A pioneer in technological innovation and translation, and a history-making leader of Massachusetts’ highest court will be bestowed honorary degrees, while the recipient of the “Nobel Prize in Computing” and two alumni philanthropists whose visionary contributions are redefining the boundaries of healthcare innovation will receive Distinguished Achievement Awards at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
 

Honorary Degrees

Eric Swanson ’82

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Eric Swanson’s career spans foundational scientific research, applied engineering, entrepreneurship, and industry. His innovations and contributions have helped advance a wide range of technologies, products and infrastructure used worldwide, which collectively have had a significant positive impact on society. Swanson has delivered a legacy of innovation that continues to drive significant, positive societal progress.

After earning his B.S. summa cum laude in electrical engineering from UMass Amherst and his M.S. in electrical engineering from MIT, he began a distinguished 16-year tenure at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. There he developed advanced technologies for national security, including inter-satellite laser communication and high-speed fiber optic networks. He also collaborated in the landmark discovery of optical coherence tomography (OCT), now a worldwide standard in health care, and he continues to advance the field through theoretical, experimental, entrepreneurial and industrial contributions.

Driven by a mission to turn laboratory research into real-world impact, Swanson has co-founded five technology ventures. His prolific technical career is further evidenced by his co-authorship of 80 journal articles, nearly 200 conference presentations, and 65 issued U.S. patents.

A Fellow of Optica, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the National Academy of Engineering, Swanson’s achievements have been recognized with some of the industry’s most prestigious honors. He is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (considered one of “America’s Nobels”), and the National Academy of Engineering Russ Prize, among other achievements.
 

Kimberly S. Budd

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Kimberly S. Budd, the 38th Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, is the first Black woman and youngest person to serve in this role in Massachusetts in more than 150 years. An inspiration to women and people of color across the commonwealth, Budd is a strong advocate for representation.

The daughter of a lawyer, Budd earned her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. After law school, she worked as a litigation associate in the Boston office of Mintz, served as an assistant United States attorney in the Major Crimes and Drug Units of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, and was an associate general counsel for Harvard University.

In 2009, she was nominated to the Superior Court by then-governor Deval Patrick. In her last year as a trial court judge on that bench, she served as the regional administrative justice for Middlesex Criminal Justice. She was appointed as an associate justice by former Governor Charlie Baker in 2016.
 

Distinguished Achievement Awards 

Andrew G. Barto

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Andrew G. Barto is professor emeritus of computer science at UMass Amherst, having served in the Department of Computer Science first as a postdoctoral research associate in 1977 and a professor from 1991 to 2012. Before retiring from UMass, he co-directed the Autonomous Learning Laboratory, which produced many notable machine learning researchers. 

Barto was co-recipient of the 2024 Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award—considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing”—for developing the conceptual and algorithmic foundations of reinforcement learning. 

His interest in cybernetics and neural networks began at the University of Michigan, where he earned a B.S. in mathematics and Ph.D. in computer science after reading works by esteemed cyberneticians and theoretical biologists. 

A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow and Life Member of the IEEE, Barto has been recognized with many of the field’s highest honors. These include the 2004 IEEE Neural Network Society Pioneer Award for contributions to the field of reinforcement learning, the 2017 IJCAI Award for Research Excellence for groundbreaking and impactful research in both the theory and application of reinforcement learning, and the 2019 UMass Neurosciences Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Barto is currently an associate member of UMass’s Neuroscience and Behavior Program and serves as an associate editor of Neural Computation, is a member of the advisory board of the Journal of Machine Learning Research, and a member of the editorial board of Adaptive Behavior.
 

Michael G. Hluchyj ’76 and Theresa M. Hluchyj ’77

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Michael “Mike” Hluchyj and Theresa “Terry” (Murphy) Hluchyj are an exceptionally engaged UMass Amherst couple whose leadership and philanthropy have fundamentally shaped the university’s interdisciplinary innovation. Their journey began as undergraduate students at UMass Amherst, with Mike earning a B.S. in electrical engineering and Terry a B.S. in nursing.

With a steadfast belief that innovation is accelerated at the intersection of disciplines, the Hluchyjs have spent nearly 20 years facilitating collaboration between faculty and students in the UMass Amherst Riccio College of Engineering and Elaine Marieb College of Nursing. In 2008, they established a graduate fellowship program for students interested in clinical healthcare research. Building on this legacy, they provided the visionary initial funding in 2021 to establish the Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation, a pioneering initiative dedicated to educating the next generation of healthcare innovators.

An accomplished engineer and entrepreneur, Mike earned his M.S. and Ph.D. from MIT. He is a founder and current board member of Uptycs, a leading cybersecurity firm. His distinguished career includes leadership roles at Akamai Technologies, and he was a founder of Verivue and Sonus Networks. An IEEE Fellow with 40 U.S. patents, Mike also serves on the Riccio College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council.

Terry began her clinical career at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge before transitioning to public health as a visiting nurse. Deeply committed to community service, she has held leadership roles with the Wellesley Service League and Wellesley Parent-Teacher Organization. She also served on the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation, the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Board of Advisors, and the UMass Amherst Campus Council. She is currently an art guide at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.