Student Voices
Current students & recent alumni reflect on their personal & academic experiences in the Riccio College of Engineering
About
The Riccio College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a tight-knit community within a major research university, allowing students to engage in hands-on engineering through cutting-edge research, collaborative projects, and entrepreneurial initiatives. Our student organizations reflect the diversity within our college and provide opportunities for experiential learning, professional development, peer-to-peer support, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community service.
As a student in the Riccio College of Engineering, the possibilities for building connections, pursuing meaningful research and leadership opportunities, and preparing for a rewarding career are endless. Below, you can hear from some of our recent graduates about how they made the most of their time at UMass Amherst.
Hayley Norton '26, Biomedical Engineering
Hayley Norton served as a research assistant in the Schiffman Research Group for three years, and presented her research at AIChE2025, the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference, and the annual meeting of the Materials Research Society. Hayley also served as a representative for the Biomedical Engineering Society, President of the Running Club, and participated in RISE and the Commonwealth Honors College. Over the summers, she completed internships at Blueprint Medicines (Sanofi) and Eli Lilly and Company, as well as an REU at the Colorado School of Mines. After graduation, she began a PhD at Tufts University, focusing on cellular agriculture and the gut microbiome.
Adhithi Varadarajan '26, Chemical Engineering
Adhithi Varadarajan conducted research in the Perry Lab, studying coacervates and presenting her work at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference. She also participated in a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program focused on computational mathematics and formal proof verification.
Beyond the classroom, Varadarajan served as a peer tutor, peer mentor, and academic success coach in the Learning Resource Center, worked as a teaching assistant for multiple courses, and held roles with Student Affairs and Residential Life. She also completed a summer internship at a pharmaceutical design consultancy and returned there after graduation as a full-time process engineer.
Beyond the classroom, Varadarajan served as a peer tutor, peer mentor, and academic success coach in the Learning Resource Center, worked as a teaching assistant for multiple courses, and held roles with Student Affairs and Residential Life. She also completed a summer internship at a pharmaceutical design consultancy and returned there after graduation as a full-time process engineer.
John Troy '26, Mechanical Engineering
During his time in the Riccio College of Engineering, John Troy completed two internships with Apple’s Softgoods team, one as a Product Design Engineer and another as a Manufacturing Design Engineer. He also interned at Chromalloy, where he worked on electroplating and diffusion coating projects in aerospace manufacturing. As part of an independent project on campus, he developed an electric biopsy needle for cancer research. After graduation, he returned to Apple full-time as an iPhone Product Design Engineer.
Jiteshri Dasari '26 PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Jiteshri Dasari is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering whose research focuses on formal verification of digital hardware, developing scalable methods to mathematically prove the correctness of complex arithmetic circuits used in processors and cryptographic hardware. During her time at UMass Amherst, she authored six first author papers, presented her work at leading international conferences including DAC, ICCAD, and DATE, and completed internships at Synopsys and NXP Semiconductors. She also served as a teaching assistant in the ECE department and received several honors, including the DAC Young Fellow Scholarship, the Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship, and first prize in the ECE Three Minute Thesis competition.
Sheila Ariana, PhD candidate, Civil Engineering
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) awarded PhD candidate Sheila Ariana its highly selective 2024–2025 O. H. Ammann Fellowship in Structural Engineering, recognizing her work on sustainable, carbon-negative building materials. As part of a U.S. Department of Energy-funded project, Ariana researches cross-laminated timber (CLT) and steel hybrid systems for next-generation construction. Her work focuses on designing and testing novel CLT "layups" and hybrid steel diaphragms to improve structural performance and sustainability. Ariana also received the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering Outstanding Reviewer of the Year Award, the ASCE Future Leader Scholarship Award, and full membership in Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society.
Pritom Chowdhury, PhD student, Biomedical Engineering
Pritom Chowdhury is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on physiological signal analytics, wearable sensing systems, and machine learning for cardiovascular monitoring. His work develops end-to-end analysis pipelines for noisy biosensor data, combining signal processing, statistical modeling, and embedded-system design to improve wearable health technologies. Before joining UMass Amherst, Chowdhury earned a master’s degree at Dartmouth College, where he developed a wearable impedance plethysmography device for noninvasive cardiac and respiratory monitoring. He also founded TechGeeks Limited, an IoT startup in Bangladesh focused on healthcare and environmental sensing systems.
