News Highlights
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UMass Amherst iCons Program Poised to Transform STEM Education
A gift of $1.25 million over five years to the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst will significantly expand the reach of the Integrated Concentration in Science program (iCons) by recruiting more faculty, providing more mentors for STEM students and funding the spread of the pioneering iCons program to other higher education institutions.
Dr. Woody Sherman, Silicon Therapeutics to lead Fall 2019 iCons Workshop
UMass iCons is pleased to host Dr. Woody Sherman, Chief Science Officer for Silicon Therapeutics, to run the Fall 2019 Integrative Science Workshop entitled, "Mission Impossible: Designing Drugs for Challenging Targets". Silicon Therapeutics, an innovative company in this space, is headquartered in both Boston, MA and Suzhou, China.
Greco video abstract honored at MIT International Conference of Applied Energy
The iCons 3rd Axis alum Katharine Greco, is pursuing her PhD in chemical engineering at MIT. She recently won the award for best video abstract at the MIT International Conference of Applied Energy in May 2019.
Katharine gave a talk at the conference on her research regarding next-gen energy storage materials, and produced an award-winning video abstract using all her iCons training in scientific communication.
Moving on Up: iCons Graduates 6th Cohort
The UMass Amherst iCons Program hosted a successful Senior Research Exposition for the 6th graduating cohort on May 2, 2019 in the Integrated Sciences Building. After posters, talks, and a cohort graduation ceremony, a select group attended the award ceremony in the Old Chapel. It was here that the UMass iCons Program announced the recipients of the annual Crowley-Nowick Award for iCons Student Leadership & Philanthropy and the Mahoney Alumni Award.
iCons Leaders Reflect on Crowley-Nowick Award
For Crowley-Nowick Leadership award recipients Eric Wuesthoff and Dominique Carey, the UMass iCons program goes beyond academics: it is a tight knit community beyond the UMass Amherst campus.
This particular award, given annually, focuses on students that embody the iCons mission. Specifically, open-minded students with strong leadership and teamwork skills are recognized. And these students are not selected by professors: instead, students nominate fellow peers they believe would be a good fit for the award. The people nominated the most make it to the second round, where peers select students they think deserve the award off the list.
9th Cohort Seeks Scientific Solutions to Societal Challenges
On December 1, 2018, the UMass iCons program hosted an orientation welcoming their “9th Bit” cohort. The mission was clear: determine what exactly constitutes a “global problem” and teach these new students how to think in terms of these issues.
iCons Workshop: UMass students tackle the future of aquaculture and its impact on food and energy sources
With the human population growing at a steep incline, scientists are putting energy towards developing new ways of maximizing food production for this increasing population. University of Massachusetts Professor and Endowed Chair in Renewable Energy Krish Thaigarajan Sharman presented this issue to the iCons Fall Workshop on October 29th, 2018, focusing on the future of aquaculture and its impact on food and energy sources. And despite the large scale and complexity of these issues, the UMass students provided innovative solutions.
Fresh Voice Enhances Multidisciplinary Teaching
Christiane Healey, biology, is the first recipient of the newly established Mahoney Teaching Award for the UMass iCons Program, made possible by a gift from the Mahoney family. The award brings in new faculty members who haven’t yet taught in the iCons Program, relying on student nominations to bring great candidates forward. Read More
iCons Faculty Selected as 2018-19 Sustainability Curriculum Fellow
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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