Significant Bits Fall 2022

Robert and Donna Manning’s transformative gift to the College of Information and Computer Sciences

Letter from the Dean

After two and a half years of social distancing, our college has enthusiastically returned to its pre-pandemic vibrancy, matched by a truly spectacular fall foliage season here in the Pioneer Valley. As I start my sixth year as dean, our hallways and classrooms are once again buzzing with students, and we have returned to our packed schedule of in-person events, including distinguished lectures, career fairs, hackathons, and alumni meetups.

One of the highlights of the semester so far has been the ceremonial groundbreaking for our college’s new 90,000-square-foot building expansion (pg. 16), substantially funded by a capital commitment from the Baker-Polito administration. Set to open in spring 2025, this state-of-the-art, fully sustainable facility is being designed to keep pace with the rapid growth of our college, and will include a variety of new spaces to help enrich students’ experiences in and out of the classroom, including hands-on laboratories, graduate and undergraduate student commons, and flexible meeting and event rooms.

As we look ahead to the not-too-distant future, we are planning a collegewide celebration in honor of Robert and Donna Manning’s transformational naming gift (pg. 14). The Manning’s endowments will help us attract and retain top faculty, bolster our student success programs, focus on student mental health needs, and grow the enrollment of diverse students in our college. I am grateful to the Mannings for the trust they have placed in us—their generosity will benefit our students and faculty for generations to come.

Amid all this activity, our faculty are driving exciting new ventures, three of which are profiled in this issue. Professor Deepak Ganesan and the team from the new Massachusetts AI & Technology Center for Connected Care on Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease are funding their first accelerator grants to spur the development of technologies that support aging at home (pg. 7). With the help of a $5 million gift from anonymous alumni, Distinguished Professor Donald Towsley is laying the groundwork for a new center in quantum information communications (pg. 8). Stuart Rice Research Professor Francine Berman is working with faculty across campus to develop educational programs in public interest technology (PIT) via the PIT@UMass program (pg. 10).

All of this tremendous energy and activity would not be possible without the help of our alumni and friends. I am grateful for your ongoing support as we continue our upward trajectory to advance the common good.

With gratitude, Laura Haas Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Dean

Dean Laura Haas speaks with Gov. Charlie Baker during the ceremonial groundbreaking for the college’s new building on September 22, 2022.

Research Briefs

Watch the researchers introduce Shazam: bit.ly/ShazamWearable

A team led by Assistant Professor Sunghoon Ivan Lee has designed a prototype charging system for wearable devices that harnesses the conductive properties of human skin. As reported in a paper published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, Lee, doctoral student Noor Mohammed, and Jeremy Gummeson of the College of Engineering tested a prototype of their technology, dubbed Shazam, and found that 0.5–1 milliwatt of direct current power could be transferred to the wrist-worn device using skin as the transfer medium.

COVID incident deaths forecasts (one to four weeks ahead) made on October 18, 2020 for California and Florida.

According to a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the UMass MechBayes (mechanistic Bayesian) model, developed by Associate Professor Daniel Sheldon with Nicholas Reich, School of Public Health, and Graham Gibson, then a doctoral student with the Reich Lab, was found to be the most accurate individual model for forecasting COVID-19 incident deaths from April 2020 through October 2021. “I’m proud that as a computer scientist, I could play a supporting role in this effort to produce forecasts that were used by the CDC,“ says Sheldon, who spent hundreds of hours developing the model and generating weekly forecasts.

Left to right: Sunghoon Ivan Lee, Noor Mohammed, Jeremy Gummeson

Work led by Stuart Rice Honorary Chair and Research Professor Francine Berman proposes a novel framework that can help policymakers keep the public interest in focus amid the rush to adopt evernew digital technology and devices that are part of the Internet of Things (IoT)—such as connected laptops, phones, cars, fitness trackers, and other smart devices. “How,“ asks Berman, “can we ensure that technology works for us, rather than the other way around?“ Berman, lead author of a paper recently published in the journal Patterns, and her co-authors sketch out what they call the “impact universe“—a way for policymakers and others to think “holistically about the potential impacts of societal controls for systems and devices in the IoT.”

Assistant Professor Donghyun Kim is part of a team of researchers with colleagues from MIT that is working on improving robotics locomotion and control through their Mini Cheetah project, using a fourlegged robot that is springy, light on its feet, and weighs in at just 20 pounds. Their most recent paper, “Real-Time Optimal Landing Control of the MIT Mini Cheetah,“ presents the optimal landing control for a quadrupedal robot that falls from over two meters, a never-beforeseen behavior in robots. “Jumping is the easy part,“ explains Kim. It’s sticking a perfect landing that is extremely complex. “We have only a 0.5 second window during which the robot needs to perceive where it is in the air and adjust itself. And it has to do this procedure many times in order to successfully land.”

Striking a Balance between Privacy & Access

In the mid-1990s, Latanya Sweeney, a computer science graduate student at Harvard University, was able to identify and obtain a copy of the health records of former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, which were released as part of a batch of anonymized summaries by the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission. To do so, she used nothing other than publicly available voter rolls and the governor’s date of birth, gender, and zip code. Later, Sweeney went on to prove that 87 percent of the U.S. population can be uniquely identified by these three data points.

Companies and government agencies often need to strike a balance between performing detailed data analysis and protecting the privacy of individuals. For example, health researchers would not want to disclose to the public that Sophia Smith, age 42, has diabetes and went to the hospital on January 12, 2017. Instead, these health researchers want to be able to analyze the number of times per year, on average, that a woman in her 40s with diabetes goes to the hospital, and to be able to compare those findings with other statistics.

Professor Gerome Miklau, along with collaborators Michael Hay of Colgate University and Ashwin Machanavajjhala of Duke University, are addressing this problem with their new company, Tumult Labs, where they design and build privacy technology that enables the analysis of sensitive data while protecting individual privacy. Their work applies to problems encountered by financial institutions, health-care enterprises, social media companies, and government agencies like the Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service.

“When it comes to analyzing large datasets, there is always a trade-off between protecting privacy and ensuring accuracy.”

According to Miklau, “Tumult Labs creates innovative software that enables differential privacy—a privacy technique that removes data about any given individual without changing the overall analytic results, thus protecting the privacy of all individuals in the dataset. When it comes to analyzing large datasets, there is always a trade-off between protecting privacy and ensuring accuracy. Tumult Labs’ technology optimizes for accuracy while protecting privacy.”

Many companies have data that is “locked down“ and cannot be analyzed because of privacy concerns. Using differential privacy, Tumult Labs’ technology safely provides access to the most sensitive data, including medical data from hospitals and insurance companies, financial data from credit card companies, or even trip data from ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft. The techniques can be used to create data releases for public use or can be deployed within enterprises to make it easier and safer to share data internally within departments.

Learn more by visiting the Tumult Labs website: tmlt.io

At Tumult Labs, Professor Gerome Miklau Helps Companies Analyze Data While Protecting Individual Privacy

Gerome Miklau

CommunityClick

An Interactive System for More Inclusive Local Governance

For many, the ability to contribute to and influence government as a private citizen during local town hall meetings represents the cornerstone of American democracy. But often, the voices that may provide the most impactful insights are stifled, struggling against social and cultural biases that can hinder and discourage participation. Additionally, many town hall meetings lack designated notetakers, forcing event organizers to multitask or choose between organizing and taking notes during meetings— increasing the risk of losing critical information.

“People want to share their opinions, but they can’t always express themselves with current town hall systems,“ explains Assistant Professor Narges Mahyar. “Social and gender dynamics, personality traits, or not speaking English as a first language can hinder opinion sharing, leading to disengagement and a sense of unfairness.”

To address some of the long-standing participatory and logistical challenges that some citizens face in town hall settings, a team of CICS human-computer interaction researchers, including Mahyar, Research Assistant Professor Ali Sarvghad, doctoral student Mahmood Jasim, Pooya Khaloo ’20MS, and Somin Wadhwa ’21MS, have developed CommunityClick. This field-tested communitysourcing system aims to improve inclusivity and participation in local governance by providing enhanced real-time feedback and an interactive visual analytics and reporting tool.

Introduced in the paper “CommunityClick: Capturing and Reporting Community Feedback from Town Halls to Improve Inclusivity,“ which received a best paper award at the 2020 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, their work provides a toolset that includes customized iClicker remote feedback devices, software that combines automatically generated transcripts with tags and feedback, and an interface to help meeting organizers author reports out of the resulting dataset.

“Our goal is to enable organizers to make faster, more inclusive, and more comprehensive town hall reports.”

“With our tool’s augmented transcripts, event organizers can see which ideas had real traction in a meeting, how the silent attendees got involved in the discussion, and which topics were confusing to attendees,“ states Jasim. “Our goal is to enable organizers to make faster, more inclusive, and more comprehensive town hall reports in the service of fair and impartial civic decision making.”

Currently, the research team is collaborating with Distinguished University Professor Jane Fountain, director of the School of Public Policy, and Associate Professor Ethan Zuckerman to analyze data from the use of these tools by the city of Holyoke, Mass. and the town of Amherst, Mass., looking closely at the relationships between civic participation and gender, race, education, and ethnicity. They hope to use the results to inform the development of new technologies to support equitable participation in municipal government and civic life, including a web-based version of CommunityClick for virtual town meetings, and they plan to expand the project into other communities.

Narges Mahyar

Six CICS Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards

National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards, among the institution’s most prestigious grants, were awarded to six CICS faculty over 2020–2022. The CAREER program is intended to provide junior scholars who have the potential to serve as role models in the academy with the foundation for a lifetime of integrating research and teaching activities.

Hajiesmaili assistant professor

Studying how to decarbonize the internet by allowing massive distributed systems to use low-carbon and renewable energy sources with no loss in computing performance.

Mohit Iyyer assistant professor

Building text generation systems that interact with people, including writing assistants that can help those who are seeking to improve their writing skills.

Justin Domke associate professor

Working to refine and automate probabilistic models to work with ever-larger amounts of data.

Jie Xiong associate professor

Working to develop the field of longrange wireless sensing, which uses wireless signals to sense human beings and the environment and shows promise for pandemic and disaster response.

Musco assistant professor

Developing new algorithms that decrease the time it takes to solve large-scale linear algebraic problems with approaches that include randomized algorithms.

Hamed Zamani assistant professor

Advancing conversational search by studying the theoretical foundations for measuring mixed-initiative conversations.

Mohammad

Cameron

New $20 Million Center on AI and Aging to Improve In-Home Care for Older Adults

More than 90 percent of older Americans would prefer to live at home as they age. However, chronic illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, can make the goal of successful aging at home without substantial support out of reach. To address these challenges, UMass Amherst and Brigham and Women’s Hospital launched the new Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC).

Funded by a five-year, $20 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, MassAITC, which will be housed at UMass Amherst, is co-led by Professor Deepak Ganesan and Niteesh Choudhry, director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

MassAITC is a collaboration between premier institutions of education and health in Massachusetts—including UMass Amherst, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brandeis University, and Northeastern University—and will leverage interdisciplinary research to develop practical, accessible technologies such as wearable and contactless sensing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

“One of our goals is to take work from the lab and transition it toward the field so it can actually support care and make a measurable change in people’s lives.”

Benjamin Marlin, MassAITC associate director

“We’re working with some of the best health researchers in the world and an exceptional group of advisors,“ says Ganesan. “Not only are we adding UMass Amherst’s expertise in AI and wearable devices, but also, thanks to the campus’s Institute for Applied Life Sciences, we have fantastic core facilities to perform cutting-edge research at the intersection of technology and health care.”

“MassAITC is designed to be a research accelerator,“ adds Associate Professor Benjamin Marlin, who serves as the center’s associate director. “One of our goals is to take work from the lab and transition it toward the field so it can actually support care and make a measurable change in people’s lives.”

Pioneering Researcher Don Towsley Wants to Build the Quantum Internet

A global quantum internet is the next frontier in networking. Quantum computing, which harnesses the ability of subatomic particles to exist in more than one state simultaneously, allows scientists to solve problems in fewer operations than traditional computing. As a result, quantum computers have the potential to process larger amounts of information at exponentially greater speeds than existing supercomputers. A quantum internet would allow researchers and innovators across the world to efficiently and securely share data and address many of the world’s most significant challenges.

Distinguished University Professor and networking pioneer Don Towsley is passionate about bringing a quantum internet to life. Thanks to a seed fund created by anonymous donors, including a gift of $5 million, Towsley will lead the creation of a UMass Amherst center of excellence to support research in quantum information systems and move much closer to realizing his goal.

“Quantum computing, communications, and networking have the potential to significantly transform the ways we solve complicated computational problems and conduct scientific research,“ Towsley explains. “A critical ingredient in this endeavor is the development of a ’quantum internet’ to provide network security and to connect quantum computers that, collectively, will help to solve currently intractable problems, such as those related to climate change.”

This new center of excellence will bring together researchers from CICS, the College of Engineering, and the College of Natural Sciences to collaborate with each other and researchers from other institutions to find more effective

ways to build and connect quantum computers. This includes developing the most efficient strategies to minimize or correct errors and increase accuracy in processing.

“The new fund builds on almost sixty years of revolutionary computer science research at UMass Amherst,“ says CICS dean Laura Haas. “It is only fitting that Don Towsley, who led the way on foundational networking and communications theory research, is now helping the nascent field of quantum communications take its first steps.”

Quantum information systems have the potential to significantly impact the way we live and work. They could mean faster, more efficient communication, better security for sensitive data, and the improvement of radar systems and astronomical observations. They may lead to more energyefficient batteries, methods to keep water sources clean using chemical sensors, and environmentally friendly fertilizers. Businesses could benefit from more accurate financial forecasts and the improvement of global supply chain management and shipping schedules. Medical researchers could develop new medications with faster safety and effectiveness testing.

CICS will use the initial seed funding to create a team of computer science faculty dedicated to quantum computing research. The college has already hired three new faculty members, with one starting in the fall of 2022 and two in the fall of 2023, and will use these funds to support their efforts with startup costs, equipment, postdoctoral researchers, and research assistants.

The seed funds will also support UMass faculty in other colleges and promote cross-college collaboration. This includes electrical and computer engineering professors Weibo Gong, who has been focusing on a fundamental issue of artificial general intelligence research, specifically the concept extraction algorithm and its applications in reasoning; Joseph Bardin, who has been working with a multidisciplinary team at Google to improve quantum readout circuits; and Robert Niffenegger, who is developing integrated technologies like photonics for trapped ion quantum processors.

Physics professor Chen Wang, who is working on superconducting circuit devices for quantum information processing, will also join the center. The university’s goal for the center is to establish UMass Amherst as a hub for quantum information systems and sciences, and to position it as a destination of choice for outstanding quantum faculty.

“The area of quantum information systems is a national priority for the United States, with the potential to grow new industries and advance our national and economic security,“ affirms Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy. “This investment by donors in an interdisciplinary quantum information systems seed fund, placed at the intersection of the information and computer sciences and engineering, will accelerate our campus’s ability to make increasingly significant contributions to this area of national importance.”

QUANTUM NEW COMPUTING FACULTY

Stefan Krastanov

assistant professor started fall 2022

Research focus: characterization and control of quantum hardware, including work on quantum circuit design, error correction, optimal control, and parameter estimation.

Doctorate: Yale University, physics

Filip

Rozpedek assistant professor starting fall 2023

Research focus: one-way quantum repeater architectures based on quantum error correction.

Doctorate: Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, quantum information theory

Gayane Vardoyan

assistant

professor

starting fall 2023

Research focus: problems in quantum communication, including the development and performance of quantum entanglement switches.

Doctorate: University of Massachusetts Amherst, computer science

Ethical Building a More

TECH FUTURE

Francine Berman

As technology becomes increasingly enmeshed in our daily lives, ensuring that it is created and used responsibly becomes increasingly vital. To that end, in 2022 UMass Amherst launched the Public Interest Technology Initiative (PIT@UMass) and joined the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) consortium, which includes more than 40 universities around the world. This new campuswide program, led by co-founders Stuart Rice Research Professor Francine Berman and Associate Professor Ethan Zuckerman, aims to empower students and the broader community with the critical thinking skills, expertise, and information needed to promote social responsibility and ethical use of today’s technologies.

“Public interest technology (PIT) was born of a desire to make the world a better place,“ says Berman. “That desire is something many of us feel at this moment and it’s an investment in a better future because today’s students will become tomorrow’s professionals, public servants, and citizens. They, and we, want their efforts to benefit the world.”

The PIT@UMass initiative develops and coordinates educational, research, practice, and outreach offerings across UMass Amherst’s diverse schools and colleges, with a focus on what Berman, director of the PIT initiative, calls “using technology to address problems in a socially responsible way.”

In April, PIT@UMass announced its inaugural cohort of PIT Faculty Fellows for 2022–2023, with 11 instructors from five different colleges and schools across campus working to develop or retool undergraduate courses with a public interest technology focus. The cohort includes Matt Rattigan, Michelle Trim, Siobhan Meï, and Neena Thota of CICS, along with colleagues from education, English, sociology, resource economics, and management.

In her proposal for a redesigned COMPSCI 420: Software Entrepreneurship, Thota encourages students to explore tech-based solutions to cultural, environmental, or social challenges through a simulated startup development process culminating in a proof-of-concept minimum viable product.

“I’m aiming to help students to not just understand the benefits of ethical and socially responsible technology use, but also to develop the critical thinking and expertise to build products that promote social responsibility and the common good in a tech-driven world,“ explains Thota.

In addition to the faculty fellowship program, the PIT@UMass co-founders are working on several new initiatives this academic year, including a public interest technology certificate program for undergraduates, a PIT super course, and PIT-focused student organizations.

“PIT was born of a desire to make the world a better place ... It’s an investment in a better future.”

New Leadership Team Appointed

in Response to Record Growth

“We’ve worked to build a culture where everyone on the faculty has a voice. During this period of rapid growth for the college, it’s my goal to make sure everyone’s voice is heard as we develop our vision for where we go next.”

Erik Learned-Miller

With the start of the 2022–2023 academic year, Dean Laura Haas has announced that Professor Erik Learned-Miller has been appointed chair of the faculty, and Distinguished Professor Ramesh Sitaraman has been appointed to the newly created role of associate dean for educational programs and teaching. Responding to the rapid growth of the college, these two roles assume the responsibilities previously assigned solely to the chair of the faculty, held for the past seven years by Professor James Allan

In this new structure, Learned-Miller oversees faculty recruitment and promotions and helps develop the long-range goals for the college, while Sitaraman has responsibility for the college’s educational mission, including undergraduate programs, graduate programs, and teaching development. Allan will stay on in an advisory role for an additional year to facilitate the transition.

In accepting the appointment, Learned-Miller outlined his commitment to building on the work of Allan and Haas to further cultivate a culture of inclusive participation among CICS faculty and ensure that the college’s 74 tenure-stream and teaching faculty—40 of whom were hired in the last five

years—can best meet the challenges of modern computing in education and research.

“We’ve worked to build a culture where everyone on the faculty has a voice,“ he explains. “During this period of rapid growth for the college, it’s my goal to make sure everyone’s voice is heard as we develop our vision for where we go next.”

In his new role, Sitaraman is responsible for the college’s educational programs, which currently enroll 281 doctoral students, 396 master’s students, and 1,732 undergraduate computer science and informatics majors. He will also hold responsibility for fostering teaching excellence in the college’s educational programs, which are consistently ranked among the best in the world and have seen a fivefold enrollment increase over the past decade.

“As we grow, we need to maintain the rich student-faculty interactions that are key to superior learning outcomes while ensuring that our educational programs are accessible and welcoming to students from all walks of life,“ says Sitaraman. “My goal is to help our college do even more to center our programs around students and make them more responsive to the needs of individual learners.”

“As we grow, we need to maintain the rich studentfaculty interactions that are key to superior learning outcomes while ensuring that our educational programs are accessible and welcoming to students from all walks of life.”

Left to Right: Erik Learned-Miller, Ramesh Sitaraman

Ramesh Sitaraman

Building Representation in PhD Programs

In 2020, doctoral students Cecilia Ferrando and Akanksha Atrey launched the PhD Application Support Program, a pre-application program designed to support applicants from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

The program was developed as part of their work with the college’s Committee Against Racism and for Equity. It offers a one-on-one mentorship program for underrepresented applicants that matches them with current doctoral students who provide dedicated support throughout the application process. Additionally, it offers informational webinars for all applicants

“Computer science often suffers from the underrepresentation of minorities in the field,“ says Ferrando. “To us, Computing for the Common Good is a goal best achieved when the researchers in our field represent a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences.”

Alumna Disha Srivastava ’21 and undergraduates Ibrahima Keita, Susan Ubogu, and Grace Cheng hold a panel discussion for students from the inaugural cohort of Digital Ready’s Year 13 program. Year 13 aims to provide students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in Boston Public Schools with a head start to a STEM degree and 18 college credits, making college more affordable and accessible.

Rising Researchers

Recent graduate Adam Lechowicz ’22 is no stranger to accomplishment: two undergraduate degrees, leadership on several student advocacy efforts, and an induction into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. But Lechowicz has attracted the most notice for his dedication to research, which he says has deepened his understanding of academic concepts while applying them to real-world challenges and open questions.

Lechowicz, who won both a Rising Researcher award and a 21st Century Leader award from UMass Amherst in 2022, combined his degree studies in computer science and political science to pursue research and innovations that could benefit society.

“Our society faces monumental challenges that won’t go away anytime soon,“ Lechowicz says. “With the right motivations, I strongly believe that computer science can be an indispensable tool in the fight against issues such as climate change and socioeconomic injustice.”

His efforts included participating in research led by Assistant Professor Cameron Musco to explore how the structure of social networks contributes to opinion polarization, as well as research towards designing intelligent systems that sense and manage indoor air quality under Distinguished Professor Prashant Shenoy

Lechowicz will continue his computer science studies in the CICS doctoral program and aims to someday contribute to research that serves the common good as a professor.

After taking advanced classes and working in campus labs at UMass Amherst as an undergraduate, Renos Zabounidis ’22 has settled on a bold research quest: fusing cognitive psychology principles and statistical machine learning principles to better understand the nature of intelligence.

“Humans can’t fully understand what’s in another person’s brain and, furthermore, people change their beliefs over time,“ Zabounidis explains. “In order for AI to be helpful, it has to understand what a person is thinking as well as what they should be thinking and are not.”

Zabounidis, who received a 2021 Rising Researcher award, a Goldwater Scholarship, and a William F. Field Alumni Scholar award, completed a bachelor’s degree with individual concentration (BDIC) in computational and cognitive science, in addition to majoring in computer science and mathematics.

After working as an undergraduate researcher with Assistant Professor Madalina Fiterau developing interpretable multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms, Zabounidis joined the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as a doctoral student, where he plans to continue his research into the human side of artificial intelligence.

Renos Zabounidis ’22

Adam Lechowicz ’22

New Name, New

Possibilities

When Robert and Donna Manning decided to give a historic $50 million gift to the UMass system, they chose programs on each campus that were near and dear to their hearts, but also programs that can, in Robert’s words, “help with the inequities that exist in society.” On the Amherst campus, they chose the College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), donating $18 million to support and expand the college’s mission of Computing for the Common Good.

are committed to contributing to an inclusive and innovative society, and we know these resources will help our College of Information and Computer Sciences, under the transformative leadership of Dean Haas, harness technology’s power to drive this change.”

Robert and Donna Manning’s Transformative Gift to the College of Information and Computer Sciences

“We

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy

“I’ve seen not only the power of computers and what they can do to make companies more productive, make individuals more successful. I’ve also watched the destruction that can happen when automation eliminates jobs that are important to our society,“ Robert Manning explains. “And the only way you’re going to solve the problems that you’re reading about with all these social media companies and technology companies is to change the culture in these firms, so that it’s not just about profit. It’s about making sure that the products are built in the right way that enhances society without causing unanticipated consequences.”

The Mannings’ gift establishes several endowments to support the newly named Robert and Donna Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences in perpetuity, and it will allow the college to grow and to support new research and discoveries. The funds will also enable CICS to significantly expand efforts to recruit and retain faculty and students from populations that are historically underrepresented in computing. By doing so, the Mannings’ gift will play a role in fostering an ethical and diverse workforce.

Robert and Donna Manning are both graduates of UMass Lowell and longtime supporters of UMass. Robert, who is the former chairman and chief executive officer of MFS Investment Management, earned a degree in management information systems and computer science in 1984. He is also the chair of the UMass Board of Trustees. Donna earned a degree in nursing in 1985 and returned to UMass Lowell for an MBA, graduating in 2011. In 2018, she retired after a thirty-five-year career as an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center.

It was the COVID-19 pandemic that inspired the Mannings to give to UMass. During the first years of the pandemic, while they watched as millions of lives were changed for the

worse, they saw their own net worth increase. In response, they resolved to share their good fortune in a way that would benefit as many people as possible.

bit.ly/HaasAnnoucement

CICS will use the Mannings’ gift to attract top faculty; to support undergraduate and graduate students with scholarships, bridge programs, and peer mentoring specific to underrepresented groups in the industry; and to grow the enrollment of women in the college to 40 percent by the end of the decade.

Faculty recruitment and retention will account for 50 percent of the donated funds, in the form of two endowed Manning professorships, the Manning faculty fellows retention program, and the Manning endowed deanship. Another 40 percent of the funds will be used to support students. This will include career development support, mental health and stress release programs, underrepresented minority scholarships and bridge programs, and a prestigious underrepresented minority postdoc. The final 10 percent of the Mannings’ gift will support two interdisciplinary programs: a distinguished lecture series and public interest technology seed funding for research and courses that promote personal and professional social responsibility.

“It’s an exciting time for UMass Amherst,“ Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said in response to the Mannings’ gift to the Amherst campus. “We are committed to contributing to an inclusive and innovative society, and we know these resources will help our College of Information and Computer Sciences, under the transformative leadership of Dean Haas, harness technology’s power to drive this change.”

Watch Dean Laura Haas’s announcement of this historic gift

Donna and Robert Manning unveil the new name for the college at an event announcing their gift on October 27, 2021

A NEW BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING

A new $125 million building for the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences will shine as a world-class hub for education, research, and outreach, helping the college meet the demand for computing talent in the commonwealth.

Slated to open in the spring of 2025, the new building is substantially funded by a $75 million state capital commitment from the Baker-Polito administration. It will expand the college’s facilities by creating approximately 90,000 gross square feet of new space designed to accommodate the enormous growth in the college’s enrollment over the past five years, and to support talent that will fuel business growth and research collaborations.

The new building will connect to the east side of the current computer science building, physically linking each existing floor to an open, light-filled commons for graduate and undergraduate students. The commons will connect both groups of students to the college’s larger community of resources, and showcase visually interesting research in makerspaces and special purpose labs focusing on disciplines such as robotics.

Watch highlights from the groundbreaking ceremony bit.ly/CICS-groundbreaking

“This is a place that has been doing great things, and for us as a team it was not hard to make the decision to make a very significant [investment]—maybe the biggest one we’ve made as an administration—in a particular higher ed program here at UMass Amherst. I know you will do great things with it.”

As an energy-efficient and sustainable facility, the building will meet the minimum certification level of LEED Silver®, prioritize low energy use, minimize the use of fossil fuels, and serve as a model for the UMass Carbon Zero initiative to create a netzero carbon emissions campus. The project will incorporate ground-source heat exchange and a high-performance envelope.

The building will also feature research lab modules, a 240-seat auditorium, interactive teaching classrooms, meeting spaces, conference rooms, and huddle rooms.

Governor Charlie Baker at the building’s groundbreaking ceremony on September 22, 2022 CONCEPT

“Every aspect of design for our new building is shaped by what will enhance the student experience, what will promote a sense of belonging for all members of the college community, and what will promote formal and informal learning.”

Dean Laura Haas at the building’s groundbreaking ceremony on September 22, 2022

Inaugural cohort of New Visions and Boosting Access to Data Science scholarship recipients at their first meet-up of the academic year

New Scholarships

Move the Needle on Inclusivity

Congressional Funding

Recognizing the value of a diverse computer science workforce, the federal government has awarded the college $1 million as part of the Biden administration’s $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill. CICS will use the funding to recruit women and underrepresented minority students to bachelor’s and master’s programs in computer science, helping the college achieve its goal of increasing female enrollment to at least 40 percent by the end of the decade.

CICS will also use the funding for outreach into marginalized communities. Portions will support the expansion of robotics programs for middle- and high-school students, as well as robotics externships for educators.

This funding helps ensure every student has the chance to join in on a quickly growing field and make their mark on the world in a challenging and rewarding career,” says Rep. Jim McGovern, who played a key role in securing the funding along with Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Expanding Access to Data Science Careers

A $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will help low-income, academically strong students access careers in data science. Developed and led by Senior Teaching Faculty Michelle Trim, the Boosting Access to Data Science program will provide $10,000 per year to 40 informatics and computer science undergraduates interested in data science.

“I have a deep desire to help underrepresented, firstgeneration, and economically disadvantaged students succeed in STEM careers,“ says Trim, who was a first-generation, fully self-funded college student herself. “The Boosting Access to Data Science program will address social inequities and fill the need for well-trained informatics and computing professionals at the same time.”

Boosting Access to Data Science will begin in 2022 and run for six years. Some participating students will be first-years, while others will be community college transfers. All will receive funding and support for the duration of their studies at UMass Amherst, as well as graduate school and career prep mentoring.

Efforts to enrich the college by recruiting and retaining more women and students from historically marginalized communities have been bolstered by two new sources of scholarship funding

“This funding helps ensure every student has the chance to join in on a quickly growing field and make their mark on the world in a challenging and rewarding career.”

Rep. Jim McGovern

Donor Report

We thank you for your philanthropic support.

Adobe Computer Science Fund

Adobe Systems, Inc.

C. Mohan Graduate Scholarship in Computer Science

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88)

Center for Data Science

Akamai Technologies, Inc.

Anonymous (1 donor)

Arcesium Deeproute.ai Ltd.

Ms. Karol A. Hines (68) Intuit

Mr. Shujian Liu (17) MassMutual

Mr. Edward H. McGinnis Jr. (76)

Microsoft New England Tracy L. Neff (87) Oracle Labs

Mr. Lawrence M. Pizette (86)

Ms. Jean B. Smith (15)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18) WebFX

Ms. Kathleen E. Wetherby & Mr. Henry H. Zenzie

Ms. Kathleen E. Wetherby

Diversity Fund

Ms. Sophia Alexandra Berger (19)

Dr. Panayiotis K. Chrysanthis (91) & Ms. Areti N. Papanastasiou (87)

Mr. Michal P. Cialowicz (07)

Ms. Meagan S. Day (10)

Mr. Michael M. Kolbrener (90)

Ms. Rachel Lavery (89)

Scott G. McCullough (19)

Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11) &

Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11)

Ms. Jean B. Smith (15)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

Hackher413

Akamai Technologies, Inc.

Balsamiq Studios LLC

Citizens Bank

EY

Ford Motor Company

Liberty Mutual Foundation, Inc.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

MassMutual

Massachusetts State Lottery Commission

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Ms. Jean B. Smith (15)

The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

Veson Nautical Corp.

Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences

Anonymous (8 donors)

Adobe Systems, Inc.

Dr. James P. Ahrens (89)

Akamai Technologies, Inc

Mr. Gabriel J. Albina (72)

Dr. Kevin D. Ashley (88)

Mr. Mariappan Asokan (86)

AuCoDe

Padma Avadhuta & Niranjan R. Avadhuta Mr. Mikhail Badov (13)

Mr. Robert Barnes & Ms. Lynn Barnes

Jennifer A. Bauman & John S. Bauman

Mr. Anthony J. Bellissimo (03) & Ms. Jessica A. Bellissimo

Mr. John V. Bellissimo

Mr. Murray L. Berkowitz (71) & Mrs. Rebecca S. Berkowitz (71)

Ms. Cynthia A. Bliss (90)

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Ms. Lisa M. Boone (87) & Mr. Jeffrey M. Boone (86)

Douglas W. Brown & Carolyn Q. Brown Mrs. Carol Buote (84)

Dr. Brendan D. Burns (07) & Ms. Robin M. Sanders (02)

Donna M. Canuel & Louis R. Canuel

Ms. Lesley A. Cederlund (85)

Dr. Varkki P. Chacko (82) & Mrs. Madhura V. Chacko (80)

Mr. Siu-Ki Chan (83)

Ms. Cassandra L. Chew (90)

Mr. Eric Christophersen (05)

Mr. Michal P. Cialowicz (07)

Citizens Bank

Mr. Richard S. Colon (79)

Mr. Paul J. Connolly (57)

Mr. Christopher M. Curtin (90)

Mr. Richard A. Cuti (85) & Ms. Sue-Fen Wang Cuti (85)

Mr. Christopher M. D’Amour (04)

Dr. Jody J. Daniels (97)

Mr. Joseph R. Daverin (00)

Mr. Leroy Day & Ms. Deborah Lund

DraftKings Inc.

Mr. Wayne W. Duso (85) Mary E. Dziewietin & Scott B. Dziewietin Dr. Claude L. Fennema, Jr. (91) & Ms. Deborah Strahman

Mr. William M. Fisher (75) Mr. Craig L. Fournier (91)

Mr. David A. Foxen (80) & Mrs. Leslie M. Foxen (81) Dr. Michael J. Franklin (83) Mrs. Virginia C. Frongillo

Dr. Alan J. Garvey (96)

Manoj Gera (09) & Sonia Gera

Mr. Paul E. Gilman (82) & Mrs. Valerie H. Gilman (79) Mrs. Lisa K. Glass (85) & Mr. Jon Glass Dr. Frank C. Glazer (87) & Mrs. Christine M. Brestrup (80) Ms. Joanne Goding & Mr. Jeffrey H. Moss Mr. Charles A. Goldman (92) & Ms. Melissa M. Goldman (92) Mr. John Goshdigian (73)

Mr. Charles B. Greely (85) & Mrs. Patricia M. Greely (85) Mr. John S. Greene (93)

Mr. Kenneth E. Groder, III (80) Mrs. Megan E. Gruman (05) & Mr. Mark L. Gruman (05) Mr. Kevin Patrick Gurney (16) Professor Peter Haas & Dean Laura M. Haas Ms. Elicia M. Harrell (82)

Ms. Cheryl B. Harrington (75) & Mr. Edmund P. Harrington Mr. Christopher L. Holmes (99) & Mrs. Heddi M. Holmes (91)

Mr. Phat T. Hong (85)

Dr. Donald H. House (84) & Mrs. Lynette J. House

Mr. Richard L. Housel (80) Mrs. Kelli Hurlburt & Mr. Charles E. Hurlburt II (84)

Ms. Melinda Johnson (95) & Mr. Michael P. Johnson (97) Mr. Tareef Kawaf (94)

Mrs. Colleen B. Kettle (84)

Mr. Paul E. Kissmeyer Nielsen (93) Mr. Gordon M. Koizumi (72) Dr. Lainie Kreindler

Professor Jeffrey L. Krichmar (84)

Mr. Bruce B. Lacey (85)

Mr. John P Lalor (20) Ms. Nhi Pham Le (18) Mr. Jones S. Leung (04) Ms. Ying Liu (06)

Mr. Bernard L. Lorge & Mrs. Anne E. Lorge Mr. Michael C. Lyle (73) Mrs. Woen-Ru L. Ma (81) Mr. Austin P. Maher (87)

Mrs. Beverly Marcus & Mr. Saul R. Marcus (77)

MathWorks

Mrs. Catherine M. Matthews (60) Mr. Andrew E. Merlino Jr. (85) & Mrs. Karin E. Merlino (86)

Microsoft Corp.

Mrs. Nancy Mimno & Mr. Gerald R. Mimno Mr. Christopher Morely (77) & Ms. Debra Bernstein (82)

Mr. Michael T. Morganti (85)

Mr. Roger I. Nasr (76) & Mrs. Maria G. Nasr (76) Tracy L. Neff (87)

Dr. Daniel E. Neiman (92) Mr. Mark D. Normand (75)

Dr. Albert E. Novark (11)

Mr. Michael A. Nuss (04) Dr. Paul T. Ogilvie (00)

Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11) & Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11) Dr. Jitendra D. Padhye (00)

Dr. Ron Papka (99)

Ms. Karen Parker (80) & Mr. Joseph M. Fusco

Mr. John L. Pauly (64)

Mr. Robert M. Pilachowski (88)

Mr. Lawrence M. Pizette (86)

Mr. Jose M. Quijada (06)

Mr. Michael Francis Radford (16) Dr. Anita Raja (03)

Mr. Peter S. Reiff & Ms. Lynn A. Reiff

Mr. Yao Ren (00) & Mrs. Qin Yao Dr. Debra J. Richardson (81)

Mrs. Ashley Ryan (09) & Mr. William P. Ryan (08)

Mr. Ross R. Sbriscia (16)

Mrs. Margaret C. Schadt (85) & Dr. Frank L. Schadt, III

The following alumni and friends have made gifts to the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022.

Janet A. Schenden & Larry Steranka

Mr. Alexander M. Schultz (09)

Jan D. Sharp & Richard C. Sharp

Ms. Tina T. Shen (00)

Mr. Leonard J. Slomski Jr. (65)

Dr. Howard R. Smith (75)

Helen P. Splagounias & Gregory A. Splagounias

Mr. William H. Stevens III (95)

Mr. Michael J. Sullivan (71)

Mr. Yiwei Sun (18)

Jeanne S. Sutherland & Mark Murphy

Mr. Jianbin Tan (05) & Dr. Xiaochong Li (09)

The Travelers Companies, Inc. UpToDate

Dr. Thomas A. Wagner (00)

Mr. Yang Wang (98) & Ms. Juan Wu (98)

Mrs. Yunqing Wang (02) & Dr. Changting Wang (01)

Dr. Zhenlin Wang (04)

Mr. Zitao Wang (17)

Mr. Harteg S. Wariyar (07)

Mrs. Nancy W. Wasiuk (79)

Professor Charles C. Weems, Jr. (84) & Ms. Lisa Slocum

Mr. Samuel M. Weinger (04)

Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11) & Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11)

Mr. Timothy M. Wright (86) & Ms. Heidi E. Wright

Mr. Yan Xiao (00) &

Ms. Josephine Z. Zhuang (99)

Dr. Ismet Z. Yalniz (14) Ms. Bin Yang (99)

Dr. Liu Yang (19) Dr. Xing Yi (11)

Dr. Zhongfei Zhang (96)

Mr. Jianliang Zhao (98) Qiqin Zhao (19)

Gifts in Kind

Boston Dynamics, Inc. Yahoo Academic Partnerships

Cybersecurity Anonymous (1 donor) Akamai Technologies, Inc. Mr. Chi Hong Ho (89)

MassMutual

Ms. Jean B. Smith (15)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

Julie A. Warehime & Ronald C. Warehime

Dean’s Opportunity Fund Anonymous (3 donors)

Professor W. Rick Adrion

Maroof Ahmed & Tahera Ahmed

Professor James Allan Gaurav Anand (19)

Mr. Sandeep Ashwini (14)

Mrs. Marie A. Baeyens & Mr. Yves Baeyens

Ms. Yunmeng Ban (15)

Professor Andrew G. Barto

Jennifer A. Bauman & John S. Bauman

Lisa M. Benet & Peter Benet

Mr. Jeffrey L. Berkovitz (77)

Professor Francine D. Berman

Dr. Thomas L. Bernardin, Jr (13)

Mr. Alvaro L. Bolivar (04)

John H. Broderick & Lynne M. Broderick (86)

Mr. Daniel M. Brophy (70)

Dr. Eric W. Brown (96)

Dr. Brendon D. Cahoon (02)

Binh T. Cao & Mai T. Bui

Hui Cao & Sanfeng Lin

Dr. LiangLiang Cao

Asst. Vice Chancellor Matt Carlyon & Melissa Carlyon

Ms. Valerie D. Caro (84)

Mr. Haw-Shiuan Chang (18)

Ms. Joan E. Charbonneau (68)

Mr. Brant Cheikes & Mrs. Janine Papesh Dr. Shenze Chen (92)

Ms. Renu Chipalkatti (87)

Mr. Michal P. Cialowicz (07)

Mr. Jesse D. Clark, MBA (10)

Professor Lori A. Clarke

Ms. Alicia B. Clemente

Ms. Heather M. Conboy (97)

Ms. Valerie I. Congdon (77) Dr. David G. Cooper (11)

Ms. Yvonne A. Crevier (89)

Rob Curtis

Ravi S. Dadireddy & Sridevi Dadireddy

Michael E. Dalton & Clare B. Dalton Dr. Jody J. Daniels (97) Mr. Joseph R. Daverin (00) Ms. Erika Dawson Head

Julia DePeyster & Nicholas DePeyster Aadityaraj Sanjay Deshmukh

Govind R. Dindore & Veena G. Dindore Ms. Jennifer A. Donais

Timothy Durant

Mr. Wayne W. Duso (85)

Carol Earl & Richard Earl Emily E. Earl (20)

Ms. Donna R. Falcetti (99) & Mr. Seth S. Eichenlaub (00) Maura Farber

Mr. Peter R. Farlow (15) Nigel Fernandez

Ms. Kathleen Fisher

Mr. Craig L. Fournier (91)

Ms. Karro Frost & Mr. Jack Cadwell

Mr. Thomas A. Galanis (99)

Attorney Clare M. Gamberoni (83)

Mr. Zhaoyu Gao (17)

Renata C. Geer & Lewis Y. Geer

Ms. Melanie Gerard

Google, Inc.

Mr. Vijay Gopal Krishna (17) Mr. Yuly Gornshteyn (11) Andrew M. Gorry

Przemyslaw Grabowicz

Mr. Kevin Patrick Gurney (16) Vengal Rao Guttha

Dean Laura M. Haas & Professor Peter Haas Dr. Mohammadhassan Hajiesmaili Cathi Hanauer

Mr. Andrew C. Hannon (00) & Mrs. Pamela L. Hannon (01)

Charles L. Hannon & Sharon L. Hannon

Gary W. Hannon & Julia L. Hannon

Ms. Patience A. Hartley

Amit G. Hattimare

Ed Henschel & Donna Henschel

Johnny A. Hill & Tamara L. Hill

William G. Hines & Gina L. Hines

Christine R. Holbrook

Mr. Max Horstmann (02) Thomas F. Howe

Ms. Lisa Ann Ludiciani (17)

Ahmed A. Jaafar (22) Dr. Filip B. Jagodzinski (12) Mr. Sandeep Venkata Siva Jala (17) Jaan V. Janes & Monica C. Janes

Professor David D. Jensen & Dr. Melba P. Jensen (05) Mr. Huaizu Jiang (20) Ms. Jean C. Joyce (95) Naga V. Kalepalli & Lalitha P. Kalepalli Mr. Edwin L. Kaminskas (65) Abhitej Kasula & Ms. Manvita Sangem Sunny Katkuri (18) Mr. Tareef Kawaf (94) Dr. Youngho Kim (14) Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) Mr. David P. Korpiewski (00) Mr. Vaikom B. Krishnan (89)

Vengata Krishnan & Kavitha Krishnan Brian S. Krusell

Alok Kumar & Kajali Kumar Pankaj Kumar & Puneit Dua Mr. Rohan Kumar (98)

Andreas Kussmaul & Julita Kussmaul Ms. Tara LaFlamme Paul E. Landman & Pamela E. Landman Ms. Rachel Lavery (89) Hung V. Le Professor Erik G. Learned-Miller Adam M. Lechowicz (22) Guichu Li & Bingjiao Zhu Dr. Ke Liu (07)

Wenxiong Liu & Pingping Liu Yanbai Liu & Dongning Lu

Brian Lynn

Mr. Ryan L. Mahan (19) Ms. Joyce C. Mazeski Mr. Ed J. Mazur, III (09) Professor Andrew K. McCallum Mr. Douglas R. McCallum (75) & Ms. Diana L. Neff Ms. Molly K. McMahon (16) Mr. Qingyou Meng (18) Mr. Andrew E. Merlino Jr. (85) Mrs. Nancy Mimno & Mr. Gerald R. Mimno Mr. Marius Minea

Marnie R. Moore & Darrin A. Ball Professor J. E. Moss Professor Cameron N. Musco Ms. Sarah Myksin Mr. Pavel D. Nabutovsky (03) Tracy L. Neff (87)

Robert A. Negris & Julie B. Friedman Sridevi Nookala & Subrahmanyam Aryasomayajula Dr. Albert E. Novark (11)

Ms. Terri A. Noyes (83) Dr. Paul T. Ogilvie (00)

Ms. Olanike S. Ogunbodede (03) Dr. Leon J. Osterweil

Jurij R. Paraszczak & Jane M. Paraszczak

Mr. Thomas J. Parenty (83) Ghazaleh Parvini Hiten Patel

Dragutin Petkovic

Jennifer A. Petrillo & Albert R. Petrillo Dr. Edward E. Qian & Amy Qian Dr. Chen Qu (21)

Ms. Sherryl F. Radbil (82) & Mr. Uri Radbil

Dr. Anita Raja (03)

Poornima B. Ramachandran & Rangaswamy Ramachandran

Alison Rapoza & Ernest Rapoza

Mr. Matthew J. Rattigan (12)

Mr. Peter S. Reiff & Ms. Lynn A. Reiff Eddy R. Reynoso (20)

Donna M. Rigg & Gerhard Koenig Ms. Michele A. Roberts (97) & Mr. J. Anthony Roberts

Valerie U. Ross & Barry J. Ross Aditya Kumar Roy Chowdhury

Antonio C. Ruiz Lopez & Laura R. Fernandez Guerra

Raj Sadanand & Sudha Jyothiraj

Faustino F. Santana & Monica Pardo

Mr. Ross R Sbriscia (16)

Janet A. Schenden & Larry Steranka

Dr. Henning G. Schulzrinne (93)

Mr. Makenzie Walker Schwartz (18) Dr. Ashvin K. Shah (08)

Priyanka Sharma & Vinay Bhardwaj Ms. Kerry P. Shaw

Professor Daniel Sheldon Mr. Evan G. Shelhamer (12)

Gregory Simonoff & Katerina D. Simonoff Anubhav Singhal (19)

Professor Ramesh K. Sitaraman & Srividya Sitaraman (96)

Helen P. Splagounias & Gregory A. Splagounias

Estate of Robert L. Sproull

Dr. Robert F. Sproull

Mr. John K. Standard (96) & Ms. Seona M. McCafferty (94) Ms. Catherine A. Stillwagon (82) Mr. Archie Strong (63)

Ms. Julie Stubbs & Mr. Petr Jirovsky Mr. Michael J. Sullivan (71) Mr. Tao Sun (19)

Mr. Prabakar Sundarrajan (83) Mei G. Swank & Steven A. Swank Mr. Matthew J. Tassinari (06)

Ms. Laura E. Taylor (07) & Mr. Colin A. Taylor (08)

Philip C. Theruvakattil & Elizabeth C. Joseph Neena J. Thota

Mr. William D. Torcaso (80) Oscar Trim-Wilson Ms. Michelle D. Trim Mr. James A. Triplett (78)

Jiji Varughese & Anita Varughese

Ms. Neha Rajendra Velhankar (15) Dr. Rukmini Vijaykumar (88) & Dr. Vijay M. Kumar (86)

Dr. Thomas A. Wagner (00)

Feng Wang & Yuchuan Chen

Xiaodong Wang & Yulin Wu

Mr. Yue Wang (17)

Julie A. Warehime & Ronald C. Warehime

Professor Charles C. Weems, Jr. (84) & Ms. Lisa Slocum

Gengze Wei & Rong Wang Ed Welch & Shannon Welch

Associate Dean Jack C. Wileden & Ms. Andrea Leibson Mr. Joseph Wilson Monique J. Worthy

Mr. Yan Xiao (00) &

Ms. Josephine Z. Zhuang (99)

Michael B. Xie

Xiaoqiang Yan (19)

Professor Hong Yu

Qifeng Yu & Mingzhu Chen

Professor Hamed Zamani (19)

Mr. Hong Zhang (10)

Jason Z. Zhang (20)

Mr. Ning Zhang (05)

Ruisi Zhang (18)

Zheyuan Zhang

Mr. Jianliang Zhao (98)

Associate Dean Shlomo Zilberstein

Corporate Research Sponsorship

Alibaba Group

Amazon.com, Inc. Apple, Inc.

Association for Computing Machinery

BitCoin Unlimited

Bloomberg L.P.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC

The Computer Vision Foundation

Ford Motor Company

Future Earth

Google, Inc.

Intuit

Kavli Foundation Kosa AI

Lexalytics, Inc.

Liberty Mutual Foundation, Inc.

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

National GEM Consortium

The MITRE Corporation Oak Foundation Open Technology Fund Oracle America, Inc.

Raytheon Company SWIFT Institute ViaSat, Inc.

Community Endowment Fund

Mrs. Priscilla A. Abrahamson (66) & Mr. Paul B. Abrahamson (66)

Dean Laura M. Haas & Professor Peter Haas

Mr. David J. Lee (81)

Ms. Yu Ping Zheng (18)

Computer Science Sponsorships

Mr. Todd A. Comeau (86) & Mrs. Carla Cavallero Comeau (85)

Mr. David Maryakhin (93)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

Computer Sciences Scholarships

Anonymous

Mr. Niki A. Afshartous (86)

Ankur Aggarwal (18)

Mr. Gabriel J. Albina (72)

Ms. Sophia Alexandra Berger (19)

Mr. Andrew J. Candres (03)

Mr. Ronald L. Charbonneau (75)

Mr. Dansong Chen (02) & Ms. Lina Chen (05)

Mr. Nicholas Conlon (14)

Mr. Robert G. Crockett (92)

Dr. Peter J. Desnoyers (08)

Mr. Venkata C. Duvvuri (99)

Ms. Karro Frost & Mr. Jack Cadwell

Mr. Mark L. Gruman (05) &

Mrs. Megan E. Gruman (05)

Dean Laura M. Haas &

Professor Peter Haas

Nune Hakobyan & Sargis Karapetyan

Ms. Kerri A. Hallihan (03)

Cathi Hanauer

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) & Ms. Anuradha Kodavalla

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88)

Saroja Kollipara

Mr. Anthony J. Leonardi (05)

Mr. Qiegang Long (95)

Mr. Robert J. Messina Jr. (86)

Mr. John J. Murphy (76) & Mrs. Lauree Markham-Murphy Tracy L. Neff (87)

Mr. Francis Phan (18)

Suzette M. Spahl & Eric T. Spahl

Soraya R. Stevens & Mark R. Stevens

Mr. Tao Sun (19)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

Conrad Wogrin Undergraduate Scholarship

Mr. Steven Berlin

Ms. Donna E. Deeley (70)

Mr. Jonathan E. Hartl (90) & Ms. Jacquelyn A. Welsh (92)

Cybersecurity Club

Ms. Rebecca L. Gould

David Mix Barrington Scholarship Anonymous (3 donors)

Ms. Rachel Lavery (89)

Mr. Michael A. Nuss (04)

Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11) & Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11)

Mr. Ian Kyle Torres (18)

David W. Stemple Scholarship

Dr. Panayiotis K. Chrysanthis (91) & Ms. Areti N. Papanastasiou (87)

Dr. Michael J. Franklin (83)

Mr. John S. Greene (93)

Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11) & Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11) Dr. Jane Yolen (76)

Faculty Projects

Dr. Peter J. Desnoyers (08) Christine A. Gray-Mullen & Peter Gray-Mullen

Donald F. Towsley Graduate Scholarship

Dr. Boulat A. Bash (15) & Mrs. Gail E. Bash

Dr. Asit K. Dan (90)

Dr. Jayanta K. Dey (98) & Amita Vasudeva

Dr. Victor Firoiu (98)

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88)

Donna M. & Robert J. Manning Dean Fund

Donna M. & Robert J. Manning Faculty Retention & Recruitment Fund

Donna M. & Robert J. Manning Interdisciplinary Research Fund

Donna M. & Robert J. Manning Student Support Fund

Mr. Robert J. Manning & Mrs. Donna M. Manning

Dr. Dave Lomet Graduate Scholarship

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) & Ms. Anuradha Kodavalla

Dr. Phil Bernstein Graduate Scholarship

Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) & Ms. Anuradha Kodavalla

Edward Riseman & Allen Hanson Scholarship

Dr. LiangLiang Cao

Dr. Raghavan Manmatha (97) Dr. Padmanabhan Anandan (87) Mr. Michael J. Sullivan (71) Dr. Xiaoguang Wang (01)

ISO New England High Tech Scholarship

ISO New England, Inc.

Jim Kurose Scholarship Anonymous (1 donor)

Mr. Mikhail Badov (13)

Dr. Boulat A. Bash (15) & Mrs. Gail E. Bash

Mr. Adam D. Chace (02) & Mrs. Heather J. Chace (99) Dr. Shenze Chen (92) Dr. Panayiotis K. Chrysanthis (91) & Ms. Areti N. Papanastasiou (87) Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) Mr. Lawrence M. Pizette (86) Dr. Henning G. Schulzrinne (93)

John E. & Alice M. Flynn Scholarship Anonymous (2 donors)

Kodandapani Family Endowed Scholarship Kolar L. Kodandapani

Krithi Ramamritham Scholarship

Dr. Krishnamoorthy Arvind (91) & Ms. Jyothi Arvind Dr. Panayiotis K. Chrysanthis (91) & Ms. Areti N. Papanastasiou (87) Mr. Nari Kannan (85) Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88) Dr. Huan Li (06) & Mr. Shulin You (06)

Lori Clarke Scholarship

Dr. Aaron G. Cass (05) Dr. Panayiotis K. Chrysanthis (91) & Ms. Areti N. Papanastasiou (87) Dr. Jody J. Daniels (97) Mr. Joseph R. Daverin (00) Mr. Hanumantha R. Kodavalla (88)

Professor Jeffrey L. Krichmar (84) Mr. Thomas Henry Palaschak (18) Dr. Harpreet S. Sawhney (92)

Paul Utgoff Memorial Graduate Scholarship

Anonymous (3 donors)

Attorney Marina U. Braswell

Mr. Philip P. Braswell & Attorney Marina U. Braswell

Mrs. Alexandra Utgoff Taylor (74)

Mrs. Karen L. Utgoff

Dr. Kathleen P. Utgoff & Dr. Victor A. Utgoff

Ms. Naomi Utgoff

Mrs. Emily L. VanHassel

Professor Victor Lesser Graduate Scholarship Anonymous (1 donor)

Dr. Edmund H. Durfee (87) Oracle America, Inc. Dr. Ping Xuan (02)

Robert Moll

Scholarship Anonymous (1 donor)

Mr. Mikhail Badov (13)

Mr. John S. Greene (93)

Ms. Rachel Lavery (89)

Mr. Michael A. Nuss (04)

Mr. Lawrence M. Pizette (86)

Mr. Justin C. Ryan (00)

Dr. Rukmini Vijaykumar (88) & Dr. Vijay M. Kumar (86)

Mr. Daniel T. Ward (95)

Dr. Timothy W. Wood (11) & Dr. Megan M. Olsen (11) Dr. John L. Woods (70)

Robin Popplestone Fellowship

Mr. Li Yang Ku (18)

Ms. Rachel Lavery (89)

Professor Kristin Morrison

Dr. Rukmini Vijaykumar (88) & Dr. Vijay M. Kumar (86)

Silicon Valley Computer Science Alumni Scholarship

Mr. Byrisetty Rajeev (96)

Sudha & Rajesh Jha Scholarship Mr. Rajesh K. Jha (90) & Ms. Sudha Mishra

W. Bruce Croft Graduate Scholarship

Professor James Allan Dr. Jamie P. Callan (93) & Ms. C. Adele Weitz

Dr. Chia-Jung Lee (15) Dr. Liu Yang (19) Professor Hamed Zamani (19)

Left

Game Changers

With a focus on Black excellence, Khalil Abdullah ’09 and Ahmed Abdullah ’10 blaze new trails in the gaming industry

For fans of video gaming, the two Abdullah brothers, Khalil and Ahmed, serve as powerful examples of how family support, creativity, and a strong foundation in computer science can have game-changing impact. We spoke with the two CICS alumni about their unconventional journey from making paper prototypes in middle school to launching their first game to widespread acclaim on Xbox. Currently building concepts for their next game, the two brothers and founders of Decoy Games are already breaking color barriers as a Black-owned business and shaking up the industry.

to right: Khalil Abdullah, Ahmed Abdullah

Swimsanity characters

Screenshot: Adventure - Deep Blue Sea

How did you get into gaming?

Khalil: Our mom got us into gaming. She worked at Toys“R“Us and would bring games home.

Ahmed: But we had a rule that we couldn’t play games during the school week, so we got creative. We would use paper prototypes and make the games we liked. We didn’t know we were creating game design. We were just trying to find ways to play games.

You’ve both been gaming since a tender age. So, was computer science the obvious choice as a major?

Khalil: When we went to school, there weren’t a lot of options for game design or development, and computer science was the closest thing we could find. It gave us the foundation of software development skills that we needed to start our journey as game developers.

Ahmed: And I just copied Khalil.

When did you decide to launch Decoy Games?

Khalil: When our hard work crossed our opportunities. We got to a point where if we had stayed working full time at our jobs, we were gonna start missing out on a lot of opportunities. So in 2018, we left our full-time jobs and went full-on into Decoy Games.

How big a role does social impact play in your company mission?

Ahmed: We felt like we had an obligation to increase awareness for marginalized communities on the creative side of game development. Only 4 percent of game developers in the world are Black. And to be frank, our community drives the sales for a lot of these games, so it’s about time we start having ownership.

Have you seen things changing?

Ahmed: Where Khalil and I were two of very few people of color in our class, we want to make it so people can see this as a viable path. When people ask me what major to take in college, I always tell them computer science. There’s a need on the software creation or problem-solving side.

Have you seen more people of color getting into game design?

Khalil: Gaming in general is more accessible. There’s a lot of people in minority communities who are very interested. Our goal is to continue to drive that interest into opportunity. There have been some efforts on corporate levels to highlight certain individuals or groups, but there’s always more that can be done.

What are your growth plans?

Ahmed: If you did this interview a year ago, the company was still just Khalil and I, but now we’re 16 individuals. When we said “we’re hiring,“ we felt like there was a flood of people waiting. And we have such a diverse pool of people of color and women. Our team makeup is not typically what you would see in the gaming industry.

So, how did your years at UMass shape your career path?

Khalil: Computer science gave us a foundation in software development. It provided financial stability by allowing us to jump into an industry as solution consultants. It also taught us the hustle and reward. Staying up nights in the library till 2 a.m. working on code and finally getting it to compile showed us how the reward of gaming felt.

What advice do you have for students interested in a similar path?

Ahmed: I highly recommend computer science, especially if you’re tech-focused and into problem solving.

Khalil: Computer science gives you backup options. We couldn’t get into gaming right out of school, but we were able to get into software sales for 10 years, which paid the bills and gave us the flexibility to get into our dream job.

“Computer science gave us a foundation in software development … and taught us the hustle and reward.”

Screenshot: Death Match at Piranha Bay

Khalil Abdullah

FACULTY HONORS

The faculty of CICS are renowned contributors to the fields of computing and information science. Here are 12 of our cohort who were recognized recently by their peers and community for their extraordinary contributions.

James Kurose

2021 CRA Distinguished Service Award

Associate Chancellor of Partnership and Innovation and Distinguished Professor James Kurose was awarded the Computing Research Association 2021 Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his “visionary leadership“ in the role of assistant director at the National Science Foundation, his leadership on the governmental initiative to conceptualize and launch the National AI Research Institutes, and other accomplishments.

Bruce Croft

2020 IEEE Fellow

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Bruce Croft, former dean of the college, was named a fellow of the IEEE Computer Society, the organization’s highest member grade. Founder of the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval at UMass Amherst (CIIR), Croft was recognized for his contributions to the field of information retrieval over the course of 40 years. Under his direction, CIIR has produced over 1,000 publications, graduated 75 doctoral students, and received over $75 million in funding.

James Allan and Bruce Croft SIGIR Academy

Professor James Allan and Bruce Croft were two of five researchers selected to join the inaugural class of inductees into the ACM Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR) Academy. According to the ACM, the inductees selected represent the principal leaders in information retrieval, whose efforts have “shaped the discipline and industry through significant research, innovation, and service.”

Yuriy Brun

2021 IEEE TCSE Distinguished New Directions Award

The IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Community on Software Engineering (TCSE) awarded Professor Yuriy Brun the 2021 Distinguished New Directions Award in recognition of his “path-breaking technique“ for automated fairness test generation, which expands beyond traditional machine learning into requirements elicitation, system design, and tools development.

Charles Weems

2021 Taylor L. Booth Education Award

The IEEE Computer Society awarded Professor Charles Weems the 2021 Taylor L. Booth Education Award given to faculty members with outstanding records in computer science and engineering education. The awards committee cited Weems, a co-author of 28 textbooks who has taught computer science at UMass Amherst for over 40 years, for his outstanding contributions to computer science education and curriculum development efforts.

Adam O’Neill

2022 IACR Test-of-Time Award

Assistant Professor Adam O’Neill and co-authors Mihir Bellare of the University of California San Diego and Alexandra Boldyreva of Georgia Tech received the prestigious Test-of-Time Award from the International Association for Cryptologic Research for their 2007 paper, “Deterministic and Efficiently Searchable Encryption.“ The paper was cited for “placing searchable encryption on a rigorous footing, leading to a huge interest in this field in applications.”

Ramesh Sitaraman

Distinguished Professor

Ramesh Sitaraman was appointed distinguished professor by the UMass Board of Trustees at its June 2022 meeting. In her letter of nomination, Dean Haas noted Sitaraman’s research, teaching contributions, and sustained impact on his field of study, stating, “Professor Sitaraman is a worldclass leader in distributed networks and the expert [in] content delivery networks.” The Distinguished Professor title is conferred on select, highly accomplished faculty who meet a demanding set of qualifications.

Philip Thomas and David Jensen

2021–2022 College Outstanding Teaching Awards

Assistant Professor Philip Thomas and Professor David Jensen were selected to receive the student-nominated College Outstanding Teaching Awards in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Thomas was praised for bringing his research and open problems in the field to the classroom, sparking curiosity, and inspiring his students to tackle difficult challenges. Jensen was praised by students in the “life-changing“ graduate-level course Research Methods in Empirical Computer Science (COMPSCI 691DD) as “deeply invested in preparing his students to become excellent researchers.”

James Allan, Brian Levine, Deepak Ganesan, and Shlomo Zilberstein are 2020–2021 ACM Fellows

Professors James Allan, Brian Levine, Deepak Ganesan, and Shlomo Zilberstein have been elevated to fellow by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the organization’s highest member grade. With the latest announcement, a total of 13 current and seven emeritus CICS faculty have been named ACM Fellows.

• Allan, known for his 30 years of research in information retrieval, was cited for his contributions to the field, including topic detection and tracking. `

• Levine, an expert on cybersecurity for over 20 years, was cited for contributions to network forensics, security, and privacy, and for thwarting crimes against children.

• Ganesan, a leading expert in wireless backscatter communication, was cited for his contributions to the development of novel ultra-low-power wireless sensing systems.

• Zilberstein, known for his work in artificial intelligence on the problem of automated planning, was cited for his contributions to this area, as well as resource-bounded reasoning and multi-agent systems.

Faculty Notes

Professor and Chair of the Faculty Erik Learned-Miller gave a UMass Amherst Distinguished Faculty Lecture in 2021, “Face Recognition Today: We Can Minimize its Risks,“ presenting a regulatory path to managing the risks and benefits of face recognition technologies. Following the lecture, Chancellor Subbaswamy presented LearnedMiller with the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed upon faculty by the university.

Ten CICS faculty were promoted or granted tenure in 2021 and 2022: Yuriy Brun and Andrew McGregor to professor, Justin Domke, Sunghoon Ivan Lee, Phil Thomas, and Jie Xiong to associate professor, Marius Minea and Tim Richards to senior lecturer II, and Justin Obara and Matt Rattigan to senior lecturer.

Professor Andrew McGregor was elevated to ACM Distinguished Member in 2020. Assistant Professor Marco Serafini and Senior Teaching Faculty Cheryl Swanier were named ACM Senior Members in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Professor Yuriy Brun is the recipient of a 2021 Amazon Research Award, which is funding his research on software formal verification via proof synthesis. The project builds on Brun’s previous collaborative work to develop language models that automatically synthesize new proofs on demand.

Prashant Shenoy, distinguished professor and associate dean, was named founding chair of the new ACM Special Interest Group on Energy (SIGENERGY), which will bring together researchers from computing disciplines to address the challenges and impacts associated with future energy systems.

Distinguished Professor Ramesh Sitaraman and Michael Zink of the College of Engineering are part of a team of researchers that received a $1.2 million NSF

Undergraduate Notes

The 2021 Undergraduate Achievement Awards, recognizing outstanding performance in the classroom and in the community, were given to informatics students

Andrew Romasco ’21 and Vista Sohrab ’21, and computer science students Rushiv Arora ’21, Sattwik Das ’21, Anushree Jana ’21, Ryan Lee ’21, Cody Richter ’21, and Shreya Sawant ’21. The 2022 awards were given to informatics students Corinne Greene ’22 and Victoria Okoro ’22, and computer science students Saicharan Dadireddy ’22, Evan Fellman ’22, Adi Geva ’22, Adam Lechowicz ’22, Vindhya Rachur ’22, and Renos Zabounidis ’22

grant to develop miVirtualSeat, an immersive meeting environment that better simulates in-person gatherings.

Associate Professors Ethan Zuckerman and Brendan O’Connor received an NSF Convergence Accelerator grant for their work to investigate racially targeted misinformation and develop culturally appropriate interventions in coordination with Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizations.

Senior Teaching Faculty Michelle Trim was selected to serve on the ACM/IEEECS/AAAI CS202X Curricula Task Force as part of the Society, Professionalism, and Ethics knowledge area, working to develop guidelines to help institutions incorporate these topics into their course offerings.

Associate Professor Sunghoon Ivan Lee was selected as one of eight 2021–2022 UMass Amherst Lilly Teaching Fellows and as a faculty fellow for the NSF-sponsored 2021–2022 UMass Amherst ADVANCE program.

Associate Professor Ivon Arroyo and Research Professor Beverly Woolf received a seed grant from the UMass Amherst Institute of Diversity Sciences to make modifications to the math learning software MathSpring, with a focus on supporting Latinx students in grades 5–8 who are learning STEM.

Distinguished Professor Donald Towsley is a co-author of the recently published textbook Network Tomography: Identifiability, Measurement Design, and Network State Inference (Cambridge University Press, 2021), described as the “first comprehensive overview“ of this network monitoring approach.

Eleven undergraduates received UMass Amherst Alumni Association Awards in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the winners were Alexandra Brandl ’22, Serena Chan ’21, Saicharan Dadireddy ’22, Brijesh Vyas ’24, and Renos Zabounidis ’22 . In 2022, the winners were Sebastien Christensen ’22, Chloe Eggleston ’22, Adam Lechowicz ’22, Sao Myat Thane ’23, Emily Torok ’23, and Larry Tseng ’23. The awards were given for outstanding academic achievements, leadership, and community service.

Graduate Student Notes

Kevin Spiteri ’21PhD received the 2021 DASH Industry Forum Best PhD Dissertation Award and the 2021 ACM Special Interest Group on Multimedia Outstanding PhD Thesis Award for his work on adaptive bitrate algorithms that enhance the video viewing experience of users. His work has been implemented in the MPEG-DASH reference video player dash.js and in video players for Amazon Prime Video, BBC, and CBS.

Doctoral student Helia Hashemi is the recipient of a 2021–2022 Bloomberg Data Science PhD Fellowship. Hashemi’s proposal, “Far-Flung Representation Learning for Search & Recommendation,“ presents her research on advancing the quality of information retrieval through the introduction of a general framework for learning multiple widely distributed representations of a query in search and recommendation engines.

Five graduate students were honored with Outstanding Graduate Awards for the 2020–2021 academic year. Rachee Singh ’21PhD received an Outstanding Dissertation Award for her work, “Traffic Engineering in Planet-Scale Cloud Networks,“ as did Kevin Spiteri ’21PhD for his dissertation (see above). The Outstanding Synthesis Project Award was given to doctoral student Gustavo Pérez Sarabia, for his project, “Machine Learning for Star Cluster Identification.” The 2021 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards were presented to doctoral students Akanksha Atrey and Jong-Chyi Su ’21PhD

Hang Su ’20PhD and Aditya Sundarrajan ’20PhD were selected as the recipients of the 2021 CICS Outstanding Dissertation Awards. Su’s “Deep Neural Networks for 3D Processing and High-Dimensional Filtering“ presents several new types of neural network operations and architectures. Sundarrajan’s dissertation, “Towards Optimized Traffic Provisioning and Adaptive Cache Management for Content Delivery,“ introduces efficient algorithms to provision user traffic in large content delivery networks.

Two doctoral students, Kalpesh Krishna and Binbin Xie, were selected as Google PhD Fellowship recipients. Krishna was recognized in 2021 for his research in natural language processing. Xie was selected in 2022 for her research in mobile computing.

Doctoral students Nigel Fernandez and Aritra Ghosh, Assistant Professor Andrew Lan, and collaborators from Rice University won a grand prize in the Automated Scoring Challenge organized by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Their winning submission, “Automated Scoring for Reading Comprehension via In-context BERT Tuning,“ was designed to address issues with current automated approaches to scoring open-ended student responses.

Ten teams of doctoral students and faculty received Computing for the Common Good Fellowships for projects that align with the college’s vision for research that enhances the well-being of the citizenry. The 2021 recipients include Forsad Al Hossain, Hamza Elhamdadi, Nazanin Jafari, Mahmood Jasim, Blossom Metevier, Purity Mugambi, Kunjal Panchal, Binbin Xie, Hochul Hwang, and Mohit Yadav

After two years of postponements due to COVID-19, Emma Tosch ’20PhD and Amanda Gentzel ’20PhD joined their advisor, Professor David Jensen, for an in-person hooding ceremony on May 13, 2022.

Alumni Notes

Professor Emerita Edwina Rissland and Kevin Ashley ’85MA, ’88PhD were awarded the 2022 CodeX Prize for contributions to computational law in recognition of their work on case-based reasoning in automated legal analysis.

Henning Schulzrinne ’92PhD received a 2022 ACM SIGCOMM Lifetime Award for his contributions to the design of protocols, applications, and algorithms of internet multimedia, including co-developing the key protocols that enable Voice over IP.

Carla Brodley ’94PhD received the inaugural ACM Frances E. Allen Award for Outstanding Mentoring for her significant personal mentorship and leadership in creating systemic programs that have increased diversity in computer science.

Claire Cardie ’94PhD, Michael Franklin ’83, and Toumas Sandholm ’96PhD were elected as fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

Matthew Dwyer ’95PhD was named the IEEE Computer Society’s 2022 Harlan Mills Award winner for contributions to the specification and analysis of software. The award recognizes researchers and practitioners who have demonstrated long-standing and impactful contributions to software engineering practice and research through the development and application of sound theory.

Aruna Balasubramanian ’11PhD recently accepted the 2021 ACM SIGMOBILE RockStar early career award in recognition of her contributions to the areas of mobile systems and web performance, and her mentoring and leadership efforts towards improving diversity in the SIGMOBILE community.

A University of Glasgow research team led by Jeffrey Dalton ’14PhD won first prize in Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Prize TaskBot Challenge. Dalton is also one of 15 recipients of the 2021 Turing AI Acceleration Fellowship from UK Research and Innovation.

Su Lin Blodgett ’20PhD, currently a senior researcher at Microsoft Research Montréal, has been named one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics by the nonprofit Women in AI Ethics.

The CICS community mourns the passing of Lee Delaney ’93 of Wellesley, Mass. on April 8, 2021, Dirk Mahling ’90PhD of Eliot, Maine on March 18, 2022, Lory Molesky ’96PhD of Lexington, Mass. on April 18, 2021, and Brian Pinette ’94PhD of Turners Falls, Mass. on May 18, 2022.

Recipients

Students attending the 2022 Massenberg Summer STEM Institute on campus confer on a classroom robotics project.

Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences

University of Massachusetts Amherst 140 Governors Drive Amherst, MA 01003-9264 cics.umass.edu

A New Building for the Future of Computing

Slated to open in 2025, a new 90,000-square-foot building will shine as a world-class hub for education, research, and outreach, helping the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences meet the demand for computing talent in the commonwealth. pg. 16