AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts has announced the names of three professors and two teaching assistants who will receive 1997-98 Distinguished Teaching Awards; three professors who will receive Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship Awards; and three faculty members who will receive Distinguished Academic Outreach Awards, presented for the first time this year. In addition, the University has also announced the 1998 Outstanding Academic Advisor.

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts scientists will preserve and prepare the skeleton of a humpback whale spotted off Wellfleet and towed to Truro on Cape Cod earlier this week. The whale, an adolescent female, is approximately 35 feet long.

AMHERST, Mass. - Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass., and Advanced Cell Technologies, Worcester, Mass., have successfully treated Parkinsonism in rats by using fetal brain cells from cloned cows. This research is the first demonstration that transgenic cloned animal tissue can be used in the treatment of a disease. Results of the research study will appear in the May 1 issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts is organizing a state-wide research conference for undergraduates to take place Fri. May 1 between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston. It is believed to be the first such state-wide undergraduate research conference in the United States.