The recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Alumni Awards

Congratulations to the 2026 Riccio College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award recipients! These eleven alumni exemplify innovation, dedication, and leadership, using their engineering expertise to shape a better future in Massachusetts and beyond.

Learn more: www.umass.edu/engineering/...

UMass Amherst Receives nearly $6 Million NASA Grant to Understand the Fate of River Water in the Arctic Ocean | UMass Amherst The multi-institutional effort will lead to better forecasting models to predict the impact of shrinking sea ice, increased fresh water and increased sediment.

“The Arctic Ocean is the least studied and it’s the coldest—and we don’t know how it’s changing,” says Colin Gleason, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. Under a new NASA grant, he will lead an effort to help address this knowledge gap.

www.umass.edu/news/article...

The image shows a diagram illustrating a microfluidic chip setup. The right section has a magnified view of the chip with an objective lens focused on an inlet and outlet connected by a microfluidic channel.

How do you detect dangerous immune responses in real time? Prof. Guangyu Xu just patented a rapid cytokine sensor that could monitor inflammatory biomarkers in minutes, an advance with potential impact on critical care and precision medicine. www.umass.edu/engineering/news/guangyu...

Three UMass Amherst Faculty Members Named Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors 2026 Class | UMass Amherst Inventions in food science, engineering and wireless sensors garner top honors for Lili He, Govindarajan Srimathveeravalli and VP Nguyen, respectively.

Congratulations to Govind Srimathveeravalli, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and director of the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring, who has been named a Senior Member of the 2026 Class of the National Academy of Inventors.

www.umass.edu/news/article...

UMass Driving Simulator testing technology to keep roads safe You slide behind the wheel of your car, with your sights set on your destination. But while you’re on the roads, how much time do you really spend thinking about the technology you use, or the signs y...

Prof. Shannon Roberts is among the researchers using a driving simulator to understand driving behaviors, road infrastructure, and automation. @boston25news.com has the inside look. https://bit.ly/4rLRLbi

To Fight Cancer, Scientists Customize Cellular Protein | UMass Amherst Researchers at UMass Amherst have developed methods that could offer tailored treatments for specific cancers with fewer side effects.

From "shredding" dangerous proteins to reprogramming cancer cells for normal function, researchers in the Riccio College of Engineering at UMass Amherst latest work could pave the way for personalized therapies against cancer and other immunological diseases. umass.edu/news/article...

New UMass Amherst-Led Study Shows that Analog Hardware May Solve Internet of Things’ Speedbumps and Bottlenecks | UMass Amherst Our interconnected digital technology is becoming slower and more energy-hungry as more devices come online, but new research from scientists including Qiangfei Xia, Dev and Linda Gupta professor in t...

Old-school tech, new-school breakthrough! A team led by Riccio College of Engineering Prof. Qiangfei Xia is tackling a major tech problem using analog computing and a classic component called the memristor. www.umass.edu/news/article...

Innovative Bridge Repair Method Developed by UMass Amherst-Led Team Awarded as ‘Idea That Could Change the Future’ | UMass Amherst Work led by Simos Gerasimidis, associate professor in the Riccio College of Engineering at UMass Amherst, has recently been awarded a 2026 IDEAS Award by the American Institute of Steel Construction, ...

The future of bridge repair may look less like beams and welding and more like high-tech spray paint—a new additive manufacturing technique developed by UMass Amherst researchers involves spraying high-velocity metal powder particles to coat sections of a steel beam.

www.umass.edu/news/article...

WWET Lab joined the Hitchcock Harvest: A Celebration of Sustainability to share our poster “From Rain to Tap”, highlighting the Hitchcock Center’s net-positive water system and future innovations in sustainable water treatment!💧🌿
@umassamherst.bsky.social @umassengineering.bsky.social

Congratulations to @umassinforms.bsky.social on receipt of the Cum Laude Award at the @informs.bsky.social conference in Atlanta! The ceremony was wonderful. Proud of this student chapter, which is a great collaboration between the @isenbergumass.bsky.social and the @umassengineering.bsky.social!

ChE’s Sarah Perry Receives $636,834 NSF Award : Riccio College of Engineering : UMass Amherst This NSF project will benefit society by establishing a class of biology-inspired materials for use across chemical, agricultural, and industrial applications.

ChE Professor Sarah Perry is the principal investigator on a four-year, $636,834 award from the NSF to support her groundbreaking research to engineer materials that can modify the assembly of surfactants to improve the usefulness of numerous nano-scale structures.

www.umass.edu/engineering/...

ECE’s Wayne Burleson Serves as Co-PI on NSF Award to Counteract “Brain-jacking” and Other Security Threats in Neural Implants : Riccio College of Engineering : UMass Amherst This pioneering project will greatly improve many safety, security, human health, and wellness functions related to existing and future neural-implant devices.

ECE Professor Wayne Burleson is a co-principal investigator on a five-year, $3,500,000 award from the National Science Foundation to support a trailblazing, five-institution project that promises to address several security threats related to neural implants.

www.umass.edu/engineering/...

Jonathan Rothstein Named Fellow of the American Physical Society | UMass Amherst Rothstein, Distinguished Professor and interim head of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, has been named a 2025 American Physical Society Fellow for pioneering advancements in fl...

Congratulations to Jonathan Rothstein, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering @umassamherst.bsky.social, on being named a 2025 American Physical Society Fellow!

www.umass.edu/news/article...

UMass Engineers Create First Artificial Neurons That Could Directly Communicate With Living Cells | UMass Amherst A team of UMass Amherst engineers announced the creation of an artificial neuron with electrical functions that closely mirror those of biological ones.

A team of UMass Amherst engineers has created an artificial neuron with electrical functions that closely mirror those of biological ones. The discovery means that we could see immensely efficient, biology-inspired computers that interface directly with living cells.
www.umass.edu/news/article...

The Agility Equation: Discovering the Math of Human Movement for Robotic and Advanced Footwear Technologies | UMass Amherst Compared to walking, much less is understood about agile movement, and shedding light on this movement will support the development of innovative wearable technology, such as robotic exoskeletons and ...

Researchers from UMass Amherst—including Meghan Huber, assistant professor of mechanical engineering—have received a grant from the NSF to define the primary mathematical components of running. Compared to walking, much less is understood about agile movement.

www.umass.edu/news/article...

Feng Distinguished Lecturer, Professor Lut Raskin, with the Feng family and the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering faculty and staff.

Amazing lecture by Prof. Raskin (@lutraskin.bsky.social), this year’s Distinguished Feng Lecturer. Thanks for joining us at UMass!

@umassengineering.bsky.social
@umassamherst.bsky.social

CEE’s Michael Knodler Named President of ARTBA Research and Education Division : Riccio College of Engineering : UMass Amherst Besides being president of the ARTBA Research and Education Division, Knodler was just named vice president of the Council of University Transportation Centers.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Research and Education Division has named Professor Michael Knodler of the UMass Amherst Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as its new president.

UMass Researchers Help ID New Mineral on Mars, Providing Insight on the Red Planet’s Potential to Have Supported Life | UMass Amherst Identifying the mineral on Mars’ surface has eluded scientists for decades

UMass Amherst researchers—including Mario Parente, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering—have helped identify a new mineral on Mars, giving more insight into possible life on the planet.

We heard from @informs.bsky.social that our @umassinforms.bsky.social Student Chapter will receive the Cum Laude Award at the #INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta. This chapter is a great collaboration betw @isenbergumass.bsky.social & @umassengineering.bsky.social! More: websites.umass.edu/umassinf/

We are so excited to have been awarded $2M from the @NSF #DMREF program to develop bio-inspired membranes in collaboration with @schiffmanlab.bsky.social, Charles Sing, Cecilia Leal, Viviana Monje, and Jeffrey Ethier!
www.umass.edu/news/article...

Historic News! Dan Riccio ’86, ’24MS has committed $50 million to the College of Engineering which will now be known as the Daniel J. Riccio Jr. College of Engineering.

Learn more about this extraordinary gift: www.umass.edu/gateway/ricc...

BME’s Jingjing Gao Awarded Grant from Alzheimer’s Association : College of Engineering : UMass Amherst Gao’s funded research aims to develop a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that boosts the brain’s own immune cells, called microglia.

Assistant Professor Jingjing Gao of UMass Amherst Biomedical Engineering Department has received an award of $200,000 from the Alzheimer's Association International Research Grant program to support her research into a novel Alzheimer’s treatment.

Ready for Launch: UMass Researcher Takes a Lead Role with NASA/ISRO Satellite to Collect Remote Sensing Data to Study the Earth from Space | UMass Amherst The satellite, which makes currently invisible parts of the Earth’s surface visible, launched July 30.

Paul Siqueira, professor of electrical and computer engineering @umassamherst.bsky.social, is the ecosystems lead for NISAR, which launched last week. This satellite will observe nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces two times every 12 days, detecting centimeter-level changes.

Engineers Without Borders: Creating Meaningful Change, One Project at a Time | UMass Amherst

At UMass Amherst, engineering is more than a discipline—it’s a tool for solving real-world problems. Through the university’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, undergraduate students apply their knowledge and creativity to make a tangible difference in communities both locally and globally.

UMass Amherst Joins Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network | UMass Amherst The network of 68 universities is committed to instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in their engineers.

UMass Amherst has joined the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN)—a nationwide partnership of universities that have the shared mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Congratulations to Vibha Balaji for winning the @snmmi-pidsc.bsky.social Best Poster Award (1st Place) and Fan Yang for a great oral presentation at the @snm-mi.bsky.social conference! Ziyuan Zhou & Bowen Lei did excellent work on their virtual posters.
#BIDSLab @umassengineering.bsky.social