The University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Massachusetts Amherst
Faculty member with three students at microscopes

Faculty Excellence

WORLD-CLASS FACULTY

At UMass Amherst, you’ll have a chance to learn from award-winning faculty—bold researchers, teachers, and mentors who are developing groundbreaking solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges and empowering the next generation through the pursuit of knowledge and innovation.  

Bold Thinkers. Bright Leaders.

UMass Amherst's Spotlight Scholars are faculty making a positive difference in the world through research, scholarship, and creative activity. Learn more about the work of these leading minds.

Meet Spotlight Scholars
UMass Professor Jun Yao in his lab
Engineering Biologically Inspired Electronics
Sonya Atalay, provost professor of anthropology
Research With, By, "Research With, By, and For Communities"
Joe Pater, UMass Amherst professor of linguistics
Illuminating the Sound Patterns of Languages
Pari Riahi
Exploring Architecture from Multiple Perspectives

FACULTY DISTINCTION

1,900+

Faculty Members, Conducting Cutting-Edge Research in a Wide Range of Fields

6

of the World's Most Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate Analytics, 2025)

4

of the Best Scientists in the World (Research.com, 2024)

 

Explore Faculty Awards

UMass Amherst Scientists Lead at CERN

Learn how UMass Amherst physicists are recreating the early moments after the Big Bang at the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in order to study new fundamental interactions and search for new particles.

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Stephane Willocq at CERN

UMass AI Pioneers Win the Turing Award

Two UMass Amherst computer scientists received the 2024 ACM A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing," for their pioneering work developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of a branch of artificial intelligence known as reinforcement learning.

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Group gathered for celebration of the Turing Award in 2025

Ambassadors of Knowledge

As a Fulbright Top Producing Institution of U.S. Scholars, UMass Amherst is proud to be a leader in the global exchange of knowledge. An exceptionally high number of UMass faculty and administrators are selected to study, teach, and conduct research around the world through this prestigious international academic exchange program of the U.S. government.

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Fulbright Top Producers badge

DISTINGUISHED FACULTY LECTURES

Dating back to the 1970s, many of UMass Amherst's most esteemed and accomplished faculty members have shared their research at the annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture series. From climate change to the ongoing challenges of healthcare and the ethics of advancing technologies, these researchers address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Explore the Lecture Series

Support UMass Amherst's Research Mission

Consider a Gift

Learn how your gift can help sustain UMass Amherst research to benefit society, from finding cures to devastating diseases to developing a more sustainable global food supply, safer technology, cleaner water, and more equitable access to education and social mobility.

Ways to Give

KEEP EXPLORING

Academics
Office of the Provost