NHC Awards Summer Scholarships for 2007
Congratulations to the seven students awarded summer scholarships by the Natural History Collections group:
Jane Hallenbeck Bemis awards:
    Rodger Gwiazdowski of the Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences Department (PSIS) and the Organismic and Evolutionary (OEB) Program, a student of Ben Normark for his study, “Genomic quality, entomological and botanical collections of Mexico”;
    Kimberly Kasper of the Anthropology Department, a student Elizabeth Chilton, for her study,” Moving beyond maize in New England; a multidisciplinary approach”;
    Sydne Record, of the Plant Biology Program who is working with Aaron Ellison at Harvard Forest for her project, “Living on the edge: a comparison of core versus edge populations of swamp wood-betony (Pedicularis lanceolata) and related root hemiparasites of the Orobanchaceae”.
David J. Klingener awards went to:
    Marina Blanco of Anthropology, a student of Laurie Godfrey for her study, “Dental analysis of small-bodied Malagasy lemurs (cheirogaleids)”;
    Sandra Gillespie, of PSIS and OEB, a student of Lynn Adler, for “Parasites and parasitoids of bumblebees in old-field habitats of Massachusetts: the potential for multi-trophic effects”;
    Michael Jones of the OEB Program, a student of Paul Sievert in the Natural Resources Conservation Department, for “ Ecology and conservation of wood turtles (Glyptomys insculpta) in the Connecticut River valley of Massachusetts:,
    Lisabeth Willey of the OEB Prgoram, also a student of Paul Sievert, for her project “Conserving eastern box turtles (Terrapene c. carolina) in the Connecticut Valley, Massachusetts”.

Hellquist Collection Added to Herbarium: The University of Massachusetts Herbarium is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of approximately 6000 specimens from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.  This represents the New England collections of C. B. Hellquist who is an internationally known authority on aquatic vascular plants.  This acquisition has significantly increased the breadth and depth of our aquatic vascular plant collection.  In addition to Hellquist’s specimens the acquisition also includes specimens of historic interest collected by J. W. Robbins (1801-1879) and others.

Massachusetts Academy of Science
NHC Director Peg Riley and collaborators are cooperating on establishing a new institution, the Massachusetts Academy of Science (MAS). Its purpose is to promote the development of interest in scientific matters and science education in the state. Thanks to its new website (www.massacadsciences.org) it has just become more visible to the world.
      The following is a list of some of the activities the MAS would sponsor:
1. Provide grants and awards to support scientific research,
2. Provide grants and awards to support K-12 science education,
3. Provide grants and awards to support the creation of a more
scientifically-literate community,
4. Create a junior academy of science to support science-based activities
aimed at increasing the interest in science,
5. Sponsor an annual meeting at which the MAS supported research and
educational activities are reported,
 6. Sponsor an annual journal that will highlight current efforts in
state-based science and science education activities.

Research Leadership Award. Betsy Dumont, Curator of Mammals, recently received an on-campus grant to support a workshop called "Finite Element Modeling in Biology" that will run June 9-16 here on campus. The  workshop will train people how to build and analyze 3D finite element models of complex biological shapes. The long-term goal of the Research Leadership in Action Program, which is sponsored by the Vice-Provost for Research, is to help investigators develop ties with industry and generate financial support for their research programs..

Update:  Cristina Cox Fernandes, Curator of Fishes, has been working since fall in Manaus, Brazil, where she used to live and conduct research before she moved to Amherst. Based in Manaus at INPA (National Institute of Research in the Amazon) she is continuing her work on electric fishes, studying species diversity of sexual dimorphism (differences between males and females).  With her colleagues she is examining several aspects of sex dimorphism: electric organ discharge, morphology, chirping behavior, and levels of 11-ketotestosterone.  Pictures
      Cristina is also re-organizing the electric fish collection at INPA and training young students on this amazing group of fishes.

Film about lampreys.   Ed Klekowski, retired Professor of Biology, in cooperation with AIMS (Academic Instructional Media Services), produced a video about lampreys, "Sea Vampires in the Connecticut ”.  This 13 minute DVD won a Silver Telly Award for educational video production and was mailed last spring to 300 local schools along with his film "Under the Connecticut”. The lamprey film was funded in part by the Jane Hallenbeck Bemis Endowment for Research in Natural History.

.