Category Archives: STEM

Celebrating Women Engineers at UMass Lowell

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International Women in Engineering Day is celebrated annually on June 23. Learn more about the great work and outstanding accomplishments of just a few of the women engineers at UMass Lowell:

  • Assoc. Dean of Undergraduate Affairs Kavitha Chandra was the first woman to graduate from UMass Lowell with an electrical engineering doctoral degree. Now, Chandra leads the Research, Academic and Mentoring Pathways (RAMP) program which provides incoming first-year female engineering students the chance to get to know the engineering field, the campus and build a network of women in engineering. Learn more about RAMP.
  • Assoc. Prof. Joyita Dutta received a $2.7 million National Institutes of Health grant for her research that aims to build models that predict the progression of tau tangles in the brain, primary markers for Alzheimer’s disease. Read more.
  • Biomedical Engineering Asst. Teaching Prof. Yanfen Li is leading a team of faculty researchers which has been awarded a six-year grant totaling nearly $1.5 million by the National Science Foundation to create a diverse and competitive pool of students who could become future faculty candidates in engineering. Read more.
  • Plastics Engineering Assoc. Prof. Margaret Sobkowicz Kline teamed up with Assoc. Prof. Christopher Hansen to create the Sustainable Water Innovations in Materials – Mentoring, Education, and Research (SWIMMER) program at UMass Lowell. The program aims to protect endangered water resources through training graduate and Ph.D. students to develop sustainable materials and chemicals that will not harm water resources. The program is funded through a five-year $2,998,922 National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award. Read more.
  • Prof. Laura Punnett co-directs the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW) which is a joint initiative between UMass Lowell and the University of Connecticut. Recently, CPH-NEW received a renewal grant of $7 million from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for their research on safeguarding worker health. Read More.
  • Asst. Prof. Gulden Camci-Unal received a five-year grant worth nearly $2 million from the National Institutes of Health for her research on repairing and regenerating bone. The goal of her research is to design and synthesize novel composite biomaterials to create tiny 3D scaffolds of structures where bone cells can grow in the lab and produce a matrix that gets deposited with minerals to form bone. Read more.
  • Asst. Prof. Marianna Maiaru received a three-year $450,000 Young Investigator Program grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for her work on process modeling of composite materials. The grant will assist her in advancing the development and processing of high-strength, high-temperature structural materials for the next generation of aerospace vehicles. Read more.
  • Asst. Prof. Yan Gu received a five-year $565,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant for her research that would develop new methods in modeling, analyzing and controlling the movement of legged robots to keep them stable and upright while walking on nonstationary surfaces. Read more.
  • Asst. Prof. Sheree Pagsuyoin leads the project, Disease Surveillance with Multi-Modal Sensor Network and Data Analytics, also called “DiSenDa.” The project won a $660,000 prize during the inaugural international competition hosted by The Trinity Challenge. “DiSenDa” is a joint research initiative between UMass Lowell and Northeastern University that is creating and testing low-cost automated wireless sensor networks that predict disease outbreaks in the air and in wastewater in real time. Read more.
  • Asst. Prof. Danjue Chen received a five-year $500,000 early-career development award from the National Science Foundation for her research into the complex interactions between self-driving and human-driven cars. Read more.

Rising Researcher: Varun Venoor

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“Keep observing and learning,” says Varun Venoor, doctoral student in the Department of Plastics Engineering. Venoor takes this approach in his daily work, and it has served him well. Throughout his educational journey, he has welcomed opportunities to work alongside a variety of mentors, pivoted when necessary and continued to thrive in curiosity, striving always to generate new, unique ideas.

After receiving a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University, Venoor jumped at the opportunity to work with his current advisors at UMass Lowell, Prof. David Kazmer and Assoc. Prof. Margaret Sobkowicz-Kline who are both members of the Harnessing Emerging Research Opportunities to Empower Soldiers (HEROES) program.

HEROES is a collaborative research and development center between UMass Lowell and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (DEVCOM SC) in Natick, Mass. The center works across disciplines to develop creative and effective solutions related to soldier protection, performance and survivability.

Venoor’s first project with HEROES involved developing composites for transparent ballistic applications. During this project, Venoor had the opportunity to work with Jo Ann Ratto, deputy director of DEVCOM HEROES. From there, Venoor began testing polyamides commonly used in these protective armor applications in order to study how materials respond to adverse conditions such as environmental moisture, processing conditions (temperature, shear rate, etc.) and the concurrent application of several of these factors.

“The way a plastic material interacts with its environment determines how its properties change over time and the rate at which this change occurs. My goal is to understand these complex interactions and material behavior so that such fundamental understanding can be applied towards predicting and controlling manufacturing and material failure in-service,” says Venoor. His fundamental research aids in the understanding of the effect of moisture during the processing of polyamides, which he hopes will inform future product development.

As Venoor continues his work, he is also keen on ensuring sustainability stays at the forefront of his research. He recently had the opportunity to work on a project to understand the processability of biodegradable polymers or bioplastics, and the results were promising.

Recognizing the immense benefit of plastics, Venoor also sees the issue of the amount of plastic waste that is not recycled, and he hopes to help develop a long-term solution. “I want to contribute towards bringing a global change in mindset and awareness on what we consume on a daily basis and how we dispose of them. As a researcher, my goal will be to collaborate with the scientific community to bring about novel technologies to recycle polymers,” says Venoor. By all accounts of his work thus far, he is bound to make the impact he hopes for.

Rising Researcher: SaiLavanyaa Sundar

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Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart disease in which the wall of the left ventricle becomes much thinner than that of a normal heart, decreases the blood that is pumped from the heart to other organs and eventually leads to heart failure. DCM affects one in 250 individuals and is known to be the number one cause for heart transplantation in the United States.

“I was interested in conducting research in this area because DCM affects so many people, and the disease often goes unnoticed,” says SaiLavanyaa Sundar, doctoral student in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Sundar is currently studying protein interactions at the molecular level in order to help understand the molecular mechanisms that may lead to DCM. Cardiac muscles consist of several proteins that interact in a systematic manner to result in contractions that pump blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Previous research has shown that mutations in the proteins, tropomyosin and troponin, lead to alterations in muscle contractility which leads to DCM or other types of cardiomyophathies.

Looking specifically at tropomyosin and troponin, Sundar identified a hydrophobic pocket, a binding site, where specific compounds could be added to counteract the mutations that cause DCM, whereby restoring normal heart function. Working with partners at Boston University, Sundar uses molecular dynamic simulations to screen different naturally identified compounds, such as those derived from plants, to find those that not only have a strong binding affinity to the pocket, but also the ability to affect muscle contractility. So far, a compound commonly found in mulberry trees shows promise.

Sundar continues to screen compounds and to test them in vitro, meaning her project is still very much in its beginning mechanistic stages. Having been recently awarded an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship worth more than $62,000 over two years, Sundar is grateful to continue her research. With her findings, Sundar hopes to eventually work with partners at Yale University to test the promising compounds in real cells in engineered heart tissue.

Ultimately, by focusing on the molecular scale for diseases such as DCM, Sundar hopes for a future culture shift towards disease prevention rather than treatment. “Right now, most medicine is targeting the symptoms rather than the cause of the disease. What we are trying to do is dial into the molecular level and alter those interactions before the disease progresses. If we can identify the mutations at early stages, then potential drugs could be used as molecular interventions to stop the disease in the first place,” says Sundar.

And though these are lofty goals, Sundar has already shown great success and promise toward contributing to the cause. At such an early stage in her education and career, Sundar has gained invaluable experience working with Prof. Jeffrey Moore in the Department of Biological Science on his project studying hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, has published five papers (two of which she was the first author), and has won multiple UMass Lowell awards including the Graduate Winner in the 2021 Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium, 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Award in the Department of Biological Sciences, and the 2019 Stephen R. Williams Award for Excellence in Graduate Research.

“The awards and recognition that I have earned at the university level and even at the national level have been a huge boost and validation of my research. Also, as an international student, the support I have received from the members of the Moore Lab and the UMass Lowell community has helped me survive halfway across the globe away from my family,” says Sundar.

Students Make Big Moves for UMOVE

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There’s no sophomore slump for the annual UMOVE Student Research Symposium. The UMass Movement Research Center (UMOVE) recently held its 2nd annual symposium and welcomed more than double the number of participants that attended the inaugural event. Students, faculty, staff and experts from the university and in the region gathered to share and discuss innovations in biological movement, and more importantly, to learn about the research conducted by students.

Julia Schneider, a graduate student pursing a master’s degree in Biotechnology, was the graduate poster winner of the day. She presented her project studying a protein which is involved in heart muscle contraction. Alterations in this protein are responsible for heart diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) which is the leading cause of heart transplants in the United States. “With increased knowledge and understanding of heart function and alterations, it is my hope that new therapies can be developed for people suffering from heart diseases such as DCM,” says Schneider.

Other students are also focusing on understanding proteins and their role in human health and performance. Colleen Kelly, a PhD student in Chemistry at UMass Lowell and winner of the symposium’s student talk competition, is conducting research on immunoglobulin domains in the muscle protein, titin, and the correlation between its mechanical and chemical unfolding. Proteins must take shape in order to function properly, and if they do not fold correctly, medical complications may develop. Kelly uses magnetic tweezers to study the mechanical folding of domains in muscle protein which helps determine the parallels between mechanical behaviors and chemical manipulations derived from previous studies.

In addition to presentations, students were also tasked with planning and managing the entire symposium. From coordinating the keynote speaker, Michael Previs, assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics from the University of Vermont, to managing sponsors such as the Biophysical Society, a team of students made the event a true success. Matthew Gage, associate professor of chemistry and director of UMOVE, intentionally relies on student leaders of the center, offering a unique professional development opportunity in addition to the students’ technical science-based learning.

Keynote Speaker: Michael Previs, assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, University of Vermont

Gage looks forward to continuing the UMOVE Student Research Symposium: “I believe it is important to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to present their work and to get feedback on what they are doing, especially from their peers. We are starting to see students have a broader perspective in their understanding of how their research impacts more than their specific field, and we anticipate that will grow in the future.”

As evidenced by the symposium, UMOVE is not only living up to its promise to engage, train and support the next generation of scientists, but the center is poised to expand in its other values. UMOVE was recently designated as an official UMass Lowell research seed center with its strong potential for increased research funding, synergistic activities and interdisciplinary work.

Gage hopes to build upon and increase collaborations among faculty across the university in the future. By applying a strong interdisciplinary approach combining comparative biology, nutrition and public health, UMOVE already transcends the capabilities and offerings of traditional biomechanical centers. With an array of expertise and perspectives from UMOVE members, the Center is making strides in its goal of understanding the principles of movement and ultimately translating basic discovery into clinical applications that address movement related issues in health, injury rehabilitation and injury prevention. It’s safe to say UMOVE is moving in the right direction.

Welcome to the UMass Lowell Research Blog

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UMass Lowell researchers in a laboratory in 1894 vs. 2019

UMass Lowell is a nationally ranked public research university at the forefront of cutting-edge, applied research. With a multidisciplinary, visionary approach, our faculty and students translate discoveries into practical solutions that solve the world’s greatest challenges.

Join us as we share an insider look at the groundbreaking research conducted at the university. As we ring in the new year with a new blog, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the highlights from 2019, a year that marked the 125th anniversary of our storied history.

Looking back at a full year of accomplishments, we are energized and eager for a bright 2020.

Review the research highlights from 2019