In September, I wrote to tell you about UNH Works for New Hampshire--our effort to ask state lawmakers to restore support for the University, which was cut 49 percent last year. Returning funding to 2010 levels would allow us to freeze in-state tuition for two years and dramatically increase financial aid.  The response from alumni, parents, students, and friends of the University has been nothing short of amazing. We now have close to 800 UNH Advocates signed up, and they are writing letters to the editor and reaching out to the candidates for state representative, state senator, and governor.

I'm writing to ask you to join this important effort and to...

 By Sonia Scherr 

What effect do people have on water quality?  

That’s the central question underlying the work of UNH Environmental Science Professor Bill McDowell, who studies suburban watersheds in southern New Hampshire. “We’re trying to understand how characteristics of the landscape affect the water quality in a stream,” says McDowell, whose research also has taken him to Puerto Rico and the Czech Republic. “Much of our work in New Hampshire is focused on the impact of suburbanization and urbanization on water quality.”  

For good reason: The state’s population has grown steadily over the past three decades, especially in the Seacoast region, leading to changes in land use as farms and undisturbed areas have been replaced by buildings and pavement. (In fact, according to recent U.S. Census data, New Hampshire ranks first among all New England states in its...

University officials have agreed to reopen Memorial Field for its varsity teams and their opponents after additional testing showed no measurable levels of lead and blood tests for members of the field hockey team showed they do not have elevated lead levels. The field remains closed to everyone else, and the athletes must follow all safety guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to use the field.

“The decision to reopen the field was made after additional tests on the field, surrounding soil, and drained water did not find measurable levels of lead,” said Director of Athletics Marty Scarano. “In addition, the field hockey coach and a majority of the players were tested and no elevated levels were detected. We believe the field can safely be used by our varsity athletes with close supervision.”

The field was closed Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, after university officials learned that the artificial turf surface installed in 2002 had...

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to “Issues and Ice Cream,” the first in a series of discussions sponsored by Cooperative Extension to build collaborations for research and activities vital to the state of New Hampshire and beyond. 

The first topic, set for Nov. 6 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Room at New Hampshire Hall, will focus on understanding bullying and bystanding; promoting empathy and civility while highlighting research and programming from across campus. 

Share research, experiences and ideas about bullying, meanness, empathy and civility, while enjoying some ice cream from the UNH Dairy Bar. 

The event is coordinated by Positive Learning Environments for Youth (PLEY,) which includes Malcolm Smith, Extension specialist/associate professor; Rick Alleva and Thom Linehan, field specialists, Extension youth and family team; Mike Middleton, chair, department of education; Jane Stapleton, co-director, UNH Prevention Innovations;...

Lisa Tiemann, a post-doctoral researcher, has been awarded a prestigious three-year, $520,299 fellowship through the National Science Foundation’s Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (NSF SEES) program. The grant will fund interdisciplinary research on sustainable agricultural practices in Uganda; UNH faculty members Stuart Grandy, assistant professor of soil biogeochemistry, and Joel Hartter, assistant professor of geography, will serve as her advisors and...

The UNH Foundation has announced the establishment of The Josephine A. Lamprey Fellowship in Climate and Sustainability, a gift that supports a five-year fellowship designed to promote more focus on the climate and energy issues that interconnect with biodiversity and ecosystems, food systems and culture under sustainability.

The gift was made to the university’s Sustainability Institute by Jo Lamprey, retired president of Lamprey Brothers, a local company providing heating and cooling solutions since the late 1800s.

“If there were more Jo Lampreys in the world, we’d be much better off as a society,” says Tom Kelly, chief sustainability officer at UNH. “Her gift gets to the real heart of what we need to do next and we are so grateful for her support.”

The first recipient of the fellowship is Cameron Wake, associate research professor, who leads programs to assess the impact of climate change in New England and to reconstruct climate change from glacial ice cores...

UNH has received a $3.4 million ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) grant from the National Science Foundation to strengthen policies and implement practices to address gender imbalance, primarily in the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  

Provost John Aber is the principle investigator on the grant. The three co-principal investigators are Karen Graham, professor of mathematics and director of the Joan and James Leitzel Center; Sam Mukasa, dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences; and Christine Shea, professor of technology and operations management at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics.   

“This high-impact award comes to UNH through a very competitive proposal process, and is the result of wonderful dedication and collaboration among the ADVANCE team here on campus, especially Professors Graham and Shea and Dean Mukasa, the co-principal investigators on this...