PROPEL Communications - Send us your experiences!

The Muser Drupal development team has worked hard this summer on several new features that impact both mentors and students.

Project Auto-Recommendations

When students favorite a project during the application period of the round, five more active projects will be suggested in a pop-up at the bottom of the screen. These recommendations are based on the academic topic(s) of the original favorited project, and they will refresh every time the student favorites a new project.

Mentor Dr. Hailong Yang feels research is innate in humans. We are driven by curiosity to understand how and why things work from different perspectives regardless of background and disciplines. Dr. Yang wants to nurture this quality into the next generation of researchers at UMass and the PROPEL program allowed him to interact and work with students at a deeper level. Dr.

The Biology Undergraduate Apprenticeship (BUA) program is being expanded to serve all STEM disciplines through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence Award to the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Thanks Elizabeth Connor!). To reflect the new broader mission the BUA program was renamed PROPEL (Promoting Research Opportunities for Equity in Learning). We look forward to working with mentors and students from many different departments. As in the past any mentor or any student from any department on campus can post and apply to projects.

PROPEL team members Jeffrey Blanchard (biology), Paula Rees (civil and environmental engineering), Lori Astheimer (psychological and brain sciences), Syde Orange (student success and diversity), along with Madelaine Bartlett (biology), Lisa Depiano (Stockbridge), Martin Hunter (biomedical engineering), Ashish Kulkarni (chemical engineering), Emily Kumpel (civil and environmental engineering), Ruthanne Paradise (chemistry), Brenda Philips (electrical and computer engineering), Shannon Roberts (mechanical and industrial engineering), & Lisa Sanders (psychological and brain sciences) recie

By Ashley Braunstein 

My name is Jolie and I’m a sophomore biology student here at UMass. Getting involved
with research and other related opportunities was one thing that I knew I wanted to pursue
before I even enrolled at UMass, but the idea of finding these opportunities always seemed
daunting. Right before the new school year started I discovered BUA and was immediately
interested and excited by the diverse opportunities it presented.

My name is Danaiijah Vilsaint, and I am a recent graduate of UMass Amherst. Research is an invaluable experience and something I encourage undergraduates to participate in. Through BUA, I was able to get into the Pallas lab my junior year. I learned so much about the brain and the anatomy of mice. Unfortunately, Covid cut that experience short. I was disheartened and didn't think I would be able to get any more research experience.

Hi everyone! My name is Andrea and I’m a 5th year Masters student and recent graduate here at UMass. As an undergraduate, I wanted to be involved in on-campus research working with microbes, but I was unsure how to get my foot in the door. I knew getting involved in research required networking and strong connections with professors. However, I felt the task daunting, as all my professors were running lectures with more than 300 other students.