Chancellor Michael F. Collins and the UMass Medical School community acknowledge with sadness the passing of Pete Frates, who raised millions of dollars for ALS research and whose indefatigable spirit remains an inspiration to all who work tirelessly to find a therapy for this disease. According to a statement from his family, Frates died on Monday, Dec. 9, at age 34.
Chair and Professor of Engineering Greg Sun is a new fellow of The Optical Society (OSA). Sun is being honored for his technical innovation and seminal work in optoelectronics, Si photonics, and plasmonics, a rapidly developing field at the boundary of physical optics and condensed matter physics.
On any given day, about one in 31 hospital patients in the U.S. picks up at least one health-care-associated infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The U.S. Department of Education recently funded a four-year, $1.18 million efficacy study of MathSpring, a research-based, game-like intelligent math tutor developed by research professor Beverly Woolf in the College of Information and Computer Sciences and her long-time collaborator Ivon Arroyo, now an associate professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The institutions will share funding and focus on teachers and their classrooms in Massachusetts.
Before he even arrived on campus from New Zealand earlier this year, visiting associate professor Mark Wilson, mathematics and statistics, attended a five-day, intense “scientific matchmaking” experience sequestered in a Washington, D.C. hotel to brainstorm with about 60 others and compete for funding by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) “Harnessing the Data Revolution Ideas Lab” program, designed to spark “new modes of data-driven discovery.”
Stephanie Fetta, associate professor of Spanish, has earned the annual MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies from the Modern Language Association (MLA). Fetta was honored for her book “Shaming into Brown: Somatic Transactions of Race in Latina/o Literature,” published by Ohio State University Press.
The UMass Police Department is joining forces with the Amherst and Hadley Police Departments to host a “Stuff-A-Cruiser” event this holiday season to gather donations of toys, clothing, toiletries, non-perishable food items and any other donatable items.
The three forces are booked to hold an event at the Walmart in Hadley on Sunday, Dec. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Donations from the event are going to be delivered to local organizations including Jessie's House, The Bridge, The Survival Center and 22 News for the Toys for Tots campaign.
AMHERST, Mass.
Alicia Timme-Laragy, associate professor of environmental health sciences, a developmental toxicologist with expertise in how early life exposures to pollutants affect health, recently hosted a workshop for elected officials and candidates on the health risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals. “PFAS 101: Current Research and Health Risks” brought staff representing a number of state representatives and senators, Westfield city councilors, and staffers from Sens.
Erin Baker, professor of industrial engineering, and Nate Whitaker, professor of mathematics, recently visited colleagues from University of Ghana and University of Cape Town as part of a World University Network (WUN) grant. The Sustainable Energy-Access Network for Africa, established as part of the WUN grant, is made up of researchers from the University of Massachusetts, also including Leonce Ndikumana, professor of economics, University of Ghana, University of Cape Town, University of Nairobi, Argonne National Lab and Carnegie Mellon University.