AMHERST, Mass. – Charles M. Schweik, assistant professor of natural resources conservation and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst , has received a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation''s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program to study open source software projects on the Internet. The CAREER grants support early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21 st century, according to the NSF.

AMHERST, Mass. – Eugene and Ronnie Isenberg have made a $1 million gift to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to establish the Eugene M. and Ronnie Isenberg Professorship in Integrative Environmental Science in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the UMass Amherst Foundation announced today.

AMHERST, Mass. – David Reckhow, director of the Environmental Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is coordinating a three-year, $400,000 nationwide project to study potentially carcinogenic compounds that can be formed in drinking water by the interaction of chlorine and natural organic matter contained in all reservoirs. A key goal is to find ways to keep organic debris out of reservoirs and rivers in the first place.

AMHERST, Mass. – A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is developing new polymer materials that can encapsulate organ cells and other materials and deliver them inside the human body. The process is designed to replace risky organ transplants for people in need of a new liver, thyroid, pancreas, cartilage or some other crucial kind of tissue.