Get Involved!
A brief overview of the student organizations within the College of Engineering
Beyond providing social opportunities, student organizations offer members from every department and every field the chance to display their talents, build their resumes, and develop their engineering skills. You can explore details about all the college’s student organizations here. But below are a few highlights.
One popular student group is the UMass Aeronautics Team, which competes annually in the in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design, Build, Fly International Competition. Last spring, the 30-person UMass team placed first in New England and 15th internationally (out of 110 teams) in the prestigious competition. As the group explains its mission, “We’re a team of undergraduate students who apply our classroom knowledge to real-world problems in the aviation, unmanned-aerial-vehicle, and vertical-take-off-and-landing industries. Each project provides hands-on aeronautics experience…and helps prepare students for these rapidly growing industries.”
Another group, the 20-year-old UMass chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), is a student-run organization dedicated to working with local and international communities to create sustainable, community-driven, engineering solutions that improve quality of life. The chapter at UMass Amherst has operated programs in such places as Saviefe-Deme, Ghana, Nguluni, Kenya, and Holyoke, Massachusetts. Currently, the more than 100 active members operate three separate projects: one in a village in Kenya, where EWB is collaborating with the local community on access to clean water; one that is planning trips to Ghana to work on water supply in a village there; and a local project in the Pioneer Valley that is restoring the greenhouse at a farm co-op and providing a biogas generation system for heating that greenhouse.
The newest student organization at the CoE is UMass iGEM, named for the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Competition that is the culminating event of the group’s year. iGEM is an interdisciplinary team of students who work together to tackle real-world issues through synthetic biology and genetics. No prior experience in synthetic biology or research is required to join the team, and iGEM is open to all majors. The only requirements, says iGEM, are “curiosity and a drive to make a difference outside the classroom.”
Another new organization is MedTech, founded to give undergraduate engineers the opportunity to explore biomedical technology. Each year, the group designs a novel medical device, builds a prototype, and then presents it. According to cofounder and Biomedical Engineering graduate Aaryan Chaudhary ‘24, “Through our work, we’ve been able to win entrepreneurship competitions, enter engineering competitions around the U.S., interview healthcare professionals, and even present our device to the CEO of a medical-device company.”
For those interested in hands-on engineering projects right here on campus, there is the UMass Chapter of the Associated General Contractors (UMass AGC), which is involved in the construction industry, both on campus and in the community. For instance, last year UMass AGC worked on rehabilitating a campus footbridge that was previously out of service, including replacing the rotting wood deck with fiber-reinforced polymer. Thanks to their efforts, the bridge is now fully repaired and once again open to the public.
These examples represent only a small sampling of the numerous student organizations in the CoE, which include affinity groups (such as SWE, NSBE, SHPE, oSTEM, SAME, and SASE) professional societies (such as ASCE, ASME, BMES, INFORMS, IISE, and IEEE), and design and build teams (such as Concrete Canoe, HackUMass, the UMass Rocket Team, UMass Robotics, and the Steel Bridge Team).
Of course, there are even more clubs and student organizations available at the campus level. Did you know that UMass even has a Surf Club?
Chances are, you can find a student organization perfectly suited for your major, your talents, your interests, and your goals.
