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Current and archived issues are now searchable by keyword from the Research ACCESS index page.

TAKE THE ACCESS SURVEY! Research ACCESS is seeking your feedback. We're looking to improve our content and readership and we need your input to do it right. Please take a few minutes to complete our brief survey. Click here.

SAVE THE DATE! Research Open House September 28th, 2 - 4 p.m. Research Administration Building. No question shall go unanswered! Get to know Research Area staff during the fourth annual Research Area Open House. Meet the folks that support the grants and contracts processes, compliance, interdisciplinary initiative development, industry liaison, technology transfer, and animal care as you enjoy good food and refreshments. Look for a special issue of Research ACCESS with more information.

The Biomechanics Lab in the department of Kinesiology has been serving UMass Amherst researchers for over 20 years. The facility enables research in the areas of muscle modeling and empirical inquiry into human movement. The lab houses state of the art equipment that allows researchers to observe and analyze human movement in order to answer some fundamental questions about the way the human body works. [Read More]

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State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles discussed the Patrick Administration's vision for clean and renewable energy with Amherst campus faculty on Wednesday, Aug. 22. "UMass is a natural partner" in the Governor's campaign to establish Massachusetts as a leader in advanced energy R&D, Secretary Bowles said.

The visit was part of an initiative led by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at UMass Amherst to increase awareness among state policy makers about clean energy research excellence throughout the UMASS system and to introduce the Secretary to the UMASS Clean Energy Working Group. Greg Watson, Sr. Advisor to Bowles for Clean Energy Technology accompanied the Secretary to campus.

While on campus, the Secretary met with clean energy research leaders and toured laboratories. Read more about the visit.

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On August 9th, the America COMPETES Act was signed into law. The Act is a bipartisan, bicameral effort to expand and enhance U.S. basic research and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to ensure the nation's continued competitiveness. UMass Amherst continues to lead a number of campus-based and state-wide programs to support STEM research, education and faculty retention including the New STEM Faculty Network and the long-standing STEM Education Institute. Recently, the campus garnered three large grants totaling $4.4 million for efforts to improve IT education in the state and to address under-representation in IT.

The Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative (CITI), a public- private partnership led by UMass Amherst to promote IT education in Massachusetts, received another $1 million in state funding to continue its work. The National Science Foundation awarded two of eight nationally competitive Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) grants to the Computer Science department. Professor Rick Adrion received $1.9 million for the Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) to design and carry out comprehensive programs that address under-representation in information technology education and the workforce. Professor Lori Clarke received $1.5 million to lead an alliance of the Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) to implement and evaluate programs to increase the participation of women and minorities in computing research.

Look for additional information on campus STEM programs in future issues of Research ACCESS.

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Research Leadership in Action Fall Grant Cycle
Deadline: November 1
Applications are now open for fall 2007 Research Leadership in Action (RLA) grants. The RLA, an internal grant program offered by the vice provost for research, is designed to support faculty interested in showcasing leadership in their field of research and scholarly activity. Awards up to $25,000 are distributed twice annually, in the spring and fall. More details, including the RFP, application, past recipients and FAQs are available at the Research Leadership in Action Web site. Applications and questions should be submitted to Karen Hayes (413) 545-9586, program administrator.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund - Investigators on the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease
Deadline: September 21, expression of interest
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund encourages assistant professors to bring a multidisciplinary approach to the study of infectious disease through its Investigators on the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease program. The goal of the program is to provide early-career investigators the opportunity to study human infectious diseases at the points where human and microbial systems connect. Up to two candidates can be nominated per institution. Click here for more information about the program. Researchers should contact Bev Strakose in ORA (413) 545-5283 with an expression of interest.

Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship Program
Deadline: September 21, expression of interest
Microsoft Research seeks nominees for its 2008 New Faculty Fellowship Program. Nominees should be early-career, tenure track faculty who are advancing computing research in novel directions with the potential for high impact and who demonstrate the likelihood of becoming thought leaders of the field.

Each fellow is awarded a $200,000 (U.S.) gift to stimulate creative research in their respective fields. A Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellow has full freedom to use the funds to advance his or her research agenda. Only one faculty member can be nominated for the program from campus. Deans, Chairs and Heads from the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Mathematics are reminded to nominate any suitable candidates from their faculties. Interested parties should send application materials, including a CV, to Bev Strakose in ORA (413) 545-5283.

PhD Fellowships Offered

Microsoft MSR and Live Labs PhD Fellowship Program
Deadline: nominations close October 9 This year, Microsoft Research and Microsoft Live Labs will award two-year PhD fellowships. Each fellowship includes a $20,000 stipend, payment of tuition/fees, and a conference/travel allowance of $2,000. In addition, each fellow will be given a Tablet and the opportunity to be a 12-week, salaried intern at either Microsoft Research or Live Labs. The target audience is 2nd and 3rd year outstanding PhD students in computer science, electrical engineering or mathematics. All applications must be submitted by the student's home program department chair (or their direct designees) via Microsoft's on-line application tool. Each department is eligible to nominate up to three (3) candidates for evaluation. For more information, click here.

IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Program '07- '08
Deadline: nominations close October 26 Faculty are encouraged to nominate outstanding students in the sciences, management and engineering for an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship award. The program for the 2007-2008 academic year opens for nominations September 17 through October 26, 2007. IBM Ph.D. Fellows are awarded tuition, fees, and a stipend for one nine-month academic year. Students must be enrolled full-time in a college or university PhD program, and they must have completed at least one year of study in their doctoral program at the time of their nomination. For program description and eligibility, access the Fellowship Program website.

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October 12: Faculty Research Grant/Healy Endowment Grant
October 19: NCIIA Sustainable Vision Grants
October 22: Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center Investigation Awards
October 31: Outreach Program Innovation Fund

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Connect to Campus through Career Fairs
UMass Amherst graduates over 4000 talented new students each year from more than 100 fields with fresh ideas, high energy and skills to meet your workforce objectives. Take the opportunity to connect to students in desired disciplines through the campus's targeted Career Fairs that are held during the academic year. Students are available for internship, co-op and permanent hire positions. See the events section of Research ACCESS below for information on September and October Career Fairs in Engineering and Business. Contact the Career Services office at (413) 545-6247 to find out more about recruiting on campus.

Research Area Fall Brown Bag Series
The Research Area's monthly Brown Bag Series offers faculty and departmental staff insights on matters that affect research. The series kicks off on September 19th with an informative presentation titled "Overview of University Policies" and will be followed by another presentation, titled "Proposal Budgeting and Budget Justifications", on October 3rd. The series, which is targeted toward new faculty and their support staff, is also open to the UMass Amherst community. Presentations take place from noon - 1:00 in the 104 Research Building conference room. Beverages are provided. Contact Kimberley Broderick (413) 545-5898 in OGCA for more information.

Research Liaison and Development Staff Changes
This month we wish "fare thee well" to Jess Landis, our very gifted assistant editor for Research ACCESS. Jess, a second-year graduate student in the Renaissance Studies program, helped heighten the importance of research and helped improve communication between disciplines and Research ACCESS readers with the introduction of more organized, thematic issues. Jess will be missed, and we wish her the very best. With her departure, we welcome our new assistant editor, Kevin Meek. Kevin, a MFA candidate in the English Department, spent several years as a professional writer for state and federal not-for-profit organizations where he coordinated marketing campaigns, developed manuals and wrote grants. Over the past five years Kevin has taught business, technical and creative writing at the collegiate level in Indiana and Massachusetts. We look forward to having Kevin as part of the Research ACCESS team.

Fall INFORMS Seminar Series Launched
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) kicks off its Speaker Series on September 29th with a talk by Dr. Brenda Dietrich of IBM. Dr. Dietrich will talk about some of the opportunities and challenges of applying traditional Operations Research approaches to modeling and managing business services. INFORMS has scheduled six additional speakers from industry and academia for this fall semester. Talks are on selected Fridays at 11 a.m. in room 112 at the Isenberg School of Management. For details about the speakers and the series, click here.

TEI Announces Fall Lecture Series "Water Sustainability"
The Environmental Institute (TEI) will launch its 2007 Fall Lecture series on September 24th. The University Environmental Lecture Series brings experts in the fields of natural science, social science, engineering and policy making to campus each fall and spring semester. The theme of the Fall 2007 series is "Water Sustainability" and will begin with a talk titled "Water Quality and Emerging Contaminants: Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Water" by Shane Snyder of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The Series is jointly sponsored by TEI, the Vice Provost for Research, the Colleges of Natural Resources and the Environment, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Engineering, and the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst. Each lecture will be held in the Cape Cod Lounge at 3:30 P.M. on the appointed days in the Student Union and will be open to all. Click here for more information about TEI speakers and dates.

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UMassREFS.info Adds Assets Database
UMassREFS.info announces the addition of the Research Assets Database to its existing searchable service. Now campus researchers and interested outside parties can search a comprehensive list of research equipment by department or keyword, including instrument type and manufacturer name. The newly added database also includes data on equipment model numbers, acquisition dates, and the principal investigator to whom the equipment was initially assigned. This valuable addition to UMassREFS.info was made possible through assistance from the UMass Amherst Controller's Office. Check out this new service at www.UMassREFS.info. Contact Loren Walker with questions or additions to the database.

IBM Academic Initiative Offers Support
IBM offers a valuable resource for UMass Amherst faculty and students by providing access to some of the most up to date knowledge, training and resources in the IT industry.

The Academic Initiative provides faculty members with "technology and tools to use in their curricula and research, while supporting the culture of open standards throughout the industry." By becoming an Initiative member faculty receive tutorials and training, software down loads, curriculum and courseware, technical support, access to discussion forums and other technology resources. The program and resources are free to all faculty who register.

Through the Initiative Student Portal, UMass Amherst students interested in pursuing an IT career can find information about career options, download software and get technical information. With a faculty sponsor, students can also post resumes that can be viewed by IBM departments.

Registration is required to take advantage of these services. Click here to register.

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OGCA processed 160 proposals for a total of $20,901,541 in July 2007 and 140 proposals and $19,818,067 in August 2007. How does that stack up against last year and previous months? Have a look at the histograms to find out.

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