News

When UMass Amherst alumni Mike and Terry Hluchyj created a fellowship in 2008 to support one graduate student per year from the College of Engineering and one from the School of Nursing, Terry Hluchyj summarized their motivation this way: “Quality healthcare ranks among the most important issues our society faces, and the collaborative research initiatives between nursing and engineering at UMass Amherst can make a real difference.” Indeed, during the ensuing four years, the Hluchyj Graduate Fellowship has done just that. The research carried out by Hluchyj Fellows has already generated significant healthcare reforms, beneficial applications, important grants, prestigious journal papers, and key presentations, and it is beginning to earn fellows esteemed professional positions.

Six teams containing engineering students or faculty members scored prize money in the recent Executive Summary & Elevator Pitch phase of the University of Massachusetts Innovation Challenge, which handed out $10,000 to promising teams of aspiring entrepreneurs. Innovation Challenge competitors are interdisciplinary teams developing marketable business concepts while working in consultation with faculty members and external advisors. SMASH, based on a new software technique to reduce the energy consumption of battery-powered devices, nailed one of the four top prizes of $1,750 apiece. Dr. Wayne Burleson (pictured) of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department was one of the faculty advisors for SMASH.

On December 14, College of Engineering Dean Ted Djaferis was recognized with a 2011 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society (CSS) Distinguished Member Award. This was one of two Distinguished Member Awards given in 2011 and one of only 86 that have been given out since the formation of CSS in 1954. The award was presented during the CSS Awards Ceremony at the 2011 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, held in conjunction with the 2011 European Control Conference in Orlando, Florida.