined the politics of a failed effort by President Harry Truman from 1945-49 to enact compulsory health insurance. According to Begay, looking at
what happened to Truman’s effort might further understanding of what conditions could have brought about national health insurance. To most individuals, the American policy process
s eems incomprehensible and partisan. But learning more about the past might help
public health professional and advocates to move the nation toward enacting national health insurance,
he said.

María Idalí Torres, Associate Professor of Public Health, was one of four speakers in a session sponsored by the APHA Equal Opportunity Committee. Presenters discussed the politics and
policies of health disparities. Torres focused on the politics of culture in public health
practice-based research and the relevance of anthropology and other social sciences in the production of new knowledge necessary for eliminating health disparities. She described the
value of the structuralist approach as an integrated theoretical and methodological framework
for participatory action research designed to capture the cultural, socio-historical and politico-
economic dynamics of those affected by health disparities. Parts of her presentation are
included in a paper scheduled to be published this year in Health Promotion Practice.
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SPHHS Faculty Receive Mellon Mutual Mentoring Grants

Inaugural Mellon Mutual Mentoring Grants awarded

Ten academic units and 11 faculty members have received Mellon Mutual Mentoring Grants
from the Office of Faculty Development and the Provost’s Office.

The grants, awarded for the 2007-08 academic year, are part of the Mutual Mentoring
Initiative, which was funded by a three-year, $400,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Mellon Mutual Mentoring (“M3”) Grants are one-year team awards of up to $15,000 to
support faculty-driven, context-sensitive mentoring projects for early career and
underrepresented faculty based at the departmental, school and college, interdisciplinary
or inter-institutional levels. This year’s M3 recipients are:

• Department of Anthropology
• Department of Biology
• Department of English
• Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• Departments of Natural Resources Conservations and Microbiology (shared grant)
• Department of Political Science
• School of Nursing
• School of Public Health and Health Sciences
• College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The Mellon Mutual Mentoring Micro (“M4”) Grants are one-year awards to individuals of up to $1,200. The grants are intended to encourage new faculty to identify desirable areas for professional growth and opportunity, and to develop the necessary mentoring relationships to make such changes possible. This year’s M4 recipients are:

• Harry Bermudez, Polymer Science and Engineering
• Ana Caicedo, Biology
• Jeungok Choi, School of Nursing
• Peter Graham, Philosophy
• Aline Gubrium, Public Health
• Shona Macdonald, Art
• Asha Nadkarni and Jane Degenhardt (shared grant), English
• Lisa Scott, Psychology
• Shawn Shimpach, Communication
• Nathaniel Whitmal, Communication Disorders
October 11, 2007
______________________________________________________________________________Lisa Wexler Awarded NSF Arctic Social Science Pilot Grant
The NSF Arctic Social Science program has awarded Lisa Wexler a $23,426, 1 year
pilot grant to assess the feasibility and suitability of using indirect elicitation to better understand how cultural narratives (ethnic imagery, traditional practices and Inupiaq social expectations) are linked to resilience- the capacity to overcome adversity and thrive- in three generations of Inupiat people. This basic research is part of a larger program aimed at describing the mechanisms and relationships between culture and resilience in order to understand the ways "culture" maintains salience over time. This can provide clues for how to support Inupiaq well being in the future.
_______________________________________________________________________________ Baran Elected to National Accrediting Body
Professor Jane A. Baran, who chairs the Communication Disorders Department, has been elected to a four-year term on the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.

The CAA is the national accrediting body for academic programs offering preprofessional educational programs at the graduate level in audiology and speech-language pathology.

Baran will begin her term of office on Jan. 1.
October 1, 2007.
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Dr. Jane Kent-Braun named as Active member of the American Academy
of Kinesiology and Physical Education
Champaign, Illinois—The American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical
Education (AAKPE) announces the recent induction of its newest members at it
s 77th Annual Meeting. Nine individuals were named Active Fellows and two individuals were named International Fellows of the AAKPE during an induction ceremony held on Saturday, September 29 at the DeSoto Hilton in Savannah, Georgia. Inducted into the AAKPE was Dr. Jane Kent-Braun in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts.

The Academy’s membership is considered a “who’s who list” of the top individuals in the fields
of Kinesiology and Physical Education.  In order to be elected into membership, individuals must
be nominated by a current member of the Academy and must be currently engaged in
professional and/or scientific work in kinesiology or physical education, and have demonstrated competence in this profession/discipline over a period of at least 10 years (significant
contributions to scholarly and professional literature, leadership activities in professional associations and learned societies). The AAKPE was established in 1926 to recognize
outstanding scholars in the study of physical activity.  Since 1926, 450 individuals nationwide
have been inducted into the Academy.
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2007 UMass Amherst Faculty Convocation on Friday, September 21st-
Patty Freedson honored

________________________________________________________________________________ Lisa Wexler named Family Research Scholar
Four campus faculty members and a Smith College professor have been selected
by
the Center for Research on Families (CRF) to participate in the Family Research Scholars Program during 2007-08. The scholars were chosen on the basis of their promising work in family-related research.

This year’s Family Research Scholars are:

Daniel Anderson, professor of Psychology, who studies children and television including
children’s interactions during TV viewing and the impact on cognitive development and
education. His current research concerns television and very young children, brain activation
during media use, an d television viewing and children’s diet. As a Family Research Scholar, Anderson will be developing a proposal to the National Institutes of Health to research the
use and impact of television and videos on infants and toddlers. This work will build upon and extend to home observations the program of research that he has begun in a laboratory
context.

Nancy Folbre, professor of Economics, focuses on the interface between feminist theory and political economy, with a particular interest in caring labor and other forms
of non-market work. She has received a five-year fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation and also
served as co-chair of the MacArthur Research Network
on the Family and the Economy. She works with the
Center for Popular Economics and is an associate
editor of the journal Feminist Economics. Folbre has been actively engaged in the creation and development of the CRF as a steering committee member. As a Family Research Scholar,
Folbre plans to pursue a large interdisciplinary research project to investigate ways of
measuring and improving the quality of co-produced care services. The project would
potentially involve s
everal co-principal investigators or participants from other departments and seek support for doctoral and post-doctoral students from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT).

Marsha Kline Pruett is the Maconda Brown O’Connor Professor at Smith College School for Social Work. Her research revolves around family issues specific to family and juvenile law. The unifying theme across the research is the promotion of healthy family development during life transitions, particularly those transitions related to adverse events or circumstances. In 2006, she joined Smith’s School for Social Work as the Maconda Brown O’Connor Professor. Previously, Kline
Pruett was associate professor in the law and psychiatry division at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale Child Study Center. Kline Pruett’s project will focus on the effects of
parental moves and relocation on the well-being of parents and children after divorce. She will pursue funding from both foundation and federal sources in collaboration with CRF. Kline Pruett is the first Family Research Scholar from another educational institution.

Dean E. Robinson, associate professor of Political Science, examines the effects of political and public policy trends on racial health disparities in the United States. His work focuses on patterns and policies that reinforce inequality of social welfare provision and socioeconomic status. In
2001, Robinson was honored with a two-year fellowship as a W.K. Kellogg Scholar in Health Disparities
at Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Robinson will seek funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to design a study that will gauge the potential impact of state politics and policy on overall infant mortality, and black-white disparities. The working hypothesis is that features of the local political landscape, like state culture or ideology, party control of state government and various demographic characteristics affect state public policies which directly and indirectly affect infant mortality rates.

Lisa Wexler, assistant professor of Community Health Education, considers how health and
disease are understood and enacted within a social and cultural context. Considering how
different people identify, understand and address their “problems” can enable professionals to advocate for meaningful change as well as develop effective intervention projects. Wexler is particularly interested in learning how situated narratives, attitudes and beliefs of young people, their families and communities influence well-being. More specifically, her research aims to articulate the narrative identity constructions and associated roles that foster young people’s resilience within Alaskan Inupiat families and communities. Her previous work has focused on suicide and suicide prevention in Northwest Alaska. Through the Family Research Scholars Program, Wexler will develop a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) proposal for submission to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. Wexler is the first
faculty member from the School of Public Health and Health Sciences to be awarded a Family Research Scholarship.

The Center for Research on Families actively supports and disseminates social and behavioral sciences research on issues relevant to families. This focus includes research on individual health and development within families, processes and relationships within families, the social contexts
of families, the intersection of family life with other social institutions, and social and economic policy that affects the development, productivity, time, health, and well-being of families and
family members.

The goals of the Family Research Scholars Program are to support faculty in securing grant
funding for family-related research and to build a multidisciplinary community of researchers studying issues of relevance to families. Family Research Scholars participate in a year-long interdisciplinary seminar which supports the scholars in conceptualizing, writing, and submitting their planned grant proposals.
September 14, 2007
_______________________________________________________________________________Patty Freedson Receives $2.1 Million NIH Grant
UMass Researchers Receive Grant to Develop Miniature Device to Measure Physical Activity

Work is funded by the National Institutes of Health

AMHERST, Mass. – A team of scientists headed by Patty Freedson, chair of the department of kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been awarded a four-year, $2.1
million grant to develop a small device that will be used to obtain long-term measures of
free-living physical activity. The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI) that will be examining genes, environmental exposures and behavior choices and how they affect health.

The team of UMass researchers is working with a private firm, Response Applications LLC, of Hanover, N.H., and a researcher at the University of Tennessee, to develop the new instrument. The grant was written with assistance from the UMass Amherst Office of Research Liaison and Development, which worked with the team to establish a university-industry partnership with Actigraph LLC, of Pensacola, Fla. Actigraph will manufacture the device following its development by UMass researchers and testing in Freedson’s laboratory.

In addition to Freedson, the UMass team includes Robert Gao, mechanical and industrial engineering, John Staudenmayer, mathematics and statistics, and Jane Kent-Braun,
kinesiology. Other team members are Harold Greely, from Response Applications, and David Bassett, exercise, sport and leisure studies, at the University of Tennessee.

The proposed new device the team is developing will include an accelerometer, which is
commonly used to measure body motion, a ventilation sensor that captures the characteristics
of breathing, and a sensor to determine if physical activity takes place indoors or outdoors. The team is also designing statistical data processing methods that combine the output of the sensors
to estimate the type of physical activity and the amount of energy expended and report them to researchers. At the end of the four-year term of the grant, the team expects to have an
instrument that is ready for use in the field.

“During the last 10 years, my research has focused on developing methods in the exercise physiology laboratory to capture and interpret movement assessed with wearable devices,” Freedson says. “This project will move the field forward by incorporating several sensors into
one small unit. With the addition of other sensors, we will likely be able to improve upon our
ability to quantify physical activity dose for applications related to understanding how much
activity is needed for specific health outcomes.”

Freedson says landing the grant involved more than just a team of scientists. “Through
assistance of the UMass Research Liaison and Development Office during the proposal
development phase, we were able to include a partnership with a physical activity monitor company that will manufacture the device.”

The grant funding for this project is under the Exposure Biology Program, a component of the
GEI that is being coordinated by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The work Freedson and her team is doing is part of an effort to develop various environmental sensors to measure physical activity, toxins, dietary intake, psychosocial stress and addictive substances. A total of 34 grants worth $19 million were awarded in these areas.

Overall, NIH is funding the first round of grants for the GEI with $48 million. The NIH, the
nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
Sept. 4, 2007
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Dr. Paula Stamps is one of eight co-investigators for a project on 'Ethics Education in Science and Engineering."

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Cohen appointed Interim Dean of SPHHS
Professor Nancy Cohen, head of the Nutrition Department, has been named
interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

The appointment is effective Sept. 1, according to Charlena Seymour, provost
and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

“Dean Cohen will lead the school during the upcoming academic year while a national search for
a permanent dean is conducted,” Seymour said.

“I am pleased to serve the School over the next year,” says Cohen. “The School is undergoing
a renewal, and has many exciting new research, teaching, and outreach initiatives underway to help improve the public’s health and quality of life.”

Cohen joined UMass as an assistant professor in 1985, and served as chair of the UMass
Extension Nutrition Education Program until 1997.  She has led the Nutrition Department since 1998, overseeing the growth of annual research funding in the department from $132,000 in
1998 to over $2.1 million in 2006.

Cohen’s research addresses community nutrition, assessment of dietary intake and food-related practices and attitudes, evaluation of nutrition and food safety education, and online education.
Her research has been supported by over $2 million in grants from the US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, Massachusetts Department of Education, and AARP.

An author of more than 80 research and extension publications, Cohen is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Nutrition Education (SNE) and Massachusetts Dietetic Association, and past chair of the Nutrition Education Research Interest Section of the American Society for Nutrition. She currently serves on the Public Information Committee of the American Society for Nutrition and is a Science Communicator and member of the Career Education Committee of the Institute of Food Technologists, as well as an active member of the American Dietetic Association.

In 2005, Cohen received the UMass President’s Award for Public Service, and was a recipient of
the UMass-Amherst Distinguished Academic Outreach Award in 2003.

Cohen holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University in nutritional sciences, and a Ph.D. in nutrition science from the University of California at Davis. 

Cohen succeeds John Cunningham, who served as interim dean last year and is returning to his duties as deputy provost as of September 1, 2007

"I am grateful to him for serving as interim dean of the School of Public Health and Health
Sciences over the past year and for his successful leadership during the reaccreditation of the school,” said Seymour.
_________________________________________________________________________________Lisa Chasan-Taber appointed Acting Associate Dean.

Lisa Chasan-Taber was appointed Acting Associate Dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS)beginning September 1.  Dr. Chasan-Taber is
an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Dr. Chasan-Taber is a reproductive epidemiologist with expertise
in the area of physical activity during pregnancy and maternal/fetal outcomes. Dr. Chasan-Taber
is currently the Principal Investigator of two 5-year NIH R01 awards in the area of gestational diabetes mellitus. She is a former recipient of the College Outstanding Teacher Award and a standing member of the National Institutes of Health, Infectious Disease, Reproductive Health, Asthma, and Pulmonary Epidemiology (IRAP) Study Section. During the 2006-2007 academic
year, Dr. Chasan-Taber served as the leader of the SPHHS self-study for the Council on
Education in Public Health.
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Mokhtar Atallah Appointed Nutrition Department Acting Head

Professor Mokhtar Atallah was appointed to serve as Acting Head of the Department of Nutrition for the coming year effective September 1, 2007. Dr. Atallah has been
a faculty member in the department since 1976.  He has served the department in many capacities over the years including as Undergraduate Program Director, Graduate Program Director, and a prior term as Acting Head.  He is well known to the campus community as a teacher and scholar and as a key member of numerous committees and councils of the Faculty Senate, including the Academic Matters Council and the General Education Council.  A member of the American Society of Nutrition, Dr. Atallah’s research focuses on different forms
of fiber in the diet and their relationship to trace mineral status.
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Michael Begay Appointed Public Health Department Chair

Michael E. Begay was elected chair of the Department of Public Health beginning September, 2007. Dr. Begay is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and
Management in the Division of Community Health Studies, and had been serving as Acting Chair of the Department for the previous six months. He received his doctoral degree in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Dr. Begay’s
research interests address American health politics, including the development and
implementation of tobacco control policies at the state and local levels in Massachusetts and California, interest group politics, politics of HIV/AIDS, and comparative health politics. He has
had several papers published in Journal of the American Medical Association, International
Journal of Tobacco Control, and the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Begay has received research funding from the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, Association
of Schools of Public Health, American Cancer Society, and National Institutes of Health.
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Gerber Promoted to the Rank of Senior Lecturer
Daniel S. Gerber is now a Senior Lecturer of Public Health. His research and practice
is in the area of community development and community building. The Senior
Lecturer promotion reflects the long-awaited recognition of the value lecturers bring
to the University. The promotion to Senior Lecturer is highly selective and Dr. Gerber
is among a small field to be honored for his dedication and accomplishments.

He has over twenty-five years of international experience in planning, training/teaching and managing health education programs utilizing adult learning theory and methodology. He has
been awarded two fellowships in Service-Learning, and Teaching and Learning in Diversity by
the Center for Teaching. Dr. Gerber was recently awarded the University of Massachusetts Amherst's 2007 Distinguished Outreach Teaching Award.
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Joe Hamill honored by University of Edinburgh
Prof. Joe Hamill has been named an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh.  Also, at the recent biennial conference of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) held in Taiwan, he was re-elected to the Executive Board. 
One of the world's experts on lower limb biomechanics, Prof. Hamill also organized
a symposium on Lower Extremity Injuries and presented a paper entitled, "Lower Extremity Joint Stiffness in Runners with Low Back Pain". Two of his students, Ryan Chang and
Joe Seay, also presented papers at the conference. Joe Hamill is a professor in the department
of Kinesiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
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Van Emmerik awarded $474,269 grant to support research related to multiple sclerosis   

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has awarded Dr. Richard van Emmerik a 4 year grant in the amount of $474, 269 beginning October 1, 2007 to support
research related to multiple sclerosis on "Dynamic balance control and fatigue in multiple sclerosis".

Since its founding in 1946, the Society has been at the core of virtually every new advancement
in MS research, and Dr. van Emmerik's work is critical to their mission: to end the devastating effects of multiple sclerosis.

On behalf of the entire MS and University communities, we would like to thank Dr. van Emmerik
for pursing such promising and important studies in the interest of all those who are living with multiple sclerosis.