Dedication of Integrated Sciences Building now on YouTube
The four-story ISB includes 85,000 square feet of state-of the-art teaching labs and classrooms, research laboratories, a 300-seat auditorium, and many green building features. Learn why Chancellor Robert Holub says that "this building and our additional science investments will play a pivotal role in preparing the Massachusetts workforce for success in today’s innovation economy."
$7M in federal stimulus funds will support Lederle lab renovations
The $7.1million in federal stimulus money from the National Institutes of Health will create shared lab and instrument space and build two new laboratories in the Lederle Graduate Research Center. The faculty group involved in planning the LRGC renovation was led by Jennifer Normanly of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), and included the efforts of Lila Gierasch (BMB), Craig Martin (Chemistry), associate dean Stephen Burns (CNS), Ludmila Pavlova (Facilities and Campus Planning), and Lee Osterweil and Paul Lahti, former dean and associate dean of the former College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Nusslein launches Amazon rainforest microbial observatory project
Klaus Nusslein, Microbiologist, leads a team of scientists to catalog microbial diversity and study the effects of local agricultural practices in Brazilian rainforest. The work is funded by an $800,000 four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Amazon rainforest is home to perhaps the largest reservoir of soil microbes on Earth, but many of these organisms are almost unknown to science. With the area under great threat from modern agricultural practices, Nusslein and his colleagues seek to identify, collect and preserve microbe-rich soils before it's too late.
Lahti & Russell to direct new $16M Energy Frontier Research Center
UMass Amherst will host a new multimillion-dollar Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, named the "Polymer-Based Materials for Harvesting Solar Energy Center." It will be co-directed by Paul Lahti, Chemistry, and Thomas Russell, Polymer Science and Engineering. Lahti, an internationally recognized expert in organic electronic materials and Russell, an internationally recognized expert in designing polymer nanoarchitectures, believe the UMass Amherst EFRC will take advantage of the campus' special expertise in polymer science, engineering, materials chemistry and physics.
