News Highlights
Summer 2020 Job Opportunity for iCons Students
iCons students who have completed iCons 2 or iCons 3 are eligible to apply for a funded iCons educational internship for summer 2020. The iCons Program is developing new curriculum for the iCons 3 course in the Biomedicine track - one specifically built by and for the iCons students.
iCons Seniors Present Research in Virtual Exposition and Honored with Celebration
The Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) program held the Seventh Annual Senior Exposition on Thursday, April 30 from 3:30-6 p.m. via Zoom. This year’s Senior Expo featured the seventh cohort of iCons seniors, with each senior giving a brief online presentation about their research project on today’s pressing problems.
iCons Program Announces Online Innovation Portal
The Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) Program announced the upcoming unveiling of an online, web-based “innovation portal” to showcase student research projects into real-world problems as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a remote instruction tool, says iCons founder and professor of chemistry Scott Auerbach. He and the program’s faculty researchers and instructors intend the portal to allow iCons student research to enjoy increased impact through online dissemination.
Program Appoints Dunham as Strategic Communications and Program Manager
iCons has appointed Wesley J. Dunham as its new strategic communications and program manager. “We are delighted to welcome Wesley Dunham to the iCons team. This was a hard position to fill because of its wide range of responsibilities. Wesley’s extensive and impressive background at UMass makes him an outstanding fit—we’re excited to work with Wesley to bring UMass iCons to the next level,” said Scott Auerbach, professor of chemistry and Mahoney Family Sponsored Executive Director of iCons.
The Hannah Frilot Memorial Scholarship Deadline Approaches
The Hannah Frilot Memorial Scholarship supports an undergraduate student, encouraging them to follow in Hannah’s footsteps and pursue their interests in a STEM major.
iCons' Dave and Davis Contribute to Greening of UMass Campus
Meg Davis and Radha Dave have successfully taken an idea, seeded in their freshman iCons 1 class, "Global Challenges, Scientific Solutions", to fruition; The prototypes developed from this idea, after hours of researching, collecting, and compiling data, are being installed in showers two years later. Their goal: to reduce water usage in UMass dorms.
iCons Alumnus, Eres, Published in Nature for Work Designing Synthetic Proteins
"Researchers, led by UC Berkeley engineers, have created a synthetic material that is as effective as naturally occurring proteins in transporting molecules through membranes, a major milestone that could transform such fields as medicine, life sciences, alternative energy and environmental science." UC Berkeley Article
Auerbach and Team Discover Tricyclic Bridges
In an article featured on the Dec 26, 2019 journal cover of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, UMass iCons Executive Director Scott Auerbach and collaborators in the Chemical Engineering departments at UMass and WPI have discovered new building blocks that they call "tricyclic bridges," which help to explain the structures and vibrations of zeolites.
Using Computer Science to solve Cancer
Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) students don’t shy away from big problems. They use the strength of the team and the broad range of skill sets across disciplines to take risks and think boldly.
So, it is fitting that a like-minded, world-famous expert in computational drug design, Dr. Woody Sherman, was the guest-speaker facilitating the program’s Fall 2019 Integrative Science Workshop. Dr. Sherman’s company, Silicon Therapeutics, does cancer research using an integrative approach combining physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology -- all starting with high-performance computing of protein-drug interactions to design more effective drugs.
Passing of the torch to Executive Director Auerbach at annual Fall Workshop
Eager UMass iCons Program applicants, proud current and past students, and grateful faculty gathered in the Integrative Sciences Building on Wednesday, November 6th as a group with a common purpose: to make change. The annual UMass iCons Integrative Science Fall Workshop centers on a grand problem of our time and brings in an expert problem solver in this area to facilitate a workshop in the ‘iCons way’ --- using an integrated scientific approach.
What most at this event didn’t know was they were about to witness another iCons tradition in the making.
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