BioMass No. 02                                         page 3 Spring 2000  

Letters from Alumni

Webster A. Chandler, B.S. '37: I was one of R. E. Torrey's students who went on in plant science-Cornell and Penn State (5yrs army in between). I enjoyed walks with him ... Keep up the good work!
Frank Wing, B.S. '40: I trust a forthcoming newsletter will pay tribute to Dr. Gilbert L. Woodside. As a scholar ... and all round great person, I can think of no one in my undergraduate career who influences me more....
Eugene H. Varney, B.S. '49:  It is sad to see Botany and Zoology (merged) but a three fold increase in majors more than compensates for the loss of identity. I'll also join the current trends and access the newsletters via the web...
Bob Marquis, B.S. '58:  ... retired after spending 35 years in the pharmaceuticals industry (Merck) in sales and marketing.  My scientific training at UMass helped a great deal ....
Elliot Rosenfield, B.S. '62:  Biology background allowed me to establish a medical practice niche in my CPA firm ...
Richard C. Franson, B.S. '65: Wonderful article: BioMass #1 on Dr. Wilce.
Austin Platt, M.A. '63, Ph.D. '65 and Pamella Platt, M.A. '66:  Immensely enjoyed the articles about Ted Sargent's reminisences and Dana Snyder's video about ... antique farm machinery.
Gail Buckley-Rudick, B.A. '65: M.D. in 1969... Two children.
Vicki Litt Merten, M.A. '68:  Whatever happened to Dr. Ryan Drum, Dr. Bigelow?  [Ed: Dr. Drum is a lecturer at Dominion Herbal College.  Dr. Howard Bigelow is deceased and his wife Dr. Margaret Bigelow has retired to British Columbia.  She has endowed the Margaret E. and Howard E. Bigelow Award which is administered by the OEB Program and helps fund research and publication in the area of organismal and evolutionary biology.]
Martha Adams McMahon, B.S. '70:  Despite the fact that molecular bio did not exist when I was there, I got a good enough background ...
John Jenkins, B.S. '72: My biology roots are alive and well ... farming in Vermont.
Celia Hooper, B.S. '75: Alive and well; working ... a career in science writing ...
Charles "Dana" Bangs, B.S. '77:  ... supervising the clinical cytogenetics lab at ... UCSF Stanford Healthcare.
Michael Brugger, B.S. '79:   Proud father of identical twin boys ...
Beth Badstubner, B.S. '80:  It’s great to have the new "Biology" designation. ...
Donna Saatma, B.S. '92:  I would love to see a web site that would allow alumni to track down classmates. [Ed: Were working on it!]
Kathy Ucinski, B.S. '95:  Hope Prof. Sargent enjoys retirement ...
Heather Lebel, B.S '98:  I have worked this year ... and am anxious to return to academia.


(see all the alumni mail, unexpurgated, at URL: www.bio.umass.edu/biology/alumni/links/alum_response.html)

Keep in touch using the various avenues provided:
  • Jot down your comments and send them to:
    Biology Alumnus Newsletter
    Biology Department
    University of Massachusetts
    Amherst MA 01003-5810
     
  • Use the electronic route via the Biology Alumni Forum where you can leave Email messages for all participating Biology alumni.
We hope you will keep in touch with us and your fellow classmates.   The BioMass Staff
STEMTEC Sparks Change in Teaching

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Teacher Education Collaborative (STEMTEC) is aimed at improving math and science teaching from kindergarten through college and is spearheaded by physics professor Morton Sternheim at the University of Massachusetts.
The project has received a $5 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant is one of three such awards made across the nation by the NSF each year.  STEMTEC participants include the University of Massachusetts, Hampshire, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, Holyoke, and Greenfield Community Colleges and Springfield Technical College. Public schools in Springfield, Amherst, Holyoke, Hadley, Northampton, South Hadley, and Franklin County are also included.
Two Biology faculty have participated in the STEMTEC project, Dr. Joe Kunkel and Dr. Steve Brewer.
Joe Kunkel has used the principles learned in his STEMTEC experience to modify the Writing in Biology course he teaches to juniors which emphasises the skills needed by biologists to communicate effectively, whether that be orally or in writing.
STEMTEC support was used by Steve Brewer to incorporate new technologies into the introductory biology laboratories.  One new laboratory uses the Biology WorkBench (URL: workbench.sdsc.edu), a web-based bioinformatics site which allows students to work with protein and nucleic acid sequence data. In the laboratory exercise, students begin with a short amino acid sequence, conduct a BLAST search to find similar sequences, perform an alignment to find conserved regions in the sequence, and then use a three-dimensional visualization package to 'color in' amino acids in the sequence to visualize the homologies. Students were able to rotate the molecule in three-dimensions and use various visualization techniques to allow them to formulate hypotheses as to why the amino acid sequences of certain regions were conserved.  Students worked in small groups and made presentations on their molecule and its conserved regions to the rest of the class.  Hypotheses they had developed were discussed.
 

Alumni Support

Our alumni should realize how important they have been and can continue to be to the Biology Department. For years, alumni, now situated in academic departments throughout the U.S.A. or holding nonacademic positions, have been invaluable to our recent graduates by providing advice and help in locating support for graduate studies and finding jobs. We want to remind all alumni that help from nonacademic quarters is more important than ever. If you would like to be on our list of potential contacts, please send a brief description of your field of work with advice on the most appropriate way to contact you to Ed Davis or Bruce Byers, Biology Department, Morrill Science Center, U. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 or by Email to bbyers@bio.umass.edu.  We have many student requests to have individuals with "real life" jobs (i.e., nonacademic ones) come speak with them.  Should you be available for such talks with small student groups, or for one-on-one conversations, please let us know.
The Biology Department is continuing the scholarship funds started in the former Botany and Zoology Departments and established with alumni contributions.  They include the Ray Ethan Torrey Scholarship for undergrads in the plant sciences and the Bill and Margaret Nutting Scholarship in field biology.  In addition, the newly created Massachusetts Museum of Natural History would appreciate alumni support.  Beyond specific funds, the Biology Department greatly appreciates unrestricted contributions.  University budgets have been tight for many years and alumni contributions have become an extremely important source of funds for many initiatives for our students.  If you respond to the annual UMass Telethon you should know that you can direct your donation or a portion of it to Biology.