UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

A trio of researchers from the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences is part of an interdisciplinary team that was awarded the first Impact Award from the Gund Institute for Environment.

An expansion of the Gund Institute’s signature Catalyst Awards, which have provided over $1.8 million to UVM scholars over the past eight years, the new Impact Award provides up to $300,000 to further transform established research into real-world change by implementing on-the-ground solutions.

Associate professor Mads R. Almassalkhi and postdoctoral associate Jayashree Raharam Yadav in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program, along with civil and environmental assistant professor Kathryn Hinkelman, are part of the winning team that includes associate professor Bindu Panikkar with the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.

Four years ago, the research team received a Catalyst Award to work alongside municipal and tribal leaders, local utilities and private firms in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic Borough to bring cheaper, cleaner energy to one of the coldest and most remote communities in the United States.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4gexEiK.



University of Vermont Gund Institute at UVM

Gund Institute Awards $300,000 to Bring Clean, Reliable... | The University of Vermont

This week, students participating in UVM's STEM Scholars program were introduced to the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) FabLab, where they were challenged to design and fabricate model cars using the lab's suite of 3D printers, laser cutters, and computer-aided design (CAD) software. Powered by classic mousetraps, the two-day workshop will culminate in head-to-head races down the hallways of Votey Hall.

STEM Scholars: Leading Change is a cohort-based learning community focused on developing the next generation of STEM leaders. Through a carefully curated four-year program, participating students not only pursue degrees in their chosen STEM disciplines but also develop the skills to become change leaders.

Each July, a new cohort of STEM Scholars arrives on campus to begin a six-week summer bridge program. During the program, students take a three-credit course, work as interns in research labs, and strengthen key skills that help them start their first semester with confidence.

As they progress through the program, students receive ongoing support, training, and mentorship to further develop their leadership and STEM capabilities. They also have opportunities to pursue a second internship in industry, a medical facility, or a research laboratory, gaining valuable experience beyond the classroom.

Learn more: https://www.uvm.edu/admissions/undergraduate/stemscholars



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We could not hope for a more exceptional industry partner than GlobalFoundries! The nation’s top tier semiconductor manufacturer with a state of the art fabrication plant located just down the road from our campus. So many CEMS students have had the unparalleled experience of going from “Lab to Fab” with prized internships that often mature into extraordinary careers. Thank you, GlobalFoundries!!

This week, UVM's Vermont Complex Systems Institute (VCSI) is welcoming nearly 600 attendees from over a dozen countries for the 12th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC²S²).

As the leading conference at the intersection of social and computational science, IC²S² convenes researchers from around the world who use large-scale data and computational methods to better understand human behavior and society.

We're especially proud of our contingent of CEMS faculty and graduate student researchers who will be showcasing their innovative research across a wide range of disciplines over the next three days.

Learn more about the 2026 IC²S² Conference: https://ic2s2-2026.org

-VCSI Social Science

UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) faculty, students, and staff were on hand yesterday for the grand opening of the Vermont Gallium Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub Test and Characterization Laboratory located at OnLogic's Global Headquarters in South Burlington.

Funded through a $3.4 million award from the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC), the state-of-the-art microelectronics testing laboratory is a cornerstone facility of Vermont's Tech Hub consortium, led by the University of Vermont in partnership with GlobalFoundries and the State of Vermont.

In his opening remarks, Douglas Merrill, UVM's Regional Innovation Officer, noted that the facility will be the first publicly accessible laboratory in the nation to provide comprehensive testing services and technical expertise for high-power, high-frequency electronic devices built with Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology.

GaN semiconductors offer significant advantages over traditional silicon, including greater energy efficiency, faster switching speeds, and smaller device footprints. These capabilities make them especially well-suited for next-generation applications such as power electronics, RF communications, and advanced wireless technologies.

CEMS looks forward to working alongside our campus, industry, and government partners to further strengthen Vermont's position as a leader in semiconductor innovation while expanding opportunities for research, workforce development, and industry collaboration.

-GaNTechHub

University of Vermont

What influences whether a scientific paper is accepted by one of the world's leading journals?

New research from UVM Mathematics & Statistics Assistant Professor Sam Zhang offers an unprecedented look inside that process—and fittingly, the study has now been published in Science Advances, one of the very journals it examined.

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, Zhang analyzed more than 110,000 manuscript submissions to Science and Science Advances, shedding new light on the editorial and peer review processes that help shape scientific discovery.

The study found that factors such as team size, institutional prestige, geography, and research topic are associated with publication outcomes at elite journals, offering new insight into a process that has long remained largely hidden.

"This is really a first look at this process that was previously opaque," Zhang said.

The work highlights the power of data science, statistics, and interdisciplinary research to better understand the systems that influence how scientific knowledge is evaluated and shared. In addition to his role in UVM's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Zhang directs the Science and Humanity Lab at the Vermont Complex Systems Institute, where he studies the human side of science.

Read the story: https://bit.ly/454OrhX



University of Vermont

Yesterday afternoon, university professionals attending the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU) Commission on Economic & Community Engagement Summer Meeting, hosted this week at the University of Vermont, stopped by the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences' Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) for a tour and an opportunity to learn about innovative projects being developed by students and researchers.

During the visit, CEMS students showcased several ongoing projects:

ErMo™ Early Mobility Project — An affordable early mobility platform designed for DIY fabrication and simple assembly using community skills and mass-market materials. The low-cost prototype features a modified stroller equipped with a wheel-hub propulsion system, an onboard power supply, a Raspberry Pi computer, and an accessible joystick controller.

RECLAIM Project — The Real-Time Medical-Grade Fluid Recycling System to Support Rural Vermont Hospitals brings together an interdisciplinary team of medical, engineering, and business researchers and students to address IV fluid shortages in rural communities. The team is developing a prototype system that reclaims and sterilizes local water sources to produce high-quality saline and irrigation fluids.

Health TRAC Project — Through a network of tracking methods, including wearable sensors, voice recordings, and contact-force measurement devices, students and researchers from engineering, occupational therapy, and physical therapy are developing an integrated platform for unobtrusive, home-based health and function monitoring for rural older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

An interdisciplinary hub for the design, development, and testing of biomedical devices and systems focused on rural healthcare, the CBI brings together students, faculty, and industry partners through shared programming and an interactive space for applied research, technology development, and education.



University of Vermont

What happens when engineering students take what they've learned in CEMS classrooms into the world's most biodiverse cloud forests?

A team of undergraduate students from UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences is collaborating to develop autonomous water-monitoring stations to help conservation partners in Ecuador's Intag region collect reliable environmental data. Their work supports local efforts to monitor water quality and protect vital ecosystems from the potential impacts of mining activities.

The project began with mechanical engineering student Gabe Johnson, whose internship with an environmental advocacy organization in Ecuador, led by UVM lecturer Peter Shear, inspired an idea: create water-quality monitoring devices to help communities document the impacts of exploratory mining on local water sources.

With funding support from UVM’s Office of Fellowships, Opportunities, & Undergraduate Research (FOUR), Gabe recruited a team of undergraduate students, including Finn Duncan, Henry Myatt, Ginger Thralow, and Finn Dabish, who combined their expertise across electrical, civil, and environmental engineering to independently design and build multiple prototypes.

Between classes and exams, the students prepared to travel to Ecuador this past month, where they field-tested their designs, adapting on the fly, solving problems under real conditions, and gathering insights to make their systems even more resilient and effective.

This project is a powerful example of what engineering education at UVM is all about: collaborating across disciplines, partnering with communities, and applying technical skills to solve meaningful, real-world challenges.

Learn more about their inspiring story: https://www.uvm.edu/cems/news/classroom-cloud-forest



University of Vermont UVM College of Arts & Sciences

This week, CEMS is hosting our first two Engineering & Design Camps of the summer. Designed to introduce middle-school and early high school-aged students to engineering professions with hands-on learning opportunities to help them discover and develop their own STEM identity.

The 𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝙄: 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙙 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙢𝙥 is being held at UVM’s FabLab, an advanced fabrication space featuring an array of 3D printing and laser-cutting machines. The campers are introduced to 3D modeling software through guided activities and work together in groups to fabricate and test mouse-trap-driven model cars.

In the 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙢𝙥, students are introduced to the basics of robotics, learning how to use a microprocessor to receive digital inputs and generate a digital output. By the week’s end, the campers will have designed a robotic device to address a challenge, using new skills in coding and mechanical systems design.

Thanks to our camp leaders and student camp counselors for creating an awesome experience for these young engineers-in-training!

University of Vermont

The end of the academic year for Vermont’s primary and secondary schools always brings a flurry of field trips to campus, where UVM’s physics and chemistry departments host a series of fun and instructional demonstrations.

During the past month alone, over 200 students from kindergarten through high school came through the STEM complex for demonstrations. In an effort to be both engaging and accessible, physics professor Luke Donforth tailors his program to his visitors' ages with help from lab support technicians Patrick Charron and Sam Beauchemin.

“We’ll do cloud formation for kindergarteners, then go deeper with the same demo for 6th graders, focusing on force and pressure. We’ll bring out a Van de Graaff generator for second graders and revisit it as part of electricity and magnetism for 8th graders,” Donforth described.

Likewise, chemistry department safety officer Travis Verret enjoys adding a little drama—often involving lighting their teacher’s hand on fire—always in a safe and controlled environment! Working alongside chemistry staff member Jacqueline Chant, Verret has been providing demonstrations long enough to remember current UVM chemistry majors visiting years ago as middle schoolers.

Learn more: https://www.uvm.edu/cems/physics/news/lighting-spark-future-scientists-inspired-campus

University of Vermont