News

'Power of Learning' exhibits accomplishments of academic departments

Part of Homecoming Weekend 2004

By Hannah Drake, Collegian Correspondent

November 01, 2004

More than forty different academic departments from the University of Massachusetts took part in a showcase entitled "The Power of Learning" last Friday. It displayed the University's current research projects and accomplishments along with live music and poetry readings and other forms of art in the Campus Center Concourse.

The three-hour event was part of UMass Amherst's Homecoming 2004 weekend celebration.

One department featured was the Microbiology Department, which displayed its "Bacterial Batteries" research.

According to Kelvin Gregory, a post-doctoral research assistant, explained that researchers found a way to generate power from mud through the discovery of a certain type of bacteria.

The driving point of the project was to solve a problem of the U.S. Navy's large number of buoys in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, which monitor ocean temperature, and current among other measurements. The buoys are battery powered, which is not cost efficient in its current form.

Gregory said the Navy wants a relatively cheap, maintenance-free way to keep the buoys running. The MicroBio Department believes that Bacterial Batteries could well be the solution.

The School of Education was also featured at the event. It displayed information about the ACCELA Alliance (Access to Critical Content and English Language Acquisition,) which UMass sponsors.

Doctoral student Ruth Horman explained that UMass has collaborated with school districts in Western Massachusetts through this program in order to help students simultaneously learn English and keep up with the curriculum.

ACCELA currently has six projects aimed at improving quality of learning for ELLs, and will have nine next year as the Springfield School District joins the alliance.

The Center for Computer-Based Instructional Technology displayed one of its latest educational software developments. The program demonstrated was a CASA (Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere) outreach component. The program can synchronize high bandwidth video with power point presentations.

Ken Watts, who works in Ripples Laboratory on UMass campus, explained that the program can be used in everything from professional education to engineering to distance education, as the software encompasses an entire coursework's worth of lectures and notes.

"This program enables a student to take a course anywhere in the country," said Watts.

The Chemical Engineering Department got people's taste buds jumping when it demonstrated a new, faster way to make ice cream - with liquid nitrogen.

Department head Phil Westmoreland said that the department chose the ice cream demonstration because it shows that through understanding different chemicals and their various reactions and properties, engineers can improve and streamline all kinds of "stuff," which is what chemical engineers work with.

Also present were representatives from Massnanotec, UMass's Nanotechnology research department, which is ranked in the top ten nationally for the extent of its research. This ranking places UMass alongside schools like MIT, Harvard, UCLA, and the University of Ohio.

Mike Wright, Staff Managing Director at UMASS, explained why nanotechnology research is important.

"What we don't know about nanotechnology would fill a lot of books," said Wright, adding that its benefits are waiting to be discovered.

The Robotics Laboratory brought a self-balancing robot to the event. Department representative Avi Herscovici explained that the robot balances itself on two wheels because of its incline sensors, which send messages to the wheels about which direction they should turn to right the robot.

The current model can achieve speeds between 10 and 15 miles per hour.

"The robot has more horsepower than a football player," Herscovici said.

Herscovici added that the larger robot might have a future in space exploration and smaller versions as expensive toys.

The Student Assesment, Research, and Evaluation Office (SAREO) presented their research about why students feel the need to riot about certain sports. According to their presentation board, it involves the students' belief in "the right to party."

The Business School was represented by professor Alan G. Robinson. He has published eight books, which have been translated to multiple languages and adapted for the needs of each country.

The books "help organizations set themselves up and manage so they are constantly learning and getting better," said Robinson, who teaches Management 301 at UMass.

The Anthropology Department displayed their findings from this past summer's excavation of a Native American site in Deerfield, Mass. They found a variety of pottery fragments and maize kernels, which supports their theory that the site was a native trash pit.