Winter 2006

Departments

Exchange

Prerequisite

Extended Family

Foundation News

Alumni Association News

Zip 01003

Books Received

Alumni Photos

Features

Why You Should Love Polymers

Where There's Spark

Falling for Shelburne Falls

Where Are They Now?

Lessons in the Sand

Prerequisite

Science Notebook

FAULT-Y SCIENCE Five faults in the Los Angeles Basin are at greater risk for earthquakes than those in the rest of the state, finds geosciences professor Michele Cooke. She and W. Ashley Griffith ’03G (now of Stanford University) analyzed computer models of the basin to determine the most accurate model. California is like a complicated 3-D jigsaw puzzle, with its tectonic plates constantly and slowly shifting against each other. This movement leads to strain among the pieces, which is relieved during an earthquake. Got PMS? Get Milk… Most women experience mild premenstrual (PMS) symptoms, but for 8 to 20 percent the symptoms can be severe. A diet rich in calcium appears to reduce the risk of developing PMS by as much as 40 percent. “Our findings suggest that high dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D may help women by preventing the initial development of PMS,” said study author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, assistant professor of epidemiology at UMass Amherst. Over a 10-year period her team collected data on 3,000 women, with and without PMS. The most significant results were seen in women who consumed about four servings per day of skim or low-fat milk, fortified orange juice, and low-fat dairy foods, such as yogurt. Increasing the intake of vitamin D and calcium might produce this result by affecting estrogen levels during menstruation, Bertone-Johnson said. Call for Dr. Nano The National Science Foundation awarded UMass Amherst a $3.1 million grant to train nanotechnology experts. Through NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Program in Nanotechnology Innovations, science and engineering graduates will be able to earn a PhD with an emphasis in nanotechnology, while receiving practical experience in developing new technologies for possible commercial applications. A unique aspect of the program will be team-training students on 18-month projects in partnership with the Isenberg School of Management. The aim of these projects will be to generate prototypes of real nanoscale devices along with plans for product development and commercialization of technology. Clamping Down on Chlamydia Chlamydia is the most frequently reported bacterial STD in the United States, with 2.8 million new cases annually (a fraction of the 90 million annual new cases worldwide), resulting in an estimated domestic health care bill of $2 billion. Thanks to a $600,000 commitment from BioVeris Corporation, UMass Amherst researchers are one step closer to finding a vaccine. UMass Amherst researchers Lloyd Semprevivo, veterinary and animal sciences, and Elizabeth Stuart and Wilmore Webley ’03G, microbiology, are close to isolating a vaccine target. Two species of the bacteria are serious human pathogens, while a third causes diseases in livestock and birds. BioVeris will have exclusive patent rights to the much-awaited vaccine, which will protect against all strains. Nabbing Bad Brokers It takes one to know one: Securities regulators know that broker malfeasance is often encouraged by like-minded money managers. But human investigators have a hard time correlating mountains of relational data, such as a person’s social and professional networks, to bust the bad apples. Now the world’s largest private-sector securities regulator, the National Association of Securities Dealers, has teamed up with UMass Amherst researchers to use cutting-edge computer science to uncover fraud. Computer science professor David Jensen and doctoral student Jennifer Neville developed new statistical models—relational probability trees—that appear to make good use of contextual information, to better track the social aspects of rule-breaking and provide a ranking of risky brokers to boot.

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