Departments & Programs
The major research engine of UMass Amherst, NSM has nine nationally ranked departments including the top rated Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and the Department of Computer Science, classed among the top 25 by U.S. News and World Report, and offers four interdisciplinary graduate programs.
The Department of Astronomy offers the BA, BS, and PhD degrees. It is part of the Five-College Program offering classes to students on all campuses. The UMass Physics Department specializes in theoretical and computational astrophysics, millimeter wavelength radio astronomy and instrumentation, and observational astronomy at x-ray, ultraviolet, optical and infrared wavelengths. Among its new facilities, the program is building the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in collaboration with Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica.
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology offers the BA, BS, 5-yr BS/MS, and PhD degrees. Harnessing the methods of biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics, and genetics to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the machinery of the cell, the department is committed to interdisciplinary partnerships. BMB faculty are involved in research in organelle biogenesis and development, protein folding and maturation, protein synthesis, structure, and function, RNA synthesis, structure, and function, and signal transduction. The undergraduate curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to biological questions and participation in independent research.
The Department of Biology offers the BA, BS, MS, and PhD degrees. Research activities focus on neuroscience and neurodevelopment, genetics and genomics in plants and animals, cell biology, physiology, systematics and evolution, ecology and behavior, and bioinformatics. Its faculty members are heavily involved in the four interdisciplinary graduate programs.
The Department of Chemistry offers the BA, BS, MS, and PhD degrees. Faculty backgrounds in biological, physical, inorganic, organic, and analytical chemistry reflect the diverse, central nature of the field. Major research areas include organic material and polymer synthesis, structural biochemistry, materials science, precise sample analysis, computational chemistry, and two focus areas in renewable energy and the chemical basis for disease. The department emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and educational innovation.
The Department of Computer Science offers the BS, MS and PhD degrees and an IT minor. The National Research Council placed the Computer Science Department in its top 25 PhD programs as did the U.S. News and World Report, which also ranked the Artificial Intelligence Program sixth nationally. The department, which is committed to interdisciplinary research, is clustered into eight computer science domains: autonomous and multi-agent systems, electronic teaching, foundations of computing, information retrieval and data mining, machine learning, networking, distributed systems, and security, computational biology and informatics, robotics, computer vision, and graphics, and software systems and architecture.
The Department of Geosciences offers the BA, BS, MS, PhD in Geology; BA, BS, MS in Geography; and the BS in Earth Systems. The Geology faculty study the history and the complex processes that constantly change the earth and other planets. Research activities include geology, geography, earth systems, geochemistry, paleoclimatology, climate modeling, structural geology and tectonics, petrology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, paleoceanography, geomorphology, geophysics, political economy, geography of livable cities, landscapes, and livelihoods.
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers the BA, BS, MS and PhD degrees in Mathematics, with a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics. Research activities include algebra and Lie theory, number theory, algebraic and differential geometry, topology, analysis, dynamical systems, partial differential equations, applied and computational mathematics, mathematical physics, probability, methodological and applied statistics. The department contains a number of research centers and computing facilities, including the Center for Geometry, Analysis, Numerics and Graphics (GANG), the Center for Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Computation.
The Department of Physics offers the BA, BS, MS and PhD degrees. Physics faculty and their students carry out theoretical and experimental research at the forefront of a broad range of fields, including condensed matter physics, soft matter physics, low temperature physics, nanoscience, optics, computational and statistical physics, biological physics, high energy and nuclear physics, astroparticle physics, gravitation, cosmology, physics education research.
The Department of Polymer Science and Engineering offers the MS and PhD degrees. One of the world's leading centers for graduate and postdoctoral training in polymer science (U.S. News and World Report ranks it first in the nation and the National Research Council ranked it second in all materials departments), the department has expertise in nanotechnology, green technology, and biotechnology, and houses a $24 million instrumentation facility, National Center for Polymer Research, 3 NSF centers for polymeric materials, and a dynamic collaborative industrial research program.
The expertise of the faculty in the life science departments is critical to the University's Biotechnology Program. Members of these departments also participate in the interdepartmental graduate programs in the life sciences listed below.
The Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology offers the PhD degree. Organized in 1982 by four departments in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, today this interdisciplinary program is composed of 74 faculty representing 10 University departments and 5 departments in the Five College consortium. Areas of particular strength include molecular biology of RNA, cell biology, molecular development and cell death.
The Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Behavior offers the MS and PhD degrees to students admitted directly into the program. This interdisciplinary program is composed of 35 faculty from 6 departments. The program stresses research training, providing opportunities for research on the nervous system and behavior, either in laboratory or natural ecological settings. Within the Neuroscience and Behavior Program is the Center for Endocrine Studies. Fourteen faculty share an interest in understanding the relationships among hormone-producing endocrine glands, the brain, physiology, and behavior.
The Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology offers the MS and PhD degrees. The interdisciplinary program, founded in 1993, is composed of over 80 faculty in 10 departments at UMass, as well faculty from the Five College System. Faculty and students conduct research on a wide range of topics within four broad areas: ecology, evolutionary biology, animal behavior and organismal biology. They bridge the gap between applied and basic research, and examine biological processes ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem level.
The Graduate Program in Plant Biology offers the MS and PhD degrees. Over a dozen faculty participate in this program, which has areas of concentration in plant cell and molecular biology, ecology, evolution, metabolism, systematics, and more. The Plant Biology faculty have united with other faculty from the University and the Five Colleges to form a consortium united by common interest in studying various aspects of plants and related organisms.
The NIH-funded Chemistry/Biology Interface Training Program (CBI) offers graduate-level courses, seminars, discussions and research in this emerging, interdisciplinary field that brings the synthetic, mechanistic and analytical powers of chemistry to bear on new and exciting areas of biology.
In the NSF-funded IGERT Program in Nanotechnology Innovation, graduate students combine core disciplinary focus with a multi-disciplinary, two-year team project aimed at product development and commercialization. IGERT Fellows receive a 2-year $30,000 annual stipend and training through R&,D internships and practical device fabrication experiences at industrial companies, research institutes, government labs, and nanotech research sites in Europe and Japan.
Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Programs
The University offers specific pre-medical and pre-dental curricula which meet all requirements necessary for application to professional schools. However, most students select a regular departmental major, such as Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Psychology. All students, regardless of major, are encouraged to use the academic and career advising services provided by the Pre-Medical Advisory Committee.
Five College Astronomy Program
A collaborative program of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, and UMass Amherst, this program links teaching and research programs at the five campuses and combines the small classes and individual attention found at small liberal arts colleges with the research opportunities and infrastructure of a large university. Students can find a mix of fine teaching and rich opportunities for independent research, including a wide range of summer undergraduate research opportunities. Over 10 percent of the professional U. S. women astronomers did their undergraduate work in the Five College Astronomy program.
Five College Coastal &, Marine Sciences Program
The Five College Coastal &, Marine Sciences Program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum to undergraduate students enrolled in Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, or UMass Amherst. The program offers courses in both natural and social sciences. Through field trips and active affiliations with some of the nation's premier centers for marine study, students engage in hands-on research to complement course work.
