UMass Magazine Online

Fall 2004

Departments

Features

The Future's So Bright

The Prince of Pages

The Changing Face of Beauty

Campaigns: Good for What Ails Us?

Feature

The Future is Now
Exciting academic initiatives are under way across campus

–Deborah Klenotic

Beyond Google: The paint has just dried on Commonwealth College’s new Research Literacy Center in Goodell Hall. Through interactive strategies such as BrainPrints, developed in collaboration with instructors and Du Bois Library’s Information Literacy Program, the center integrates information technologies into research, creative, and service-learning classrooms. http://www.umass.edu/fp/index.html

Virtual Learning: The Division of Continuing Education, which has night owls all over the world making its online programs a smashing success, has just launched three new online degree programs: a certificate in journalism, a dual master of science degree in nursing and public health, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Continuing Education is also switching to the world’s most popular online course learning management system, webCT VISTA. https:/ www.umassulearn.net/

IT for Everyone: Students who aren’t computer science majors but still like to develop websites and use databases can now get information technology education without even feeling a pinch. Thanks to monies from the Massachusetts Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Fund, the Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative, led by the School of Education, enters its second phase in providing innovative course modules and a minor in IT for students at UMass Amherst and throughout the state. http://www.umass.edu/education/

Sensors in the Sky: The Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Environment (CASA) held its first annual summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in 2004. Students in the National Science Foundation-funded center in the College of Engineering work with industrial practitioners and academic researchers on distributed sensing networks such as the CASA project, which is placing sensors on cellphone towers in Oklahoma, Texas, and Puerto Rico to forecast weather disasters. http://www.casa.umass.edu/

Access to Architecture: The scaffolding soon comes down on the new master’s program in architecture in the art department. Faculty from studio arts, interior design, art history, landscape architecture, urban design, and regional planning, among other programs, will teach in this highly interdisciplinary program in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Graduates of the BFA in design and programs outside the field have many avenues of entry into this innovative program, which will be the only master’s program in architecture at a public university in New England. http://www.umass.edu/hfa/

Tables with a View: A 125-seat dining room and three food and beverage laboratories are going up at the Top of the Campus Center for the Hospitality and Tourism Management program of the Isenberg School of Management. At the $3.5 million HTM Food and Beverage Teaching and Research Facility, students will learn restaurant operations, research and introduce new products and services, and host food and wine appreciation events. The rest of us can savor the results. http://www.umass.edu/htm/

Nursing, the Next Generation: The School of Nursing is partnering with Bay State Medical Center and Cooley Dickinson Hospital to pilot a new Clinical Nurse Leader Initiative that will give nursing students master’s-level education in the Clinical Nurse Leader position now being developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. UMass Amherst is one of only 79 educational institutions to pilot the new program and the only one in Massachusetts. http://www.umass.edu/nursing/

Uncommon Learning: Once the last tree is planted in the new gardens and sitting spaces outside the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, the momentous change will move inside to the main floor. The new Learning Commons will be an open studio where students can tap the library’s extensive print and electronic collections; use state-of-the-art technology for research and coursework; and meet with faculty, TAs, and other students in comfortable breakout rooms. Experts in the Library, Office of Information Technologies, Learning Support Services, the Writing Center, and other offices will also be on hand. http://www.library.umass.edu/

Watching What We Eat: What should U.S. policies be on genetic engineering, obesity, and other food issues? The department of food science in the College of Natural Resources and the Environment has created a Center of Scholarship on food policy. Working with internationally known faculty such as Professor Kalidas Shetty, now serving as a Jefferson Science Fellow in the U.S. State Department, students will help produce science-based interpretations of food regulations and policy to increase the public’s confidence in the food supply and understanding of food science issues http://www.umass.edu/nre/

Astronomical Wealth: As construction continues on the antenna of the Large Millimeter Telescope in Puebla, Mexico, students in the astronomy department in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics are helping to build instruments for the world’s largest radio telescope (50 meters in diameter) operating at millimeter wavelengths. When the telescope is fully operational in 2007, students will be able to discover and characterize very distant galaxies. In fact, they’ll see back to very early times in the universe, tracing the evolution of galaxies. http://www.nsm.umass.edu/

Public Health Rx: To meet the demand for jobs in the public health field that require a bachelor’s degree, the School of Public Health and Health Sciences has created a bachelor’s program in public health and health sciences. This interdisciplinary degree includes courses in exercise science, communication disorders, and nutrition. When the first students enter the program in the fall 2005, UMass Amherst will be the only campus in New England offering a bachelor’s in public health. http://www.umass.edu/sphhs/mph_online/index.html

Giving Peace a Chance: The first class in the new Psychology of Peace and Prevention of Violence doctoral program in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has begun its studies this fall. This Ph.D. concentration is located in the social-personality psychology program but draws on a range of psychology and related fields. These psychologists will work as researchers, teachers, and scholar-practitioners on the roots and prevention of violence between individuals and groups, such as ethnopolitical warfare, genocide, and terrorism. http://www.umass.edu/csbs/

The Grass Is Greener: This fall, ground will be broken for a new building at the recently named and dedicated Joseph Troll Turf Research Center in South Deerfield. The long-awaited facility will contain a laboratory to wash, sort and dry plant materials; a conference room and offices; and open space for storage and repair of equipment. Faculty and students in the turf grass management program of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture can now better collaborate on research aimed at solving problems faced by the turf industry. http://www.umass.edu/stockbridge/main.html

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The Future's so Bright

The Future's so Bright: more images

The Future is Now