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The offices of the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement have announced that 21 teams have been awarded a total of $577,000 in Strategic Partnerships to Advance Research and Creative activity (SPARC) seed grants, which are designed to empower creativity, support interdisciplinary collaborations, strengthen the campus’ areas of excellence, and, ultimately, attract external funding and bring other forms of recognition to UMass Amherst faculty.

SPARC seed grants are awarded across four tiers to teams of faculty members and librarians, with strong preference for teams that include members from at least two different schools/colleges within the university. The projects proposed by each team are expected to represent a new direction or aspect of interdisciplinary collaboration, align with one of the themes of interdisciplinary excellence, and generate significant and tangible outcomes that “spark” continued momentum in research and creative activity.

The SPARC fund was announced in December 2024 as a single program to streamline and replace the Interdisciplinary Research Grant (IRG) and Large-Scale Integrative Research Awards (LIRA) programs that were offered for the past two academic years. More information about SPARC can be found on the Provost’s Office site. 

From the 40 teams that submitted funding requests, the 21 teams selected for the 2025-26 awards are:
 

SPARC 1

To support conceptualization projects up to $10,000 that bring together new teams to pursue research and creative projects and develop new working themes. Strong preference was given to teams with no prior collaborations.

PRISM: Private Research Integration with Semantic Models ​​​​​​
Team: Patrick Flaherty (Mathematics & Statistics), Zhengqing Ouyang (Biostatistics & Epidemiology), Denise Hershey (Libraries) and other key personnel from the Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences and the College of Natural Sciences

Archipelago: Climate Change and Adaptation in the Azores
Team: Edie Meidav (English) and other key personnel from the College of Humanities & Fine Arts and the College of Natural Sciences

Solar Canals: Transforming Water Systems for a Sustainable Energy Future in the American West
Team: Jordan Kanter (Architecture), Eve Vogel (Earth, Geographic & Climate Sciences) and Carolina Aragon (Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning)

Leveraging Innovations in Natural Language Processing to Analyze Union Contracts and Academic Labor Markets
Team: Ina Ganguli (Economics) and Brendan O’Connor (Computer Science)
 

SPARC 2

To support advanced collaborative projects up to $20,000 that lead to one or more interdisciplinary publications, an exhibition or the development of a proposal to pursue smaller external funding opportunities (including state, corporate, foundation or federal funding).

Evidence Mapping to Build a network of Evidence synthesis Researchers (EMBER)
Team: Jamie Hartmann-Boyce (Health Promotion & Policy), Eric Toole (Libraries) and key personnel from University Libraries, the College of Natural Sciences and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing

Sweeteners: Impact on Sweet Taste and Obesity in Kids
Team: Alissa Nolden (Food Science) and Sarah Gonzalez-Nahm (Nutrition)

The Annual Massachusetts Educator Survey
Team: Jack Schneider (Education Policy, Research & Administration), Tatishe Nteta (Political Science) and other key personnel from the College of Education and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Identifying Causal Relationships between Gene-Environment Interactions in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Team: Alicia Timme-Laragy (Environmental Health Sciences), Cassandra Spracklen (Biostatistics & Epidemiology) and other key personnel from IALS core facilities

A Non-Viral and Non-Invasive Gene Therapy Strategy to Halt Tau Propagation
Team: Jingjing Gao (Biomedical Engineering) and Jennifer Rauch (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)

From Macroscale to Microscale – Understanding Synthetic Material Fatigue In Marine Ropes and Underwater Cables
Team: Krish Sharman (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering) and Greg Grason (Polymer Science & Engineering) 

Improving Mobility in Aging Adults with Wearable Robotics
Team: Meghan Huber (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering), Wouter Hoogkamer (Kinesiology), Douglas Martini (Kinesiology) and Sarah Roelker (Kinesiology)

Sustainable and Environmentally Safe Materials for Soft Snake Robots
Team: Gina Olson (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering) and Munkaila Musah (Environmental Conservation)

Development and Analysis of a Novel National Inventory of Parcel-Level Drinking Water Infrastructure
Team: Jay Taneja (Computer Science), Emily Kumpel (Civil & Environmental Engineering), and Nelson da Luz (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Queering Menopause: Building Collaboration for Understanding Menopause Among Sexual and/or Gender Minority People
Team: Krystal Kittle (Health Promotion & Policy), Alene Gubrium (Health Promotion & Policy) and key personnel from the School of Public Health & Health Sciences, the College of Natural Sciences, and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing

Fabrication of Novel Curved Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) for Architectural and Structural Applications
Team: Robert Williams (Architecture), Peggi Clouston (Environmental Conservation), and other key personnel from the College of Natural Sciences

Consortiums and Confluences: The Medieval Academy of America
Team: Jenny Adams (English), Annie Sollinger (Libraries), Sonja Drimmer (History of Art & Architecture), Albert Lloret (Languages, Literatures, & Cultures), Jessica Barr (Languages, Literatures, & Cultures) and other key personnel from the College of Humanities & Fine Arts
 

SPARC 3

To support grant development projects up to $50,000 from foundations or federal agencies (average of $1 million+ in total costs per year for at least three years). Teams in this tier will be provided professional consultation and staff support from the Office for Research Development on creating a proposal for external funding. Applicants identified a target funding opportunity prior to applying. 

Understanding Nursing Home Closures and Reducing Mortality and Other Adverse Outcomes (UNHARM)
Team: Michael Lepore (Nursing), Joohyun Chung (Nursing) and other key personnel from the College of Education, the School of Public Health & Health Sciences and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing

Disease Ecology and Evolution of Microbial Transmission between Nonhuman Primates, Bats and People
Team: Jason Kamilar (Anthropology), Andrew Lover (Biostatistics & Epidemiology), Toni Lyn Morelli (Environmental Conservation) and Courtney Babbitt (Biology)
 

SPARC 4

To support proposals up to $75,000 for center-level funding or other large-scale grants from federal agencies (average of $3 million+ in total costs per year for at least five years). Teams in this tier will be provided with professional consultation and staff support from the Office for Research Development on creating a proposal for external funding. Applicants identified a target funding opportunity prior to applying.

University of Massachusetts Amherst Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UMass-MRSEC)
Team: Al Crosby (Polymer Science and Engineering), Jessica Schiffman (Chemical Engineering) and other key personnel from the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Engineering

The Center for Systems Intervention Research: Building the Evidence on System-level Solutions to Improve Population Health
Team: Thomas Mackie (Health Promotion & Policy) and other key personnel from the University Libraries, the School of Public Health & Health Sciences and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing

The Center of Excellence to Improve Food and Nutrition Security in Western Mass
Team: Hang Xiao (Food Science) and other key personnel from the College of Natural Sciences, the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and the Isenberg School of Management