AMHERST, Mass. – While scientists have long sought to understand the factors that structure global biodiversity patterns, much of their research has focused on present-day climate, such as patterns of temperature or rainfall, or recent human impacts well-known to influence biodiversity, like urbanization and the destruction of wild lands.

BOSTON – UMass President Martin T. Meehan and the chancellors of the five UMass campuses – UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, UMass Boston Interim Chancellor Katherine S. Newman, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson, UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacqueline F. Moloney and UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael F.

The annual Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage raised over $632,000 this year, with many UMass Amherst faculty, staff and students participating.

The department of sociology organized a team of 11 participants for the Dec. 8 event and raised $4,400 for Safe Passage, a Hampshire County organization addressing domestic violence. Faculty, grad students and undergraduates all took part in the event. The money was raised by selling hot chocolate in the Campus Center.

Jamila Lyiscott, assistant professor of social justice education, is being recognized as a 2019-20 UMass Amherst Spotlight Scholar.

Growing up as a first-generation American in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn, Lyiscott learned how to navigate the contrasts between her family’s Caribbean background and an educational system that demanded assimilation.

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” by Ocean Vuong, an assistant professor in the Masters of Fine Arts Program for Poets and Writers, has been selected by a range of publications as one of the best books of the year.

AMHERST, Mass. – In what the authors believe is one of the first studies to examine climate change impact on the timing of bird migration on a continental scale, researchers report that spring migrants were likely to pass certain stops earlier now than they would have 20 years ago. Also, temperature and migration timing were closely aligned, with the greatest changes in migration timing occurring in the regions warming most rapidly. Timing shifts were less apparent in fall, they add.

Workplace Learning and Development (WLD) has announced that 22 supervisors from various departments across campus completed the university’s Leadership Academy: Foundations of Supervision program. This Fall, the first cohort completed the multi-modal learning program which included a total of three days of in-person training, seven Moodle online courses and a final project presentation. The program’s instructors were Margaret Arsenault, Paul Papierski, and Melissa Scheid Frantz from WLD.

AMHERST, Mass. – From arthritis and heart failure to diabetes and menopause, many conditions are associated with muscle weakness and increased fat deposits.

Now a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is applying a unique approach to examine the effects of fat tissue on skeletal muscle structure and function in young and older men and women.

UMass Lowell has opened a state-of-the-art lyophilization facility that will help drive innovation and discovery in biopharmaceutical manufacturing in New England and beyond.

The Graduate School of Nursing at UMass Medical School is in the top ranks of the best nursing schools nationally, regionally and locally, according to Nursing Schools Almanac. The GSN is ranked second among the top schools in Massachusetts, fourth in New England, 21st nationwide among public schools, and 38th among public and private schools nationwide.

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