News Highlights

iCons Faculty Selected as 2018-19 Sustainability Curriculum Fellow

Jared Starr

UMass iCons Faculty, Jared Starr, was named a 2018-19 UMass Sustainability Curriculum Fellow.  Fellows will meet once a month during the academic year to share knowledge and learn about available resources on campus related to sustainability. They will offer feedback to each other on integrating sustainability into lesson plans.  Jared's primary interest in applying was to meet more faculty on campus that work on sustainability research in order to connect a  broader network of faculty collaborators to iCons 1 students working on case studies that align with faculty interests.

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Kurt Schultz receives inaugural Mahoney Alumni Award

Photo of Kurt Schultz receiving iCons Mahoney Alumni Award

"iCons will always be a way of life for me, and the iCons program will continue to inform my most important career decisions. I will forever see the world through the lens of an iCons student. I have high expectations for myself going forward, and I have high expectations for all those who graduate from the iCons program at UMass Amherst. May our combined efforts be for the benefit of all."  ---- Kurt Schultz

Eric Wuesthoff, iCons Junior, wins Goldwater Scholarship

photo of Eric Wuesthoff

iCons junior and NRC major, Eric Wuesthoff, has been selected as 1 of only 2 UMass Amherst undergraduates to win the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Please join us in congratulating him!

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iCons Alumna Fitzgerald focusing on genetic engineering and its potential in society

Lily Fitzgerald and her team - including Ken Oye, professor of public policy at MIT.

iCons graduate Lily Fitzgerald’s passion for science led her to pursue a field atypical for members of the scientific community: public policy.

Fitzgerald graduated University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2014 with an environmental science major and a biochemistry and molecular biology minor. She was also a member of the iCons Biomedicine and Biosystems track.

After graduating, Fitzgerald worked in biotechnology industry for three years, but her desire for enacting change through governmental policy never faded. From here, she applied and was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Masters’ Program for Technology and Policy.

iCons Alumna hosts Poster Workshop

iCons Alumna hosts Poster Workshop

  iCons students are so lucky to have iCons alumna, Hannah French return to campus on Saturday, April 7th to host a workshop on poster design.  Hannah is an educator herself and she knows the importance of presentation.  In this work session, Hannah will help iCons students think through their layout, choice of graphics, purpose, etc.  There will be a discussion about what makes an effective, beautiful poster and examples will be analyzed.  Read more about Hannah here.

iCons Works at Fall Workshop

A group of iCons students brainstorm at Fall Workshop

About 100 iCons scholars and applicants gathered in the Integrative Learning Center of UMass Amherst on Nov 9, 2017 for the annual iCons Fall Integrative Workshop.  They came to hear Dr. Jonathan Thon tell the story of how his start-up company Platelet Biogenesis came to be. Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) Program Director Justin Fermann introduced Thon to the crowd, telling the iCons students “we are here because we have work to do, and he’s got some problems we need to solve.”

Annual Mahoney Alumni Award Established for iCons Program Graduates

The College of Natural Sciences (CNS) has announced the establishment of the Mahoney Alumni Award for the iCons Program, an annual award bestowed to one alumna or alumnus of the Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) Program who demonstrates application of the attitudes, knowledge, and skills developed in the program, and who shows engagement and support of the iCons community since graduation.

Tuominen Named CNS Associate Dean for Research & Innovation

Mark Tuominen, iCons faculty and curriculum developer, has been named Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Natural Sciences.

As a member of the Dean’s leadership team, Professor Tuominen will have broad responsibilities for the success of research and faculty advancement for the thirteen department and two schools, encompassing more than 450 faculty, within CNS.

iCAN leads case study at Junior Achievement Summer Institute

In partnership with Junior Achievement of Northern New England, A group of dedicated iCons alumni visited the MIT Sloan School of Management to run an iCons-style case study for high school students.

The event was a terrific demonstration of the power of the iCons approach, and was a great success.

For more details and pictures, check out the official iCAN blog post.

iCons Alumni Network (iCAN) Celebrates One Year Anniversary

iCAN (iCons Alumni Network)

A group of UMass iCons Program alumni officially launched the iCAN organization in the summer of 2016.  This international network aims to foster and maintain a powerful sense of community among the alumni of iCons. Their mission:  "We believe that we can carry the collaborative spirit of the program out into the world, and by doing so, improve both it and ourselves."