News

Brown Advocates Farsighted Water Management in Face of Climate Change

Dr. Casey Brown of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department has been making waves in the water management field. He was quoted in the February 6 edition of Discover magazine, which predicted that global warming during the next seven decades could cause the water supply in the Northeast to undergo drastic changes even as total precipitation stays about the same. The Discover article said that a warmer atmosphere will hold more moisture, unleashing intense but less frequent rainstorms. Droughts could become more common, but so could storms like Hurricane Irene, which caused record flooding in the region this August. “Water suppliers should be thinking hard about managing these extremes,” said Brown. “It will only get worse.”

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Impact of Hluchyj Fellowship Will Be Felt for Decades

When UMass Amherst alumni Mike and Terry Hluchyj created a fellowship in 2008 to support one graduate student per year from the College of Engineering and one from the School of Nursing, Terry Hluchyj summarized their motivation this way: “Quality healthcare ranks among the most important issues our society faces, and the collaborative research initiatives between nursing and engineering at UMass Amherst can make a real difference.” Indeed, during the ensuing four years, the Hluchyj Graduate Fellowship has done just that. The research carried out by Hluchyj Fellows has already generated significant healthcare reforms, beneficial applications, important grants, prestigious journal papers, and key presentations, and it is beginning to earn fellows esteemed professional positions.

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Distractology 101 Attracts More Media Attention

On January 23, two media reports focused on efforts to educate young people about the dangers of texting while driving by introducing them to “Distractology 101,” a program created by the Arbella Insurance Human Performance Laboratory, whose director is Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department Head Don Fisher. The first report was aired on WWLP-TV 22, while the second was a feature article in the Springfield Republican.

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