Research for the Common Good
Life-Changing Research for You
At UMass Amherst and across the nation, universities power life-changing research that strengthens America and drives our economy forward. Public investments in research have given you cleaner water, new energy systems, and equal access to education and health care.
UMass Amherst is a key part of the knowledge economy in Massachusetts, which contributes $16.3 billion in economic activity annually—a 1.9x return on research and development investment. When these investments are threatened, our nation’s future as a scientific powerhouse is at risk.
Keep up with the latest in research and innovation from UMass Amherst through our quarterly REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH e-newsletter.
Research in Action
Research universities like UMass Amherst play a vital role in driving progress for society, whether discovering life-saving medical treatments, protecting our natural environment, or developing advanced technologies.
Improving Health & Well-Being
By tackling our biggest public health challenges—from supporting addiction recovery to reducing harmful chemicals in our bodies—UMass researchers help people live longer, healthier lives.
Illuminating the Health Effects of ‘Forever Chemicals’
PFAS chemicals are ubiquitous: found in products as varied as nonstick pans, contact lenses, cosmetics, raincoats, firefighting foam, food packaging, and fertilizers. But how might they affect your body? UMass Amherst researchers are studying the effects of these chemicals on human health and working to mitigate harm.
Studying Food as Medicine
Can eating fresh fruits and vegetables promote health and reduce chronic illness? UMass Amherst researchers are partnering with local communities to study the power of food as medicine.
Reducing Suffering from Addiction
Opioid use disorder affects over 3 million people in the United States. Public health researcher Elizabeth Evans has dedicated her career to understanding how healthcare systems and public policy can better serve vulnerable populations at risk for opioid abuse.
Building a Better Future for Farms & Food
Food that’s safer, more nutritious, and better for the planet? Yes, please. When it comes to agriculture, UMass helps farms and communities grow ever stronger. UMass researchers are working to make plant-based foods tastier, more nutritious, and more affordable; to prevent the spread of food-borne illness; and to help farmers in the nation's heartland prevent soil loss.
Securing the Safety of the Food Supply
Every year, approximately 179 million cases of foodborne illnesses occur in the United States, resulting in nearly 500,000 hospitalizations and over 6,000 deaths. UMass Amherst scientists are conducting research to improve the safety of the food we eat—and to stop the spread of outbreaks when they occur.
Protecting Topsoil in the Nation's Heartland
The American Midwest loses two millimeters of topsoil a year—nearly double the rate of erosion that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers sustainable. This topsoil loss, totaling approximately 57.6 billion metric tons since agriculture began in the region, has serious implications for the country’s food production. UMass Amherst geologist and geochemist Isaac Larsen's research group is investigating topsoil erosion to find real-world solutions to this critical problem.
Engineering a Safer, More Resilient Food Supply
Around the world, food safety and security are threatened by the effects of climate change. Om Parkash Dhankher, a UMass researcher and leader in plant biotechnology, is developing climate-resilient crops and engineering oil seed crops to produce biofuels, which have a lower carbon footprint and less environmental impact. He is also developing sustainable, nontoxic nanomaterials for use in fertilizers and pesticides.
Protecting Our Communities & Environment
From helping native plants thrive and growing city trees, to stopping tick- and mosquito-borne diseases before they spread, UMass researchers are developing solutions to keep cities green, water clean, and families safe.
Containing the Spread of Invasive Plants
That bittersweet vine encircling the trees in your backyard? It’s an invasive plant species, one of many threatening local ecosystems. Professor Bethany Bradley’s research group at UMass Amherst works with natural resource managers, plant growers, and plant sellers on research-based solutions to reduce the spread of invasive plant species and alleviate their damage to ecosystems.
Promoting Sustainable and Equitable Access to Clean Water
Across our country, public water supplies face threats ranging from deteriorating infrastructure to the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, and emerging contaminants, like PFAS chemicals and algal blooms. At UMass Amherst, researchers are working together to accelerate research and innovation in the water sector.
Paving the Future of America’s Civil Infrastructure
Around half of all roads and bridges in our country are rated in poor or fair condition, posing threats to public safety. In UMass Amherst's College of Engineering, researchers are developing innovative, lower-cost solutions to repair the nation’s aging infrastructure while saving time, avoiding traffic disruption, and even improving equitable access to public infrastructure.
Creating Medical & Technological Breakthroughs
Using novel combinations of science, medicine, and engineering, UMass researchers are discovering new ways to fight disease and improve quality of life. Their innovations range from personalized cancer detection and treatments to robots that aid those with disabilities and advance stroke rehabilitation.
Advancing Personalized Cancer Treatment
In 2025, over 2 million new cancer diagnoses and more than 600,000 cancer deaths are projected in the United States. This complex disease continues to elude treatment, which is why UMass chemical engineer Ashish Kulkarni is studying personalized treatments to target aggressive, treatment-resistant forms of cancer. His work seeks to make immunotherapy effective for as many cancer patients as possible.
Robotic Solutions to Improve Human Health
Humanoid robots who can walk, run, and shake hands? A robotic hip exoskeleton to help stroke survivors rehabilitate their walking gait? A four-legged robotic guide ”dog” to help visually impaired people navigate the world independently? Robotic arms to perform tasks typically done by nurses? These examples may sound like the stuff of science fiction novels, yet all are technologies currently in development at UMass Amherst to benefit humanity.
Improving the Lives of Older Adults Through AI
In the U.S., over 55 million people—or more than 1 in 6 people in the country—are over aged 65. The vast majority of older Americans would prefer to stay in their homes as they age, but for many, chronic illness, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias, make this out of reach without substantial support. The Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC), headquartered at UMass Amherst, is working with patients, caregivers, and clinicians to create innovations that promote healthy aging.
Shaping Fair & Smart Policies for Society
Propelling society through research is only half the battle. UMass researchers strive to find ways to make health care, education, and energy more fair, affordable, and effective for all.
Innovative Research to Promote Health Equity
A person’s health and well-being is influenced by a wide range of social factors, including their access to housing, education, a safe neighborhood, health care, and healthy food. The result: different groups in society face unequal risks of health challenges. UMass Amherst researchers are thinking outside the box and working with communities to close societal health disparities.
Advancing Equitable Diversity in the Workplace
Has the country made progress addressing workplace diversity and discrimination? Who files discrimination charges and under what circumstances? And when they do, what are the outcomes? At UMass Amherst, the Center for Employment Equity promotes accountability toward the goals in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
STEM for Social Justice
The Institute of Diversity Sciences at UMass Amherst brings together students and faculty to solve real-world social justice problems—ranging from flood vulnerability of different populations to inequality in the education system—through STEM research. It’s also working to promote the success of diverse students as they enter the STEM workforce.
Breakthrough Discoveries
At UMass Amherst, research isn’t locked in labs or limited to theory. It’s leading to discoveries that make a difference in the lives of real people, whether by revolutionizing cancer treatment or creating next-generation computer hardware or truly sustainable electronics.
A UMass Amherst-Ernest Pharmaceuticals team is developing a novel nontoxic bacterial therapy, BacID, to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly into tumors. This emerging technology holds promise for safe and more effective treatment of cancers with high mortality rates, including liver, ovarian, and metastatic breast cancer.
AI has rapidly emerged as a force in nearly every sector of society, yet today’s computer hardware is based on hardware introduced over 75 years ago. At UMass Amherst, electrical and computer engineer Qiangfei Xia is developing next-generation “memristor”-based hardware technology with the potential to advance AI while dramatically reducing energy usage and costs.
Generating electricity out of thin air? It’s possible! UMass Amherst researchers have created the “Air-gen,” an air-powered generator that uses protein nanowires naturally produced by the microbe Geobacter to harvest electricity from water vapor in the air. By gene editing Geobacter, they’ve also trained it to produce nanowires that could “sniff out” a vast array of chemical tracers—technology that could one day detect medical conditions like asthma and kidney disease.
Smartwatches are invaluable tools for promoting personal health and monitoring key vital signs in people with serious health conditions. But today’s smartwatches all have one serious shortcoming: they must be periodically removed from the body to charge. A group of recent UMass Amherst graduates believe they have found a solution. They are developing groundbreaking kinetic energy-harvesting technology to charge smartwatches without being removed from the body.
Our Reach
public research university in New England, non-medical school R&D expenditures
R&D expenditures (FY23)
research centers
in awards from private industry (FY25)
active patents
industry research partnerships annually
Training the Next Generation
As the commonwealth's flagship public research university, UMass Amherst is committed to preparing the future leaders of the high-tech workforce in Massachusetts.
How do college students spend their summers? At UMass Amherst, a dedicated group of undergraduates in the Core Summer Internship Program spends 10 weeks testing out novel wearable devices, studying sleep patterns, examining specimens under a microscope, or carrying out advanced digital design and fabrication techniques. Their experience contributing to research in the university's Core Facilities is preparing them to be future leaders in the high-tech workforce.
UMass Amherst biomedical engineering students often go on to careers in clinical research or practice. Through the Bridging Engineering and Medicine (BEAM) program, biomedical engineering undergraduates get a chance to engage with real-world medical problems in research in an experiential, clinical setting at UMass Chan Medical School.
Meet UMass Amherst’s Rising Researchers
In all academic disciplines, UMass undergraduates work side by side with faculty members and graduate students to make meaningful contributions to research. Learn how these outstanding undergraduates are making a difference in the world through research while learning valuable skills for their future careers.
Around UMass
UMass is home to 60 campus-based research centers and institutes—hubs for collaboration and innovation working to harness research for the betterment of society.