Six CoE Faculty on Three Research Teams Receive Seed Grants from the Institute of Diversity Sciences

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Six faculty members from the College of Engineering (CoE) are collaborators on three teams that are each receiving $15,000 seed grants from the UMass Amherst Institute of Diversity Sciences (IDS) during its annual seed-grant competition. The participating CoE researchers are: Provost Professor Shelly Peyton, Associate Professor Ashish Kulkarni, and Post Doctoral Research Associate Mehak Malhotra of the Chemical Engineering Department; Assistant Professor Sean McBeath and Post Doctoral Research Associate Mohammad (Kiron) Shakhawat of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department; and Distinguished Professor and Department Head S. Thai Thayumanavan of the Biomedical Engineering Department (also a Distinguished Professor in the Chemistry Department).

The IDS is a multidisciplinary hub at UMass Amherst that brings together faculty, students, and staff from UMass and the Five College Consortium, Massachusetts educators from high schools and community colleges, business leaders, and representatives from nonprofits. The IDS says its mission, in part, is to “promote multidisciplinary science, engineering, and technology research that aims to advance equity in health, learning, and work, and to mitigate the disparate impacts of climate change on communities.” The IDS also seeks to nurture the success of students who have been historically marginalized and to connect scientific research to social justice.

Peyton is collaborating with Associate Professor Courtney Babbitt from the Biology Department on a project summarized as “From Addis Ababa to Amherst, a Cross-Continental Team Investigates Cancer’s Genetic Mysteries.” The project addresses a critical problem: “Every year, hundreds of thousands of women across the world die from breast cancer, and millions more are diagnosed. This tragic, terrible disease produces global traumas.”

Beyond this worldwide threat, breast cancer in Ethiopia is especially menacing, striking women at younger ages and at more advanced stages than in most other countries. Now, Peyton and a team of researchers are embarking on a trailblazing project to understand why. By comparing the genetic landscapes of Ethiopian tumors with those in the U.S., the team aims to uncover the mysteries of this devastating disease and offer new hope for innovative treatments.

In another project, McBeath and Shakhawat, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Tihitina Andarge in the Department of Resource Economics, are undertaking key research being supported by an IDS seed grant: “The EPA Has a New Policy for Water Pollution. How Can We Ensure It Is a Solution Rather Than a Setback for Marginalized Communities?”

As the team members explain their research, “Clean drinking water is a human right. But chemical contaminants present a hidden danger, and they disproportionately impact socioeconomically marginalized communities. Working at the crossroads of policy and environmental justice, this study aims to uncover how these invisible threats navigate from human-made sources into our taps – and [to address] the challenges faced by communities across the country to come into compliance with a necessary but costly new [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] regulation.”

Kulkarni, Malhotra, and Thayumanavan are collaborating with other UMass researchers, graduate students Hung-Hsun Ryan Lu and Jithu Krishna of the Chemistry Department, on a project described as “Breaking Cancer's Shield: A Revolutionary Approach to Unlocking Drug Resistance.”

According to the research team, “Cancer cells possess a formidable defense: Over time, they become resistant to established treatments, nullifying their effects and leading to patient relapse. In a sense, cancer cells are like locks. Now, a multi-disciplinary team may have discovered a set of keys designed to seek out and neutralize cancer's protective mechanisms. This breakthrough could revolutionize treatment for those facing the toughest battles with cancer, [thus] transforming despair into hope.”

Readers who are curious about the details from each project can learn much more by clicking on the links accessible in the above project summaries. According to Nilanjana Dasgupta, director of IDS, “I’m happy that IDS funding allows these teams to test their ideas and advance their projects toward something bigger to attract external research grants.” (August 2024)