Six Amherst campus faculty are among the recipients of $200,000 in seed funding from the UMass system’s Technology Development Fund. Announced April 18 by President Marty Meehan, the $25,000 awards will support the development of new technologies aimed at protecting premature infants from heart problems, producing hydrogen for use in electric vehicles, treating Alzheimer’s disease and helping to diagnose chronic medical conditions. Read more

Are you interested in finding a larger audience for your research or pursuing a career in outreach and public engagement? If so,then please attend the April 11th Outreach and Public Engagement Summit, which will help you make the connections and provide you with information necessary to achieve your goals.  Pre-registration is requested: https://tinyurl.com/OPESummit.

A decade or so ago, scientists discovered genes they thought could be turned on to make plants take up more iron from the soil, enriching cereals, grains and other staple foods that feed millions of people around the world an iron-poor diet leading to iron deficiency anemia, says molecular biologist Elsbeth Walker at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “But it didn’t work,” she adds. “Somehow the plants downregulated our efforts, and we don’t understand how.” Read more

Alice Y. Cheung, biochemistry and molecular biology; Susan E. Hankinson, biostatistics and epidemiology; and Max Page, architecture, are the recipients of the 2018-19 Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship Awards. Conti Fellowships provide faculty members with a unique opportunity to focus on their research or creative activities. These fellowships, managed by the office of the vice chancellor for research and engagement, provide a one-year release from teaching and service duties in addition to a $3,500 cash award. Read more