In the News

Public Health Department Chair Nicole Champagne brings Ben, the university's first therapy dog, to campus twice a week and the Wellness Center recently brought baby animals to campus, all to reduce student stress.

At a recent career seminar, students from a variety of majors heard from three experienced genetic counselors about the various career options in the profession, as well as the challenges and rewards of their jobs.

The Solomont School of Nursing celebrated the 50th anniversary of the nursing program by recognizing 50 nursing leaders at an event on Oct. 4.

Assoc. Prof. Wilson Palacios is researching new approaches to prevent opioid overdoses and the spread of disease in Lowell. Meanwhile, Asst. Prof. Angela Wangari Walter is identifying barriers to prevention, treatment and recovery for fishing industry workers in New England.

University researchers are collaborating with Lawrence to turn the city into an “Age-Friendly Community” – a place where housing, transportation, green spaces, health care and social services help residents of all ages lead healthier lives.

It’s tough to corral the attention of more than 3,200 college students in an arena. Tougher still to bring them to stony silence.  But that’s what Ken Nwadike did to the 3,200 freshman and transfer students at the 2018 Convocation.

Clinical Assoc. Prof. Edgar Torres of Physical Therapy and Kinesiology lends advice on how to keep our backs healthy to prevent lower back pain.

The university is piloting a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program this summer, a joint initiative between the Office of Sustainability, the Center for Public Opinion and Mill City Grows, to lay the foundation for a self-sustaining CSA at the university while also providing research opportunities.

Assistant Prof. Sabrina Noel of the Department of Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences fields questions about how much sugar in the diet is too much, deciphering food labels and identifying healthier options for satisfying a sweet tooth.

A UMass Lowell researcher dedicated to improving the quality and safety of home health care recently received international recognition for her work.

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute recently recognized Asst. Prof. Boce Zang as an Academic Champion of Toxics Use Reduction at the State House. He was one of 12 honorees that are working to reduce toxic chemical use across the Commonwealth.

A healthy composition of the gut microbiome – a vast army of microorganisms that keep us alive – could help prevent depression, obesity, arthritis and illnesses such as Parkinson’s Disease among others.

Invitation to Innovation, which was held May 4 at the Tsongas Center, was attended by more than 2,000 schoolchildren, educators and community and corporate partners.

Graduate students in the Master’s in Public Health with a focus on dietetics spent the semester interning on campus with University Dining Services, learning about everything from food prep and safety to knife skills and food waste composting.

A collaboration between Campus Recreation, the Wellness Center and the Exercise Physiology department, the Exercise is Medicine program teaches students how exercise can improve their overall well-being by providing them with 16 personal training sessions – free of charge.

UML is working hard to educate students in sexual violence prevention in the classroom, on playing fields, in student clubs and through residence life. Faculty are also doing cutting-edge research in the field.

Sixty academic, government and industry leaders and researchers from across the region came together for “The Internet of Things: Enabling Technologies & Emerging Trends,” a forum hosted by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

To help students pursue advanced health degrees, the university has increased and centralized advising support and program coordination.

“There’s an idea that clean equals good and healthy, but this should broaden our idea of what cleaning work is and what the chemical hazards are in particular,” said Margaret Quinn of UMass Lowell.

Alexandre Lopes, a UMass Lowell associate professor of physical therapy, arrived in Pyeongchang, South Korea last week, where he is conducting research on behalf of the International Olympic Committee to determine how many athletes sustain injuries or fall ill during the Winter Games.

Alexandre Lopes, associate professor of physical therapy, is conducting research, blogging and posting photos about his experiences at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Highly processed foods are known to contribute to obesity, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. Now there’s something else to worry about – brain function. Katherine Tucker, director of UMass Lowell’s Center for Population Health, recently received a $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of highly processed foods on cognitive decline.

The NERVE Center and Toxics Use Reduction Institute both moved to new homes over winter break, while Facilities Management steamed ahead on renovations at Perry and Pasteur halls and on the construction of University Suites Dining.

Prof. Katherine Tucker of the Department of Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences has received a $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of highly processed foods on cognitive decline.

UMass Lowell researchers have developed a paint-stripping solvent that they say provides a safer alternative to the toxic, potentially deadly products available for purchase at local hardware stores.

An oncology nurse for more than 30 years, Donna Manning and her husband Rob established an endowed faculty chair nursing position in the Solomont School of Nursing.

New research suggests that eating a dozen eggs per week could slow the progression of macular degeneration.

How do you take the world by storm while lending it a hand? The co-founders and partners in Nonspec Inc., an emerging business that makes affordable prosthetics, are finding out after they landed a $50,000 prize as one of the Top 26 startups at MassChallenge, the Boston-based business accelerator. 

Students are collecting new teddy bears and other stuffed animals to give to children in Lowell and hurricane-ravaged areas for the holidays. The Student Alumni Ambassadors are collecting in Fox Hall and also taking online donations of money.

The university celebrated research, teaching and creative works at the 2017-18 Faculty Symposium, held at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center.

The university's annual Veteran's Day flag ceremony honored all veterans, especially our student-veterans. But there was one clear focus, the biggest guy in the room, alumnus Nick Lavery.

Students who take a sports injury management class at Billerica Memorial High School recently visited UMass Lowell’s exercise physiology labs to meet professors and participate in demonstrations.

From a celebration of Division I athletics to a performance by alumni-founded band Bearstronaut, River Hawk Homecoming 2017 drew its biggest crowd yet.

Maura Walsh '80, health care administration alumna and former leader of a 15-hospital health care system in Texas, returned to campus recently to share her experience managing a command center during and after Hurricane Ike.

With more than 1,400 international students enrolled at the university this fall, the services provided by the International Students and Scholars Office and the Office of Multicultural Affairs are in high demand.

The university’s focus on helping first-year students succeed is already paying off in higher retention and graduation rates. A new advising system, an online four-year planner and the River Hawk Scholars Academy offer additional support.

The university’s focus on helping first-year students succeed is already paying off in higher retention and graduation rates. A new advising system, an online four-year planner and the River Hawk Scholars Academy offer additional support.

Faculty Teaching Circle Fellows integrate innovative teaching methods in classes to help students succeed.

At the annual Welcome Back night, students got a taste of what downtown Lowell has to offer.

Biologist Nicolai Konow studies the structure and movements of backboned animals, including fish, bats, birds and axolotls, to understand how they evolved and how they fit into the ecosystem. A recent study looks at fish that eat coral.

The university’s new Urban Agriculture Greenhouse, run in partnership with Mill City Grows, will be a testing ground for water and energy efficiency — while also providing food for the local community.

The largest group of new incoming UML students were welcomed to campus with a call to join together and celebrate difference.

Every year, more than 200 first-year students receive merit-based, $4,000 Co-op Scholarships in their acceptance packages. The scholarships pay them to do research with a faculty member, intern at a community agency or study abroad.

Students studying dietetics gain valuable work experience during their summer community internships.

A dozen incoming first-year students have been awarded scholarships by the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund. The fund honors efforts to get nearly 5,000 second-generation Japanese-American (Nisei) students out of World War II relocation camps and into colleges.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Asst. Prof. of Public Health Natalia Palacios a $2.1 million, five-year grant to study the relationship between gut bacteria and the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Led by Asst. Prof. Valerie King, 13 students from the Solomont School of Nursing spent two weeks in Cádiz, Spain, learning Spanish medical terminology.

As babies and children and when we’re sick, disabled or dying, we all need care – and most of that care is provided by women working for low or no wages. It’s time to change that, according to speakers at the Global Carework Summit.

A new UMass systemwide research center, launched with a $25,000 grant by the UMass President’s Science & Technology Initiatives Fund, will study the science of how bone and muscle systems work under different conditions.

UMass Lowell on Thursday officially dedicated its College of Health Sciences to alumnus Roy Zuckerberg in recognition of his support for the university and its students.

UMass Lowell officially dedicated its College of Health Sciences to alumnus Roy Zuckerberg in recognition of his support for the university and its students.

The university’s first-ever Invitation to Innovation (i2i) event drew a crowd of more than 1,000 to see student projects, research and products coming out of the university’s labs and classrooms.

Alice Bonner ‘89, who spoke on campus to students, staff, faculty and community agency representatives at the recent third annual Healthy Aging-Living Well Forum, urged students to get involved in health policy.

The 2017 DifferenceMaker awards celebrated 10 ideas designed to make the world a better place.

The annual Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium showcases research and service-learning projects in the arts and humanities, as well as the sciences and social sciences.

UMass Lowell recently celebrated the naming of its School of Nursing and the first-ever endowed professorship in the nearly 50-year history of the program.

UMass Lowell dedicated the Susan and Alan Solomont School of Nursing and announced the Donna Manning Endowed Chair for Nursing at a ceremony with more than 100 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends held at the Health and Social Sciences Building.

The Centers for Learning and Academic Support Services recently held a pair of expos to help students who want to change their majors. The events brought together advisers from C.L.A.S.S. and the colleges with representatives from Financial Aid and Career & Co-op Services, for one-stop student shopping.

Residence Life has completely reorganized housing options on campus, from adding new living-learning communities to clustering them in themed buildings. That’s because living-learning communities boost academic success — for both first-year and upper-class students.

Research, spearheaded by Asst. Prof. Kelsey Mangano, shows that protein from plant-based foods is as beneficial to muscle mass and strength as protein from meat.

Gina McCarthy, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and an architect of the university’s Toxics Use Reduction Institute, encouraged students to be environmentally minded during a guest lecture at O’Leary Learning Commons.

Students working in the TURI Lab helped the campus bike shop adopt cleaning products that are safer for the environment and workers.

The university has launched Making WAVES, a campuswide effort to address barriers to professional advancement for women and minority faculty in STEM fields. A five-year, $3.5 million National Science Foundation grant is supporting the research initiative.

Prof. Katherine Tucker weighs in on what new nutrition trends we can expect, which diet is actually the healthiest to follow and whether kale will still rule the day in 2017.

Spinal cord recovery center Project Walk has hired three exercise physiology graduates as trainers in its Stratham, N.H., facility.

A new “Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning” course gives students from five different majors — nursing, medical laboratory science, nutritional sciences, exercise physiology and public health — experience working in teams at Summit ElderCare in Lowell.

The Toxic Use Reduction Institute has funded three UMass research projects, aiming to find safer alternatives to toxic chemicals that harm human health and the environment.

The marching band life doesn’t end in high school. It just gets better for those who tough it out in college.  

Julie Nash, the new vice provost for student success, is charged with building a university culture that not only helps students stay on track, but achieve at higher levels.

The recent student-organized Graduate Volunteer Day gave grad students across all disciplines a chance to help the local community while building connections with one another.

Molly the pit bull gets a second chance, and helps others now, thanks to owner Katie Robinson '16.

The annual David Lustick Climate Change Teach-In drew nearly 400 students to Cumnock Hall, where speakers offered lessons on responding to a changing world.

Prof. David Turcotte and a team of students carried out a community health needs assessment for Lowell and surrounding towns—and made some surprising findings.

Students from the eNABLE Lowell group fitted 8-year-old Liam Haggerty with a custom-made artificial hand at the South Campus basketball court.

From improving rehabilitation for stroke survivors to reducing inflammation through diet in older adults, faculty members in the College of Health Sciences are conducting studies that have the potential to make a powerful impact on people’s lives.

The university’s Core Research Facilities, a group of open access laboratories, is showing off its state-of-the-art scientific equipment by offering a fictional crime “Lunch and Learn” series of workshops and a short-story contest for undergraduates.

UMass Lowell physical therapy professor Alexandre Lopes, 42, monitored athletes' injuries and health during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro over the summer as a member of the International Olympic Committee's Medical and Scientific Commission.

University researchers helped the Lowell Police Department win two major grants totaling nearly $1.3 million over three years to study factors contributing to opioid addiction and come up with solutions.

Assoc. Prof. of Physical Therapy and Olympic researcher Alexandre Lopes shares his insight on what causes athletic injuries and how everyone from the casual runner to a professional athlete can avoid them.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health awarded the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace a five-year $6,357,027 grant.

The Honors College welcomed its largest class of new students ever this fall. The college has been growing by leaps and bounds – while raising its admission standards.

Physical therapy is increasingly becoming viewed as an alternative to medication for several other conditions, said Deirdra Murphy, associate dean for undergraduate studies at UMass Lowell’s College of Health Sciences.

Increases in chronic diseases, obesity rates, virus threats and an aging baby-boom population are fueling the need for more public health professionals.

At UMass Lowell, high-merit students in the Co-op Scholars Program are given opportunities to conduct summer research after their freshman year.

Eight nursing students and two faculty members traveled to China on a cross-cultural exchange experience.

Three dozen faculty and staff spent time this summer learning how to incorporate the DifferenceMaker initiative into the curriculum.

More than two dozen people from across the campus community share what’s on their summer reading lists. Their responses run the gamut—with authors ranging from the Dalai Lama to Kurt Vonnegut and topics spanning quantum physics to dieting strategies, and everything in between.

Public health students created campuswide campaigns to raise awareness about global health issues.

Exercise physiology students apply their expertise to teach children, teenagers and young adults with disabilities how to ride a bike.

A record 3,720 graduates conferred degrees at 2016 Commencement exercises, which featured addresses from journalist Judy Woodruff and conductor Keith Lockhart.

As they prepare for commencement, some of our seniors reflect on how they found their place at UMass Lowell and what legacy they’d like to leave behind.

College Writing II students visited Lowell High to speak about college as part of a study on whether service learning leads to better academic outcomes for UMass Lowell students.

The Center for Community Research and Engagement helps local agencies, links faculty research with community needs and provides graduate students with research experience.

Ten teams pitched and vied for a piece of the $35,000 purse in the fourth annual DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge.

Thanks to Prof. John Wooding's creative economy grant, the university is partnering with more than two dozen community groups for the monthlong Lowell Earth Day Celebration 2016.

Members of the Disable the Label club work to unite people with unique challenges and to welcome students with disabilities through events and outreach.

College of Health Sciences students designed interactive, fun activities to educate kids about health before the College of Health Sciences Alumni Night with the River Hawks hockey game.

Living-learning communities help students academically and socially, increasing retention and student success.

Stress at work is linked to unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise, according to two research studies conducted by the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW).

The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences has awarded The New England Consortium a $7.6 million grant to protect the health and safety of workers responding to hazardous-materials and climate-change crises.

The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences has awarded The New England Consortium a $7.6 million grant to protect the health and safety of workers responding to hazardous-materials and climate-change crises.

New graduate degrees combine specialized knowledge in humanities and sciences with business management, data analysis and leadership skills.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health awarded UMass Lowell a $2M grant that supports graduate students in their public health and occupational health and safety studies.

A team of researchers led by UMass Lowell faculty is using smartphone technology to help improve the diagnosis of people afflicted with tuberculosis.

Interprofessional education in the College of Health Sciences teaches students how to work effectively in teams so that patients are more likely to receive safe, quality care.

Forty faculty members were honored at the third annual Teaching and Learning Symposium, sponsored by the Committee on Transformational Education.

UMass Lowell and Mahidol University in Thailand have been awarded a National Institutes of Health $3 million, five-year grant to establish a center of excellence to improve agricultural health in Southeast Asia.

Assoc. Prof. Eric James is conducting a fall prevention study in the Health Assessment Lab that recently opened in Riverview Suites – a 250,000-square-foot facility that also includes a residence hall for 800 students, 10 classrooms and a fitness center.

Now in their second year, Transformational Tuesdays provide an informal forum for faculty to get together, explore teaching challenges and share ideas for creating the best possible classroom environment.

Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney and keynote speaker Clancy Martin welcomed new students at the annual convocation ceremony and urged them to make the most of their opportunities at UMass Lowell.

Chancellor Moloney recognizes achievements, and eyes the future, on #First90 campus engagement tours.

The university's Wellness Center offers students support through counseling, health services and safety programs.

Health Sciences students challenged themselves this summer by working in laboratories, nursing homes and exercise facilities locally and across the country – all to help them gain experience and make an impact.

The campus construction boom continued this summer, highlighted by a new wing at Riverview Suites, site prep for the Pulichino Tong Business Building and renovations at the McGauvran Student Center.

The Toxic Use Reduction Institute hosted business leaders at its biannual Greener Materials Research Symposium and funded two UMass Lowell faculty member research projects.

Theatre arts students took on the role of patients to provide nursing students a safe environment to learn communication techniques that will help them deliver quality care.

The Alumni Admissions Volunteer Program connects alumni with prospective students across the world, building excitement and increasing applications.

Presiding over Commencement for the eighth and final time, Chancellor Marty Meehan ’78 congratulated 3,716 graduates on their achievement, challenging them to make the world a better place.

As nearly 3,800 graduates embark on the next chapter of their lives, many already have full-time jobs waiting for them following Commencement. Here’s a look at how a few of them did it.

Alice Bonner, ’89 MS GNP Alumna, and 2012 University of Massachusetts Lowell Alumni Award Honoree, appointed as Secretary of Massachusetts Elder Affairs.

Physical therapy students recently took part in a wheelchair basketball game, competing against the New England Blazers to help students gain an understanding of their future patients.

The “Global Immersion in Innovation and Entrepreneurship” course returned to India over winter break, with 17 UMass Lowell students learning through multicultural and multidisciplinary activities.