AMHERST, Mass. - Eleven Massachusetts strawberry farmers have been recognized by a state program that promotes environmentally friendly farming practices. The program, known as Partners with Nature, is a certification program for growers who practice integrated pest management (IPM), a system of farming which reduces pesticide use by making crops less inviting to pests, by encouraging natural predators and parasites, and by carefully monitoring pest populations so that crops are sprayed only when pests are present in damaging numbers. "IPM has allowed strawberry growers to reduce their use of pesticides by about 30 percent," says William Coli, UMass Extension IPM coordinator.

AMHERST, Mass. - A University of Massachusetts researcher and co-author of a new book on trends in the U.S. population said data he has gathered reveals some surprises about how Americans live. These include how many Americans attend church; the number of older Americans in the workforce; how diverse we are becoming, and at what rate; and long-term progress in attaining at least a high school education.

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts engineering professor Lawrence Seiford has been tapped by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as program director for the Operations Research and Production Systems Program. The prestigious year-long post will take him to Washington, D.C.

AMHERST, Mass. - Three UMass climatologists will return this month to the world''s highest satellite-linked weather station, on the summit of Bolivia''s highest mountain, extinct volcano Nevado Sajama. The group will haul several hundred pounds of weather instruments to the 21,500-foot peak, as part of a project aimed at gleaning scientific information from ice-core samples before the tropical ice caps melt away.