Image by Henry Marte
Yulisa Depeña ’24, a quality assurance engineer at Entegris, talks with Chancellor Julie Chen at the Celebration of Industry Partnerships.
BAE Systems Strategic Operations Director Birtley Locke sees UMass Lowell as more than a university.
“It’s an extension of the business,” says Locke, who works at the international defense, aerospace and security company’s electronic systems headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Professionals in fields ranging from information technology to sustainable agriculture echoed Locke’s sentiment during the annual Celebration of Industry Partnerships, which recognized more than 160 organizations that engage with UMass Lowell to advance student success, research and economic growth. The event was held in the heart of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC), a development project that has brought together higher education, industry and government to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem.
“Industry partnerships are a part of our DNA,” said Chancellor Julie Chen at the start of the event. “More than 130 years ago, this university was founded to support the textile industry. Today, we’re here doing the same thing. We want to support the industries. We want to provide the education. We want to provide the opportunities for our students to be your next best employees.”
Image by Henry Marte
SAIC, a global leader in technology integration and a LINC partner, proudly hires UMass Lowell alumni. Pictured from left, SAIC Vice President of Enterprise Digital Solutions Jose Rivera, SAIC Cyber Cloud Computing Engineer Christopher Morales '21, '22, '25, Chancellor Julie Chen, Cloud One Systems Engineer Associate Liam Cummings '25, Amazon Web Services Lead Engineer Sam DeLap '21, and SAIC Cyber Center Senior Manager Jesse Jaramillo.
Emily Lamport ’25 is one of many current and former students who have benefited from the university’s industry partnerships. While completing the electrical engineering doctoral program, Lamport worked as a graduate research assistant for the Raytheon-UMass Lowell Research Institute (RURI), a joint research facility between the defense solutions business and the university. Her research at RURI focused on the advancement of innovative technologies, including flexible and printed electronics.
“We saw a lot of tours go through our labs (at RURI), and I actually acquired my job through networking during these tours and discussing the research I was doing,” says Lamport, who is now a full-time senior hardware mechanical engineer at Draper, a nonprofit research and development company and an anchor tenant in LINC. “These industry partnerships are super-important and help foster these kinds of relationships.”
Sam DeLap ’21 also found full-time work thanks to the university’s industry partnerships. Initially interested in becoming a research scientist in the field of genomics, he later found a passion for computer coding while conducting research in Biological Sciences Associate Professor Nicolai Konow’s lab. He discovered Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a global leader in technology integration and a LINC partner, during a career fair on campus, and went on to intern for the company. DeLap is now an Amazon Web Services lead engineer for SAIC.
“I found SAIC by happenstance, and it’s completely changed my career trajectory,” says DeLap, who double-majored in mathematics and biological sciences with a concentration in bioinformatics. “These companies can take you by surprise and really jump-start your career.”
Image by Henry Marte
The Celebration of Industry Partnerships featured a panel discussion with, from left, BAE Systems Strategic Operations Director Birtley Locke, National Grid New England President Lisa Wieland, SAIC Vice President of Enterprise Digital Solutions Jose Rivera, Chancellor Julie Chen, Weston & Sampson Environmental Scientist/Sustainability Specialist William Lefebvre '24, and Weston & Sampson Vice President and Water Market Lead Blake Martin.
Lisa Wieland, president of National Grid New England, turns to UMass Lowell, the highest-rated campus for sustainability in Massachusetts, when looking to grow the energy company’s workforce, especially amid the clean energy transition.
“The kind of talent we need is very aligned with the qualities of UMass Lowell students. We need employees who are driven, hardworking, creative, tech-savvy, agile and customer-focused,” Wieland said during a panel session at the event. “When I think about building that talent for the future, we need really strong partners, and UMass Lowell embodies everything that we need.”
In addition to student talent, industry partners tap into the expertise and facilities at UMass Lowell, which achieved Research 1 status earlier this year, signifying the university as one of the top research institutions in the nation.
Blake Martin, vice president and water market lead at Weston & Sampson, is excited for the firm, which specializes in design, engineering and environmental services, to work more closely with UMass Lowell faculty researchers now that the company shares space with the UMass Lowell Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy in LINC.
“One of the things we can do with the university is take advantage of high-powered computing environments to build models of climate change and help predict the probabilistic impacts of climate change on our municipal systems,” Martin said during the celebration.
For Locke, it’s reassuring to know that when BAE Systems faces a challenge, “there’s someone to the south of us that’s there to help.”
Companies interested in getting involved with UMass Lowell to advance their research and development efforts, expand their workforce or make a greater impact in the community can visit UMass Lowell's Corporate Partnerships webpage.