News Highlights
UMass iCons Program Sparks Creative Thinking to Address Student Anxiety
On October 22, 2024, the UMass iCons Program hosted the annual Idea Slam. This event urges students to think creatively and collaboratively to hypothesize potential solutions to real-world issues, with a particular focus this year on addressing the epidemic of student anxiety. Presentations delivered by thought leaders Dr. Melissa Rotkiewicz, the director of the UMass Amherst Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH), and Brian Pearson, the founder of Adventure East, prepared participants for the issue at hand: the epidemic of student anxiety.
From Classroom to Climatetech: Marinna Teixeira’s Inspiring Path
In 2016, Marinna Teixeira graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Environmental Sciences and a minor in French. Having emigrated from Brazil at a young age, Marinna was the first woman in her family to graduate from university and has achieved profound accomplishments since. After joining the UMass iCons Program as a freshman, she befriended peers who dreamed of professional accomplishments like hers. As a member of the third iCons cohort, the Third Axis, her participation in the undergraduate program fell under the Renewable Energy track where she pursued her interest in climate change mitigation.
From iCons Classroom to Global Adventures
Heather Bortolussi '24 and Fay Paicos '24, both recent graduates of the Environmental Science program and the UMass iCons Program at UMass Amherst, discovered that an iCons classroom is not just the beginning of a professional toolkit but a gateway to enriching experiences beyond academia. Their journey began in an iCons 2 classroom, where their teamwork sparked a friendship that extended far beyond those four walls, taking them all the way to Thailand for a study abroad adventure.
Announcing the 2024 Winners of the Crowley-Nowick Award for iCons Student Leadership and Philanthropy
We are excited to announce the 2024 recipients of the Crowley-Nowick Award for iCons Student Leadership and Philanthropy: Claudia Figeroa-Pabón ’25 (Biomedical Engineering and Commonwealth Honors College) and Shiven Patel ’26 (Computer Science and Commonwealth Honors College).
iCons Program Graduates Largest-ever Cohort, Including First ISOM Students
The UMass Amherst Integrated Concentration in STEM (iCons) Program held its 11th Annual Senior Exposition – the culminating event of the iCons Program – and celebrated significant milestones in the program’s history. The event, held May 13, marked both the awarding of 46 certificates, the largest iCons graduating class to date, as well as the graduation of the first iCons students from the Isenberg School of Management.
Wei Fan Honored with Distinguished Teaching Award
Dr. Wei Fan, Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department and the UMass iCons Program, has been named a recipient of the 2023-2024 Distinguished Teaching Award by the Center for Teaching and Learning at UMass Amherst.
UMass iCons Expands Horizons with New Policy Option: Making a Difference via Policies and Strategies for Social Change
In fall 2023, the UMass iCons Program introduced a new policy option for the 3rd-year “laboratory” requirement. In collaboration with the School of Public Policy (SPP), iCons students were eligible to take SPP 312 – Making a Difference: Policies and Strategies for Social Change. This course provided an opportunity for iCons students to explore policy and societal impact on problems related to the two iCons tracks of Biomedicine/Biosystems or Renewable Energy. This collaboration emphasizes the intersection of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with policy, paving the way for a diverse generation of change-makers.
French Professor and Researcher Visits with Sustainability Programs, Including iCons
Story from UMass News: The UMass Amherst Energy Transition Institute (ETI) recently hosted professor and researcher Cécile Renouard, president and co-founder of the new Campus of the Transition in France, while she was on a limited tour of U.S. college campuses to build collaborations and investigate innovative ways to incorporate equity and other social issues into sustainability education and in living labs.
What's In a Name?
UMass iCons is an academic program deeply entrenched in the ethos of exploration and innovation. Therefore it should not be surprising that the inspiration for the 14th cohort's name originates from the final frontier of exploration: space.
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