Education and Training News

Thursday, March 18, 2010

UMassOnline brings Masson on as CTO
The University of Massachusetts reports it has hired Patrick Jay Masson as chief technology officer of its UMassOnline distance-learning division. Masson replaces outgoing CTO Brian Douglas, who is now associate vice president for budget and administration.
WPI lands grant to study radio wave impact on humans
Worcester Polytechnic Institute reports it has brought in $1.2 million stimulus grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to study the effect of radio waves on the human body.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Babson's Rice joins WPI as first-ever academic dean
Worcester Polytechnic Institute has a new dean of business in former Babson College dean Mark P. Rice, who will be succeeding McRae Banks, who has led WPI’s Department of Management for the past 15 years.

Monday, March 15, 2010

UMass doles out $200K in research grants
The University of Massachusetts reports it has granted $200,000 to researchers at its Amherst, Lowell and Worcester campuses. UMass’ Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property Technology Development Fund distributed the grants to researchers in life sciences, polymer chemistry, computer science and engineering.
Raytheon's Sanchez joins Mass. STEM Advisory Council
Raytheon Co. reports one of its engineers, Alex Sanchez, a senior principal systems engineer at Raytheon IDS, has been appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Advisory Council.

Friday, March 12, 2010

MIT Clean Energy Prize semifinalists named
The MIT Clean Energy Prize reports it has chosen its semifinalists, who will compete for the $200,000 grand prize in May. Each team will be matched with an industry mentor and a legal mentor in the run-up to the winner being announced May 3.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

UMass notches record research spending year
The University of Massachusetts has hit a record high in spending $489.1 million on research endeavors in Fiscal Year 2009. The amount represents a single-year increase of 12.4 percent — higher than the national average of 5.2 percent.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

3Com snags networking deal for Aussie outback schools
3Com Corp. has landed a deal to supply networking equipment to the school systems of Australia’s Northern Territory. Officials said it was a multimillion-dollar contract that would run three years.

Monday, March 8, 2010

MIT touts energy breakthroughs
MIT unveiled research this weekend in advance of its annual Energy Conference that outlined a new discovery in generating electricity directly from carbon nanotubes.

Friday, March 5, 2010

MIT's Koch Institute gets NCI funding and cancer center designation
The National Cancer Institute showed a vote of confidence this week in providing funding to the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT to make it a Center for Cancer Systems Biology.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Northeastern launches regulatory science degree program
Northeastern University reports it has created a master’s program in regulatory sciences to cover the scientific and technological basis for production, regulatory approval, and subsequent monitoring of biopharmaceutical substances.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

3-D DNA sequencing helps win $30K Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
The Lemelson-MIT Student Prize this year has been awarded to MIT graduate student Erez Lieberman-Aiden, who most recently worked on developing the “Hi-C” method for three-dimensional genome sequencing, which not only sequences the base pairs of DNA, but how that DNA is folded in the nucleus of a cell.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

DIGITS names Greenfield as project director
DIGITS, a tech sector initiative aimed at increasing interest in science, technology, engineering and math subjects among sixth graders, has named Carol Greenfield as project director.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Jack Wilson to resign as president of UMass
President of the five-campus University of Massachusetts system Jack Wilson announced today that he will resign at the end of his term, concluding June 30, 2011. Wilson has headed UMass since Sept. 2, 2003.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

ConnectEDU collects $3.5M in latest funding
Boston's ConnectEDU Inc. has taken in $3.5 million of a proposed $4 million of new funding through debt and securities options or warrants, in addition to naming a new chief financial officer in Bryan Gleason this week.
MLSC awards $6.6M to WPI life sciences facility
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has given Worcester Polytechnic Institute a $6.6 million grant to apply to the school’s development of a life sciences facility at Gateway Park in Worcester.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

MIT takes lead role in $25M bio research project
MIT and two other schools, along with several minority-focused institutions, plan to establish a research center, based at MIT, that will help engineers create sophisticated, multi-cell systems or machines.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

WPI president joins Mass. STEM Advisory Council
Worcester Polytechnic Institute reports its president, Dennis Berkey, has been appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council.

Monday, February 15, 2010

SkillSoft to go private in $1B buyout from Bain and partners
Nashua, N.H.-based e-learning and training company SkillSoft PLC plans to leave the public markets in a $1.1 billion buyout through a new company formed by Bain Capital Partners LLC, Berkshire Partners LLC and Advent International Corp.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

AOL to sponsor MIT Media Lab Consortium
AOL Inc. reports it has joined the MIT Media Lab Consortium as a sponsor. Under the three-year sponsorship deal, AOL will collaborate on the Media Lab’s research, and have the right to license work developed at the Media Lab during its sponsorship.