From Ideal to Real: How Abu Bony Amin’s UMass Experience Prepared Him for the Field
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Abu Bony Amin is a PhD candidate Electrical and Computer Engineering at UMass Amherst whose 2026 is shaping up to be a monumental and transformative year. Abu was not only recently named the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Teaching Award for his exemplary skills in the classroom, but Abu has also secured a full-time position as a Senior Subsystems Engineer in Silicon Photonics at Skorpios Technologies, Inc. following the exciting news that he has officially become a Green Card holder.
Having worked with Abu through our Teaching Fellows training, the Teaching Academy, and throughout many events such as Commencement, our team recently took some time to speak with him about his journey at UMass Amherst, as well as what’s next for him during this exciting year.
Abu’s UMass experience started during a time of great transition. He moved to the area to start his PhD journey in fall 2021, just as the university was beginning to recover from the pandemic and just as in-person programming was beginning to pick back up. "Starting a PhD is never just an academic transition,” Abu explained. “It is also a personal test.”
Abu shared the challenges he experienced during his start at UMass. He spoke about the high expectations within his lab and the interesting position he found himself in when getting started. “I was the first person in my lab and those early days were not so easy when I was getting started. I was learning how to think independently, how to ask better questions, and how to handle what my professor would come up with. This period really shaped me.”
He described his commitment to working within the lab as a practice toward developing self-discipline and patience. “I built resilience by showing up every day. Sometimes I felt tired, or sometimes I felt lazy, but I still needed to make sure I am going into the lab to build my long-term resilience.”
The commitment Abu demonstrates to his work does not go unnoticed. In addition to receiving impressive praise from faculty and students alike during his teaching award nomination, Abu is also a past winner of the Three Minute Thesis in the Riccio College of Engineering and has been consistently recognized by his department’s faculty as a student of note. “He joined my lab in September 2021 as my first doctoral student,” associate professor Yeonsik Noh shared. “Working with a junior faculty member was not always easy or comfortable for a PhD student, but he always listened carefully to my opinions, thoughts, and suggestions as his advisor, followed them, and showed a diligent and conscientious attitude, so he was the kind of student I had hoped for.”
One of Abu’s teaching award nominators, professor Wayne Burleson, also shared, “[Abu] was very good at managing exceptional circumstances in the classroom. He was always attentive to Disability Accommodations, students with health or other situations... [he worked in] a very large course for our department with enrollment near 200. He received excellent reviews and comments from that course.”
The faculty in Abu’s program are also largely responsible for shaping how he understands engineering today. “Engineering is about how you can explain the problem to your client or to the people who do not understand it properly. You have to make it very clear and concise to those people.”
Engineering, in other words, is only successful when it has been effectively and concisely explained. This communication-focused view of the field has ultimately driven Abu to serve as a collaborator for many impressive projects.
During our conversation Abu referenced working on a highly collaborative National Institute of Health-sponsored research project valued at over $2 million dollars. The project involves the development of non-invasive biomedical devices meant to monitor a patient’s vitals. “For that project we had to make 25 devices that could be delivered to the UMass Chan Medical School. We are collaborating with their team to test the product with actual patients.” Abu’s work, with the help of another UMass campus, will then move from an ‘ideal’ to a potential ‘real’ phase.
These achievements are all part of a larger journey for Abu as he continues to think about what’s next. “I became a green card holder through my research. Everything I’ve worked on in the last five years has helped me obtain this success.”
He shared that his PhD experience has served as an incredible source for growth and personal development, while also providing him with the skills required for his new job. “When I explained my resume to my recruiters they saw the PhD as 5 years of professional experience... My PhD required me to learn how to solve complex technical problems, and how to bring concepts to life.”
In looking back on the many advocates and champions he’s worked with, Abu referenced enjoying courses from faculty members such as Daniel Holcomb, Maciej Ciesielski, and Sandip Kundu. He found each of their courses to be impactful in furthering his skills as both a researcher and a professional in the field.
Abu encourages other PhD students to view their experiences similarly. He believes that the coursework UMass provides not only prepares researchers for further studies; it prepares them for a future career.
“My biggest advice is to not give up on yourself too early... Resilience is not something you can show. People will see your successes, but they will not know how much you’ve failed. Sometimes bad things may happen, but your approach is the key: How can I make things better? Slow progress is still progress.”