AMHERST, Mass. - Three new faculty members joined the College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts this fall: Stephen J. Frasier, Blair Perot, and Ian G. Harris. Joseph I. Goldstein, dean of the College of Engineering, made the announcement.

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts scientists are among those who have formulated a vaccine that prevents the disease chlamydia, the leading cause of female infertility in this country. A patent for the vaccine has been granted based on work by microbiology professor A. Bruce MacDonald, who died last September, and his colleague, Elizabeth Stuart, a lecturer in microbiology. The work was done in conjunction with Judith Whittum-Hudson, an immunologist at Johns Hopkins University, and William Mark Saltzman, a chemical engineer at Cornell University.

AMHERST, Mass. - MAN Technologie AG, Munich, Germany, has won a competitive bid to do the critical design work for a large millimeter wave telescope (LMT) to be built on Cerro LaNegra mountain in central Mexico, a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and Mexico. When finished, it will be the world’s largest, most sensitive radio telescope.

AMHERST, Mass. - George Avrunin, professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Massachusetts, has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation for research on the effective linking of computer systems. The grant will fund a four-year project Avrunin is working on in conjunction with UMass computer science professors Lori Clarke and Leon Osterweil. The group’s research could eventually be used in the development of computer systems used in areas such as air traffic control, airline reservation systems, and the monitoring of hospital patients.