Dana Ibrahim Dana Ibrahim knows what students are going through right now. As a senior double-majoring in link this for Peace-and-conflict-Studies landing page peace and conflict studies and …, ‘So Much Better This Fall’, Before the pandemic, all peer tutoring and advising was provided in person on campus. But having seen the benefits of offering online services since the campus shutdown in March, leaders of both…, Teaching Students to Fish, Casey-O'Neill-Sue Susan O’Neill ’96 ’19 started the peer advising program in 2018 as a project for her M.Ed.-Admin-HigherEd. overview Master of Education degree, with three work-study students…
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It’s the busy season for Josh Dyck Josh Dyck , director of the CPO Center for Public Opinion at UMass Lowell. An associate professor of Political Science political science , Dyck oversees the…, Q: Voting has always seemed like a Norman Rockwell moment, a sacred American duty. Has it now been weaponized by those who cast doubt on the voting process and on the legitimacy of the results?, , A:, There are three critical parts to having a functioning democracy. The first is that the choices have to be real. You can’t have a sham election where you coronate a dictator. The second is the…, Q: We hear a lot about mailed ballots being a potential problem. Is voting by mail any riskier than voting in person, in terms of ballot security? , A:, I’m going to give a two-part answer to this question. So, the first part of this answer is that there are many states in this country that run very successful all-mail elections and have for years,…, Q: Are you seeing any trends or marked differences from 2016 or 2018 in your pre-election polling?, , A:, You’ll have to wait and see, but we will be very busy this October. One thing I can say is that I expect turnout to be very high. This is a very enthusiastic electorate. , Q: Do you think it will come down to one state deciding the election? If so, which state? , A:, No, I don’t. I expect that we will know the final result before midnight on election night. If there is a single decisive state, it is likely to be Pennsylvania. , Q: Do you think the election may be decided by a demographic group?, , A:, Generally, I think too much attention if often paid to demographic changes from election to election or to pinning electoral fortunes to a single group. This is a retrospective election on Donald…, Q: Many states like Massachusetts have adopted expanded mail-in/absentee voting and early voting laws this year, in response to COVID-19. What do you expect the impact of those changes will have on…, , A:, This answer will likely surprise some people, but the research on early/absentee voting is that it largely conveniences people who would vote anyhow and doesn’t do much to increase turnout. In a…, Q: As we grow more and more technologically savvy, we’re taking longer to determine a winner for president. When do you think we will actually learn who wins the 2020 presidential race?, , A:, It’s taking longer because we are closely divided, and because we have worked to convenience voters at the expense of expediency. But I still think we’re going to know the winner on election night…, Q: What is your biggest nightmare scenario for Nov. 3?, , A:, That this election is not won decisively by the votes of the American public and that we end up within what legal scholar Rick Hasen has called “the margin of litigation.” The best outcome for our…, Q: What do you view as the most challenging aspect of polling this year?, , A:, The Center for Public Opinion has expanded its polling operation in 2020. In 2016, we were a regional pollster doing swing state polling in a single state. In 2020, we will be focusing on several…, Q: If the election were held today, who do you think would win the presidency?, , A:, If the election were held today, Biden would win. He’s in a better position today than (Hillary) Clinton was vis-à-vis Trump in 2016. Of course, Clinton was a 3-to-1 favorite at this point in 2016.…
Type: News
UMass Dartmouth proudly welcomes a virtual talk by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings titled “Educating for Diversity in the Midst of Pandemics." The online event takes place Wednesday, October 14 from 3:…
Type: News
In a report released today, the Sustainable Solutions Lab (SSL) at UMass Boston shared public opinion data that includes a large sampling of people of color in the Boston area. By capturing a full…, Lorena Estrada-Martínez, , Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies and Professor of Political Science , Paul Watanabe, , and doctoral student , Katsyris Rivera-Kientz, . “As often happens with survey research, climate stakeholders often assume delivered data as being representative of the views of the ‘general public,’ when it in fact largely represents the views…
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Two research projects led by UMass Boston faculty were selected to receive awards totaling $1.1 million during the most recent funding cycle of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC). MLSC’s…, Daniel Haehn, . MLSC’s Open Capital program, which provides grants for state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts, awarded $388,000 to the project…, Jill Macoska, , Alton J. Brann Endowed Chair and Distinguished University Professor of Science and Mathematics, along with Venture Development Director , William Brah, , Associate Professor of Mathematics , Kourosh Zarringhalam, , and Genomics Core Manager , Susan Patalano-Salsman, . “These cutting-edge projects are examples of the important research contributions our faculty make to the creation of new knowledge,” said UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. “I…, Professor Haehn (left) looks on as a student holds a GPU., The OMAMA-DB is aimed at developing large amounts of data to help train modern deep learning systems to detect breast cancer early. Generating this data manually is extremely time-consuming, said…
Type: News
AMHERST, Mass. – Professor Li-Jun Ma, biochemistry and molecular biology, has received support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Community Science Program (CSP) to…, , director of the Fusarium Research Center at Penn State University; Kerry O’Donnell, an expert on taxonomy and biological diversity of Fusarium; and Daren Brown, who has more than 20 years of…
Type: News
Astronomers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are marking an especially meaningful event this month, as a team led by Professor Peter Schloerb recently received a three-year, $5 million…
Type: News
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Town of Amherst announced today that the University will provide asymptomatic COVID-19 testing for the Town’s first responders and…
Type: News
BOSTON – With early voting set to start tomorrow across Massachusetts, student leaders from all five UMass campuses gathered virtually at a voter engagement summit hosted by UMass President Marty…, UMass President Marty Meehan, commended the students for their leadership and dedication to this initiative. “One thing we know for sure is that young people are energized as never before and are providing vital leadership on…
Type: News
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has again been recognized as one of the top 40 campuses in the country for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students by…
Type: News