CNS Graduate Students Travel to Washington to Advocate for Science

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  Sarah Deckel and Katrina Zarrella Smith communicate research to policy makers Graduate students Raymond Caraher, Sarah Deckel, Timothy Nsubuga and Katrina Zarrella Smith attended the Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) workshop March 26-29 in Washington D.C. Hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), this workshop introduced students to the federal policy-making process and strategies to effectively communicate research to policy makers. On the final day, participants from UMass Amherst and Boston University tested their skills in meetings with congressional staff from the offices of Sens. Ed Markey, Susan Collins and Elizabeth Warren, and staff from the offices of Reps. Jake Auchincloss and Jim McGovern. For Nsubuga, civil and environmental engineering, the CASE workshop deepened his thinking about the intersection of environmental and water resources engineering and policy. “My biggest takeaway is that science does not lead to one clear policy but that opinions based on science can help create a set of viable policies,” he says, adding that the...
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Charlie Schweik, Environmental Conservation, Appointed IT Program Director

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  Professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation and School of Public Policy at UMass Amherst, has been appointed director of the UMass Amherst Information Technology Program Charles (Charlie) Schweik, professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation and School of Public Policy at UMass Amherst, has been appointed director of the UMass Amherst Information Technology Program. The appointment became effective as of Feb. 1, 2023. Schweik holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and was a programmer at IBM for approximately seven years. After that, he earned a master's in public administration, specializing in public management and public information technology.  He then worked for a Washington D.C. consulting firm designing and maintaining databases in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental remediation program. After roughly two years there, he went back to graduate school for a Ph.D. in public policy at Indiana University. Schweik joined UMass approximately 25 years ago and was a member of the UMass IT Task Force that founded the UMass Information...
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Containing the Green Invasion: Bethany Bradley Researches Invasive Plant Species

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  With an eye to climate change, Bethany Bradley’s Spatial Ecology Lab at UMass Amherst is doing actionable scientific research to mitigate the damaging effects of invasive plant species. As gardening enthusiasts flock to nurseries and garden centers this spring, they’re likely to find a wide assortment of plants that would look beautiful in their gardens—but frankly don’t belong there. That’s because around 70 percent of plants sold at traditional nurseries are introduced—meaning they’re not native to the region where they’re being sold. Furthermore, some subset of these non-native plants are invasive: likely to spread, become abundant, and damage local ecosystems, often with economic consequences. These harmful plants continue to be sold due to lack of knowledge around them as well as outdated, inconsistent, or absent regulation by states, according to Bethany Bradley, professor of biogeography and spatial ecology in UMass Amherst's Department of Environmental Conservation. Until recently, invasive species were documented in a hodge podge of locally managed lists, with little information shared across regions....
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New Research Finds Surprising Science Behind Bumblebee Superfood

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Sunflower family’s spiny pollen vastly reduces prevalence of widespread parasite in bumblebees, increases production of queens It’s the spines. This is the conclusion of two new papers, led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, showing that the spiny pollen from plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) both reduces infection of a common bee parasite by 81–94% and markedly increases the production of queen bumble bees. The research, appearing in Functional Ecology and Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, provides much-needed food for thought in one of the most vexing problems facing biologists and ecologists: how to reverse the great die-off of the world’s pollinators. Insect pollinators — those flying, buzzing, flitting bugs that help fertilize everything from blueberries to coffee — contribute upwards of $200 billion in annual ecosystem services worldwide. “We depend on them for diverse, healthy, nutritious diets,” says Laura Figueroa, incoming assistant professor of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst and lead author of the paper on pollen spines. Many...
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Lucas Griffin, Environmental Conservation, Wins Early Career Research Excellence Award at World Recreational Fishing Conference

Lucas Griffin, Environmental Conservation, Wins Early Career Research Excellence Award at World Recreational Fishing Conference

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The postdoctoral research associate was recently honored in Melbourne, Australia Lucas Griffin, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst, won the Early Career Research Award at the 10th World Recreational Fishing Conference (WRFC) in Melbourne, Australia. The WRFC is held every three years and aspires to build an informed community and create a collective body of knowledge in recreational fisheries science worldwide. This year’s conference was attended by delegates from 20 nations. Recreational fishing is popular around the world, and research is critical to supporting the sustainability and management of global fisheries. Griffin is a rising star in the discipline of recreational fisheries science, and this award amplifies the important research conducted in the Fish Forward lab led by Professor Andy Danylchuk. “I am delighted that Griffin’s efforts are being formally recognized,” says Danylchuk. “His research is positively affecting change about how recreational fisheries are managed.” Read on.  LUCAS GRIFFIN, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, WINS EARLY CAREER RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARD ...
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