Campus News

The funding goal for a Honors Fellows fund-raiser has more than doubled their goal as Marty Meehan welcomed more than 200 guests at the Allen House and the Comely-Lane Theatre earlier this month. the contributions amounted up to $117,000, the largest amount ever donated by the University at a single event. The money will be used to support the educational pursuits of exceptional students. Six student honors scholarships were awarded to Jennifer Fernandes, Sarah Fischer, Curran Kelleher, Paul Litchfield, Timothy Watts, and Scott Walfield.

The Universtiy's Toxic Use Reduction Institute, or TURI, and the Work Environment department have formed a grassroots partnership to help make a safer work environment for Vietnamese immigrants in Lowell who are in the floor-finishing business. Thanks to the efforts of the partnership, several distributors have stopped stocking flammable sealants, and others have provided training for the immigrants. Through a $12,000 and second year $15,000 grant, the two organizations were able to test floor sealants for flammable materials, as well as provide hands-on training for workers and educate them as well as the rest of the Vietnamese community on the dangers of lacquer floor finishing products. The partnership is now working with Viet AID in Dorchester to host another training session in November and to include floor-finishing product information in it's First Time Home-Buyer's Guide.

The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production is spearheading an initiative to detect toys for large amounts of lead, making them safer for children to play with as well as the environment. Concern over this issue has risen in recent months due to many children's toys made in China being recalled due to large amounts of lead being detected in them. Research associate Sally Edwards, along with co-director Ken Geiser are developing the Sustainable Toys Initiative. Their goal is to engage toy manufacturers, designers, vendors, non-governmental organizations, researchers and government policy makers on ways to improve toy safety and sustainability. The hope is that this will lead to toy innovation in the areas of design and production, reduce product liability and boost public knowledge and confidence in these products.

The Computer Science Department at UMass Lowell has formed a new program called "Performamatics: Connecting Computer Science to the Performing, Design, and Fine Arts." Professors involved in this brand new program include Jesse Heines, Fred Martin, Karen Roehr, Jim Jeffers, Gina Greher, Nancy Selleck, and Sarah Kuhn. The case for the program is that most art created today involves the use of a lot of high technology, and that this course will show students the relationship Computer Science has with these seemingly non-technical fields, as well as educate them on how to implement their ideas in real-world environments. The National Science Foundation awarded the two-year program with a $368,162 grant, and is supported by a group of project advisors that include representatives from museums, theaters, and engineering and computer science professional organizations in Lowell, the Merrimack Valley region and beyond.

Dave Lewis, a professor of manufacturing and information systems in the University Management Department, raced, with a friend, 3,728 miles acros Africa in a 1966 Volkswagen beetle this past summer. The friend that he brought with him was Associate Professor Tim Shea of UMass Dartmouth. Nine cars took part in the event, which began and ended in Durban, South Africa, and the course passed through Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland. A man in Cape Town, who owned more than 500 Beetles, sponsored the event. There was a $1,200 entrance fee for the race, which covered the car rental, two nights in a hotel, campground charges, prizes and other expenses. The race went for 18 days, and benefited two local charities, a local school and a plant nursery. Lewis is now considering participating in a 14 day rickshaw race in India sometime later this year.

The October 18th Fall Faculty Conversation Dinner will have a special guest this time. That guest will be the University of Illinois director of the Office of Technology Enhanced Learning Ray Schroeder, who will be making his appearance at the dinner to discuss the issue of Web Education in the onset of Web 2.0. Schroeder has taught more than 30 online classes, published numerous articles on the application of technology to education, and presented at conferences throughout the United States. The dinner will be held on October 18th, in Alumni Hall at 3:30 PM. It is being sponsored by the Faculty Development Center, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Council of Teaching, Learning and Research.