UMass Amherst: The College of Natural Sciences

Varner named director of faculty development programs at CNS

Wendy Varner has been named director of faculty development programs at the College of Natural Sciences. She will implement and coordinate programs to enhance the success of all faculty in CNS across the span of their careers. Working closely with Sally Powers, associate dean for faculty and research, Varner will develop and oversee faculty development and research programs. Varner will also provide leadership for administrative operations of faculty development and research programs including program planning, execution and management, coordination with other campus units, and program evaluations.

Kate Whitaker '05 has been awarded the prestigious NASA’s Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship—one of the world's most competitive fellowships in astronomy—and will be coming back to her alma mater this summer. A Commonwealth Honors College student majoring in physics and astronomy, Whitaker was awarded numerous scholarships and prizes while at UMass Amherst. She has a doctorate in astronomy from Yale University and is currently a James Webb Space Telescope Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

This year the CNS Senior Celebration will be held in the Mullins Center on Saturday, May, 9, at 5:00 p.m. Each graduating senior is presented with a UMass medallion, and a student from each department makes a very brief speech. Family and friends are invited. Seniors are also urged to attend the University Commencement on Friday, May 8, and their department receptions. Watch for updates on the CNS undergraduate commencement page.

The research of Jonathan Woodruff, Geosciences, and visiting scholar Dana MacDonald, and colleagues that finds sediment deposits show that intense hurricanes frequently pounded the region from around 250 A.D. to about 1150 is featured on Research Next.

Recent research of Lynn Adler, Environmental Conservation, on how plant chemicals lower pathogen loads in bumble bees is featured on Research Next.

The research of Neal Katz, professor, and Mark Fardal, senior research fellow, both Astronomy, exploring why the universe is so bright, was featured in a larger story called Six Unsolved Problems in Astronomy in Real Clear Science. The research was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters in July.

A textbook by Raymond S. Bradley, Geosciences, Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary (3rd ed.) , published by Elsevier/Academic Press, has been named one the six 2015 Textbook Excellence Award Winners (College) by the the Text and Academic Authors Association. TAA Blog

Michael J. Ramsey Musolf, Physics, and director, Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions, was one of seven LGBT physicists interviewed about their experiences as sexual and gender minorities. Physics Today