Fu discusses research, national advisory board appointment on WBGY
Picture of Kevin Fu speaking on WGBY's Connecting Point

Kevin Fu, Computer Science, is interviewed on WGBY's Connecting Point about his recent appointment to serve on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, which advises the Federal Government on cybersecurity. Fu's research focuses on improving security for implantable medical devices and contactless credit cards without compromising effectiveness.

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Bezanilla named an 'Emerging Scholar' by Diverse magazine
Picture of Magdalena Bezanilla

Magdalena Bezanilla, associate professor of Biology, is among 12 "Emerging Scholars" profiled in the Jan. 5 issue of the magazine . Bezanilla, who joined the faculty in 2005, studies the biology of plant cells to discover how they grow. "My lab is interested in understanding how molecules inside the cell help to shape the cell and give the cell its final form," she says in the profile, which notes that she and her colleagues recently pioneered a technique they call multigene silencing to simultaneously silence genes in a multicellular organism. Last year, Bezanilla received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

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Patek's research on speed demons featured on NPR's Science Friday
Picture of Shelia Patek's research on speed demons on NPR's Science Friday

Biologist Sheila Patek's research on mini animal speed demons is a featured video on the online version of NPR's Science Friday. Patek says the creatures she studies move at speeds that are hard for us to imagine, let alone perceive. From mantis shrimp to trap-jaw ants, some of the fastest organisms on the planet are ones you may never have heard of. Demonstrating with research videos, Patek explains how these organisms pull off their top speeds.

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Research by Geert de Vries, Psychology, on epigenetics and sex differences, is featured in a story about the Connectome project, which focuses on brain development studies. De Vries says sex steroids like estrogen and testosterone affect genes and may play a role in sex differences in the occurrence of some psychiatric disorders. The Dana Foundation

Jeffrey Morse, managing director of the National Nanomanufacturing Network at the campus's NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, was recently named one of the 25 "Most Influential Nanotechnology Leaders" by the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association. Press Release

The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke has awarded its first team research grants. Hans Johnston, Mathematics and Statistics, is part of a team that will work on “exacale” software platforms; Yanlei Diao, Computer Science, and Li-Jun Ma, Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences, will help develop a system for processing massive amounts of genome material. Mass High Tech

Thomas McCarthy, Polymer Science and Engineering, and graduate student Peiwen Zhang resurrected a 60-year-old method known as siloxane equilibration to demonstrate that silicone rubber cut with a razor can completely repair itself via heat-activated reversible bonding, which could prove useful in a variety of applications from countertops to auto body scratches. Physorg.com

The campus' Horse Arena has laid down new footing and is fully functional for the spring semester, according to folks at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. Press Release

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