The Electoral College: Is Reform Needed? (Virtual) Wednesday December 16, 2020
Free
As we move past the contentious 2020 election, one particular question has surfaced once again this election cycle: Is the way we elect the President in this country still working? The electoral college â our nationâs complicated method of electing presidents â has been under fire since its inception more than 200 years ago.
The system allows one candidate to win the popular vote but another to win the electoral vote and thus the Presidency. Four candidates in U.S. history have won the popular vote but not the Presidency as they did not secure enough votes in the Electoral College. Join us for a closer look at the roles race, politics, and geography have played in the electoral college and explore if reform is needed or not.
Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera. (Courtesy photograph.)
Barring any unforeseen complications during contract negotiations, Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera will become president and chief executive officer of MassDevelopment.
MassDevelopment’s board of directors voted unanimously to authorize Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy to extend a contract offer to Rivera. He would replace Lauren A. Liss, who previously said she planned to step down at the end of the year. Rivera said he is excited for the opportunity to “hone my focus on economic development, especially during these trying times.”
Rivera said, “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, MassDevelopment stands to play a role in reconstruction of our economy that is inclusive, equitable and focuses on neighborhoods and business districts in every corner of the Commonwealth,”
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A row of single family homes that are part of MSU s Family and Graduate Housing in Bozeman on Nov. 30, 2020
This fall, Montana State University announced it will end on campus housing for staff and faculty to make more space for students. Some employees say they cannot afford the rising cost of living off campus and that MSU’s decision during a pandemic added to already heightened levels of stress.
A quick walk from the heart of campus, red brick apartments, townhouses and single family homes make up MSU’s Family and Graduate Housing(FGH).
With rent for a two bedroom house at $600 a month, it’s well below Bozeman’s market rate, and there’s a waiting list to get in.
Katsumata grew up appreciating historic connection between UMass and Hokkaido U.
December 9, 2020
Reika Katsumata
AMHERST, Mass. – Polymer scientist Reika Katsumata at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently was chosen to receive a prestigious 2021 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The five-year, $595,000 grant will support her investigations into fundamental problems bridging polymer science and engineering to better understand how different-sized molecules move in relationship to each other when they are heated.
As she explains, understanding such multi-scale polymer dynamics “is very important to how you form and shape polymers for use at room temperature. We are trying to understand what is going on at the molecular level. It’s a long-standing, sixty-year-old problem.”