Selected Research Centers and Initiatives
Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
The Center for E-Design, an NSF-supported Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, is a coalition of six universities and a consortium of industry partners working together to create new design paradigms and electronic design tools for generating designing high quality, complex engineered products and systems at reduced costs and short time cycles.
The NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM) is a major national center for research and innovation in nanoscale manufacturing. video The CHM's research and test bed program in roll-to-roll nanomanufacturing of flexible devices has attracted attention and funding from technology companies worldwide. The center also operates the National Nanomanufacturing Network.
The NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) in Polymers provides support to UMass Amherst’s world-renowned research program in polymer science and engineering. Nearly 50 companies collaborate with polymer scientists and support polymer research through the Center for UMass-Industry Research in Polymers (CUMIRP), established in 1980.
Biomedical and Health
At the Massachusetts Initiative for Synthetic Immunological Materials (MAISIM), UMass faculty and collaborators are developing biologically compatible synthetic materials that allow the body’s own cellular mechanisms and pathways to control the immune system in order to fight disease.
The Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, a collaboration with Basystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA, features a nationally-known research program in programmed cell death, the Center of Excellence for Apoptosis Research (CEAR), with participation by nearly 60 UMass Amherst scientists.
Various laboratories in the Department of Kinesiology work with companies on applications from exercise equipment to running shoes.
The Institute for Cellular Engineering (ICE) coordinates research and education on cellular engineering, including strategic partnerships with industry. Nearly 40 researchers from engineering, life science, and information science disciplines use ICE to collaborate on important studies of cellular “machinery” in plants, animals, and microorganisms.
The Institute for Computational Biology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics (ICB3) is a newly established interdisciplinary institute at the forefront of computational, biomedical and translational research to foster and coordinate trans-disciplinary collaborations involving bioinformatics.
The UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science is a major research partnership between UMass Amherst and the University of Massachusetts Medical School created to accelerate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients.
Business Management
The Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets owns and operates the CISDM Database, tracking the performance of hedge funds, commodity trading advisors, and managed futures funds. CISDM co-sponsors the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst SM (CAIA SM) program, the first global accrediting initiative for alternative investment professionals.
The Center for Spectator Sport Research is a source of knowledge related to the sports industry. It connects with top corporate partners and individuals in the industry, and carries out educational programs, training, and research.
The Virtual Center for Supernetworks is a multidisciplinary research center that models the complex interactions in and among network systems, which can include transportation, telecommunication, supply chain, environmental, public utility, financial, logistical, economic, knowledge flow, and social networks.
Energy and Sustainability
The Polymer-Based Materials for Harvesting Solar Energy (PHaSE) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), a Department of Energy-sponsored center on polymer-based solar energy science involving 18 UMass researchers developing polymer-based photovoltaic devices with much improved efficiencies over current organic-based devices.
The Institute for Massachusetts Biofuels Research (TIMBR), a major intiiative involving 30 investigators researching the development of alternative, renewable fuels and chemicals from cellulosic biomass. TIMBR researchers have spun off two start-up companies (Qteros and Annellotech), demonstrated efficient and low-cost production of biofuels and industrial chemical feedstocks from biomass, and collaborated with numerous corporations.
The Geobacter Project, capitalizing on the Geobacter group of microbes, is a major research effort at UMass Amherst with practical application in the fields of bioenergy, bioremediation, and bioelectronics.
The Industrial Assessment Center provides industry with technological and economic solutions to environmental problems resulting from energy production, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial activities, and land use practices.
The UMass IGERT Offshore Wind Energy Program is a community of researchers who understand the technological challenges, environmental implications, socioeconomic, and regulatory hurdles of offshore wind farms. video
Food and Agriculture
The Center for Agriculture integrates research, applied education and outreach work in agriculture, food systems and natural resources. The Center is the contemporary standard bearer of the university’s land-grant origins and provides an economic development link to Massachusetts’ vibrant agricultural business sector.
The Cranberry Station, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is recognized as a leader in the United States and worldwide for research and outreach programs on cranberry culture.
The Fergus M. Clydesdale Center for Foods for Health and Wellness is a world-class academic research center and a resource for businesses interested in meeting increasing demands for safe food products that boost well-being.
Over 20 corporations are members of Department of Food Science's Industrial Strategic Research Alliance, an industry affiliate program for food-related research.
Information Technology
One of the highest ranked and highest impact graduate research programs in the nation, UMass Amherst‘s Department of Computer Science maintains significant collaborations with more than 30 industry-leading technology companies in many areas of advanced technology research. The department's Industrial Affiliates Program provides a mechanism for collaboration.
The National Center for Digital Government builds global research capacity, advances practice and strengthens the network of researchers and practitioners engaged in building and using technology and government.
Sensing Systems
The Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) is an NSF Engineering Research Center conducting research and developing technology and systems for dense radar networks of highly-agile, low-powered sensors that sense the lowest few kilometers of the earth’s atmosphere.
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