University of Massachusetts

WPI and UMMS collaborate on multiple research and educational activities. These joint activities include research symposia and workshops as well as collaborations in specific research areas, including bio-informatics, point-of-care diagnostics, data science, robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. 

They also include Seed grant programs that promote research collaborations between the parties. In 2021, Reeta Rao and UMass researchers were awarded such a seed grant to screen compounds for antifungal, antiparasitic properties; in 2022, Yihao Zheng, Haichong Zhang and Adam Lammert were awarded collaborative grants to translate basic scientific discoveries into solutions for human health.

We furthermore have a reciprocity agreement in place that allows researchers to use each other's instruments in core facilities at the respective university's internal rates. 

Since November 2018, WPI and UMass Lowell faculty have been engaged in a series of research meet-ups to explore possible areas for complementary research teaming in a number of areas, including Photonics, Electronics, Imaging, Sensors, Robotics, Smart/Advanced Materials, Gaming and Learning Technologies, and Criminal Justice. Among the outcomes of these meet-ups has been follow-on faculty-to-faculty discussions about specific potential collaborative projects.

To help move discussions into actionable territory, WPI and the University of Massachusetts Lowell have inaugurated an exciting new seed funding program to support early-stage research collaborations between faculty members at the two universities. The UML-WPI Collaborative Seed Funding Initiative is intended to support new collaborations, novel discoveries, increased external funding, future industry partnerships, and the possible development of patentable intellectual property.

Under the initiative, the two universities jointly provide up to $20,000 per project to support intramural collaborative projects for research teams comprised of faculty from both institutions. So far, we have had two rounds of funded projects (Spring 2019 and 2022), and we expect this to continue in the future. Priority is given to new collaborations, projects that include multiple UMass Lowell and WPI faculty, projects that include more than one discipline, and projects that are likely to lead to external funding and/or commercialization/industry partnerships.